B&B: Hope Leaves LA

On Friday, December 12, 2014, Hope left Los Angeles as her portrayer, Kim Matula, left "The Bold and the Beautiful". The character went through a lot in her last few weeks, and I'll summarize my thoughts about what happened below.

Hope was thrilled to be pregnant with her husband Wyatt's (Darin Brooks) baby. While she wasn't happy that her mother-in-law Quinn (Rena Sofer) manipulated the situation, she felt much love for her upcoming child. Quinn couldn't leave Hope alone and had put other lives in jeopardy like Ivy (Ashleigh Brewer) and Liam (Scott Clifton). Quinn snuck into Hope's scan to see the baby by posing as a nurse, and even stole cake from Hope's baby shower. Due to all of these behaviors, Hope and Wyatt decided to get a restraining order to keep Quinn away from them. Quinn though continued to bother Hope, and she forced a chat in the garden. Sadly, Hope's heel got stuck and she took a tumble causing a miscarriage. Hope found out she was having a son after they couldn't find a heartbeat. Luckily for Hope, she'll be able to have another child in the future.

Wyatt and Hope's marriage, which occurred due to Quinn pushing Ivy into the Seine, crumbled. Obviously Hope didn't have to marry Wyatt if Liam didn't show up, but she did. Hope decided she needed time to mourn her loss and left town. Her last scenes where with Liam and not with Wyatt. I do wish that Katherine Kelly Lang's Brooke had been back in town, so she could have been there for her daughter. What I did like was how Bill (Don Diamont) commented on how both of his sons Wyatt and Liam both lost their first children to miscarriages and how much Hope's baby was wanted. (This exit in some way mirrored the departure of Jacqueline MacInnes Wood who played Steffy, and I wish that is mentioned eventually on screen.)

Since Hope's departure was so open-ended it wouldn't be surprising if the character would come back to LA again. Of course, she may have a different face if Kim Matula didn't decide to return. I wonder what B&B will focus upon in the new year, as triangles involving Hope and Liam have taken up a lot of story space for the last few years.