The explosion that nearly killed GH’s Michael (Chad Duell, l.), the nefarious schemes of Y&R’s Jordan (Colleen Zenk, l.) and Ian (Ray Wise), and the righteous indignation of B&B’s Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) were stand-outs on soaps last week.

The Best

Bold and Beautiful: Brooke Slaps Ridge!

Brooke accepted the CEO job at Forrester Creations (after her daughter Hope participated in a hostile takeover) with the clear intention of figuring out a way to give the company back to Ridge and his family. But, true to form, Ridge believed the worst about Brooke and ran straight to Taylor before Brooke could explain her motives. When he finally let her explain, Ridge’s contempt for her and Hope was palpable. And the more Brooke talked, the more she realized she deserved better.

“Every time I do something you don’t approve of, you abandon me,” she ruminated, adding that she deserves a man who loves her completely — and that isn’t Ridge. He countered with sarcasm, questioning how Brooke could be done with him yet still run his family business. His family? “I am your family!” gasped Brooke, who has been married to Ridge eight times and worked at Forrester most of her life. As she considered Ridge’s harsh treatment, and all the times Taylor and Steffy had treated her as inferior, Brooke worked herself into a real “I am woman, hear me roar” lather and slapped Ridge across the face.

“Have fun with Taylor,” she snapped. “Your second choice.” Brava!

Young and Restless: The Newmans Rally Against Ian

What to do when the evil cult leader who tormented Nikki and tortured Mariah returns claiming to have been redeemed in prison? If you’re the Newman family, you reject his rehabilitation and join together to vanquish him.

“Ian Ward is a fraud, and he’s deadly,” declared Victor, who hired Michael to prove it and then “get rid of him” after Sharon went missing. Nick took a more direct approach, tracking the charlatan to his motel room and demanding answers. Ian stood there clutching his bible and professing his innocence as Nick warned Ian he will pay if anything bad happened to Sharon. “I have the best possible alibi,” smirked Ian. “You.”

Indeed, Ian made a point of “saving” Tessa at Society (after he drugged her) on New Year’s Eve with Nick et al as witnesses the same night Sharon disappeared. But viewers know Ian is secretly in cahoots with Jordan, who kidnapped Sharon and was supposed to drown her. Jordan went rogue and chained her to a pipe instead.

There’s no honor among thieves, but there is among Newmans — and one of them is going to find Sharon.

General Hospital: Explosion!

He’s already been kidnapped and shot in the head by his father’s enemies so it wasn’t a huge shock when a bomb meant for Sonny got Michael instead. It WAS surprising, however, how explosive the fallout was — and how fast it came.

“Somebody tried to take you out and Michael paid the price,” cried Carly to Sonny, the first of many recriminations. Word soon leaked that Michael’s wife Willow had been in bed with his uncle Drew at the time of the attack, leading to Curtis and Carly going after Drew while Josslyn focused her wrath on Willow calling her a “lying, faithless skank” who repaid Michael’s love by literally screwing him over. Diane moved fast, too, getting a court order to take Willow’s kids back to the care of Michael’s family.

Turnabout is fair play: Willow got revenge by telling the docs that as Michael’s wife she would be making all decisions regarding his medical care. That left Sonny and Carly in the rare position of being at a loss for words, perhaps the most surprising development of all.

Days of Our Lives: Philip Is Busted

The Kiriakis scion has only himself to blame. He got caught on a one-way phone call with Kate saying, “There’s no way Xander is going to find out that the letter dad supposedly wrote is a forgery.” He blathered on about how Xander has no clue Philip is not the real deal and as far as anyone knows his claim to Titan is legit, etc.

Enter the object of his affection Stephanie, who overheard and called him on it: “Titan belongs to Xander and you’re a total fraud!” Philip tried to talk his way out of the lie, blaming Vivian for forging the letter and saying Victor would have wanted Philip to have a role in the family business if Philip had come back sooner. Stephanie rejected that, but realized the revelation could ruin her career because she did PR for Philip and deceived the public about his birthright. She exited to go looking for Kayla, but found Sarah instead.

We would never count Philip out (especially since he seems to have grown back a leg) but Stephanie blabbing to his enemy’s wife would be a game changer.

The Worst

DAYS: Lady Whistleblower is Who?

An unnamed person took over Leo’s gossip column in the Salem Spectator and started busting all the players on Body and Soul, from the actors to the executive producer. “Somebody is out to get me,” whined head writer Leo who used to write the snarky column and “get” other people. Entire DAYS episodes were devoted to who could be writing it, what are they saying, how can we stop it? Hattie was a suspect, Leo thought newcomer Javi might be behind it, and the soap’s PR maven Stephanie turned to editor Chad DiMera to suss out who the scribe was.

Chad didn’t know, which was the first problem with this story. Chad told Stephanie he was paying a “Lady Whistleblower LLC” in Rochester, New York which meant the editor had never met or interviewed this person who took over a column so big it had the power to get Body and Soul canceled. Cut to Javi kissing his new boyfriend Kerry and saying he wanted to hear all about Kerry’s time in Rochester. Kerry secretly pulled out his phone and dictated that he was just getting started on “that hot mess Body and Soul.”

Is there a bigger cop-out than a virtual stranger being “revealed” as the villain who has gotten the better of almost every A-lister on the show? Talk about a hot mess…

B&B: Something Smells All Right 

A stranger named Daphne Rose burst into the Forrester offices unannounced declaring her time was so valuable she didn’t make appointments. She whipped out a scarf that emitted such an “enchanting” scent Carter and Hope fell all over themselves praising it in slow motion. Turned out Daphne was the “premiere nose in France” and she had deigned to create a perfume called Forrester and give it to them to help them. Such generosity!

Non. In the next scene we learned Daphne had been hired by Steffy to infiltrate the company and seduce Carter as a way to get Forrester back. Daphne assured Steffy that Carter would be “putty in her hands” and he soon confirmed it by calling Daphne to tell her she made “quite an impression.” Reel him in, smirked Steffy.

So there were Carter, Hope and Brooke praising each other for Forrester’s amazing transformation and patting themselves on the back for landing this fantastic fragrance from this world-famous woman who just appeared out of the blue to give it to them. Due diligence much?!