Genoa City's Goliath

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Or so the clich's would have us believe. I guess only time with tell just how loud the thud will reverberate if Mini-he's, Victoria and Abby, succeed in toppling Genoa City's most ferocious giant, Victor Newman. David slew Goliath with a well-placed rock from his slingshot. Victoria and Abby have chosen Attorney Vance Abrams as their rock, but it remains to be seen whether his courtroom skills will be enough to vanquish Victor. Of course, with this Goliath's mostly victorious track record, though they may have their fingers and toes crossed 'til they cramp, most fans are probably afraid to count on Victor being served his just desserts by his disgruntled daughters. But, will this be the time Victor finally loses for a change? Could he have met his match in the trio of Abby, Victoria, and Attorney Abrams?

Now, in Victor's defense, I can somewhat understand his reluctance to let loose of the strings tightly tying the company purse closed. After all, as he indignantly pointed out, most of the cash in the coffers is indeed a product of years of his blood, sweat, and salty tears. And while Victoria might have a legitimate claim to a share of the company pie, by virtue of the many years she has labored in the vineyard, Abby, on the other hand, has done nothing to earn a single penny in the purse. Yet she insists her entire inheritance be placed in the palm of her small, completely inexperienced hand.

Victoria's reasons for siding with her sister are a little harder to understand. I get that she's mad at Daddy for marring her wedding with an arrest, and that she feels she's suffered business and personal losses as a result of doing his bidding and being under his control. But I have to agree with Nick; it does seem like she's made it all about money. Money she wouldn't have a claim to if Daddy hadn't generously decided to put some of HIS money in trust for her.

I don't know how I want this one to come out. On the one hand, it's definitely an interesting twist having the sisters join together to bring down Daddy. It should provide a lot of family drama with Nick, Nikki, and Ashley caught in the middle, eventually forced to choose a side. Meanwhile Jack stands on the sidelines, laughing at the destruction his hatred of Victor has set into motion. But on the other hand, I can't simply dismiss the fact that the money they want isn't really theirs. Three billion dollars?! That's crazy and just plain greedy.

No, I haven't forgotten Victoria's miscarriage. Yet another reason for her to be disillusioned with Daddy. As usual, Daddy was delivering another dressing down to his disobedient daughter. But, did that, and possible accumulated stress for his other recent actions toward her, really cause her to miscarry or was it in the cards anyway? Whether he caused the miscarriage indirectly or not, it does increase the count of the Abbott children who have suffered or died because of something he's done. By my unofficial count, the score stands at Victor - three; the Abbott children - zero. First, it was Nikki's son with Jack that failed to make it out of the womb when in the midst of a heated argument, Victor jostled Nikki, causing her to tumble down the Newman stairs and lose the baby. Next, half-Abbott Colleen, was the inadvertent fatality when Victor used Patty to further his vendetta against Jack. This time it's Victor's own daughter whose child's life was lost, possibly as an indirect result of Victor's browbeating and badgering. Some fans might even count the stillborn death of Ashley's half-Abbott son, Robert, as a fourth casualty of Victor's interference.

While the miscarriage was a sad event, it certainly gave the parents another chance to shine. Billy's performances just get better and better, and his tender treatment of Victoria after the miscarriage had me blinking back tears and going "awww" in my mind. For an alcoholic womanizer (Victor's words), he has come a long way and is definitely proving to be the better Abbott brother when it comes to morals, truth, and everything else. None of that behind the back manipulation for him; he calls it like he sees it, and refuses to apologize for anything he stands for. I love that he refused to back down in the face of Victoria's disapproval of his magazine, even though he clearly hated to have her disappointed in him. And nothing compares to the way he lights into Victor with no concern for his personal safety. Victor doesn't even bother to punch him out anymore, probably correcting assuming he will only pop right back up in his face like one of those sand-filled blow-up punching bags. You go Billy Abbott! You continue to hold my heart in your hands.

Victoria and Abby aren't the only Newman thorns in Victor's side. When he isn't railing impotently about his daughters, the bulk of his remaining time is spent contemplating various ways to bring down his bad seed son.

Much like the battle between Victor and his daughters, this storyline has become another can't-miss for me. When Adam was terrorizing Ashley and manipulating Sharon and Patty, he was nearly unwatchable. But with Skye added to this murky mix, I am hooked. Finally, Adam seems to have met his match. Even though she's playing with fire and is bound to wind up with third-degree burns, I am beside myself with glee watching Adam being squeezed and controlled by Skye. Does she honestly not understand the true nature of the man she keeps poking with her sharp stick, or does she think she's just that good?

Then there is the new coupling of Phyllis and Skye. Two vindictive women, highly skilled at manipulation and just plain bad behavior, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. It should be extremely enjoyable watching these two paw the earth and stampede toward one another to do each other great bodily harm. I'll take that any day over Phyllis' boring and hypocritical woman scorned blog. Suck it up, Phyllis. Every woman in Genoa City has at one time or another been beaten with the scorned stick before being bounced to the concrete curb. And sometimes it was you doing the scorning and kicking.

Speaking of scorning and kicking, which is what Phyllis once did to Jack, color me over the moon thrilled with their bodice-ripping reunion. Finally! My fingers have been crossed hoping for that possibility since the moment she picked Nick over Jack. As many of you probably remember, I was never a pom-pom pumping member of the Nick-Phyllis fan club, and have always felt she and Jack were like perfectly matched bookends who belonged on the same shelf. He knows she's jealous, irrational, scheming, manipulative, vindictive, etc., but he's crazy in love with her anyway. With him, though, she has also shown she can be tender, loving, loyal, sweet, poignant, and unsure, and I love that they've renewed their acquaintance, however briefly it may last. I know some fans may feel like putting Jack and Phyllis back into each other's orbit is a giant step backward, but I think it's just putting things right side up again.

Regardless of how I and any other like-minded fan might feel, depending on when Diane Jenkins returns to town, their reunion could turn out to be very brief indeed. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the coming confrontation if for no other reason than that it will be wonderful to hear some other woman's name jealously being spat from Phyllis' mouth other than Sharon's.

While I'm on the subject of the blonde one, I really would like to cheer loudly for Sharon, but sometimes she makes it nigh impossible. This is definitely one of those times. I get that the scribes are presumably writing to keep the furious flames burning between the Newman brothers by having Sharon confused and conflicted over her feelings for Adam. But they just haven't managed to write a believable reason for this fan to buy into that premise. The scribes seem to be trying to show that Sharon is the monster's one and only true blue love, but if that's the way he treats a woman he loves with all of his black heart, heaven help any woman he dislikes. Are you paying attention, Skye? Come on, the man stole her baby and watched her suffer for six long months without lifting a finger to help ease her pain. All because he wanted to keep the leak-proof canvas cover draped securely over his scheming behind.

Anyway, I wanted to reach through the screen and twist Sharon's possibly empty head right off her shoulders at the way she was staring at Adam like a lovesick puppy. Sometimes I wonder what the heck is wrong with that girl! Although Sharon longing for a man she doesn't currently have is nothing new, it is an unfortunate habit she might want to seriously consider trying to break. Remember when Nick was loving her up and all she could fantasize about was Diego? A similar situation happened with Brad. Like I said, sometimes the woman makes it hard to keep rooting for her.

Although I'm likely wasting my valuable time, I'm rooting for Nikki and against Meggie. While I hate what Meggie is doing to Nikki, I'm thoroughly enjoying Nikki's portrayal of a woman fallen clean off the wagon and being dragged willy-nilly through the dust. To see her eyes practically roll back into her head in ecstasy as she savored the anticipation of the taste of those forbidden drinks, you would think she's about to sip the golden nectar of the gods. In fact, she's playing the role so well, recovering alcoholics might want to avert their eyes when she shows up. I'm not even a drinker, but she almost had me wanting to sample some of what she was enjoying so much. One of the positive things to come out of this is that with Nikki looking down into her drink, she's no longer in danger of drowning from a sudden downpour filling her upturned nose. But, boy is she ever a mean and grouchy drunk. Doesn't take much more than a taste to make her testy and disagreeable, does it?

Of course, even if Meggie has succeeded in starting Nikki down the road to becoming a stumbling, slurred speech drunk, would Victor realistically turn to her for comfort? Established as the hired help, she seems about as far from being Victor's type as I am. Unfortunately, realism and soap drama don't usually go hand in hand, so it could probably happen. Especially with Deacon added to an already toxic situation. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Deacon will be intrigued by Nikki, perhaps even entertain foolish hopes of somehow having her for his own. Which might make him amenable to becoming a part of Meggie's diabolical plan. It's a cruel thing our Meggie has done to Nikki, and I am hoping it comes to a very bad end ... for Meggie.

Perhaps tired of being the good guy who crosses the finish line last, Kevin seems poised to revert back to his bad boy roots. But why join forces with Jeffrey to rob his own Mom? Kevin is one of my favorites, and I'm not really looking forward to this possible new direction. On the romance side, I'm one of the fans hoping friendship will turn to more between Kevin and Chloe, but it appears there could be a couple of detours ahead.

And one of those detours might be Jana, who is looking a little less than completely sane these days. But why is it only Kevin who seems able to see the cracks in her faade and the crazy light in her too-wide eyes. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but if I knew a headache-plagued, murderess, tumor-caused or not, has managed to get herself hired at a school attended by my innocent, helpless child, I'd be doing something to end it, and she definitely wouldn't be transporting my child anywhere, let alone hanging out at intimate family gatherings.

Good for Tucker for stamping null and void on Jack's Co-CEO contract at Jabot. Being a relative newcomer to Genoa City, Tucker might not realize that any plan concocted by Jack tends to take an inordinately long time to unfold and invariably fails. What is the plan anyway? Force Victor to sell off certain Newman holdings, Beauty of Nature, in particular, to come up with enough cash to replace the funds he's been diverting from his children's trust funds? I don't blame Tucker for losing patience with Jack. He talks a good game, but so often fails to deliver a win. After all the years of banging dejectedly on the barred Jabot doors, you would have thought he'd be the first to report for duty. Yet, I don't think he's shown up even once or performed a single co-CEO duty. Jack and his eternal schemes. Will the man never learn?

All in all, it was a great week with much more to come. I can't wait to see what happens next. Before I go, here are my picks for some really great and funny lines.

Heather to Adam: "Wife got your tongue?"

Adam muttering mockingly to Abby's flouncing out the door back: "O.M.G. L.O.L."

Skye: "Now, everyone's going to think we are liars." Adam: "We are liars."

Victor: "You're playing with fire." Billy: "All day long."

And lastly, you know Adam is truly Victor's son, because he uttered the magic words: "You got that."

Until next time, here's some fan contributions from the e-bag. Enjoy!

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Victor is a pain in the butt, so darn mean. I thought he would change a little once he got his new heart - such an insult to Colleen! Abbey is nothing but a spoiled little brat who needs a good smack and the writers have aged her way too much. Pretty soon all the kids will be the same age as the parents! I absolutely love Kay Chancellor; she is one of my favorites. I don't understand why the writers got rid of Chance, he was one of the kindest and best actors and it was refreshing to see a "good guy" for a change. Nina is great and I love the Nina and Paul connection. Is Nikki stupid or what? How can an alcoholic not taste liquor in her drink? Finally, get rid of Heather or at least change her character a little. -- Joan

The story line has been blah to say the least and what is up with the love scenes? I'm all for passion but the actors look like they are just going to have some rough sex. I do like Ronan and Chance. We need new blood to keep it exciting and fresh. The same old bed partner swapping is getting tired. -- Tammy

Jill definitely redeemed herself and actually had me loving her character again. Speaking of loving, I am head over heels for Billy. I've always been a fan but I find his protectiveness of Victoria, and his no-fear attitude toward Victor, extremely swoon-worthy. He's not going to ever bow down to the great Victor Newman and he showed that in their confrontation after Victoria's arrest. Any scene with Victor/Billy (and Victoria and Billy) I am watching! But, with Victoria's pregnancy history, I think it would have been much more compelling to have her go full term. It definitely would have had this viewer on the edge of her seat. -- Flyhighful