Though it’s beyond us why The Bold and the Beautiful would send Taylor packing with Steffy when she’s perfectly poised to be catapulted into a new storyline, maybe it’s OK. Maybe it’s smart, even. Because when the world-renowned shrink returns to Los Angeles after her time away, she can do so with a new focus — and, unbeknownst to her, a twisted plot that calls to mind co-creator William J. Bell’s great psycho stories of yore.

The Sane Event

Back in L.A., Taylor happily throws herself into her work. Of particular interest in a man named Maximillian Shepherd. He reminds the psychiatrist of her volatile ex, Blake Hayes, in that he’s handsome and charming… and off-putting and scary. Max lives in a near-constant state of rage over his separation from wife Gail. He wants her back and can’t seem to let her go.

Taylor knows what it’s like not to be able to quit someone.

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Gradually, Taylor gets through to Max and helps him to see that being with someone who doesn’t love him isn’t love at all. Doesn’t he deserve more than that? Despite his resentment and bruised ego, doesn’t Gail, too? Taylor could even get to the root of Max’s abandonment issues: the fact that, when he was a kid, his mother left his father — and him with Dad, who became a violent alcoholic. The trauma so badly warped Max’s mind that, without him even realizing it, he became a funhouse-mirror version of himself.

This Way Lies Madness

Meeting Taylor at her office for lunch, Steffy catches a glimpse of Max and wonders if her mom has noticed how attractive he is. “OK, first of all, unprofessional,” Taylor says. “Secondly, yes. Thirdly, I’m not sure he’s ready for a relationship.

“He has ex-wife issues,” she adds, “and I’ve had enough of men with ex-wife issues!”

“On second thought… ”

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Soon, however, Max’s gratitude to Taylor takes a turn. He admits that he thinks that he’s finally moved on from Gail. He may even have started falling for someone new. Taylor is thrilled… until he says that the woman in question is her. She points out that it would be unethical to date a patient.

“So you’ve already thought about dating a patient,” he observes. “Any one in particular?”

Taylor would reluctantly confess that yes, she has thought about seeing Max outside of the office. “Then let’s consider my sessions with you concluded,” he declares. “You’ve said yourself I’ve made great progress. Now let’s see what progress we can make… together.”

“Who told Taylor she could date?!?”

Credit: CBS screenshot

Passion and Danger

At first, Taylor and Max’s romance is idyllic, low-key romantic. But when he begins to exhibit signs of possessiveness — and snaps at any suggestion that he’s crossing a line — she breaks it off with him. “I don’t accept that,” he says simply. “I know what we have, and I don’t believe for a second that you can walk away from it.”

Trying not to be funny as she exits his house, Taylor says, “OK, then… watch this, ’cause here goes.”

In the days that follow, Max calls. He shows up at Taylor’s office and at her house. He says that she knows she’s going to cave. It’s only a matter of time. And heaven help her, Taylor is drawn to him. There’s a terrible animal attraction happening. But getting mixed up with him was a bad idea, and getting mixed up with him again would be even worse. “I need you to hear me now,” she tells Max. “We are done. Finished. I don’t want to see you again. If you would like a referral to another psychiatrist, and that might be a good idea, just call my office, and my secretary can recommend someone.”

“Ow.”

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

Point of No Return

After Thomas is in a car accident — a wild road-rage incident in which he’s been run off the road — Taylor shows up at the hospital, panicked. As she, Ridge and Steffy rally around Thomas, who should show up but… of course. Max. He gently offers Taylor his support and comfort, saying that he knows he got a little out of hand, but feelings like he has for her… they’re not so easy to switch off. “Do you miss me at all, too?” he asks.

“Max,” she says softly, “we are not starting up again. You shouldn’t have come here. And I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have let you hold me. I apologize.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Max says as if accepting the way that things are. “I just… I feel like things like what happened to Thomas happened a lot less when we were together.”

“What?” Taylor asks.

Perfect for the part… to the Max.

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

“Yeah, it’s weird, right?” Max says. “That kinda thing never happened when we were together, and now that we’re apart… I have the strangest feeling that they’re going to be happening a lot more.

“And all because you won’t let us be happy together,” he adds.

Max’s meaning is clear: He ran Thomas off the road, and he’ll do it again. Neither Thomas nor Steffy nor Ridge… no one is safe unless Taylor bends to Max’s will. And since he has no record of any wrongdoing, she’d have a terrible time proving what a threat he is. C’mon, how Bill Bell a storyline is that? And it would put the terrific Krista Allen back where she belongs, front and center, with a new leading man — perhaps James Hyde (ex-Jeremy, Young & Restless)? Paul Leyden (Simon, As the World Turns)? Linden Ashby (ex-Cameron, Young & Restless)?