Soap Hub Performer Of The Week For B&B: Scott Clifton

The wife is always the last to know. Well, except when it’s the husband — and in this case, Liam Spencer, played by Scott Clifton, finally got clued in that he needs to worry about not Thomas but rather Hope in terms of his marriage being secure. Liam’s feeling betrayed and we’re feeling Clifton’s been just terrific in this storyline!

Scott Clifton – Performer of the Week

Liam got in the habit of turning to ex-wife Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), the mother of his daughter Kelly and the sister of Thomas (Matthew Atkinson), whenever he wanted to vent his concerns about Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) trying to get cozy with his wife Hope (Annika Noelle). He may have regretted that after the truth speaker Steffy told Liam that Hope has feelings for Thomas.

Clifton contorted his body, turning inward as he processed Steffy’s declaration in an attempt to protect Liam from this announcement. Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) calmly but effectively kept hammering away with her impressions and belief of what she was seeing until Liam saw the truth. The actions she described Hope as doing (gazing into Thomas’s eyes, holding his hands) aren’t all that bad but the tone in Wood’s voice prevented Liam from going into denial. He decided to confront his wife about her feelings.

When Hope arrived home, Liam had a drink in his hand but his senses weren’t dulled. He listened to Hope’s words with new ears thanks to his conversation with Steffy. “Maybe I had it wrong?” Liam said out loud about predicting Thomas would make a move on Hope.

Hope suggested Liam accept Thomas. “The way you have?” Liam shot back. He went on to say that Thomas may not be the problem — but that Hope is! “Steffy said you have feelings for him,” Liam said to his wife. If that’s not an episode tag, we don’t know what is!

The next day, the action picked up and Liam laid it all out on the table. “Just tell me it’s not true,” Liam quietly suggested to his wife. Liam was clearly hurting when he tried to reach his wife but he didn’t explode into anger. He pointed out that Steffy was not a gossip and had no reason to mess with his and Hope’s marriage.

Hope tried to bring up Steffy’s past actions when she did try to get between Hope and Liam, but Liam stood firm. “I really want to believe you,” Liam softly said but then, hastened to suggest that Hope could be in denial. Finally, Clifton chose to elevate Liam’s anger level as he begged Hope to stop working with Thomas. Stop!

When Liam heard the same song about Hope needing Thomas for Hope for the Future, he grew agitated and began pacing around in his and Hope’s (rather small) living room. “It’s not about your career,” Liam explained. “It’s about our marriage.”

Clifton upped Liam’s anger level further by reminding Hope that he was tired of hearing how Hope and Thomas are “cosmically connected” (by, among other things, their co-parenting of Douglas, played by Henry Joseph Samiri) and that Thomas was the man who “kept Beth away from us! I am so tired of fighting this battle! I’m exhausted! I can’t have him living rent-free in my head anymore. I just…I can’t.”

Liam demanded to know if Hope has feelings for Thomas. She told her husband no and then, she kissed him. Liam embraced his wife, who had tears in her eyes, but Clifton couldn’t play Liam feeling reassured. That’s because he’s simply not. Kudos to Scott Clifton for his portrayal of a husband who feels his wife slipping away mainly because she’s cruising down denial.

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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