Dear readers, do you have a friend who would toss their sobriety and pop a handful of pills with expensive vodka to try to save you? No, me neither. But Nikki Newman has such a friend, although I don't think A.A. would approve of this as a tactic for their sponsors. Sometimes I can't believe we get to watch this level of drama, every day, for free.
In the art world, people mock soaps because of the far-fetched plots and, at times, heavy handed acting. But the scenes with Melody Scott Thomas and Peter Bergman yesterday were Oscar worthy to my mind. It makes me angry sometimes that Daytime is overlooked when there are powerhouse performances like this happening every day in soap land.
When Jack opened the bottle and took a swig, I thought, "Uh-oh." But when he called his drug dealer, I yelled, "Noooooo!" at my TV! I couldn't believe it was happening. I remember every minute of Jack detoxing from those pills back in 2012 with the help of Phyllis. (Please use this to get those two crazy kids back together.)
The speech Jack gave of every hellish thing going on in his life rang true. How had he been dealing with a sister with multiple personalities, a wife and son battling for power, a kidnapped grandson, and a dear friend counting on him to keep her on the wagon? When he stacked it up like that, I thought, "Yeah, I'd be swigging vodka right now, too." But the pills. Oh Jack, why the pills? At the end of these scenes I tweeted, "Peter Bergman is an absolute soap god." Am I wrong? I mean, submit your Daytime Emmy reel right now, Peter!
And Melody Thomas Scott is equally heavenly. She either plays drunk better than anyone, or she is actually drinking gallons of vodka. I have been around a lot of drunk people in my day, and she embodies it perfectly. I have a dear friend who is an alcoholic. She has been sober for years, but I recall the times she relapsed, and they looked just like Nikki did in that hotel yesterday. You know, I have never cared much about money, but when Nikki checked into a hotel room to drink in private, I thought, "You know, it might be nice to be rich." I mean what a perk, to just go check into a suite and have some alone time. Like on Gilmore Girls when Sookie hid out in a suite at the Dragonfly to watch Dark Shadows and eat Toberlones.
When Victor walked in on Jack and Nikki, I sat up and clapped my hands a little. I love it when Jack and Victor team up to work on something, but I also love it when they are mortal enemies. Victor is totally enraged that Jack, Nikki's supposed sponsor, allowed himself to use again while supposedly helping Nikki. Nikki tried to let Jack off the hook and assure Victor that it wasn't Jack's fault, but he was not in the listening mood. I expect the coming months will be very ugly in the never-ending Newman vs. Abbott rivalry.
Dear readers, Jack going over to the dark side concerns me. Who will pull him back? His ploy worked insomuch as it has prompted Nikki to finally go to rehab and get the help she desperately needs. But what about Jack? He tossed his sobriety aside to jar Nikki back to reality, and on Friday's episode, Jack arrived home, half stoned, disheveled, and bedraggled -- and fresh from an EMT intervention treating him for an opioid overdose. (Public Service Message from editor who works in substance use treatment and carries Narcan: Jack would have to go to the hospital. If you overdose and need Narcan, it only buys you time. There may be enough in your system to overdose again.)
When Kyle asked why his dad looked so terrible, Jack was trying to form an explanation, when Victor showed up at the Abbott door to issue a stark (one time only!) warning to Jack to stay away from his wife. The previews for next week showed a furious Diane berating Jack for giving up his sobriety for Nikki and accusing him of hiding pills. Is he? Will Jack's battle start up again, or was this a one-time relapse? I don't know, but I hope Jack calls Red and makes peace with her for the sake of his sobriety. She needs to feel needed right now, and he needs a friend who will stick by him like glue.
Readers, do you remember way back when everyone insisted that Diane sign a prenup, and after the wedding, Jack and Diane signed a post-nup document to shut everyone up? I predict that contract will come back into play. If Jack falls off the wagon and goes back to his pill-popping ways, I will bet cash money that there will be some clause in the post-nup that Diane can exploit for her own benefit.
I said this in my last column, and I'll say it again. Y&R is riveting right now. Every day, I am sitting by my TV at 12:25, counting down to 12:30 when the excitement begins. I watch three soaps, and they seem to rotate -- sometimes General Hospital is boring and Y&R is on fire. Sometimes Y&R is dull as dirt, and GH is sizzling. The Bold and the Beautiful is always just bat-poo crazy, and it's my guilty pleasure. "I saw TEN TOES! TEN TOES!"
I just can't get enough of the denizens of Genoa City right now. Like Victor, who has told everyone Jordan is dead but has her stashed in his wine cellar. Victor. Seriously. Has this worked for you before? No. You tried to keep her prisoner, and she escaped and kidnapped two of your grandchildren. They put her in prison, and she burned down the prison. What are the odds that you can contain that wild beast this time? The first time Nikki runs out of vodka and goes searching for a Merlot, it's going to be bad.
What is Victor's end plan right now? Is he planning to keep her down there until she dies? Is he going to torment her awhile and then kill her? Is he going to turn her in to the authorities now that Claire has been found?
Michael knows Victor is up to something, so perhaps he will discover Victor's secret and talk some sense into Victor, but I doubt it. Or maybe poor Claire will need a drink after being chloroformed and left in a storage unit with a dead body and go for the wine cellar. Readers, I would like to think that if a dead body was on me, after a week or so, I'd be able to wriggle out from under it. That entire storyline is a little wonky to me. I mean, how much did that dead lady weigh?
We saw Claire get chloroformed. We know she was kidnapped. We know she was legitimately happy to be at the party. But I fear that the doubters in Genoa City will still be suspicious of her, Summer most of all. How will Claire ever turn their minds around about her and earn their trust? I love Hayley Erin, and I very much want her to be Victoria and Cole's daughter and bring them back together and keep Victoria nice and soft again. I haven't wanted to call her Witchy for weeks now!
But I feel like there is still something with Claire we don't know after this dead body on her legs. Did she kill that woman? Was that woman Jordan's accomplice? I have so many questions. Claire went to see Kyle and Harrison to assure Harrison that she is okay and to check in on him. Summer was polite to Claire, but you can tell it pained her. I like Kyle and Claire's vibe, and if they pair them up down the line, I am open to that pairing. But I think they will face major pushback from Summer, particularly if it comes to light that Jordan is not, in fact, dead.
The only Newman who seems unwilling to accept Jordan's demise at face value is Nick. He and Victoria had a heart-to-heart, and he pointed out that no body had been found and that Jordan could still be alive. Victoria balked at the notion, but Nick got under her skin -- and she's still on edge, considering that possibility. She told Nick that no one could have survived such a fall. Which is true except for the fact that there was no fall.
Newman drama aside, across town, another Newman, Adam was with Chelsea when they got word that Connor wanted a video chat with them. Again, the performances that Melissa Claire Egan and Mark Grossman have been giving us as they wrestle with their son's diagnosis of OCD and the guilt they both feel has been enthralling.
These two flawed people fell in love, created a child, and now all their individual issues and struggles have come back to haunt them. Both Adam and Chelsea have wrestled with their sanity and mental health issues, and made many bad decisions, all of which Connor witnessed. Knowing they are triggers for his OCD behaviors has left them both spent and brokenhearted. The performances they are bringing to the table every day are spellbinding. And precious Judah Mackey looking a little cheerier and reporting that he's finding coping skills does my heart good. He is so precious.
After all this heartache, we needed a breath of fresh air, and Ashley's new alter Belle was just the kick we needed. Eileen Davidson should earn an Emmy for each different personality. Belle is colorful, flirty, and adorable. Her plan is to seduce the shrink instead of kill Tucker. But since Ms. Abbott busted out of her shackles and took over again, we may never get to enjoy Belle's special brand of shininess again. Dr. Alan Laurent, Ashley's pal from France, has come to her rescue, and on first impression, I really like him. When he said he could only stay for a short visit because he had to give a speech somewhere, I said, "Oh, goody!" because I am not done playing with all of Ashley's alters just yet. Each new one who comes to the surface adds to the fun. I can only imagine this storyline is a gift from heaven to Ms. Davidson. It must be so fun to come to work every day and wonder what hairstyle or outfit or accent she gets to play.
For a while, I was whiny that Y&R was all corporate drama, which I can see at work every day, and the writers have completely turned that around. While we still have our share of corporate drama, they have painted a very rich canvas of activity and made life in Genoa City seem fuller and richer than we have seen in ages, so kudos to the writing team; the costume designers; the actors; the casting directors who chose Redding Munsell for Harrison and Judah Mackey for Connor, two of the most adorable kids on daytime; and everyone else who makes this show happen every day. I love you.
This is not to say there are no parts of the show that bug me. Devon is on my last nerve right now. Of all the players in the Chancellor-Winters saga, he is the least reasonable. I guess it bugs me because it reminds me too much of our current political climate. "I'm going to say no to every idea anyone else has because then I won't get credit for it." When Billy said, "Devon sees any difference of opinion as a mutiny," he nailed it. If Billy and Lily team up for the company, will it rekindle their feelings? I wonder where that will leave Billy's relationship with Chelsea.
Chelsea and Adam are spending a lot of time together dealing with Connor's issues and are beginning to genuinely lean on one another again. Their heart-to-heart confessions to each other were heartbreaking and so moving. Will this crisis with their son bring them back together? If so, where does that leave Sally? Maybe heading back to L.A.? Sally has been relegated to the background lately, but I am not sure if it's purposeful or not. Are the writers easing her out?
I would not be mad if Adam and Chelsea were back together and if Billy and Lily teamed up against whiny Devon. But rumor has it that Shemar Moore is coming back to Genoa City -- maybe Malcolm Winters is the ace Aunt Mamie has had up her sleeve all along!
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Aunt Mamie finally reveal that Drucilla is still alive so she can have one more vote on the board? Will Victoria and Cole have "our daughter is free from the madwoman" sex? Will Adam and Chelsea use some of the Newman money to create a foundation that supports families whose kids have mental health issues? Will Daniel create a new video game where the villainess is named Lily? Will Harrison's Lucky Bunny house install a Ring Doorbell for safety?
Will Jordan's creepy doll show up in Victoria's house or next to the creepy dummy at Crimson Lights? Will Billy change storage units now that he knows some of the units there have dead bodies in them? Will poor Tracy ever get her own storyline again? (I am going to keep asking until it happens.) Will Jordan devise a tool to grab bottles and drink all Victor's expensive wine? Will she then go to rehab and become Nikki's new roommate? Will Tessa's new music festival gig leave the diners at Society standing in an endless line, waiting for a table?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
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