A look at the Bold and the Beautiful worst storylines this year, including bad things that Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) did, plus Hope Logan‘s (Annika Noelle) villain era and other contrived and repetitive plots we just didn’t like.
We’re going to talk about the very worst plots of 2025 as we hope for better heading into 2026.
Bold and the Beautiful: Liam’s Fake Cancer Storyline
So, number one, the first awful storyline we want to talk about is Liam Spencer‘s (Scott Clifton) fake cancer. When this storyline began, Bill Spencer (Don Diamont) and Liam got in that big nasty fight, and Bill said awful things to his son and walked out. And then Liam had that dizzy spell, conked his head, and could have bled out. That led to a brain tumor diagnosis, and Liam was supposedly dying because it was inoperable.
And then Liam got shot, and that’s when Bill found out about Liam’s so-called tumor. And then Dr. Grace Buckingham (Cassandra Creech) offered Bill a million-dollar miracle cure. It turned out Liam was never dying. Grace faked the tumor. This Liam plot was so sloppy, so illogical, and ill-conceived.
And then we found out why. So, actor Scott Clifton said he was told they were killing Liam. And then Brad Bell up and changed his mind. Most soap operas chart where they’re going at least six months ahead, so they’re consistent. Things are logical. They’re building along a path that you can see. They’re not making abrupt decisions day by day, left and right, flying by the seat of their pants and just making crap up as they go along.
But not Bold and the Beautiful. Brad Bell waffles. He backtracks. He repeats plots. He changes his mind. And then things get terribly, terribly sloppy. There’s no way Liam would never meet with an oncologist the whole time. Never once. You know, it all came through Grace. This plot was such an insult to fans’ intelligence that it was painful to watch.
B&B’s Corporate Coup: Carter and Hope’s Unrealistic Takeover of Forrester Creations
All right, number two on our list, the second awful plot: Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor) and Hope’s coup when they stole Forrester Creations. And by the way, this badly written plot showed that Brad Bell knows as much about corporations as he does cancer treatment. And by the way, another bad plot was a subplot of that one, and that was Carter telling Hope he’d been hot for her for a while.
That was untrue because he had been dating her aunt Katie Logan and never looked twice at Hope. Despite that whole rewrite of history, we then had Carter and Hope falling into insta-love. And then Carter got mad when Ridge and Eric Forrester rejected the House of Forrester luxury brand idea. So he tricked Ridge into signing over control of the Forrester Creations LLC with Hope there pushing Carter at every step of the game.
None of that would happen in real life. None of it was remotely legal. That’s why I say Brad Bell’s ignorant about how corporations work. Hope ran amok. She was slapping at Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) for revenge. And of course, when Carter gave back the company, they faced very few consequences. Plus, they are now House of Forrester, a luxury brand, just like Carter wanted.
A Pointless Bold and the Beautiful Reunion: The Anticlimactic Return of Ridge, Taylor, and Nick
This sloppy plot was all to prop up the number three bad plot on our list, by the way. So, the coup only happened to set the stage for Ridge and Taylor Hayes’ (Rebecca Budig) reunion, which in the end was pointless. And I think we all knew it was doomed from the start.
Bold made such a big deal about Ridge and Taylor getting back together and then especially about Nick Marone (Jack Wagner) coming back for Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang). When they announced Jack Wagner’s comeback, you know, B&B released what I feel was very misleading information about what was going to happen for Brooke and Nick.
Bold’s Misleading Info
They put it out there that they were really reuniting and that Jack Wagner would be returning for more appearances. That’s what they had him saying in interviews. None of that manifested. In the end, what it was, was Brad Bell wrote another contrived plot. Brooke was hanging out in high heels on the back of a boat in choppy waters in Italy with no life jacket.
And I mean, Nick is a sea captain. He knows better. None of that would have happened. And then Ridge swam like he was an Olympic athlete, like a quarter-mile out from the shore, and saved her life. It was sloppy, sloppier, and then sloppiest. And then Brooke and Ridge got hitched in the office, Brad Bell saving money on weddings and all that. So, of course, Ridge broke Taylor’s heart again.
And yet, she seems just fine with it all. She’s hanging out with him over Thanksgiving dinner. No hard feelings, right? No, it’s all anticlimactic. It’s repetitive and it’s frustrating to watch. If Brad Bell’s parents hadn’t created the show, I don’t think he could get a job writing Hallmark cards, much less a soap opera. He’s the absolute laziest, most ill-informed, uninspired writer working in soaps today. And I mean every word of that.
Character Assassination: Thomas Forrester’s Bizarre Reaction to Brooke and Ridge on B&B
So, that leads us to our number four bad plot of 2025 on Bold and the Beautiful, which was Thomas Forrester (Matthew Atkinson) flying all the way over from Paris to confront Brooke and Ridge and then immediately wussing out. Now, what this was, I believe, was because Jackie Wood was out on maternity leave, they couldn’t have Steffy raging at them. So, out of nowhere, they bring in Matt Atkinson, who fans do like to see now and then. Well, they’d like to see him more, but we only get him now and then.
So, before that, when Thomas came back to town, he was expecting to see his parents, Ridge and Taylor, getting married. And then he found out Ridge abruptly dumped Taylor and had already remarried Brooke, like five minutes after he dumped Taylor. And for just a moment, it started out like we were hoping. You know, Thomas was going off on Brooke, and Thomas even got in Brooke’s face, and Ridge got in between them.
Thomas’ Abrupt Change on Bold and the Beautiful
And then out of nowhere, like somebody shoved a Xanax up his bottom, Thomas instantly changed his tune in a way that he would never do. He went from screaming in Brooke’s face to giving Ridge and Brooke his blessing, which was insane after they crushed Taylor. It was such an abrupt change of direction for Thomas and not in character for him. Not at all.
Targeting Brooke for revenge, that’s what Thomas ordinarily would have done. But what was not on anybody’s bingo card, I think, was him giving Brooke his blessing and then hugging his brand new stepmother. It went from one extreme to the other, and it was just total nonsense.
Controversial and Insensitive: Luna’s Assault on Will Spencer and B&B’s Aftermath
All right, number five, the final bad plot. We want to talk about the very worst of 2025 for me and for a lot of fans was Luna Nozawa (Lisa Yamada) sexually assaulting a very drunk Will Spencer (Crew Morrow) and what came after that, and what didn’t come after that that should have.
The whole thing was awful. When she was holding Miss Dylan (Sydney Bullock), Steffy, Liam, and Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) at gunpoint, that was bad. But it was soapy, you know. And then Liam shooting Luna.
