As Eric fights for his life, Ridge is making decisions on The Bold and the Beautiful that are driving a wedge between his son and nephew. Why doesn’t he see what he’s doing?
Zende (Delon De Metz) felt like he’d been pushed out of the way when he discovered RJ (Joshua Hoffman) had helped Eric (John McCook) finish his line. But when he learned that RJ was helping because of Eric’s health problems, he understood why he hadn’t been included.
Now, though, Zende wants to help finish Eric’s final line, and he went to Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) hoping that the two designers could collaborate on the collection together, with RJ helping them out. It would be a great way for RJ to learn from them and develop his skills.
Zende was shocked when Ridge revealed that he already planned on finishing Eric’s line and that Ridge planned on working with RJ. His olive branch came by way of offering Zende a chance to assist Ridge and RJ with the line, even though Zende is a very experienced and professionally trained designer.
If nepotism wasn’t evident before, it’s coming through now.
Ridge had an opportunity to bring everyone together. He could have had the whole family helping to finish Eric’s final line; not only could RJ and Zende help, but Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) and Hope (Annika Noelle) too. It would have been a way to unite the Forresters and allow them to have a hand in something very special.
Instead, Ridge wants to take it on himself, and he wants his son at his side. It’s not unfathomable, and it makes sense from his perspective. But the optics are terrible. There’s already tension between RJ and Zende and this won’t help make that go away.
Ridge needs to be working to bring everyone together during this difficult time, which means he should be giving Zende a chance to shine with Eric’s final collection, too.
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS and the following day on Paramount Plus. Check your local listings to see when it comes on where you are.
