Beauty who??

Is anyone beginning to wonder about the battle for Beauty of Nature? Destined to linger as long as the mystery of Diane's murderer, the cosmetic contest continues. Thankfully, there are plenty of other storylines to intrigue, enthrall, and entertain us. Not sure what those stories are? Check out this week's Two Scoops.

At this point, does any fan actually care who walks off with the Beauty of Nature prize? Like the Diane murder mystery, this one just goes on and on ... and on some more. Having said that, however, I have enjoyed some of the twists and turns this tale has taken. For instance, I have been quite entertained by the fact that every time Victor thinks he has Beauty of Nature things all sewn up, another piece of thread unravels and he has to yank out his needle and try to repair the rift in the fabric.

Michael, the sharpest needle in Victor's industrial-size sewing box, let his illustrious leader down, too distracted by his wife's felony arrest to remember to squirt lubricating oil in the cogs of the wheels running Victor's intricate scheme machine. Victor insisted Michael's blunder could cost his company millions and charged his overworked, under-appreciated underling the ultimate price: instant termination. Of course, had Michael shared with Victor the reason he dropped the ball with the SEC, Victor might not have been so quick to send him packing. But the firing is probably perfectly timed, since it frees Michael to pay his wife the kind of attention she clearly needs.

With the SEC's snoopy noses glued to the Beauty of Nature trail, it appears it will be quite some time before anyone legitimately owns this company, so presumably the battle for supremacy will continue among Genevieve, Victor, Tucker, and likely, Jack.

Genevieve, apparently not one to ever rest on her laurels, is already thinking ahead. Since Victor was kind enough to give her a clue with his insinuations about the source of her income, she snatched the tidbit and raced straight to Tucker, hoping to use him to shore up the presumed holes in her financial history. Despite his wife's opposition, Tucker apparently has more of a yen for Beauty of Nature than he does for the beauty he married, and his fixation on business is probably akin to taking one giant step toward the end of his marriage.

But what a colossal hypocrite Tucker is! Not long ago, he was all high and mighty, siding with Victor to catch Adam red-handed in SEC wrongdoing. But the moment Genevieve came to him with her underhanded scheme, he practically broke a kneecap, clambering aboard her deceitful express. Like fan Susan (below) pointed out, Tucker is a billionaire. So he hardly needs a few more coins clattering into his coffers. Obviously, this is just a way to get the toe of his designer shoe in the door until he figures out a way to force his whole body inside.

As for Victor, he prefers to do his dirty work using someone else's hands, and with Michael momentarily on his blacklist, he will be looking for the next best thing in the way of accommodating counselors. I'm guessing he will be turning to Avery. How will the do-gooder fare against an unscrupulous man like Victor? If she agrees to attempt to fill Michael's shoes, will she make Victor better, or will he make her worse? I guess time will tell.

Although Jack might still covet Beauty of Nature, he may have his hands too full to do anything about it. Caught completely off-guard by the extent of excessively aged Kyle's hatred of the latest lady love in his life, Jack will likely be continuing his battle with Victor. But the stakes will be a lot higher than who winds up with a cosmetic company whose stock surely has plummeted as a result of all the ownership upheaval.

I can't say I blame Kyle for his rage. It's difficult to imagine how Jack could be so completely clueless about the effect his love choice would have on his son. Self-defense or not, would any child, no matter their age or intellect, be the slightest bit accepting of their mother's killer? Not that Victor is likely to fare any better at Kyle's hands. For Kyle, it could be all about payback. Does he have any more liking for Victor than Nikki? Victor might want to keep in mind the havoc that followed the last time he let an agenda-laden viper into his nest.

Thankfully for this fan, little trace remains of the venom of that long-ago Adam. Despite the frequent verbal slaps and derision of his fellow residents, Adam's demeanor remains unruffled, the class apparently instilled by his mother's genes rising to the surface again and again. His tenderness and quietly unapologetic support of Chelsea is endearing. For her part, she comes across brave and determined to make the right choice for her son, though it is clearly hurting her heart. Chelsea proved she's a class act and is one of the few parents in Genoa City who actually do put their child's needs before their own. That kind of true unselfishness is almost impossible to find in this tainted town. For most residents, the overriding outlook seems to be: "every man and woman for himself, and, if I help you, what the heck's in it for me?"

More and more, I'm rooting for the coupling of Adam and Chelsea, and though some fans disagree, I definitely felt the heat in their first kiss. Theirs has been a friendship that has built slowly over time, with each being there at the time the other needed a shoulder the most. The two defiantly defend each other, no matter what the Newmans have to say about it, and I absolutely love that. There is a sweetness about these two together that I'm enjoying. Both realize they are flawed and haven't made the best choices, but neither holds it against the other. With Sharon, because of the things he's done, there was always this dark cloud darkening their relationship. That, along with the heavy, wet blanket of Newman and Genoa City unforgiveness, weighed them down until they were finally smashed flat.

When Sharon tried to love the flawed man that was Adam, she was blasted on every side and literally deserted by her alleged loved ones. Yet, by contrast, Nick's relationship with Phyllis was supported by friends and family, no matter how horribly she behaved toward his own family members, as well as others! I get that Nick loves Phyllis, but he has been more supportive of her Lucy loss than he was to his own sister when it was her arms Lucy was being ripped from.

I will grant you that Adam's deeds were worse than Phyllis', but wrong is still wrong. Phyllis' hurtful exploits were and always are treated with an "oh that's just Phyllis" kind of shrug. And she not only gets almost instant forgiveness for all the pain she causes, she also gets everyone stepping all over each other to be the first to drop to their knees and offer their abject apologies, while singing her praises and extolling her Phyllis-knows-best virtues. I don't speak for anyone else, but that is just crap to me!

On a side note, I'm glad Billy and Victoria finally have their wee one to love. Little John, like every babe born in Genoa City, is completely adorable, and hopefully will bring contentment to this family. Their little ship has at last entered calm seas, and hopefully they will be allowed to coast along with happiness for at least a week.

But back to Sharon for a moment. I can't help but feel bad for her, because it does often appear the scribes have it in for this character, and perhaps would like to write her off the canvas in the most despicable way possible. How else to explain playing along the edges of a relationship between Victor and Sharon, a move almost guaranteed to cause near universal disgust and hatred throughout the entire fan base.

Well, Nick is heading into matrimony and on his way to becoming a father again. You already know it will be a son because, after all, in this weird competition the scribes seem intent on maintaining between Sharon and Phyllis, a boy would somehow even the score.

I've read comments here and there that those in the know now paint Nick and Sharon's marriage as little more than a passing fancy between children, while Nick and Phyllis' relationship is the mature cat's meow. And I'm sure most are aware of the upcoming storyline supposedly revisiting Phyllis' long-ago crimes. So I guess you better get out your box of Puffs, or your barf bags, depending on where your character preferences lie. Because it's either going to be a sob-fest where you will cry your eyeballs out in sympathy for poor, pregnant Phyllis being picked on by mean and crazy Ricky. Or, you will find yourself hurling repeatedly and uncontrollably into your paper bags as the scribes whitewash all Phyllis' dirt away.

Clearly, I'm not a Phyllis fan. Most fans have that one character that simply rubs them the wrong way. For some fans, Adam is the man they will always hate, no matter what he does to make up for his past misdeeds. For others, Sharon will ever be the TV face most being hit by old maids from the popcorn bowl. Obviously, Victor has a well-developed base of haters.

For me, that most despicable of characters happens to be Phyllis of the banging body. I have been watching Phyllis since the moment she stepped foot in Genoa City, and am aware of every single one of her deeds, both good and bad. Other fans who have been there with me probably understand why, except for isolated situations, I remain cool to this character.

But, despite my dislike, which is a personal problem, I admit, I'm still happy for Nick and Phyllis fans who have found their particular slice of heaven in the do-over of Nick and Phyllis. There's nothing like the feeling of your favorite soap couple getting their just desserts. May you enjoy it for however long it lasts.

Okay, enough about the bane of my soap-watching experience. It's time to move on to her son. Sometimes I have to smile at the scribes' attention to old stories. Am I the only one who is amused by some of the similarities in this story between Daniel and Daisy? As I remember it, Danny finally decided to try to make a go of things with Phyllis, partly for the sake of baby Daniel. Along the way, Danny discovered that Phyllis was a good mother to Danny, and had even started to fall for her. And then Phyllis' manipulations came to light, and everything fell apart, ending with Danny winning sole custody of Daniel.

That makes me wonder if upon his return from his time away, Daniel will do something similar with Daisy. So far, I've seen nothing to prove she's a bad mom to Lucy, and I'm convinced she does love her. But, Daisy has no clue of the horror she likely loosed when she popped the lid off that Pandora's Box, and made that unsavory little deal with the devil, otherwise known to the rest of the city as Ricky. We've already been told (though the judge never even implied it) that Daniel presumably lost custody because of Lucy's Ricky-engineered disappearance. So you just know that little skeleton is going to tumble out of the closet at the worst possible time. Perhaps only moments before the six-month re-visitation of custody hearing. If that happens, I'm guessing history just may repeat itself.

Speaking of Daisy, I could have reached through the screen and shaken that little thoughtless fool. What possessed her to traipse into Lauren's boutique and start uttering veiled threats against Fen? Really, Daisy? Are you insane? Oh yeah, that's right. She is.

And, I'm sorry, scribes. I guess it's just my day to pick on you. But, are you insane to think we really want to see another round of Lauren versus Sheila's kin? Once upon a time, looong, looong ago, Sheila Brown fell in love with handsome Dr. Scott Granger. Unfortunately, he was in love with Lauren Fenmore. Though both Sheila and Scott are nothing but crumbling bones in a grave, Sheila's legacy of hatred and insanity is alive and thriving quite well in her daughter, Daisy, and possibly, will develop over time in her granddaughter, Lucy. Will this never end?

Neil Winters, whatever is to be done with you? Deep down inside, Neil is not a very nice guy. Oh, don't get me wrong. I admire his fathering skills. He almost always manages to effortlessly strike just the perfect note with Lily and Devon. But, boy, do his skills as a mate leave a bit to be desired.

Again, I've been watching Genoa City things for a long time. I was there when Dru entered Neil's life. I was still there when he acted on inappropriate feelings with his brother's first fiance. I was peeking through my fingers when he emotionally, if not completely physically, crossed the line with Carmen Mesta while married to Dru. Among other things, I saw him love and leave Dru's sister, Olivia, after one night of lust, and cheat on then-fiance, Karen, with Harmony's sister.

And currently he's married to his brother's second ex-fiance, a woman he doesn't love and clearly doesn't want, though he apparently once wanted her so much he ruined his relationship a second time with his brother. Now, he's lusting after Harmony. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

As for Harmony, the circumstances with Neil are unfortunate, because I do see some chemistry between them. However, I've said it before, but I'll repeat myself. It would be nice if Harmony would tone down the slang talk just a "skosh" as some would say. It sounds extremely strange coming out of the mouth of someone of her age. We get it. She and Neil come from different places. Please move on.

Lastly, moving on is something Sofia ought to seriously think about. A woman knows if a man is interested or not, and while I understand Sofia wants them to be a little happy family of three, how long will she hold out hope that Neil will somehow magically fall in love with her? Considering the circumstances, there may be no happily-ever-after for these two. Can Neil ever truly be happy with Sofia, knowing how he betrayed his brother?

Well, it's time for me to return to my real life now. Until my return, as usual, I offer for your reading pleasure some thoughts from several of your fellow soapies. Enjoy, and keep your opinions flying our way, fans!

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I've said this before and God strike me down, the writers went and did it again. Nick and Phyllis - back together because she's pregnant. Don't those women know about birth control for God's sakes? I'm not a Phyllis fan anyway, and her manipulative ways, never responsible for hurting anyone and this constant whining drives me nuts. But what drives me more nuts is this constant re-shuffle of the same characters. I was rather excited to see Nick hook up with Avery and thought it was about time for new blood, then they just pulled that ole rug out and re-did the old. - Kathy

Am I the only person who has little sympathy for Phyllis? Turnabout is fair play and yes Phyllis is worried about Lucy (and of course she accepts no blame - it's all Avery). The story of a child being bounced around is not easy to watch but Lucy is not the only one to suffer the fallout for what Phyllis set in motion - it has just begun and Lauren's life is already a mess. I don't like the plotline of this character (Phyllis) but watching Nick stand there and support her is just as annoying. Give Nick some backbone. Many of the characters are becoming flat and are reliving the same kind of stories over and over. To save the soap genre the fans need the best the company can give. I love the show but I think I would probably just want to hang out at Katherine's. - P. Flanagan

I don't buy the past romance between Genevieve and Tucker. Genevieve specifically told Jack when they were first becoming intimate that she had gotten married extremely young and had never been with anyone besides Colin. When did she have this romance with Tucker? Is there any woman he hasn't been with? The past romance with Harmony was more than a stretch in itself. And then for him to agree to lying to the Feds for a cut of Beauty of Nature. The man is a billionaire. How much more money does he need? This guy is a loser. - Susan

I love Victor and his power but I was really upset with what he has done to his daughter and how he pulls Nikki's strings. Victor throws his weight around and points his finger at Billy, but Billy and Adam together are not as vindictive as the Mustache. I was also mad at Jack. Jack finally got back Jabot, and when he does, he ramps up after another cosmetics company. Jack should have hooked up with Avery. They would have been perfect and he would have been the bridge between the two sisters. Instead Jack goes back into the old sea and hooks up with Nikki. I see why, because Kyle is coming back and it gives him a chance to chew some scenery with his mother's killer. Y&R has been #1 for many years, and they get that they need to age these kids a lot faster to keep the core families interesting, and they like to write for the younger crowd during the summer time. - Chunkles