And… Exhale!

The twist will surely come as a relief to the legion of Bold & Beautiful fans who were afraid that maybe OG John McCook was ready to retire. If his on-screen better half Susan Flannery could call it a day, it wasn’t out of the question that he might, too. (It seemed especially likely after we saw this video.)

Plus, if — or should we say when? — Eric cheats death, it opens the door to a whole lotta juicy material. Will Donna’s honey bear decide that his much-ballyhooed last collection wasn’t his last collection? Will he want to take a more active role in the company that he co-founded?

How would Ridge, who was so opposed to sharing the limelight with his father, react? Our hunch would be… uh… not well.

The Path Not Taken

Maybe Eric, having stared down death and lived to tell the tale, would want to take advantage of his second chance to right some wrongs. Would it be too late to make Thorne feel less like a second-class citizen at Forrester Creations? Would Eric seize the opportunity to call home Rick and try to shoehorn him into Forrester Stateside?

The possibilities are almost limitless. Eric could want to get to know Felicia’s son, Dino. Eric might feel compelled to do right by Zende, who’s been passed over more often than a side salad at a dessert bar. He might call back to L.A. Donna’s son and his adopted son Marcus with the intention of putting him in the corporate mix.