Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) has been eagerly awaiting Hope’s (Annika Noelle) acceptance of his proposal for a while on The Bold and the Beautiful, but is she any closer to saying yes?
Proposals are usually very binary events: the intended betrothed either says "Yes!" or "No." Or, in the case of Angela (Angela Kinsey) in The Office, a very indifferent “Okay.”
Thomas was expecting/hoping for Hope to say yes when he proposed to her in the final episode of 2023. You can see the way he looks rattled, briefly, before recovering when she doesn’t say anything at first, and then tells him she’s not ready.
With everything going on at the time with Eric’s (John McCook) health, it didn’t seem like the best time to be asking her to marry him, especially given that she’s still technically married to Liam (Scott Clifton).
Fast forward a month (give or take, since soaps timelines are a little wonky) and Hope still hasn’t said yes, despite the fact that he’s been pushing her to say yes over and over and over again. What’s more, is that the secret is out and other people know about the proposal now. Now the couple is getting lots of unsolicited advice about what they should do, and it can’t be making things any easier.
In fact, Hope thus far seems closest to saying yes when people like Liam and Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) have pushed hard for her to see that being with Thomas is a mistake. The more they push, the more defensive she gets. This is the same thing she did after Rome, where she justified her relationship with him by saying that he only has eyes for her, unlike Liam and his obsession with Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood). Back then, the more that people pushed her one way, the harder she pushed back and rebelled against their advice.
At this point, Hope keeps saying she’s not ready. Thomas keeps asking and she keeps asking for more time. But now that more time has passed, we have to wonder if she’ll ever say yes. If she’s struggling with the decision so much, maybe in her heart of hearts, she already knows what the answer is.
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS and the following day on Paramount Plus. Check your local listings to see when it comes on where you are.
