Bold beautiful mash up brooke hope thomas liam
Credit: Howard Wise/JPI (4)

For several weeks now, Bold & Beautiful viewers have been trying to figure out exactly what’s wrong with Hope. They’ve watched in confusion as the happily-married heroine has repeatedly found herself drawn to — and even fantasizing about — Thomas. While that particular scenario isn’t all that unusual, having played out on many a soap in the past, what’s raised the hackles of viewers where this storyline is concerned is the history that has played out between the two characters in the past.

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While newer viewers may not be fully aware of the history, even they understand — thanks to endlessly repetitive dialogue — that Thomas was at one point obsessed with his co-worker. What those newbies might not get is that at one point, Thomas kept under his hat (however briefly) the fact that Liam and Hope’s supposedly dead baby was alive and well, being raised by his sister, Steffy. (As with most situations on a soap, it’s complicated!)

For many in the audience, this has turned into a “make it make sense” storyline. And so far, that’s most definitely not happened. As a result, many are blasting the show for having Hope seemingly lust after a man who at one point was obsessed with her.

“It is truly disgusting the way they have Hope in lust, ruining her character,” wrote MissingLee Feast on Twitter. “And even more disgusting is that the object of her lust is her abuser. It’s sick and sad, even for a soap!”

Lest anyone think that viewers are reading too much into what’s been going on with Hope, the dialogue has made it perfectly clear. Take, for example, Steffy describing to hubby Finn what she witnessed while secretly observing Hope and Thomas in a private moment. “She was gazing with desire,” the Forrester co-CEO said. And cheesy dialogue aside, that is how we are clearly meant to see what is unfolding.

“So gross,” chimed in Chelsea Miller on Twitter. “This isn’t Hope. This has never ever been Hope. When Thomas was doing stuff it was in character, he’s always been troubled. Going way back. Hope has never been like this. I don’t know who this is, but it’s not Hope. Women don’t fall for men that torment them.”

Fans were similarly divided when The Young and the Restless tried re-pairing Adam with Sharon. In that case, Adam had literally stolen Sharon’s baby — allowing her to believe the child had died — and given it to another woman. “What woman,” many asked, “would have anything but hatred toward a man who did that to her?”

More: Viewers react to Hope/Thomas pairing

That same basic question is now being asked by many Bold & Beautiful fans. “To act like a woman would all of a sudden want a man that kept [the] truth of her daughter from her, used her son to try and have her, threatened her mother and destroyed her mother’s marriage is flat-out insulting and disgusting,” opined polanye on Twitter. “It’s 2023. Do better!”

Adding insult to injury is the way the show has been framing Hope in relation to her mother, Brooke. Time and again, we’ve been told that Hope is essentially the living embodiment of all things pure and good while her mom will never be able to shake off the moniker Stephanie slapped upon her years ago: “Slut from the Valley.”

“As a Taylor fan,” wrote Smitty on Twitter, “I have to say the slut shaming of Brooke should have went out the window after the first 15 years of the show, because Stephanie as revealed to be dipping and doing, and Taylor [has] been with the same Forrester [men] as Brooke, except she hadn’t slept with Eric.”

While it’s almost impossible to find something on which all of #SoapTwitter agrees, it does seem that most are finding this storyline troubling. Only time will tell if that will change once it is revealed what’s really been going on with Hope.

Meanwhile, check out the gallery below in which we take a closer look into the life and loves of Hope Logan Spencer!