Stuck in the middle

Faith is smack-dab in the middle of a family slap down, caught in a triangle between Nick and Victor. Noah, Tessa, Devon, and Mariah are more square than triangle -- and Hilary makes it a pentagon. Take the shape of Genoa City's geometry in this week's Two Scoops.

I got a really late start on this week's column because I've been glued to the news about Hurricane Harvey, currently heaping wind and water on southeast Texas. Harvey is predicted to continue the deluge for several days. I was born in Houston, and my cousin Debbie still lives there. I pray for the safety of the millions who are in the path of this devastating storm, and I know that all my readers are doing the same.

It was a short, slow week on The Young and the Restless, pretty much what we expect at the end of the summer. The featured stories are predictable, and most of the romances are triangles whose ho-hum outcomes are easily guessed. I suspect they are saving the meat for November Sweeps.

Poor Faith is back in the middle again, but this time, she's the bone of contention between Nick and Victor instead of Nick and Sharon. No wonder Faith has issues. I'm surprised that Faith doesn't need a shrink appointment every morning, just so she can get through the day after all the turmoil and trauma she has experienced in her short life. Besides Sharon, I can think of four other women that Nick has married or been engaged to marry. That's five women in ten years, which is a lot to process for a young child like Faith.

Victor got the jump on Nick by taking a ride to see Faith at camp. Nick should have probably done that himself, instead of springing his new living arrangements on Faith like he did. I think Victor was wrong to tell Faith his side of the story before Nick did, but there is no denying the bond between Victor and Faith, which hopefully will help heal the battling Newman clan so that they can once again become the poster family for dysfunctional families everywhere. I do wonder how Victor could kick Nick off the ranch, knowing how much it would hurt Faith, even if Victor's target was Nick. I think Nick's statement to Chelsea, that to Victor love is control, was insightful.

While Nick and Victor vie for Faith's love and family loyalty, there are lots more triangles in Genoa City's geometry. Cane, Lily, and Jordan are on the horizon as a triangle. Ditto Hilary, Lily, and Jordan, making it a square dance, which might be fun if we didn't already know the outcome, but we do. Jordan is the spanner in the works, but Lily and Cane will reclaim their love and their family and, hopefully, Cane's good guy reputation. Hilary may think she wants Jordan, but it's Devon that she loves, and they will reunite as soon as Tessa and Mariah (also a triangle with either Devon or Noah) give in to their passion for each other. Jordan is the spare guy you invite to dinner so you have an even number. He has no family ties in GC, so once he's been through the eligible women in town, he'll be gone just like Dr. Stitch!

Juliet is pining for Cane, and even though she can count on him to be there through their baby's health crisis, Cane will go running back to Lily as soon as she whistles, so Juliet should prepare herself for the inevitable. Neil gave Cane good advice when he told him to man up and take responsibility. I hope Cane listens and stops blaming Victoria and trying to sabotage Brash & Sassy because he was jealous and envious of Billy. Cane should admit he was wrong and move on. He made a lot of mistakes -- sleeping with Juliet, lying to Victoria, lying to Lily, continuing to lie, etc. -- so it's time to stop justifying and making excuses and instead make amends.

Phyllis is very worried about Victoria and Billy, and she has good reason. Victoria has not given up on Billy, and I expect her to snatch him back very soon. I do wonder what is going on with Victoria's health and why the doctor can't find anything wrong with her. Victoria hasn't had much to do lately, so a near-death encounter could give her some scenery-chewing material. I wouldn't mind that. I would like to see Victoria as something other than a giddy schoolgirl crushing on Billy.

I wonder what happened to the Phyllis that descended on Sharon's wedding to Nick like an avenging fury. She seems to have lost her sharp tongue and disappeared. Phyllis has been conniving behind Billy's back with both Jack and Ben, so maybe she's not as much of a milquetoast as she seems at the moment. I never thought I would say this, but Billy and Phyllis are boring me! They were much more fun when they were sneaking around at the Chancellor mansion. Now they just seem ordinary, or maybe I'm just getting jaded.

Jack, Nikki, and Victor are reprising their triangle from 20 years ago. Nikki eventually chose Victor, and I'm sure she will again. At least Jack has snapped back into a wittier version of himself instead of the doormat he's been for the last few years. He's got a little bite with his bark, and I'm happy to see that Jack has an opponent other that Victor. Jack and Billy make good sparring partners, and I think we can already see that Billy is willing to use anyone or anything to get revenge on Jack, even Jack's own mother.

What is it with revenge, and why don't people ever learn that it never turns out to feel as good as it needs to, to be worthwhile, and most of the time, at least on soaps, it backfires anyway. Just look what happened to Adam when Victor tried for revenge. Just like romantic triangles that have four corners, revenge is a staple of soap writing, along with secrets, lies, and SORASed children.

I do like Scott's new shaved look, and I hope a haircut is also in the works. His rom-com romance with Abby continues, even though neither is aware of it yet, though I'm sure Victor had it in mind when he threw Abby and Scott together. I have no doubt that Zack is up to his eyeballs in the sex trafficking business and is using his app and Abby to facilitate it. Sharon is going to continue her amateur sleuthing, and at some point, I would hazard a guess that she and Abby will end up in the clutches of the bad guys and need some serious rescuing. Scott will rush in and save Abby from certain death or worse, and they will discover their feelings for each other, just like Abby did with Stitch, whom she disliked at first sight.

When I watched Tessa confront that huge bad guy, armed with only an attitude and a cell phone, I wondered why women on TV shows always rush off into danger without calling the police or getting help from friends. In real life, I'm pretty sure that a guy like that would have stabbed Tessa in the gut and left her to bleed out. I don't think that as a general rule woman are so emotional that common sense and self-preservation go out the window in a crisis, as it seemed to do with Tessa.

I did like the way that Chelsea handled Nick and insisted on paying her half of the bills. I think that's the way it ought to be. To have equality, IMO, women have to be willing to contribute equally in every aspect of life, so it was good to hear Chelsea remind us of how empowering it is to do our fair share.

This and That: I'm still having a hard time accepting Lily as a mother of teenagers who look old enough to be college grads. Reed and Mattie seem like a couple forced into a traditional Romeo/Juliet mold that really doesn't fit. I'm not invested in these kids, but maybe they will grow on me.

Remember that saying, "Everything old is new again." On Y&R at the moment, it's more like everything old is still old. There's no mystery, very little romance, no couples to invest in because we know that the current alliances are all temporary liaisons that will fall apart when the power couples reunite. Even the dialogue has not been as crisp as usual. The writing is decidedly dull as the writing team transitions, so I will be optimistic and hope that the fall will bring originality and wit along with a new, clever group of writers.

As always, I welcome feedback about this column in the section provided below. I love reading and responding to your comments. Thank you for your interest in this week's Two Scoops. Join me in two weeks for another edition. Meanwhile, if you like tweeting, follow me in the Twitterverse @BoonesTudes!

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