“Zende’s Romantic Bid: Luna’s Flattered, Yet He Lands in the Friend Zone”

The Bold and the Beautiful recap for Monday, January 8, 2024, featured Zende and Luna’s date in the salon, which consisted of a lot of talking and a peck on the cheek.

Bold and the Beautiful Recap Highlights

In addition, RJ visited Eric in the hospital where the two talked about Luna. Finn listened to more of Xander’s anti-Thomas rant. Steffy declared herself Team Thomas in this matter. Xander raised the stakes for what he wanted from Finn. Now, let’s take a deeper dive into what went down.

He Said, He Said

Both Xander (Adain Bradley) and Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) kept up their perspectives. In fact, Xander doubled and tripled down on Thomas being a murderer during his conversation with Finn. He can’t even think about Thomas and Hope (Annika Noelle) being together. There were no limits to what Thomas was willing to resort to when it came to covering up the secret of Baby Beth.

As for Finn (Tanner Novlan), he didn’t understand why both Hope and Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) felt that Thomas had changed. But he also didn’t want to completely judge Thomas without knowing the facts. Especially since he wasn’t around back in the day when this Baby Beth secret and its subsequent revelation made everyone’s lives hellish.

Meanwhile, Thomas was frustrated. He hoped Steffy would talk to Finn. She definitely would because she didn’t want her husband dredging up these events. It was a painful time for everyone and even though he was only trying to protect her, she said she would make sure that Finn no longer brought this topic up. Thomas couldn’t believe that Finn believed some random stranger over him.

Competitive Cousins

At the hospital, RJ (Joshua Hoffman) visited Eric (John McCook), who still looked pretty sick, but definitely on the road to recovery. Eric was also in a very contemplative mood. He asked his grandson about Luna, who said they were better than ever. That her being there for him through Eric’s illness had been everything. Eric wanted RJ to hold on to her.

Back at Forrester, Luna (Lisa Yamada), dressed in a Forrester Original, realized Zende (Delon de Metz) was the one to send the mysterious note. She wasn’t feeling Zende’s competitive streak when it came to his cousin. He denied the competition in one breath, but did call out RJ — once again — for being the Golden Child Forrester in the other. Luna didn’t feel that RJ played the nepo baby card and then proceeded to tell Zende she had to leave.

Zende conveyed how much he liked Luna — they even ended up finding out they were both in the chess club in high school. Luna stood her ground though. Despite being flattered by what Zende set up, she said that from here on out, she declared that he needed to respect her relationship with RJ. No more mysterious dates or coming up with ways to try and kiss her (on the cheek). Zende was firmly in the friend zone…for now.

Xander’s Version of Events

Thomas told Steffy that he’s found therapy and ways to center himself and because of that, he’s a new person. So, why can’t Finn show him the tiniest bit of grace and understanding? Why does Finn think he’s a monster when all he wants right now is peace and Hope? Steffy reiterated how important it is that Finn leaves this whole murder business alone.

Finally, Xander revealed to Finn his perspective of what happened the night Emma (Nia Sioux) died. First, Emma and Thomas had a heated confrontation. Then, Thomas followed Emma who ran to her car (he had checked the security footage) and went racing down Mulholland Drive with Thomas on her tail. Even though he wasn’t there to witness this all for himself, he felt Thomas ran Emma off the road.

Furthermore, he checked Thomas’s GPS system after the fact and it showed he was at the scene of the accident. Xander didn’t care that the police didn’t find any signs of foul play. Thomas’s being at the scene made him a murderer. He asked Finn what they were going to do about it. Because they needed to put an end to Thomas once and for all!