Finn warns Hope about Thomas on The Bold and the Beautiful (Jan. 4 recap)

Finn is slowly learning about the Forrester family's dark secrets and the bombshell that Thomas was responsible for Emma Barber's death is throwing him for a loop. He's got Xander's account of what happened paired with Steffy's who insists that her brother wasn't the cause of Emma's demise even though she's yet to admit he was on Mulholland Drive that night.

Today on The Bold and the Beautiful, Steffy stuck to her story that Xander accused Thomas of murder because he's trying to get back at him. It's apparent, however, that it's not holding water. First, because Xander was genuinely surprised to find out that his prospective doctor is married to her. Second, there's been no given reason for why he'd try to upend Thomas life now out of the blue, years after Emma died.

Finn did get more pieces to the puzzle when Steffy told him that she not only believed her brother but also the police. She explained that Thomas had been suspected of foul play because Xander had gone to the authorities and that they had found no evidence of wrong doing. But it didn't help matters that Steffy's panic over this whole situation is giving away that even she thinks there's more to what happened that night than she has let herself think about.

The couple's scene ended with Steffy pushing for Finn to drop this line of questioning. While she acknowledges his concern, her mind is focused on how Thomas would handle a potential break-up with Hope. Finn's worries, however, lied with the Logan. He thinks that she's the one who needs to be protected, and it's clear that he doesn't believe Thomas' personal growth means that murder can be overlooked. Hence why he texted Hope to meet him at the hospital.

While Steffy was filling Thomas in on Xander's reappearance and the allegations he's lodged once again, Finn thought he was providing brand new information to Hope. She'd been telling him that there's nothing to be concerned about and that it was sweet that he was thinking of her safety but that she's fine and she knows better than anyone how much Thomas has changed. Hope was also noticeably aware of the engagement necklace that she's wearing and was making sure to keep it hidden.

When Finn told her about Xander she was affected by the news, but she got cagey when he went on to talk about the accusation that Thomas is a murderer. Back then on the soap, Hope was aware of Thomas' involvement in Emma's death. It didn't change her continued persistence in keeping him in her life even when she said it was only to ensure he was around for Douglas. I'm struggling to see why that would change now but it may shine some light for Finn on this family's hypocrisy.

To them, what happened to Emma was a tragedy and they're sorry about how she died, but they're not going to completely ostracize one of their own over her demise especially when his intent wasn't to kill her. Thomas was trying to stop Emma that night and he was speeding behind her, yes, but he didn't intend to kill her even though that's exactly what happened because she was distracted, distressed, speeding to get away from him, and texting on her phone.

Ridge covered up Thomas' involvement to protect his son and the family moved on even though they knew something wasn't right about the whole scenario. That's why Steffy's freaking out and why Hope likely will try to get Finn to drop it as well. It's possible though that learning this about Thomas will have Finn re-evaluating writing his own mother off because the Forresters want him to. If they can accept Thomas then he might start thinking that they need to do the same for Sheila since murder and/or involuntary manslaughter isn't a deal breaker.

Poppy and Bill get closer on their date

Meanwhile, at Il Giardino, Bill's date with Poppy was going well. She'd admitted that she was nervous to be meeting up with him and popped some kind of relaxant to settle herself out. The soap continued to be heavy handed with the idea that Bill could be Luna's father. The timing lines up since the music festival was over 20 years ago and Luna is in her early twenties.

Poppy also told him that Luna's father wasn't a bad person when Bill said that he must have been. She shared that the man didn't know she was pregnant. The hint hint wink wink of it all was a lot paired with Bill's words on how he didn't call her because he put his nose back to the grind for work. At that time in his life he was all about building his company and that was his focus.

That seems to always be the given reason for him but if Luna is his daughter, her brothers have about 10 years on her so Bill was out here for some time falling into whirlwind romances and relationships only to leave them to focus on his career. Remember, there was a real possibility that he could have been Flo's father, too, though she turned out to be Storm Logan's child.

The only thing that would make this plot different is if Luna isn't Bill's but Poppy is playing the long game to get him to think that he is. We don't know much about her. She seems to be genuine but we've done this three times on the show now so a change of pace would be nice. Perhaps she'd want to set Luna up for a good life even if it meant conning a billionaire into taking on yet another adult child. He does think the Forrester intern is exceptional, after all.

As for Luna, she spent the episode being a thousand steps ahead of everyone. It's Poppy and Bill's first date but she was already talking about the CEO potentially being "the one" for her mom. Briefly she thought the whole thing was a bad idea because RJ started alluding to Bill's history with women, but he said it could be fine if Poppy knows how to handle herself. I'm not sure if he's purposefully not bringing up the fact that Brooke was once married to Bill or if this is the writers omitting it like they're wont to do sometimes. Either way the plot is continuing to thicken as Bill and Poppy see if they have a love connection. The two even kissed on today's episode so romance is certainly in the air.

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