Over the 12-year run of The Bold and the Beautiful, we've seen Stephanie verbally rip into her archenemy, Brooke, countless times, but never -- we repeat, never -- with that throat-clutching results viewers breathlessly witnessed this week. In a tour-de-force performance, Susan Flannery pulled out all the emotional stops (aided by blistering dialogue by Jack F. Smith and Michael Minnis) as Stephanie went to Big Bear to confront Brooke, who was on the verge of seducing her third Forrester man (Stephanie's youngest son, Thorne). Stephanie would let nothing stop her from ending Brooke's reign over her family.
It was a concurrent study in icy rage and hopeless despair, a concentrated depiction of a normally sane person driven to the brink of madness and attempted murder. Flannery created a chilling portrait of a woman in total control of her faculties yet at the same time on the edge of losing it. She etched every nuance of Stephanie's feverish feelings in harrowing detail. Most remarkably, despite the mania that Stephanie was radiating, Flannery never let her performance become campy or hysterical. Stephanie was beyond hysterical -- but, ironically, Stephanie's out-of-control behavior resulted in one of Flannery's most tempered and poignant performances.
In one dramatic scene, Flannery's Stephanie was reduced to tears, realizing that she had almost killed Brooke. The actress's visage and voice reflected the anguish and confusion Stephanie was feeling. "You've made me crazy," she said to Brooke, in almost a whimper. "You've pushed me and pushed me for years until I don't have anything left. You've made me sick."
Brooke was gasping for air, horrified by this madwoman before her. We were stunned, too, but or a different reason. Through her awesome art, Flannery also had gripped viewers by the throat.