Ridge is calling the shots with Eric’s health on The Bold and the Beautiful and he’s about to pull the whole family into turmoil. But just because Ridge is in the terrible position of having to make decisions on his father’s behalf, it doesn’t mean he should make those decisions by himself.
When Eric (John McCook) made Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) his power of attorney for medical decisions, it was done without some basic conversations taking place. For one, Eric hadn’t revealed his health problems with his son, but unbeknownst to Eric, Ridge already knew about them. Ridge also didn’t know about Eric’s conversation with Donna (Jennifer Gareis) where he said he was scared about death.
When Eric collapsed at the party, he said he was at peace, so Ridge has taken that to mean he has accepted death, but that’s not necessarily true. Given that Eric has multiple family members who are doctors, if he’d been more transparent about his illness, he might have had some productive conversations about options — notably, Finn’s (Tanner Novlan) possible cure.
What’s happening at the hospital is hard to watch because Ridge has made the decision to remove Eric from life support without consulting with the rest of the family, including Eric’s other kids, Thorne (Windsor Harmon) and Dr. Bridget (Ashley Jones). He’s not even giving them the chance to say goodbye, even though there’s no reason to remove Eric from life support so soon.
When Thorne and Bridget find out that Ridge didn’t talk to them before making his decision, they’ll be furious. It will cause a rift. And if Eric miraculously survives, that rift will endure. You can’t forget moments like this. It will hang over the family for years to come.
He should be including the family in his decisions and giving everyone time to say goodbye. Right now it feels like he's pushing Eric to hurry up and die, and it's not a good look for him.
Ridge is wading into dangerous territory, and if he’s not careful, he’ll end up driving a wedge between the family members forever.
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS and the following day on Paramount Plus. Check your local listings to see when it comes on where you are.
