Why Is Luna Defending Zende?

Bold & Beautiful loves to throw twists and turns into storylines, but a recent beat being played in a front-burner plot has left us scratching our heads. Why do they continue to hammer to death a plot point that makes no sense and could end a loving relationship for good?!

When Luna woke up in Zende’s bed and realized she’d had sex with someone other than her boyfriend R.J. she was horrified on a number of levels, but right from the get-go, she went easy on Zende… and we’re not sure why she’s cut him so much slack.

Yes, Zende thought Luna wanted him — she even said, “I’ve been waiting for you” or some such come-hither type phrase — so he believed that he had her full consent. But the fact is that he was well aware that Luna was head over heels in love with his cousin, and as a few characters have pointed out — most notably R.J. using his fists for emphasis — Zende would have known full-well what he was doing was wrong.

Yet Luna never questioned Zende’s betrayal… and we can’t quite figure out why.

Sure, Luna’s a nice person, and we can understand some part of her feeling bad that Zende got zinged by the massive mint mix-up — we felt bad for him too — but it’s not like he’s entirely blameless. Zende willingly chose to betray his cousin, and to add insult to injury, he made an unflattering presumption about Luna that night as well. The designer had to have assumed that Luna was the kind of person who would kiss her boyfriend goodbye and then sleep with his cousin immediately afterwards.

Another reason he should have put on the brakes? He knew Luna had been drinking champagne at the party, which could have affected her decision-making.

Ultimately, Zende believed he had Luna’s consent, meaning he didn’t willfully take advantage of her — but he did elect to engage in an act of betrayal under questionable circumstances.

If we were in Luna’s place, we’re not sure we’d be feeling so kindly toward Zende right at the moment, yet she keeps defending him to any and all who will listen. Why does she keep saying he did nothing wrong, when he clearly did?!

One reason is that, sadly, she’s blaming herself (as well as her mother and her mints), but the other is that Bold & Beautiful loves to twist something unpalatable into a potential love triangle, and we think that’s exactly what’s at play here.

If you think back, Zende repeatedly hit on Luna before the night in question. It was inappropriate not only because she was in a relationship and had told him she loved R.J. more than once, but because he was portrayed as targeting Luna in part because he was upset about R.J. being chosen by Eric to work on his line. Bold & Beautiful made sure to choose music cues to make sure we felt that when we watched those scenes. That was reason enough for Luna to want to keep Zende at arm’s length. But after they slept together, suddenly that beat was gone and it was all about Zende making an innocent mistake, and just being hopelessly besotted with the girl.

We knew a love triangle was in the making when Zende began romanticizing what had happened between them in his mind, and Luna did not become upset with him as she processed her trauma.

Now, instead of Luna being put off by Zende, she’s defending him at every turn. We can’t imagine how that won’t become a sticking point for R.J. moving forward.

Bottom line: This whole storyline has an ick factor that should make Bold & Beautiful think twice about trying to spin this into a love story for Luna and Zende.

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section after taking a look back on the life and times of R.J. Forrester in the photo gallery below.

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