The Bold and the Beautiful recap (Oct. 17): Hope kisses Thomas

Bold fans, I have to admit that I was prepared for Katie to make a move on Carter on today’s episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, but I did not expect Hope and Thomas to kiss! While it didn’t come out of nowhere, we’d all pretty much been under the assumption that nothing was going to come of their recent closeness.

Ever since the two were briefly married and Hope manipulated Thomas into sharing custody of Douglas, the writers have been playing this game of “will-they-won’t-they” with the pair. But the ending result has continuously landed on “they won’t” as Hope is incredibly devoted to her husband, Liam, who she says is the love of her life.

He, however, wasn’t on her mind today when she locked lips with Thomas. Looks like the key to her heart is being a good father and having your sole focus on her. Now this isn’t to say the soap won’t walk this kiss back in tomorrow’s episode and make it a fantasy that Hope or Thomas conjured up, but for now it does look like Hope is caught up with her son’s father.

As someone who likes the two, I’m for this turn of events, but I’m also preparing for the shoe to drop considering Thomas framed Brooke for the CPS call that was the catalyst for Ridge walking away from her. Brooke nearly found herself at the bottom of a vodka bottle over being left, not that Hope knows that since she didn’t go home to check on her mom after finding out Ridge chose Taylor.

Here’s what happened on today’s messy, messy episode.

Bold and the Beautiful recap (Oct. 17)

Thope stole Carter and Katie’s thunder, and I’m not sorry to say it. But they did have their own relationship development at Forrester Creations. The two supposed friends continued their chat from Friday as Katie told Carter in no uncertain terms that she can’t look past Bill’s feelings for Brooke. It’s why she told him no when he asked if they could try again at a relationship.

After checking to see how Katie felt about her decision, Carter opened up to her about his own romantic plight. Apparently, Quinn left him. She didn’t give a reason beyond saying that she can’t give him what he deserves. The move came out of nowhere on the story, but it was the logical step writing wise since Rena Sofer’s exit as Quinn.

Carter told Katie that he’d planned to marry Quinn and start a family with her. The marriage portion of what he had to say wasn’t surprising, but I paused at Carter’s reference to starting a family. The former couple had already discussed that Quinn didn’t want to have anymore children. She’s an older woman with an adult son, she’s already spent her time in Diaper Land. It’s one of the reasons she gave for why she was hesitant to start a lifelong relationship with Carter in the first place.

Quinn wanted him to have the family he always dreamed of and she wasn’t going to compromise on her decision not to have children at this stage in her life. Carter said he understood that and wasn’t going to walk away from their relationship. Sure, she ended up going back to Eric anyway, but it was still a relationship hurdle that they cleared, so I don’t see how Carter got back on the ‘I want to have a child with you’ train.

In any case, he also posited that Quinn may never be over Eric which, honestly, is possible. She did choose Carter, but it was only after Eric set her free from their marriage so she could pursue her romance with Carter and he could pursue his with Donna. Given how that storyline went down, if Sofer had stuck around, Eric and Quinn would have likely found their way back to each other at some point.

After hearing what happened, Katie told Carter she was happy for him which took him by surprise, though he wasn’t offended. She explained twice that Quinn never deserved him and then she kissed him. It was quite steamy but also out of left field if you didn’t see their try at a romance over a year ago on The Bold and the Beautiful.

Personally, I’m rooting for Carter to take a seat and be single for awhile instead of being dropped into yet another love story, but it looks like that’s not happening. But what Katie doesn’t know is that across the hall, her niece was getting a little romance in herself and it wasn’t with her husband!

Yes, that’s right Thope fans, our time has come! Thomas is no longer on this ship by himself, his lady love has joined him. It all started when Hope walked in on Thomas talking to Steffy on the phone. Ever the eavesdropper, she picked up that the call was about their respective parents.

Thomas was surprised Hope didn’t know yet, but he did fill her in that his dad left her mom to go back to his mom. Yes, it’s an incestuous web this soap weaves, but so far no one has been blood related at least. In any case, Hope was clearly sad on her mother’s behalf, she even tried to call her to check-in but Brooke didn’t pick up the phone.

Cognizant of her feelings, Thomas told Hope he could handle things with the line if she wanted to go home and be with her mother, but she declined and rattled off a list of what needed to get done. While this wasn’t a shocking move, you’d have thought Hope would have tried harder to let Brooke know she’s there for her, but the Spencer men did make up for her absence.

Bill insisted on staying with Brooke, but she told him that he couldn’t be there. She hasn’t figured out why Ridge left her, but she does know that they’ve argued about Bill and Deacon’s presence in her life. Bill was right that Ridge is too busy with Taylor to be coming home anytime soon, but Brooke wouldn’t hear of him sticking around.

When Liam walked in on them in Brooke’s living room, he told his father to go as well which left Brooke alone with her son-in-law. Don’t let your eyes get too big over the previous sentence, this is not the Brooke Logan of old. She’s grown which means if she does slip up with her daughter’s husband, it’s not going to be on her first night without Ridge.

Unfortunately, I can’t rule it out though. Brooke and Liam have been spending a lot of time together lately. They’re a team when it comes to pushing Hope into distrusting Thomas and Liam’s been one of Bridge’s most vocal champions. He continued doing that today when he told Brooke not to give up on Ridge and that if he only went back to Taylor based on some kind of obligation then it won’t last.

Hope, however, was singing a different tune to Thomas. She did acknowledge that her mother and Ridge have something special, but she also said that her mom deserves a man whose only focus is her. It was like she ripped a page right out of Thomas’ playbook with that one. But that was all she had to say on her mother’s love life before she launched into a work discussion with Thomas that evolved into her trying on a beautiful, green beaded number from the Hope for the Future collection.

The sight of Hope in the stunning gown lit up Thomas’ eyes, but he managed to keep things professional at first. It was Hope who was coming undone at the feel of Thomas’ hand on her side and her neck. She tried to diffuse the tension by playfully telling him she bets he tells all the models they look beautiful in the dresses he makes, but Thomas reminded her that he’s a one woman man and the woman for him is her.

After that, something in Hope must have snapped because she launched herself lips first at Thomas and the two shared a kiss that’s been years in the making. Hope caught herself afterward and the story ended before it could be determined if this was a daydream, so for now this kiss very much exists in the real world.

Of course, this means that while Liam was stopping Brooke from relapsing, Hope was busy kissing his rival. See what I mean by mess? Her husband hasn’t even looked at Steffy with anything but the platonic love he feels for her now, but Hope is potentially on the road to an affair unprompted and with Liam none the wiser.

I’m so sure my bubble is going to be popped one of these days when it comes to Thope. After all, Thomas’ meddling has Brooke in a spiral, and Hope is going to be incredibly hurt if she ever finds out what he did. But right now seeing her fall off the pedestal she and everyone but the Forresters have put her on is more delicious than I can convey.

Until next time, Bold fans. Stay beautiful!

Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more The Bold and the Beautiful news and coverage! New episodes air Monday-Friday on CBS. Evening viewing is available on Paramount+.