Soap Hub Performer Of The Week For B&B: Annika Noelle

Hope Logan Spencer, played by Annika Noelle, is not her mother, Brooke, on The Bold and the Beautiful. Or is she? Lately, Hope’s been finding it difficult not to walk down certain paths that her mother has traversed. It’s been a battle Hope has fought inch by inch resulting in Noelle doing some work that is both subtle and compelling.

Annika Noelle – Performer of the Week

Impromptu business trips and planes with mechanical failures are nothing new to soap opera storytelling when the tale calls for two business partners like Hope and Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) to get stuck together overnight – much to the concern of Hope’s husband Liam (Scott Clifton). Being able to predict how the setup will unfold isn’t what’s important, however. It’s watching the way in which Hope handles the situation.

Noelle played Hope’s enthusiasm over the opportunity to impress some Hope for the Future international buyers with unmitigated glee. Sure, she was a little nervous given the potential impact that the meeting could have professionally but we also saw Noelle portray Hope’s anticipation over going on a business trip with a man to whom she’s feeling a growing attraction. It’s intriguing to watch Hope because we’re not quite sure how much even she‘s aware of how deep her feelings go. And just who is she convincing that she’s perfectly fine being alone with Thomas — is it Liam or herself?

We witnessed Noelle play Hope on the outside as the forgiving co-worker and the perfect wife — a woman who isn’t going to make the same mistakes her mother Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) has. Hope tried to keep up her brave façade as she and Thomas enjoyed a celebratory dinner in San Francisco as their flight was delayed. However, her mask began to quietly crumble.

Alone, Hope confided in Thomas that it hasn’t always been easy being Brooke Logan’s daughter given how she’s been involved with so many men. Even Hope’s conception came about from Brooke having relations with her own son-in-law Deacon (Sean Kanan). “You know that I love Liam,” Hope told Thomas, adding that he and her family mean everything to her.

Hope went on to vent that she’s spent a lot of time convincing Liam that he has nothing to worry about, which is ironic given everything that he’s done. This was likely a not-so-subtle dig at the time Liam had hasty sex with Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) after he thought she cheated on him with Thomas. (Hope had not — Liam saw Thomas with the Hope mannequin and jumped to the wrong conclusion.).

Hope went on to talk about how hard it’s been to fight against her mother’s reputation. Ironically, just as Brooke is perhaps finally moving on from Ridge, Hope is starting to understand why she kept going back to him even when she was with other men. “Her with her stupid excuse of just ‘following her heart — really, she’d just leave a trail of devastation behind her,'” Hope stated with remorse. “I never wanted to be like that.”

Noelle spoke of Hope not wanting to be akin to Brooke as if she’d already become her on some level. Her cutting open a vein prompted Thomas to give his friend a supportive hug, making it harder for Hope to fight her attraction. We’re not sure what Hope’s next move is going to be partly because we get the impression that Hope herself isn’t quite certain. Kudos to Annika Noelle for taking us on a psychological journey as Hope grapples with the concept of becoming more and more like her mother.

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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