When The Bold and the Beautiful first cast Matthew Atkinson as Thomas Forrester in 2019, his chemistry with Annika Noelle’s Hope Logan was palpable.
Sadly, Thomas became Hope’s worst nightmare at times, while alternating between being her friend and co-parent. Every time fans thought they might get together, Thomas was once again thrown under the bus. However, 2023 changed all that, and ‘Thope’ took the soap world by storm.
Hope Falls For Thomas
After 2022’s bus-throwing, when Thomas was revealed as calling child services on his own self using a voice-changing app to make him sound like Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang), we thought that was it for Thomas and Hope hopes. At that point, Hope had grown to trust Thomas and see him in a new light. Learning he set up her mother angered her and broke her heart all at the same time.
Thomas eventually lost the support of his family, as well as his job as the lead designer for Hope For The Future. That’s when he decided to become the Soap Poster Child For Therapy. Thomas chose to better himself and the first person to notice a change last spring was, of course, Hope.
Defying her controlling husband Liam (Scott Clifton) for the first time in her life, Hope hired Thomas back and began working with him closely again. Through therapy, he’d grown to accept that Hope was a happily married woman who didn’t want him and that was that. Except, it wasn’t actually true.
Hope had never really been happily married to a serial cheater who tried to run her life. Plus, in a twist on their will-they-or-won’t-they longtime relationship, Hope fell for Thomas this time. Sure, the music was cheesy, as was the gauzy lighting and Hope’s wind-blown hair, but viewers sat up and took notice every time Hope had a fantasy of making love to Thomas — and taking control.
Hope Goes For Broke
Once Hope was physically away from Liam on a trip to Rome to promote their fashion line, Hope threw caution to the wind right in front of the historic Colosseum. On an adrenaline line after a successful photoshoot and press conference, Hope grabbed a stunned Thomas and planted a passionate kiss on him.
Then, she surprised fans and even herself when she didn’t back away in horror at what she had done. Instead, she went in for more, not knowing that Liam had flown to Rome and witnessed the whole thing. Since she had no idea her husband knew exactly what she did, Hope and Thomas proceeded to go on a date.
They walked the streets of Rome hand-in-hand, smiling all the way.
Hope’s Life Falls Apart…But Thomas Is There
What made Thomas and Hope’s love story so compelling and different is what happened after Rome. It was a journey of self-discovery for Hope. When Liam first confronted her about the kiss in a sadistic and emotionally abusive manner, Hope begged for forgiveness. When he wouldn’t give it, perhaps was relieved because she ran straight to Thomas and lived out those fantasies she’d been having for months.
It was a week harkening back to the 1980s when a supercouple made love for the first time and then stayed in bed for multiple episodes. That’s exactly what ‘Thope’ did and a new supercouple was born.
It wasn’t easy for Hope, which didn’t make it easy for Thomas. While she felt this connection she had never felt before and discovered sex could be enjoyable, it took a while for Hope to come to terms with the fact that she’d fallen for a man who once did an unspeakably terrible thing to her — he let her believe her daughter was dead.
Hope’s ability to show grace and see change in Thomas and Thomas’s ability to be patient and allow Hope to come to him were all a part of their journey. Hope kept telling Thomas she wasn’t in love with him while also enjoying their physical relationship.
However, we slowly saw cracks in Hope’s armor as she began talking about being “with” Thomas and asserting herself — first with her mother, but also with Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Taylor (Krista Allen).
Thomas Gets The Girl
Hope first kissed Thomas in June, and by November, she was a new woman. She’d stopped dressing like she was on the prairie and started dressing like a confident woman in the LA fashion world. She embraced her sexuality in bed — and with her clothing and hair choices.
Her long locks kept getting shorter and her dirty blonde hair kept getting blonder. By the time November rolled around, she had a short bob right above the shoulders, and shimmering blonde highlights — along with a genuine smile, something rarely seen on this character.
As for Thomas, he was living in the moment confident that Hope would realize how she really felt. Still, the moment she told Liam her little cabin was no longer his home and she was with a man who loved her and only her, thus realizing she loved that man, was one Thomas — and fans — will remember forever.
“The man in my life now is Thomas, a man who loves me with all of his heart,” Hope told Liam before turning to Thomas and saying, “And I love him for that.”
The small smile that appeared on Thomas’s face said it all the moment he heard the words he’d wanted Hope to say for years. However, these two legacy characters had to grow, change, and mature to get to this moment. And they did, making Thomas and Hope the best soap couple of 2023.
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