B&B’s New Thomas Forrester: Budding Hero But Waste Of A Master Villain

Of all the actors cast to play Thomas Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful, no one is more adept at portraying a cunning manipulator than Matthew Atkinson. There’s an innate ease to the way he stirs up trouble with a smile and justifies his duplicitous actions with a shrug. So, while transforming Ridge’s number one son into a budding hero might be enticing, it’s also a waste of a master villain.

The Bold and the Beautiful: Blueprint for Bad

It takes a special performer to carry out the misdeeds Atkinson has done as Thomas while managing to keep his character popular and surprisingly likable. Since joining the soap in 2019, he forged a letter from Caroline saying she wanted Hope (Annika Noelle) to look after Douglas (Henry Joseph Samiri) if anything happened to her. He followed that up by keeping the unconscionable secret that Hope’s daughter, Beth, was alive. And when Emma Barber (Nia Sioux) threatened to expose him, he ran her off the road to her death. Then he tried to kidnap Hope and nearly killed Liam (Scott Clifton) during a rooftop brawl.

Thomas Forrester: The Douglas Factor

Along the way, Thomas has manipulated Douglas to keep mum about his plots and schemes, most recently when the little boy realized his father called Child Protective Services on himself and set up Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) to take the fall and destroy her marriage to Ridge (Thorsten Kaye). The indefensible treatment of his little boy has been at the top of Thomas’ despicable list, yet, time and time again, he says he’s sorry, gets counseling, and attempts to do better.

B&B: A Changed Man?

It’s a credit to Atkinson that he makes viewers want to give his character another chance to become a better man. He totally sells Thomas’s regrets and remorse. That is until the next time an opportunity presents itself for him to act out and forge forward with another despicable deed. And by then, as a viewer, you’re eager to go along for the ride that the show’s most masterful villain is taking you on.

At the moment, it seems like Thomas has turned over a new leaf; and he’s committed to staying on the straight and narrow to be a better role model for Douglas and to finally have a romantic chance with Hope, the woman he’s been obsessed with for years. It’s the new budding hero version of Thomas. While the personality switch might be intriguing, it’s sad to think that the character’s worst days are literally behind him, because Atkinson is at his best when he’s wreaking havoc and causing trouble.

The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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