Sheila Carter killed a dude with bees (and still has the audacity to judge others). Luna Nozawa offed two guys because she wanted a sugar daddy as much as she did a father (and yet feels entitled to a do-over). Bill Spencer took advantage of Steffy Forrester when she was in emotional distress (and married to his son, Liam, no less). Eric Forrester started “playing pickle ball” with then-former wife Donna Logan after reconciling with then-current wife Quinn Fuller “just because.”
But no. Believe it or not, none of these Bold & Beautiful characters is the show’s most appalling villain. Who is? Do you even have to ask? Ridge. Ridge Forrester, that’s who. The self-absorbed babyman believes that the world revolves around him. And for some reason, everybody acts as if he’s right about that! (Gah — why?!?)
Ridge has so often caused jaws to drop at his hypocrisy, his selective memory, his unparalleled jerkiness, it’s a wonder that we bother to pick ’em up anymore. He slept with his father’s second wife, Brooke Logan, and made out with his fifth (different) one. He freaking raped Brooke, yet still expected her to continue on with him as if it was business as usual. (That ultimately she did so is another upsetting matter in and of itself.) He has ping-ponged so often between Brooke and his other favorite occasional wife Taylor Hayes that he makes Liam look like a portrait of decisiveness.
Despite it all, Ridge gets treated like the catch of all catches, some heaven-sent Apollo who could do no wrong if he tried. Brooke and Taylor make excuses for him like it’s their one true calling. Eric shrugged off not only his son’s habit of macking on his missuses but the fact that, biologically, he isn’t even his son. Why?
We can only assume that Ridge is a whole lot smarter than he usually seems. He must be playing mind games with everyone in his circle, selling them on the crazy notion that he’s Mr. Wonderful when really he’s Mr. Blunderful. There’s no line that he won’t cross. No “there” to which he won’t go. He looks down his nose at all those who displease him, never pausing for so much as a nanosecond to consider that he’s done worse.
We think Bold & Beautiful wants us to hope for the best for Ridge and Taylor’s reunion, but for Pete’s sake, why would we? We want to stage an intervention to rescue Taylor from whatever Stockholm syndrome-type [bleep] is going on. And we’re dying to remind Brooke that she has extremely attractive options that have not broken her heart a zillion times. (See all of them here.) What say you? Is Ridge a great guy, and we’re just misunderstanding? Or is he, in fact, the worst?
