HOLLYWOOD—This week two actresses on “The Bold and the Beautiful” outshined their peers in dramatic scenes that were filled with heart, emotion and empathy. Ashley Jones, a veteran star of prime time TV and daytime television blew away the competition as the empathetic older sibling Bridget, who had to console younger sister Hope, who found out their mother Brooke had sex with Hope’s boyfriend Oliver, the night of their high school graduation. Jones really dominated the screen in an understated performance that she’s become critically acclaimed for playing. Mutula shows great promise as an actress and actually showed a lot of skills that actors twice her age could learn from.
Ashley Jones is perhaps one of the most beautiful and popular stars on TV. From “True Blood” Daphne on HBO to her role as Bridget Forrester on “The Bold and the Beautiful,” Jones is a solid performer. Bridget was already dealing with her recent divorce caused by her affair with and becoming pregnant by her then husband Nick’s stepfather Owen. She also has been dealing with the betrayal by her mother Brooke decades earlier. Brooke slept with Bridget’s first husband Deacon many times, having sex with him sometimes in the bed in her office at Forrester Creations. Yes, Brooke once had a bed in her office! Brooke has spent three decades embracing the image of being a sexpot, but her affair with Deacon Sharpe almost destroyed her relationship with her oldest daughter, Bridget. Finally Bridget forgave her mother and now she’s done the same thing again, this time to her younger daughter Hope.
Hope went running to Bridget after a heated confrontation with her mother about Brooke’s adulterous tryst with Hope’s boyfriend Oliver. She knew that her older sibling Bridget would know how she felt. Though Bridget tried to convince Hope that it probably was caused by mistaken identity, since all the party-goers were wearing masks, Hope could not make herself believe in her mother’s ignorance. Hope is, after all, the product of the almost incestuous affair Brooke had with Bridget’s husband 18 years ago.
The scenes between Jones and Mutula were very emotionally fulfilling and moving for the show’s millions of viewers. It’s about time Bradley Bell put two of his most beautiful actresses and the show’s most popular siblings together in some scenes. Seeing Brooke’s two adult children commiserating about being the daughters of the sexiest woman in the world was engrossing and exciting to watch.
“B&B” airs weekdays on CBS.
Photographs Courtesy: Kimberly Mutual (Hope) by JPI Studios© and Ashley Jones by Gilles Toucas, Bell Phillip TV Productions
