Nelson Branco's SOAP OPERA UNCENSORED: Issue 52

by Nelson Branco

to have to become more, I think.

  Fans are already speculating who could be a new love interest(s) for Brooke. Do you have any ideas? Or should the show bring back Jack Wagner? Have you even thought that far ahead?

  No! I don’t want even think about a love interest for Brooke! [Laughs] I’m hoping she’s not thrown into another romance too soon. I want Brooke to be her own person for a while so she can figure things out. I don’t want Brooke to be all about who her next love interest will be, you know?

  I agree.

  There has to be something else going in her life besides whom she’s going to sleep with, you know? Because then, we’re just going down the same road and recycling story for Brooke. Today, she’s more mature and she should be doing other things other than worrying about a man. Like I said, I don’t want to think about it!

  If Brooke can’t establish a relationship with herself now that the two people who’ve collectively defined her journey — Ridge and Stephanie —she never will. A lot of fans and critics are upset with the reveal that Ridge didn’t return from his honeymoon with Brooke because she was texting Deacon. What are your thoughts?

  [Pauses] Um, if you think of the idea of it, logically, in a way, it makes sense, because Ridge did warn Brooke that if she ever lied to her again, it would be over.

  [Funny for a guy who raped her once.]

  I think Ridge was just fed up, and it didn’t matter what the reason was. He’s just frustrated of having to deal with Brooke lying to him over and over again over the years — even though it was a silly, stupid white lie. Essentially, his point is: Why would you lie again — especially about something so silly? I guess it was a breaking point for Ridge. If I look at it that way, yeah, OK, it makes sense.

  But if I take Brooke and Ridge’s whole history into account, yes, it does sound silly that he would break up with her over a text. With anything, of course, there are different ways to look at it. I know the fans feel a little cheated. And I feel a little cheated, too, because we couldn’t play the break-up on air. It was a little shocking.

  [Laughs] Brooke and Ridge are acting like teens: breaking up over a text; while the teens on your show are dealing with marriage woes! I think watching Brooke and Ridge umpteenth nuptials — and seemingly “last” trip down the aisle during which they professed their undying love — made their “end story” harder to swallow, especially when we learned the wedding wasn’t even legal. Because we invested so emotionally in those last scenes, we felt betrayed.

  I was hoping that Ridge would disappear after a swim or something! I’d have preferred if nobody knew what happened to him. Did a shark eat Ridge? Did he disappear? What happened? I was hoping it was more like that.

  You and I both, sister! Will Ronn be back for Susan’s exit?

  I think it would be weird if he weren’t there! [Laughs] But it can’t be much weirder than the text! Maybe Ridge has gone off the deep end, too. Of course, there are many circumstances as to whether or not Ronn comes back.