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Hey B&B fans! So, we’ve got Carter Walton flirting really hard with Hope Logan, and I wonder if this new romance might bring Thomas Forrester back to LA to fight for the woman he’s loved for so long.
It’s Belinda from DrinkFood, and I want to chat about Hope’s romantic future and who she’s really meant to be with. And hey, please subscribe if you’re not following us!
Now, let’s get right into it.
I will applaud Bold and the Beautiful for actually doing what they said and launching a new romance for Hope. And you know, Carter’s not a new man to the viewers, but at least he’s not someone who’s been with Hope before like Liam, like somebody else.
And if you’re curious about their age gap, since his last girlfriend was her aunt Katie, I’ve got that info for you. Turns out Katie is actually a few years older than Carter if we’re judging off actor ages: Heather Tom is 48, Lawrence Saint-Victor is 6 years younger—he’s 42—and Annika Noelle, who plays Hope, is 37. So, their age gap (5 years) is a little smaller than his six-year age gap with Katie, so check that box. They are age-appropriate for each other, and they’re not related by marriage and never have been, so that’s another box you can check.
And you guys know how bad B&B is about having step-siblings date—you know, just creepy stuff. So, this Carter-Hope thing has potential, and there’s no immediate red flags.
What’s kind of bizarre to me, and just cringy, was Carter flat out telling her he wants to see her in lingerie, making the excuse that it could help “Hope for the Future.” But then, in the most recent episode, Hope was flattered. She said nobody has wanted to see her in lingerie for a while. She brought up Thomas and said he was the last one to see her in her undies, and he split from her and moved to a continent away. All true.
Then, Hope was teasing Carter about Quinn, and he called her a “mistake.” That ticked off a lot of fans, but as we know, Brad Bell is utterly unconcerned about what fans think or want.
To me, it was all kind of awkward between Hope and Carter with the flirting. I didn’t feel a lot of chemistry there—not yet. It could happen.
Meanwhile, Thomas is over in France with his fiancée Paris Buckingham and his son, Douglas Forrester. The last time Thomas was in LA, if you remember, Hope made a very obvious play for him, said “Forget Paris, reunite with me.” Thomas told her no, and Steffy and Paris both told Hope to back off of Thomas, stop making a play for somebody else’s man.
But let’s be real—Hope kind of reeked of desperation when she was begging Thomas to choose her. So maybe that was part of why he rejected Hope. I also think Thomas might have wanted to cause Hope a little heartbreak after she refused for so long to admit she loved him, even though she did, but never said it until he was pretty much walking away.
And of course, Thomas shares blame for their split, too. But given how long Thomas loved Hope, and how hard he loved her, those feelings cannot be gone from his heart. Yes, Paris is with him, and Thomas says he loves her—and he probably does—but I don’t know if it’s as strong as that obsessive love he had for Hope for so long.
So, here’s my big question: Will Hope’s new romance draw Thomas back to LA?
I mean, it’s one thing for him to know that Hope is sitting home alone, sad and missing him. It’s quite another for Thomas to hear from his dad Ridge, his mom Taylor, or his sister Steffy that Hope is in a sizzling new romance with hunky Carter.
And for now, you know, Hope and Carter are not sizzling, I’ll say that. But I can see some potential there. Hope is pretty desperate for male attention in her life. She’s been acting all kinds of inappropriate with Finn, macking on him, kissing him at a party, and then telling her mom, Brooke, that he deserves better than what he’s getting from Steffy.
So yeah, Hope should definitely take Carter up on that sexy invitation ASAP for a few reasons:
First, I think Hope needs some bedroom action so she’ll stop having naughty thoughts about Finn. You know, maybe she can transfer those thoughts over to Carter, who I think we all can appreciate seeing shirtless in her fantasies.
Second, Hope might see that Carter could help protect “Hope for the Future” from cancellation, since he’s COO and has a lot of sway with Ridge.
And third, Steffy might back off of Hope if she sees that she’s in a new relationship and may stop threatening her about canceling her line over her talking to Finn.
But all of that would mean Hope was, in some ways, using Carter. Then again, I also think Hope was using Thomas Forrester when they first started dating and sleeping together. Hope let Thomas feed her ego because he was so devoted to her. And Carter has similarly been very devoted to every woman he’s dated, but he always winds up getting dumped. Since he started this flirtation, it’ll be Carter’s own fault if he gets hurt again.
So, will a Hope and Carter romance trigger Thomas to come back and tell Hope he’s changed his mind, that he wants to be with her? Would Thomas break up with Paris, haul Douglas back to LA, and tell Hope it’s time to put their family back together?
I know there’s a whole pile of fans eager to have Thomas back with Hope—all those Thope shippers. And when they do share screen time, ratings always improve because people either love or hate the pairing.
If getting with Carter would bring Thomas home, Hope probably would’ve tried that months ago, just saying.
But my big worry with all this is that Brad Bell has decided he’s never going to bring Thomas back to LA to stay. I fear that the writers may be starting up this Hope-Carter romance because there’s really nobody else on Bold to pair her with, and they decided to write out Matthew Atkinson (Thomas).
I’m not saying they’ve done it—I’m saying that’s my fear, just to be clear.
For me, I’d prefer to see Hope’s upcoming romance with Carter as a catalyst to bring Thomas home for good. And after the most recent episode with Hope and Carter’s weird little flirty thing in the design office, if you don’t spend time on soap social media, I’ll tell you that over on Twitter, “Thope” started trending again. So, her flirting with a new guy and then Thomas and Hope as a couple trending is kind of an interesting reaction.
That tells me the fandom has not given up on a Hope and Thomas reunion, even if Brad Bell and the writers have. I know I sure haven’t.
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