Why Is Bold & Beautiful Rewriting History Again? This Time Poppy

Look, we get it: Soap opera is a plot-driven format. That means that occasionally, some pretty wild things happen. People come back from the dead, sometimes repeatedly. Characters are bedeviled by… well, the actual devil. But through thick and thin, sick and sin, we the viewers ask one thing: We want the characters to react to each new improbable scenario the way we know they would.

But lately, that’s not been the case where Bold & Beautiful is concerned. Why? Because the writers have taken to ignoring established facts about characters in order to fit any ol’ narrative they create. Not so long ago, fans were up in arms when Bill not only arranged for Luna to come live with him, but had her pardoned. Why? Well, Bill’s never truly explained that, at least not to our satisfaction.

And now, here we go again. This time around, it’s Luna’s mom, Poppy, who has become unrecognizable. To be clear, this has been going on for a while. When first Poppy was introduced, we both heard and saw for ourselves how close she and Luna were. Yes, they’d led an unconventional life, but Luna repeatedly told then-beau RJ — hey, where is he, by the way? — how much she loved her mom, who’d done her best.

A few “special mints” later, we were being told that Luna’d had an awful life thanks to her gold-digging, drug-doing mom. This narrative was crafted largely upon the arrival of Poppy’s judgmental sister, Li. Each time the doctor hurled accusations at her sister, we, as viewers, were meant to see them as outrageous exaggerations.

They say if a lie is told often enough, it becomes the truth. Certainly that seems to be what’s happened with Poppy. Because now, she’s practically a pariah. And this week, upon visiting her resurrected, jailed and pregnant daughter, Poppy actually smiled and offered her congratulations.

“After all your relentless criticism of me, it appears I might have done you some good,” said Poppy, smiling broadly. How, asked her surprised offspring. “By teaching you a very valuable lesson,” mom continued, her grin growing with each word. “That of all the guys you could have gotten knocked-up by, you choose a billionaire’s son. Well played!”

Truth be told, we expected that after a commercial break, we would return to the in-progress scene so that it could be revealed Poppy’s comment wasn’t serious. She would, we assumed, reveal that in actuality, she was disgusted by Luna’s latest actions. Instead, the next time we saw Luna she was being confronted by the newly-returned Steffy.

So apparently, we’re now supposed to believe that Poppy was a pill-popping, man-chasing, gold-digging woman all along. This despite the fact that she didn’t fight to be with Bill after their brief relationship ended. Nor did she try and play the “Luna is your daughter” card, even when desperately trying to keep the girl’s true paternity under wraps.

Bold B&B Bill Poppy

There has also never been any mention of her pursuing other rich men, despite every man on the canvas being a gazillionaire. Heck, we could easily see a sympathetic Eric bonding with Poppy, much to wife Donna’s chagrin. At that point, it might make sense for Poppy to chime in with her usual accusations. But no, instead Poppy’s been shuffled to the side, her love life as dead as that of poor Ivy.

All of which is to say that it looks as if Bold & Beautiful writers have once again rewritten Poppy and her history. Why? For no reason other than the shock of hearing her congratulate Luna on having landed a wealthy man. Did it make sense? Not if you believe the version of Poppy we’ve actually seen as opposed to the narrative Li has tried selling over the years. But then again, knowing this show, Li might become her sister’s biggest champion tomorrow, even nominating her for sainthood.