In Genoa City, much of the suspense of Thursday and Friday’s episodes came from people unknown. Who is holding Mariah? Where is Chance Chancellor? How should Devon act as the head of the Winters family now that Neil is gone? What should Tara do without anything but grifting as a known skill?

On The Bold and the Beautiful in Los Angeles, it is just sex and sorrow mode – sex for Carter and Quinn, sorrow for poor Eric Forrester who has gone through more mortified moments one one week than most could endure in a lifetime. The peak of course was a couple of days ago when the best friend of his son, the man who is the family’s business, personal lawyer, and a certified wedding priest announces he has been having sex with the “groom” who is there to renew his wedding vows. Brutal. By contrast, Paris Buckingham has such savage, perfect luck that even as a character if she sold “Paris’s Luck” unisex cologne/aftershave, I’m buying it.