Courtesy of Daytime Royalty Online
Peter Reckell on Bo and Hope's Reconciliation
To the joy of many (and to the chagrin of others), Bo and Hope have reconciled, however tentatively. Their reconciliation really started after Hope went to prison and figured out that something terrible was happening there. She uncovered the fact that the warden and a trustee were killing prisoners in order to steal and sell their organs; the warden and trustee in turn figured out that Hope had uncovered their secret. They planned on killing her, but Bo was not about to let that happen. He broke into the prison undercover as a guard and broke her out. "Her life was in danger and it really brought up the history and the family," Peter told us. "A 'who's my soul mate?' kind of thing. So I went and pulled her out of the prison and it sort of developed from there."
"There was no question," Peter continued in regards to taking this step, despite the fact that Bo is the police commissioner. "There was no 'decision making,' really. It was 'her life is in danger, you've got to get her out of there.'"
The fact that, as a police commissioner, Bo would still break Hope out of prison comes as no surprise to people who have watched their relationship over the years and have seen how intensely close they truly are. They have weathered many, many storms together. "That's the history that really is deep, in the marrow of your bones," Peter acknowledged. "When you have an emotional connection. That's what ties people together. It's not only the love and the great things that you do together and the amazing things you share, but you talk to people who have been at war together and they'll never be as close to anybody – even their wife – as they were in these life-and-death situations. And Zach, going through that experience, really pulled them together. It's still obviously a very painful, painful memory."
Of course, a deep connection might not be enough to drive someone to the desperate act of breaking another person out of jail. In this case, Bo did it because, well, that's Bo. He does whatever he thinks is right, whatever he feels driven to do, regardless of the consequences, regardless of the implications or the legality. "People have asked me for years, what's your favorite part of Bo Brady," Peter said with a smile, "and that's exactly it. Whatever I feel, I do. Things that would put me, Peter, in jail, Bo can get away with!"
It's good for people, both in and out of Salem, to be reminded of Bo's true nature. When Peter got married, he had a ring tattooed on his finger. He has a real ring that he usually wears to cover it onscreen, but it sometimes causes some problems. "Because I have trouble covering my tattoo, and this ring always ends up riding about like that, so you end up seeing the tattoo," Peter demonstrated. "I saw a ring that I liked, and the wardrobe person, who's been here a short time and hasn't seen that other side of Bo, sent it to the producers and asked 'would the commissioner wear this?' What has that got to do with anything?! I'm Bo Brady! And I had to remember that she hasn't experienced that."
We all saw that side of Bo Brady, the one we hadn't seen in a while, the one that involves him wearing a leather jacket and getting bloodied up. "Not only do I enjoy it," Peter confessed, "but I was surprised at the response that the audience had. I was getting beaten up by this woman and I thought, how am I going to make the best of this?! We did what we could and the audience really had a fun time with it. That was a side of Bo we hadn't seen in a long time, and they really like it! I hope the writers take advantage of that and move forward in that direction.
"They love the leather, they love the rough, they love the blood," Peter continued. "And it's nice because when you're sending fan mail, it's kind of difficult to say, oooh, I like it when he gets beat up. But when you're on a computer, for some reason your true feelings come out because you have this anonymity, basically. And people really like that. And we played it – or I tried to play it, at least – with some humor, which we don't get to see from Bo very often. That kind of smart-ass thing is very fun to do and people really enjoyed it."
What about those people who aren't completely thrilled to see Bo and Hope back together, those people (and there are many of them) who have a particular affinity for Carly, and Bo together. When Bo left to break Hope out of prison, Carly knew what it meant. It was over for the two of them. Carly knew it, but perhaps Bo didn't. "Yeah, there wasn't too much thought, as a lot of the relationship with Carly was," Peter agreed. "It was just kind of emotional and spontaneous and comfortable. They were two people who had a relationship when Hope wasn't in the picture. And a very deep love. So it was a very comfortable place to be when all of this turmoil happened with Hope. Both of us came to the same conclusion. It took Bo a little bit longer."
Of course, that might not satisfy the Bo and Carly fans out there. "I feel, anyway, as a writer-producer of the show, you want those kind of relationships where people are very passionate about who they want to be together," Peter told us "It's a tribute to the two women how emotional the fans are."
The fans, whether pro- Bo and Hope or pro-Bo and Carly, are emotional, and no matter which couple they prefer, we're confident that they, like us, will enjoy watching Bo and Hope take it one "day at a time."
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