To start off, I feel that I must address the elephant in the room: Rey Rosales was suddenly killed off of Y&R this past week because the show decided to fire Jordi Vilasuso. I'm sad to see the actor go -- and it seems that most of Genoa City is sad to see the character go, too! But we'll get to all that in a bit (including why so many characters think they are to blame for his demise). First, let's rewind to the beginning of the week and see what other blame there is to throw around for some of the other drama unfolding around town!
The hot topic at the start of the week was none other than the returned-from-the dead troublemaker, Diane Jenkins. As Jack awaited Kyle's imminent return to Genoa City, Diane had already slithered back into town and was making herself at home in the Grand Phoenix hotel. It was such a bold move to check in to Phyllis' hotel (brilliant, really)! She acted surprised when Phyllis told her Phyllis owned the hotel, but I don't doubt for a second that Diane was making yet another calculated move in her plot to insert herself back into Kyle's (and Jack's) life. And Phyllis had better watch out! If she doesn't stake a claim on Jack's heart soon, Diane is sure to find a way to take her spot in his life.
I am certain that Diane checked in to Phyllis' hotel to assert her dominance and let Phyllis know that she was not afraid of Phyllis. Although most people would shy away from a battle with Phyllis, Diane has never been one to be intimidated by her. Hell, most of the time, she is egging Phyllis into battle (which, to be fair, is not difficult to do)! I have to hand it to Phyllis, though, because even though she is eager to jump into battle with Diane, she is doing her best to not let Diane control the narrative. Phyllis has been completely up-front with Jack regarding every interaction she has had with Diane so far. I think that is very smart of her because it is showing Jack that they are a united front through this and that he can count on her without worrying about what she is up to, too. Keep it up, Phyllis!
Is it wrong that it makes me so happy to see these two sparring again? Seeing Phyllis and Diane together really takes me back to some of my early days of watching Y&R and spurs all sorts of feelings of nostalgia for me. I was so disappointed when Diane was killed off years ago, so I'm thrilled she is back again. I'm not sure I'd feel the same right now about her return if it weren't for Susan Walters and Michelle Stafford having returned to their respective roles, but I am so glad they are both back because those two are killing it in their scenes together already!
I loved that Phyllis was quick to blame Diane for taking advantage of the situation with Jack's granddaughter, Allie, rather than just being straightforward and coming out with the fact that she had faked her death. And I loved that when Jack started to wonder whether Phyllis was believing in Diane's sincerity, she insisted she wasn't buying into it for a minute! I'm glad to see that Phyllis is keeping a close eye on Diane, and I can't wait to see more from these two in the coming weeks!
I am curious to see how Kyle is going to react to the news that his mother is alive. I'm sure there will be some resentment there, but I also wonder if he will be motivated to let her back into his life so that his son, Harrison, can get to know his grandmother. Kyle doesn't just have his own feelings to consider in this situation, and I could absolutely see Diane slyly playing the "grandmother card" to ensure that she has a place in all of their lives.
But enough about Diane because another story took center stage throughout the rest of the week -- and, oh, what a twisted web the writers spun for us! Although Rey's death was a sudden and tragic accident, the writers began to pave the road leading to his demise early in the week as Ashland and Victoria's marriage began to fall apart...
It was incredibly satisfying to see Victoria shock Ashland with the news that everything she'd promised him about running away together was a lie once he had signed away his stake in their company and agreed to an annulment (for the discount price of $500 million -- what a bargain!). Although I'm joking about the price being a bargain, of course, Adam did make a good point that it really isn't as unseemly a price to pay as it sounds. Given that they will retain all the business holdings that Ashland brought with him when Newman Enterprises became Newman Locke (essentially doubling their company's value), it really wasn't a terrible price to have to pay to be rid of him. And, although Victor gave Adam a hard time for offering that much money to Ashland at first, I was glad to see that he ultimately told Adam he was proud of him for finding a way to get Ashland out of their lives permanently. Or so they thought...
But how could they have known that Ashland would be saving Victoria's life by the end of the week, right?! I've felt for a while now that Ashland truly did fall in love with Victoria, and, although it wasn't his plan to fall for her when he targeted Newman Enterprises, I do think he is sincere in his devotion to her now. It was great to finally hear him admit to her that he had been faking his cancer when they first started seeing each other! Just like Victoria, I needed to hear him say those words to her! And it just got better as Victoria stood firm in pushing him away and told him they had no future together (even though you could tell she was clearly conflicted about her true feelings for him and was struggling not to give in to his pleadings that they try to make their marriage work).
It's too bad that Victoria's victory was cut short by tragedy so quickly, though. It would have been nice to see her revel in having one-upped Ashland for a change, after all the months he has done the same behind her back. Sure, he is apologetic now and wants to commit to their marriage, but I am sure that when he set his plot in motion initially, he was quite pleased with himself for besting her by getting her to agree to merge their companies.
But, alas, Victoria ran out on Ashland, only to run right into Rey -- literally! It remains to be seen whether Victoria being on her cell phone while driving (and crying) in the foggy weather had anything to do with why the car accident occurred. I am curious to see how the writers handle this further -- or if they do at all! Rey's sudden death certainly felt like a contrived plot device to usher Jordi Vilasuso out of the show when his contract reached an "out" that they could utilize (even though he had just signed a new three-year deal recently, and they seemingly had larger plans for him).
I honestly can't say I am too surprised by the show's decision to write the character off the canvas, even if I am disappointed that they did. Rey and Sharon had become a bit of a bore, and I wasn't too excited about the storyline direction they were seemingly going to take him in, which was an affair with Chelsea. After all that Rey has been through in his past relationships, I just wasn't sure I would buy it if his flirtations with Chelsea went further into an actual affair with her.
Plus, the writers need a storyline for Nick, and if we're being honest, he and Sharon are a Y&R "supercouple" that are destined to find their way back to one another (much like Nikki and Victor have over the years, despite their other romances). Now that Sharon and Nick are both single again, I am sure it is only a matter of time before these two find their way back to each other (after she has finished grieving the loss of Rey, of course).
In the aftermath of Rey's death, Connor, Chelsea, Victoria, and Ashland all took some self-imposed blame over his death for one reason or the other. So, let's play The Blame Game, shall we?! The first culprits on my list of who to blame for Rey's sudden death are, naturally, the writers and producers of the show! I am sure that Y&R could have found something more for his character to do (a police-centric storyline with Chance, perhaps?), but it seems like they just decided to cut their losses and change course instead. And I'm not totally mad about it. Even though I will miss the actor, Rey wasn't one of my favorite characters, and the writers have given us some great scenes in the fallout of his death.
So, let's give the writers a break now and talk about Connor next. I really felt bad for Chelsea and Adam's son when they had to break the news to him that Rey had died. Connor wondered whether Rey might still be alive if he hadn't driven back to the ranch to get the hockey tickets for the game they were supposed to see in Chicago that night. Those scenes were heart-wrenching, but, of course, Connor is not to blame for Rey's death. However, it also isn't wrong to say that Rey wouldn't have been on the road that night if it weren't for his plans with Connor (just sayin'). Regardless, though, I feel like Adam and Chelsea handled the conversation with Connor well, and it was good that they were seemingly able to convince him that Rey's death was just an accident and nothing that he should feel guilty about.
But what about Chelsea? Is she to blame more than anyone else? Sure, she wasn't on the road that night and had no hand in the actual accident, but Rey wouldn't have been out getting those hockey tickets if she hadn't set the plans for that night in motion. Despite what Chelsea told Sharon, I don't believe for a second that she didn't have ulterior motives regarding her night out with Connor and Rey. She claimed she wouldn't have tried to take Rey away from Sharon, but it always felt like that was her angle whenever she was alone with Rey (or fantasizing about making out with him).
If Chelsea had seen an opening to make a move on Rey that night, I 100% believe that she would have taken advantage of it. So, I think Chelsea is right to feel some guilt -- and is maybe even due part of the blame, for the way she was starting to pursue Rey. Had she not been so insistent on Connor and Rey spending time together and bonding (which was likely so that she could do some of her own "bonding" with Rey) then Rey might still be alive.
Like I pointed out, though, Chelsea wasn't on the road that night, which means that any blame pointed toward her boils down to a lot of "what-ifs." So, let's move this blame game on over to the other two drivers that were on the road that night with Rey: Ashland and Victoria. At first glance, it might be easy to absolve Ashland from any blame, since he was following behind Victoria when the accident occurred and couldn't have physically caused the fatal accident. But I haven't forgotten that we didn't actually see Rey's death on-screen, and we only have Ashland's word (which isn't worth much) that he couldn't do anything more to help Rey.
Who knows what really might have happened between Rey and Ashland, though? Ashland claims that he would have tried to save Rey if there had been an opportunity to do so, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time Ashland left someone to die in a car crash for his own personal gain. However, I don't really know what Ashland would gain from intentionally letting Rey die. Perhaps he was so focused on Victoria that he didn't really put much effort into helping Rey? Or maybe he thought he could gain more sympathy from Victoria and use her guilt over Rey's death to bond them in an effort to try to win her back? It's hard to say for sure, but I am curious to see if we ever learn whether something more went on between those two in Rey's last moments. Could Ashland potentially have a new secret that he's keeping now? We all know how much he loves his secrets!
If any sort of blame comes to fruition on the show, though, I think it will involve Victoria. As I mentioned earlier, we don't know yet if her attention was too divided between her driving and her emotional phone call with Nikki. Could Rey have had to swerve because Victoria crossed over the lines in the road? It was a very foggy night, so it is not unreasonable to think that Victoria might have been unintentionally reckless on the road. But the same could be said of Rey -- perhaps he couldn't see the road in front of him very clearly, and that was why he swerved into Victoria's lane. We may never get the answers we want, but Victoria certainly is putting enough blame on herself that it does cast some doubt on her innocence.
In all honesty, I don't think anyone is truly to blame for Rey's death. That is not always a very satisfying answer on a soap opera, but it is also not a satisfying answer in real life when these tragic accidents occur. When these things happen, we are often left wondering why and looking for others to blame so that we can try to make some sense out of it all. In a way, it is almost refreshing to see a character die in this manner rather than in typical soap fashion (like murder plots, faked deaths, etc.).
The ramifications of Rey's death certainly grounded the show in a stark reality this past week. I certainly got a bit emotional and needed to grab the tissues when Sharon learned about Rey's death. Did any of you have any moments like that while watching this week? The show hasn't gotten to me like that in a while, so I really have to hand it to the writers for the way they have handled Rey's death so far. It has been an important reminder to us all that life is fragile and can be cut short in an instant. We should always try to cherish the time we have with the ones that are nearest and dearest to us because life is often too short, and we never know when the end will come for any of us.
As much as I hate to say goodbye on that somber note, that's all I've got for this week, folks! Well, actually, I do want to give a special shout-out to Jordi Vilasuso before I wrap up -- you and your character will be missed, and it was a pleasure having you on our screens! I'm sure that all of us Y&R fans are wishing him the best of luck as he moves on from Y&R and on to greener pastures.
Until next time, I'm looking forward to hearing what you all think about the all-too-real drama that unfolded this week in Genoa City.
See you in the comments,
Vance
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