Genoa City, Home of Backstabbers Anonymous

If you think Genoa City is filled with ethical, moral folks, good little Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, think again. This is the home of cut-throat business folk who will lie, cheat, and back stab to get what they want. How will Genevieve will react when she realizes that everyone is out to 'play' her? Watch your back -- and then check out this week's Two Scoops.

If you think a nice Midwest town like Genoa City would include warm and fuzzy folks who are good and kind and exactly what you expect them to be, think again. This past week was a tutorial in how to backstab, lie, deceive, and wheedle to get what you want. In this instance, the object of most everyone's desire is a cosmetics company called Beauty of Nature. Victor Newman lost his prized toy and has been a hellfire devil ever since to get it back.

Could Genevieve have known what she was getting into when she impulsively bid and won Beauty of Nature? I seriously doubt it. While she'd shown some business acumen when she landed a marketing job at Jabot, Genevieve has proven that amid the business sharks in Genoa City, she's a guppy. First, there was the chicanery in Tokyo, the way Victor baited her into a trap, which might have landed her in prison. Only Cane's intervention saved her butt.

Then Genevieve struggled to find a CEO for the company, finally cajoling Victoria to take the reins. But rather than heed Victoria's advice -- "stay away from Victor, he cannot be trusted" -- Genevieve has continued to dance with the devil. The irony, of course, is that Genevieve thinks she's in control. She thinks that she can play Tucker off Victor and Victoria, while luring Jack back into a marriage. Is she really that nave? I had more respect for her when she declared that she would run Beauty of Nature herself and take on the rest. At least she was showing some spunk.

But now it seems that Genevieve is not a player at all; she's being played. Everyone seems to know how to read her, as if she's an open book. When she overheard Jack confiding in Nikki that he was lying to Genevieve in order to get the company, it must have been worse than a slap in the face. Considering Genevieve's fragile psyche, her mangled self-image thanks to years of being married to Colin, she could be on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown.

Or maybe a breakout? Genevieve might be more dangerous than ever once she realizes that each and every person who wants the company is abusing her. She might choose to retaliate. She could trap Victor in a wine cellar and throw away the key, or push Jack's wheelchair to the top to the stairs and threaten to release the brake! After all, Genevieve's first action when she appeared on the scene was arranging for Ethan (Cane) to fake his death by letting Caleb die in his place? Didn't she reveal herself to be slightly deadly and potentially dangerous with that incident? I would not be messing with Genevieve over a business deal if she may respond with homicidal rage.

Could there be a more petulant child than Victor Newman? He sounded like a spoiled brat when he told Nikki about his need to get Beauty of Nature back! Seriously, is one piece of the entire Newman Enterprises corporation worth all this sturm und drang? Of course, for Herr Newman, Germanic stress and strain comes naturally. He can't help himself.

On one hand, I can see why Victor is so determined to get the company back. He never meant to lose it in the first place. Had he not been in prison -- taking the rap for Nikki having murdered Diane Jenkins -- Adam would never have been able to push the motion to sell past the board. But Victor miscalculated, and when Beauty of Nature hit the market, Newman Enterprises lost one of the jewels of the crown. Tough toenails! That's life in the big city, Vic. You lost.

But being the bully that he is, Victor wants back what he believes is his. Never mind that Victoria built the company from the ground up and is trying to buy it for herself. Victor will not allow his daughter to buy Beauty of Nature, especially since she only has the money to make the purchase because she won her trust fund from him in court. From Vic's point of view, Victoria is spending his 500 million bucks to buy his company!

What do you think is the back-story between Tucker and Genevieve? The powers that be are definitely suggesting that they had a passionate, if brief, romance. And it had to be a long time ago, because it was during the days when wine coolers were cool. That would be the early 1980s... So does that mean Tucker and Genevieve were together before she married Colin? Or was she cheating on Colin with Tucker? Inquiring minds want to know. It could be that Tucker has some information that he might be able to use to manipulate Genevieve.

It would seem that head writer Maria Arena Bell realized that it was ridiculous that Lucy was being isolated from her family in order to give Daisy all the parental rights. It made no sense that Phyllis should be kept away from the baby; she'd raised Lucy for six months while Daisy was in prison. Any judge would recognize that as Lucy's grandmother, Phyllis was not a danger to the child; she's an important part of Lucy's life. Speaking of babies, it sure looks like Chelsea's going to be giving birth very soon. I'm not surprised that Adam has done something heroic, risking his life by going onto the icy lake to pull her from the water, but you know that nobody is going to believe that he really did something so selfless. Adam cannot escape his reputation, although I'm buying into his epiphany. The question is this, though: will it last? Is Adam truly a new man, or is he going to be spurned by someone and turn mean again? Adam almost always responds to rejection by lashing out. It's his pattern. How ironic that Phyllis does the very same thing, but because her lashing out is in the pages of Restless Style, she's forgiven time and time again. I think I'd call that unfair, wouldn't you?

Tucker and Ashley seem to be heading for some rough marital waters. Here's a case where I see both sides of the argument. Neither of them is wrong. Ashley would like to keep from competing with her husband in business, but if he continues going after Beauty of Nature, that's impossible. Meanwhile, Tucker can't understand why Ashley is asking him to change for her. He feels like she's known all along that he's a tenacious businessman and she should accept what he needs to do to win. How can a marriage survive all this drama about who's doing what to whom in the boardroom?

The difficult thing to understand in the entire Beauty of Nature storyline is this: all the players involved already have so much. Do any of them really need Beauty of Nature? Their desperation is out of proportion with the reality of the world around them.

People are struggling to find jobs and enough money to get by, while Jack, Victoria, Tucker, and Victor are ready to throw vast sums of money at Genevieve to buy a cosmetics company. It's hard to relate. Nikki was right when she told Victor that he didn't need Beauty of Nature. Now, whether or not he should let Victoria purchase the company, that's a different story.

By the way, since Newman Enterprises secured this great exclusive deal with Mitsukoshi based on its new cosmetics company, the one Sharon and Nick are creating, why does Victor even want Beauty of Nature again? Shouldn't he just turn Newman Enterprises' attention to the new concern and forget about his old one? And if Victor does get Genevieve to sell Beauty of Nature to him, will he tell Sharon and Nick that their cosmetics company is kaput?

There was a very good scene between Devon and Kay this past week, when she tried to speak with him using sign language. That impressed me and clearly impressed Devon. But the best moment in the talk was when Kay explained to her grandchild that while he has time to mull over whether to forgive her for all the bad things she's done, Kay does not. By alluding to her age, the fact that time is passing her by, Devon finally realized that he needed to mend fences with her before it's too late.

Finally, a few random thoughts:

Harmony is weird. She assumed that Sarge was an addict because she'd seen him at an A.A. meeting. So later, when she met him at the coffeehouse, she poured her heart out about feeling the urge to use. Sarge admitted that he was not in A.A. for himself, but in support of someone else, and Harmony jumped to the conclusion that he'd deceived her. Huh? Are you kidding me? Harmony made assumptions about Sarge, so that mistake was all hers.

Chloe is an idiot. She doesn't think. Kevin had a good talk with Carmine, and they reached an understanding. Chloe then shot off her mouth, and Carmine decided to go back to his plan of revenge. Smart move, Chloe.

Jeffrey is a snake. It's bad enough he won't acknowledge that Chelsea's his kid, but now we find out he's a bigamist, too. Is he nuts? Trust me, Anita will be back and all hell will break loose when she is.

Jack's a fool. He may claim that the bullet didn't affect his brain, but he's making rash, dangerous decisions about his life and business. The stem cell surgery will probably work, but doing Internet research is not the way to determine if you should have an operation. Also, while he's busy making plans for a faux marriage to Genevieve to get Beauty of Nature back, how will he be flying to Las Vegas and celebrating the honeymoon if he's still in a wheelchair? It takes more to consummate a marriage than a handicapped equipped hotel room!

I don't get Nikki. Doesn't she know by now that Victor will never change? Yet she keeps going back to him with the idea that this time will be different. Come on, Nik, get a clue!

Sofia needs to take charge. If she's in love with Neil, they need to get busy in the bedroom. They've done it before, so it's not like he isn't attracted to her. For Sofia to continue to wait around for Neil to make the first move is just ludicrous. They're a couple in need of intimacy -- immediately.So, that's it for this past week. I'm anxious to hear more from you all -- do you like the Two Scoops? Do you agree with me? Do you think I've lost my mind? Write me! Till then, let's take a look at some letters from the mailbox:

• I have watched the soap since it started and now that I am less young and still restless, I find that the connection with the series is stronger than ever. I never get sick of listening to the key characters; I love them all. Somehow I find comfort through the characters that bring out the best and worst in my own reality. Long live The Young and the Restless, the old and the new. Go Victor, Nicholas, Victoria, Abby, Nikki, Mrs. C, Billy, Chance, Ronan, Nina, Jack, Jill, Red...all the Abbotts & Newmans. Come 'down under' and do a little shooting in the streets of Melbourne, Sydney because you have a core base of fans here who would be absolutely thrilled. Take it out of Genoa city and connect with the rest of the world. -- Rosa

• What's the deal with Tucker and Sofia? First I was angry that Tucker apparently was angry with Sofia. He has been her mentor and second father and has had a grave concern for her happiness especially with Neil. Then the two of them were plotting in the hallway. Is this supposed to be about Neil and Harmony? I don't like it and I don't like, and said it before, the way Neil treats Sofia. Tough businesswoman she may be, but Neil is hurting her time and time again and no one but Tucker sees it. Sofia deserves a whole lot better than Neil. I did like the bonding between Tucker and Devon; that had been a long time coming. Devon is still cautious, but this new common ground between the two maybe just what the doctor ordered, so to speak, to heal this father/son relationship and give them a real shot. Of course when Tucker goes off on Neil for his treatment of Sofia all this effort on Devon and Tucker's part in their father/son relationship may be all for nothing. -- Pat

Best,Allison