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Faint Of Heart

B&B's Katie Collapses At Brooke And Ridge's Wedding

Soap Opera Digest

by Tom Stacy, Published February 24, 2014

This week on B&B, the Forrester family gathers to watch Ridge and Brooke get married one more time, but the nuptials don't go off without a hitch. As viewers know, Ridge and his once-and-soon-to-be-again sister-in-law Katie have been suppressing romantic feelings for each other and, at Katie's urging, Ridge goes ahead with the wedding to reunite his fractured family.

"At this point, Katie is a romantic but unlike her sister, she's a realist as well," acknowledges her portrayer, Heather Tom, about Katie's dilemma. "Look at their history, and how Ridge and Brooke have dealt with each other over the years -- he always goes back to her. Brooke messes up in worst way and he always forgives her, so Katie's thinking, 'Okay, so I'm having these feelings but I can't put my heart on the line for someone who's ultimately just going to go back to Brooke.' So, she's trying to do the right thing -- but she also wants to do the right thing for herself, as well. She doesn't want to set herself up for a giant fall. And whether or not she's able to pull that off, who knows?"

As for Ridge, portrayer Thorsten Kaye says, "This man came back from Paris to put his family back together and be with the woman that he's loved his whole life but like anything else, when you're away from something, you see other things. Ridge had a real problem with the way Katie was treated. That's the first thing. Brooke has been around the block with a lot of boys, and Ridge never thought that she'd go with Bill and cause all that heartache. Not that their relationship started out as sympathy, but there's an understanding that Ridge has about how Katie must feel at this point. You can't call it a love affair -- or anything at this point. But he cares about this woman because she went through something that she shouldn't have gone through."

Though Katie holding back her true feelings for Ridge makes for good story, Tom believes it's true to life, as well. "I think it's very human," she points out. "Generally, unless we are sociopaths, we try to do the right thing [laughs]. But, we are also human beings and we can act in our own self-interest a lot of the time. With Katie, yes, she's trying to do the right thing, but she's also trying to protect herself and when push comes to shove, she may ultimately decide that the right thing to do is go after what she wants for once. But, that hasn't happened yet. Right now, she's trying to protect her heart."

Once Ridge and Katie agree to do the right thing, Brooke inadvertently throws salt in the would by asking her sister to stand up for them at their wedding. "Of course! It's classic daytime, please," chuckles Tom of the dramatic development. "Yes, Katie has to witness this close-up. Of course, she's very resistant. Brooke thinks it's because she's still angry at her about Bill. She has no idea it's really that she can't tolerate the idea of standing up there and watching them get married. Brook is totally clueless, but Katie has to say yes in the end because that's who she is. She'll suck it up. She wants to repair her relationship with her sister. I don't think they'll ever have quite the same relationship that they had before the whole Bill mess, but she does love her. She does try to say no but Brooke just won't let her off the hook, so she's like, 'Okay, I can do this. I can put myself aside and just get through this day.'"

The delicacy of the situation isn't lost on Ridge. "Yeah, that's a little awkward, isn't it?" deadpans Kaye. "But, I've got to believe that if you make a decision, you do feel that it is the right one and on a special day like this, whatever vows are being said are truthful. I can't speak for Katie's character but I do think that Ridge did make the decision to move on and, in a way, he is happy that Katie's there because if he can't be with her in any other way, he'd still love to have her as a friend and in his life."

So, despite her feelings, Katie stands beside her sister on her big day. "She's pretty convinced that this was going to happen and ultimately, this is where she knew it was going to go. However, it certainly doesn't take away her feelings. She's already gone there with him. He has provided her with a lot of things she hasn't had in a very long time -- maybe ever. Ridge sees her for the woman she is now rather than this stereotypical woman like Bill saw her, as this woman he had to save, and Brooke always sees her as her little sister and someone she has to protect. Ridge has given her a lot of validation, and that's something you can totally fall in love with and I think she has. So, much as she's trying to protect herself, what ultimately does happen with them getting married, it's a 'Wow, that sucks!' moment [laughs]."

As the vows begin, will anyone speak up -- or forever hold their peace? "We've all beein in situations where we want to say something but maybe the reason why we don't is not because of how strongly we feel about something but maybe, 'What would it do to somebody else?'" Kaye notes. "If he were to say anything now, it would certainly hurt Brooke, which he doesn't want to do. He'd be embarrassing everyone just to be righteous. I hope I'm never at a ceremony where that happens. It makes good television but that would be rough on the bridge."

However, no one needs to speak up because Katie collapses. "Maybe, in her secret heart of hearts, she thinks maybe she'll be able to stop this, but she really is determined to get through the moment and move on," Tom teases. "That said, I do believe it's fair to say that the emotion of all this gets the better of her. If there's a payoff to that, we'll have to wait and see."

It Had To Be You

With Kaye settling into the recast role of Ridge, scene partner Tom states that she's not sure if this story could be told with predecessor Ronn Moss.

"These are two characters who've known each other for years and have reache a new point in their relationship, and having a new actor playing it brings new life into the story," she points out. "I'm thrilled that he's there and he certainly has a completely different take. I love Ronn but I don't think you ever could have told this story with Ronn playing the part, simply because he and Kelly [Katherine Kelly Lang, Brooke] are so intertwined with each other that there's no way you could ever see him with anyone other than Kelly, no matter what happenes. Now that there's a new actor playing the role, it allows you to open up your mind and look at something like this from a new point of view."

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