Dear readers, The title for my The Young and the Restless Two Scoops is from an old classic movie. If you have ever seen A Few Good Men, you know that iconic line. Tom Cruise's character says, "I want the truth!" and Jack Nicholson's character growls at him, "You can't handle the truth!" Some people on The Young and the Restless may be saying this line very soon.
In Genoa City, we have seen a repeat of that. Billy and Sally say they want the truth from Chelsea and Adam, but do they really? Can either of their relationships handle the truth? Chelsea couldn't take the guilt anymore and finally admitted to Billy that she'd betrayed him. Sally is begging Adam to do the same, but Adam is holding fast to the lie and bobbing and weaving all over the place to avoid answering her questions.
How will this all shake out? Chelsea found the strength to admit what she had done, but Adam made the usual Adam choice: he looked directly into Sally's eyes, lied, and denied. But the previews for next week show a drunken Billy arriving at Adam's doorstep to confront him—with Sally in the background, so Monday will indeed be "Must See TV!"
After hearing the news, Billy went to the park and let out a Lion King-like roar into the void, overcome with pain and heartache. He was so gentle and tender with Chelsea, but as soon as he was out of her earshot, the pain exploded into the air with that heartbreaking scream.
Will Billy and Sally ultimately understand the fear and pressure that prompted Adam and Chelsea to turn to each other for comfort, or will it blow up two couples? The latter.
As much as Adam loves Sally, and Chelsea loves Billy, they are still drawn to one another, and they partner in trying to ensure their beloved Connor is healthy and whole. They will always be connected. Will Billy and Sally be able to live with the fact that they cheated but also still need to be co-parents?
Instead, I suspect that Chelsea and Adam will decide to try to reunite, sparked by Connor's happiness while they were playing football together in the park. Seeing their son happy is the most important thing to them, and I can envision them making the choice to leave their respective partners to try to reunite their family. But it hasn't worked before; will it work now?
Would it be feasible for Chelsea to work things out with Billy? Billy runs paranoid as it is, so I suspect his level of scrutiny would not be something the fragile Chelsea could handle. Every time she left the house, Billy would be in inner turmoil, wondering if Chelsea was going to be with Adam. Sally trusted Adam when he looked her in the eyes and swore he hadn't slept with Chelsea, so when Sally discovers that Adam lied to her face, I doubt she will give him the chance to try again. Sally does not suffer fools gladly, and I suspect she will hightail it back to her old apartment if it's still open. If not, maybe Billy will offer her Kyle's room at the Abbotts' house, since Kyle's moving, anyway.
Sometimes, Billy is all swagger and confident, but when he feels challenged or is not given his due, he becomes aggressive and paranoid.
Jason Thompson has been playing Billy's edginess, bravado, and paranoia with perfection. I do miss Billy's levity, however. I miss the fun-loving side of Billy. We haven't seen that much lately, but if the carousel spins, as it might when Billy and Sally have their revenge fling, maybe the two of them can have FUN.
Billy's interactions with Chelsea and Lily have been more intense than usual. He feels insecure and has been unable to control situations in his relationships at work and at home. Billy has always tried to prove himself worthy and often trips himself up before arriving at his desired destination.
Rather than compromise with Lily at work and be the business partner he hoped for, he kicked her to the curb. We know that Lily planned to double-cross him, but he only suspects it. This decision will play right into Victor and Nikki's plans. Nikki slyly talked to Lily about Katherine to try to coax out Lily's thoughts, and Nikki heard what she needed to: that Lily was loyal to Katherine's vision of her company.
When Nikki takes over at (Abbott-) Chancellor (and we know she will; Victor always gets his way!), do you think they will make room for Chance, who seems to have a curse for landing in uncomfortable situations?
Billy ran into Chance, and the two had drinks. Billy informed Chance about his cockamamie idea to fire Lily. Chance reminded him that Jill wouldn't like it because she had hand-picked Lily. Billy said he would deal with Jill later. Summer asked where Billy was going in such a hurry, and Chance said, "To prove every negative thing that everyone says about him is true." What a hilarious line!
Opinion: Connor Floyd deserves a better storyline for his alter ego, Chance. He's handsome, he's talented, and Chance is a good guy. When Chance was in the GCPD, I thought, "Oh, they are making him into the new Paul Williams, the all-around good guy and hero cop." But then he quit and went to work in the corporate world, just like they had Dr. Nate quit and go to work in the corporate world. However, eliminating the hospital and the GCPD characters from the show means that most storylines are about corporate intrigue and little else. The show had more depth when not everyone in town worked for the same three companies.
Summer and Kyle do not want to reunite their family, but they attempted to come to terms on custody. After their heart-to-heart talk, Summer realizes that Kyle isn't willingly partnering with Audra. Kyle doesn't dare share that Victor is forcing him to work with Audra because Victor wants to keep his role as silent partner in Glissade a secret, although it now seems like half the town knows for sure or at least suspects.
I am happy to see Kyle and Summer behaving more civilly to one another. I am not a fan of people screaming at each other in soaps or in real life. I was a supporter of Kyle and Summer when they first got together, and it still makes me sad that they ended the way they did. If only Summer's crazy mother hadn't framed Kyle's crazy mother for murder... What are the odds that two crazy kids would fall in love, and both had mothers who faked their own deaths? I mean, what are the odds? Well, actually, in Genoa City, pretty high.
Kyle is poised to get together with Claire, and Summer is involved with Chance, so there is no plan to reunite them. However, a year down the road, they might find their way back together. Like around a sweeps time. When Summer and Phyllis talked this week about Summer's custody case, Phyllis asked point-blank if Summer was sure she wasn't just jealous of Audra, and Summer tensed up and denied it. But there is something to that. Summer was deeply in love with Kyle for years, and when he ended their marriage, she begged him to stay. She wasn't the one who wanted to end things. It's not such a stretch to think she would be hurt when he chose to move on.
In one of the funniest scenes of the week, Phyllis fiercely warned Victor not to go and put Summer in the middle of any of his grand master plans or schemes because he would have to go through her. Victor laughed in her face. I love Phyllis' fierceness in the way she protects her cubs like a lioness. I love her fire. I really want the writers to give Phyllis a new, real, grown-up love interest instead of having her pine away after Danny.
Phyllis deserves to have a storyline of her own instead of just giving advice to her kids in the coffeehouse. Give her a high-power job and a real man who can keep up with her. Doesn't Jeremy Stark have a twin brother? Seeing Michelle Stafford back on-screen with James Hyde would be divine.
Claire has inadvertently become Kyle's BFF and house-hunting partner. Why? Claire is always there, loves his kid, and has no past baggage weighing down her opinion of him. Summer has been so focused on Audra that she has lightened up on hating Claire, but if Claire and Kyle get involved, all bets are off.
I would bet my money that Kyle's new house will have a nanny flat, and he will ask Claire to be a live-in caregiver for Harrison. This will undoubtedly lead to many awkward moments where Kyle accidentally walks in on Claire in her PJs, or she walks in on him in the shower, etc. I can feel it coming. However, in Friday's previews, Victor tells Kyle to fire Claire and find a new nanny so she can work with Nikki again. My prediction may be wrong. It's happened before. Claire has no idea how manipulative her new grandfather can be yet.
Readers, I understand that Victor hates Jack. But in truth, Jack's over-the-top actions were what got Nikki's attention and caused her to sober up and go to rehab. I wouldn't recommend it as a usual course of action, but it might have saved Nikki's life in this one instance.
Despite that, Victor is laser-focused on taking down Jabot and Jack. But he added in taking down Jack's brother, Billy, the father to some of his grandkids, just for kicks.
Nikki doesn't usually go along with Victor's hostile takeovers, but because this one is taking over her late BFF Katherine's company, she is a willing and active participant. Is she equipped to head up a major corporation? On paper, not really. She didn't go to business school or any school. She was a stripper. But she has spent all these years married to Victor and working in his companies, so his business acumen rubbed off.
But Nikki is a 68-year-old woman battling MS and struggling with her sobriety. Is she ready to handle the mental and physical pressure that this job will surely cause her? I am not convinced. Maybe Lily will end up with Chancellor, after all. Maybe Claire Newman will be her assistant?
Yes, I said Claire Newman. She has decided to take the family name. I am curious about how Cole really feels about Claire taking the Newman name and not his. Where is Cole, anyway? Then again, the Howard name has some serious baggage attached to it.
Meanwhile, Alan came to visit Traci at the Abbott household. Traci had to remind him that he'd been there for a visit before. Readers, is it just me, or do you think Alan is really his evil twin, Martin? I have never been convinced that it was Martin who died that fateful night, and every now and then, there is a teeny hint that something isn't quite right with Alan.
First, Traci Abbott has never been lucky in love. I have been so happy to finally see her happy until I started getting this sinking feeling that it's not what it appears to be. So, if my guess is accurate, what does that mean for Ashley's recovery? Is she really getting better, or is faux Alan giving false reports on her condition? Belle may show up at the Abbott house in full Scarlett O'Hara garb any day now. You can just never tell in Genoa City.
Smilin' Jack Abbott has always been my favorite man in Genoa City. He's the guy who deserves to win more often than he does. Victor and Jack have one thing in common—their deep and abiding love for their families and their willingness to do anything to protect them. But Jack isn't as ruthless as Victor, nor as conniving. Jack can hold his own in a corporate battle, but he's not sitting home at night, trying to see which company he can devour or who he can ruin like Victor is.
I feel sad for Jack lately. He tried to help Nikki but got carried away in the heat of things, and it backfired. He has one sister trying to recover from multiple personality disorder and another who might very well be dating a psychopath. His son despises him, and his wife is always stirring the pot. The man has no peace and no safe haven.
Jack wasn't thrilled with the name change at Abbott-Chancellor because he feared Billy would screw up and sully their reputable name. But when the two meet for drinks, Jack doesn't have the will to bicker with Billy because his heart is too heavy about Kyle and Harrison moving out and the tension between his son and his wife.
One of Jack's closest relationships is with Adam. I only wish Hope had had a fling with Jack, and we could someday find out that Adam actually is Jack's son. I would love that twist if Jack was sick and needed blood or bone marrow, and they found out Adam was a match. Then Adam could leave the sniping Newman family behind and…oh, wait. Kyle would hate having him for a brother, too. When Adam and Kyle ran into each other in the park, Adam told Kyle how lucky he was to have Jack as his father. I am sure Adam wishes Jack was his father.
Sharon is hallucinating about dead, bloody Cameron again. Friday, ghost Cameron was even quoting Shakespeare! That's one highly educated ghost. Is that CBD tea Sharon is always drinking? Sharon has lost touch with reality and drifts into imaginary conversations with a phantom multiple times daily. How long can this go on?
Ghost Cameron suggested to Sharon that perhaps getting back together with Nick would fix everything. He reminded her that the last time she was happy was when Cassie was alive and before she lost Nick to Phyllis. This makes perfect ghost sense. So, she was never happy with Ray? She was never happy with Dylan? She was never happy with Adam?
To be honest, I am ready for this storyline to be over. Sharon was taking over her own company, strong, sound, and whole, and suddenly, she stopped taking her meds because Faith asked her about her life. I understand grief. I am the only person left in my immediate family. In September, it will be 20 years since my father passed away. That's nearly the same number of years Cassie has been gone; she died in 2005. While my grief flares sometimes when I think of my dad, I may tear up and have a good cry, but I don't see ghosts. It's hard for me to understand why the writers chose to have Sharon lose it so completely over a 20-year-old grief.
I do believe that Sharon has been through a more recent trauma, like Faith being kidnapped and Cameron Kirsten coming back to town, but wouldn't a mental health professional like Sharon know to go and seek help when she saw the signs of her trauma impacting her? I hope this doesn't last too long and that they get it resolved.
But, on Friday's previews, it seemed as if Lucy and Faith were in some sort of car crash, so perhaps another tragedy is on the way. Will one or both girls survive, or is Y&R doing some housecleaning and decide to let Daniel see how it feels to lose a child? I am not sure how it will all play out, but I can't imagine it's going to help Sharon's mental stability.
Readers, I like Audra with Nate as a partner more than any other man she has been involved with in Genoa City. He keeps her grounded. He is not intimidated by her ambition, but he's not a pushover, either. The two of them have potential. Since Nate is firmly entrenched at Winters, I don't think there is any chance he would leave for Glissade unless Devon pushes him out the way Billy did Lily.
As for Glissade, does it have any products? At least with Jabot, we saw Ashley in the lab, creating new fragrances. With Glissade, we have yet to see an office. Audra complained to Nate that she wanted a job that was not tied to one of Genoa City's most powerful families so she could have more autonomy and a chance to truly run things. Nate reminded her that she kept accepting jobs from said families, and he gently pointed out that she could say no and not accept their job offers. That was clearly not the answer she was looking for.
I still have my happy daydream where all the undervalued women in Genoa City, like Audra, Phyllis, Sally, and Chloe, start their own female boss firm and destroy the competition, but I doubt that will ever happen.
I have said it before, and I will say it again, daytime needs more female head writers.
Every week, some actor on Y&R makes me say, "Wow." So, here is my highly unofficial list of Performers of the Week
- Jason Thompson as the out-of-control Billy
- Melissa Claire Egan as the wrought-with-guilt Chelsea
- Allison Lanier as the feisty but tender Summer
- Michael Mealor as the angry and determined Kyle, particularly in the scene where he reminded Diane that the reason she needed a second chance was her own doing, that she's the one who faked her own death and didn't raise him, and it's not his or Harrison's responsibility to make up for the choices that she's made in her life—BURN!
- And finally, Redding Munsell as the always adorable Harrison. I can see why everyone is fighting over him.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Harrison find more caterpillars in the park and watch them turn into butterflies before his parents figure things out? Will Chelsea wash the right spoon for Connor's cereal? Will Billy change the company's name to Billy Incorporated just to annoy everyone who doesn't believe in him? Will Sharon talk to ghosts all the way up to Halloween? Will Phyllis ever get a new love interest to take her mind off Danny and the Bug on tour? Will Harrison make a Claire hand puppet and send Summer through the roof? Will Cassidy First become Cassidy Last when Sharon runs it into the ground?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
