Finding a new Victor in the Land of the Lost

Did it really take Victor falling off a horse, wandering the nation, and landing in the lost city of Los Angeles to find himself? Well, not really. He's still lost. How long will the new Victor stick around -- and what about the crazy bat lady Sharon, and the rest of Genoa City? It's time for a search party (unless you want the old versions to stay hidden) in this week's Two Scoops.

Can you be in love with one half of a storyline while hating the other? That's the problem I have. I'm in agony over all the nonsense with Sharon's megalomania, her power grab, but I think Victor's half of the plot in Los Angeles is fantastic. He may be lost in Los Angeles, but we've found another variation of Victor. I like this one. This storyline is also giving Genevieve and Billy something very different to play -- concerned, generous, fearful, torn, guilty -- that's great to watch.

Nikki is a mess. Thankfully, she has not returned to the booze, but she really blew it with Jack. What was she thinking? Was she really so secure in her instant marriage to Jack -- did it even last 48 hours? -- to expect him to be okay with her running off to find Victor? Even if Jack was psychologically the most secure guy in the world, it wasn't just anyone that Nikki went after. It was Victor -- Jack's mortal enemy. How did Nikki expect Jack to react? She didn't even give Jack a honeymoon!

To me, this entire storyline -- Nikki marrying Jack while really still knowing her heart belonged to Victor -- was all about Nikki wanting her cake and eating it, too. She wanted a happy, comfortable, and supportive relationship with Jack, but also to still remain Victor's main woman.

Nikki is one of those characters that are great at dishing out advice to her children and friends, but she really has a horrible history of knowing what she's doing. And considering her issues with sobriety, she should have regular talks with a sponsor or -- better yet -- a therapist. Maybe a therapist would explain to her why she submarined her marriage the way she did.

Jack is now hurtling toward disaster like a meteor about to crash into earth. He must be a masochist. Think about it. It took him so long to get Jabot back, then to win Beauty of Nature. Ashley warned him that he was making a fatal mistake by trying to run both companies, and he thanked her for that advice by demoting her and marginalizing her from the company. That was hardly the actions of a loving brother.

But you know what, Ashley was right. And Cane is right, too. Jack cannot run two cosmetic companies at the same time and do a power grab for Newman Enterprises! That's just plain nuts. I think the ghost of John Abbott needs to make a visitation and help Jack find his compass. Jackie's lost his way. He's as lost as Victor is in L.A.

Cane rightfully pointed out that Jack had leveraged both his companies to buy up all the sinking Newman stock. Of course, that's the biggest open secret in Genoa City. Everyone is seizing on the opportunity to buy up the stock, so it would be stunning if Jack were the guy who gets the most shares. The way I see it, Jack's just putting himself in a position where he's going to lose his shirt. Watch, Victor will return, the stock will stabilize, and Jack will have to sell his shares or risk losing Jabot and Beauty of Nature. Victor realizes that Jack is vulnerable and swoops up Beauty of Nature and/or Jabot again. There's no winning formula here for Jack that I see.

Speaking of risk, I also have to wonder why Billy is playing games with his marriage by keeping Victoria in the dark about Victor. What could he be thinking? Could Billy be really desperate for a big Restless Style story? I think his motivation is more base than that. Genevieve was right; Billy wants revenge. He wants to hurt his father-in-law the way Victor has hurt him.

I just can't see how he'll explain any of this to Victoria. Let's say, for the sake of argument, a few months into the future, Victor is lying in a hospital bed, having been diagnosed with some kind of brain tumor that's caused the memory loss. Can't you see it? He has to have life-or-death surgery, which may restore his memories, or he could be left in a vegetative state. Nikki, Nick, Abby, and Victoria are apoplectic! How will Billy justify his decision to delay telling Victoria that her father was in L.A. all that time if that happens?

The revelation that Daisy has been hiding in Fairview was a nice surprise, although it was either that, or she was on the run, or cut up into little pieces and rotting in a dumpster somewhere due to Ricky's knife skills. Considering that there had never been any forensic evidence showing what happened to Daisy -- aside from her scarf (with Daniel's blood from his fist) -- it was highly probable that she was alive. For a change, I was happy to see Daisy. She can serve a few purposes now. She can exonerate Paul by testifying that she saw Ricky's murdering-Rachel tape. And she can also muck up Daniel's romance with Heather. After all, he's still a married man.

Marriage doesn't mean very much in Genoa City nowadays. Phyllis has treated her husband like the biggest schlemiel in the world. What's happened to Nick anyway? He was never such a pushover, such a schmuck. (Sorry, but I'm trying to avoid some other words which might be deemed offensive, involving a lack of manly parts!)

The moment Phyllis told him about this alibi for the night of Tim's murder, that she was having an affair with Ronan, Nick should have marched out of the penthouse and not returned. She's unworthy of having him as a partner. Every step of the way, Phyllis has used the men in her life who have affection for her. She's letting Ronan jeopardize his career, she's implicating Kevin in a felony, she's perjuring herself to her best friend Michael, and she even misled Tim from the get-go. I know hindsight is 20/20, but if Phyllis had just told the truth from the start, Tim would still be alive, Michael would have cut her a deal, Ronan would be able to keep his badge, Kevin would be out of her sphere entirely, and Nick would have some respect for his very flawed wife.

I know I've said this before, but I really am quite mystified by the allegiance all these people are showing to Phyllis. Why? When has she ever stood by these men? Remember when she was blogging about the people in Genoa City or running Restless Style with scandal-filled cover stories, she showed no mercy for anyone. She was ruthless and cold, and rationalized every vicious thing she did by saying, "the public has the right to know." Well, isn't it time for the public to get the real picture of Phyllis?

Many of you have written, and you don't want to see Phyllis punished because you like Michelle Stafford as an actress. Well, I like her, too. But Maria Arena Bell has written this character into a very tight corner. Phyllis has committed a plethora of criminal acts, far beyond running down Christine and Paul with a rental car. I won't go into the litany, but a real prosecutor would have a field day with Phyllis. Michael is proving that he's a complete failure as interim D.A. because he's allowed his personal feelings to get in the way of the case.

Ironically, Christine was being accused of that very same sin when she used a legal loophole to bring charges against Phyllis. But, seriously, should the passage of time change the fact that Phyllis tried to kill two people? Just because it was 18 years ago, that doesn't change her evil intent. And Phyllis compounded that crime many times over by covering it up. At some point, she has to pay for what she did. Maybe the new head writer will figure out the right punishment -- something that will satisfy the justice system but keep Phyllis from doing years in prison.

Getting back to Victor, it's really great to see him out of the business suit, and lost and vulnerable. There are still elements of Victor there that are familiar, like his standing up for Sister Celeste when a guy tried to bully her, his stern warning to Genevieve that she should leave the mission and Sister Celeste alone. Even through that haze, Victor showed himself, and Genevieve was shaking in her Manolo Blahniks.

But I'm waiting for a moment of human kindness from Genevieve. She's in desperate straits and needs money, but I think her concern for Victor's health is real. At what point will Genevieve realize that she has to be a better person, that she has to report back to Nick or Nikki about Victor's critical status? Genevieve could at the very least confide in Sister Celeste that this man is not Christian, a wanderer with memory issues, but Victor Newman.

Which brings up another point: if Victor Newman is known around the world, like a Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet or Donald Trump, how come nobody in this part of L.A. recognizes him? Hasn't anybody there seen a copy of Restless Style magazine? The impression I've gotten is that Victor's been on Time or Newsweek, too. Someone should know that mustache!

In other threads, Paul seems to be on the right track to find out more about Ricky. Heather seems to be on the right track to fall in love with Daniel. Kevin is in deep doo-doo. Adam clearly still has yearnings for Sharon, even though I suspect he really wants to make his marriage to Chelsea succeed.

Tucker's a complete snake. He's using Sharon in the most callow way imaginable and he doesn't care about her feelings at all. Sharon must be so addle-brained that she can't see how he's manipulating her. She's been smarter than this in the past.

So what do you think about this theory? Perhaps Sharon's had some kind of a mental breakdown, one that started before her marriage to Victor. Maybe it was seeing Adam propose to Chelsea that set her over the edge? There has to be a reason to explain how this character has become so twisted, so fast.

Of course, we can thank the dearly departed Maria Arena Bell -- only out the door, not out of this world. This is her debacle. That's it for now. I suspect big doings in the weeks to come, especially since Victor is bound to be brought back home soon enough. That should be fun. Once he gets his memory back, Sharon's going to be in BIG TROUBLE! Till then, let's take a look at some letters from the mailbox, and remember to send your thoughts to me by clicking here.

• I agree with everything that you wrote. I think that Phyllis should pay. She has gotten away with everything. Sharon and Nick belong together. Put Old Phyllis with Jack. She's making Nick begin to look and act old. She acts like and teenager and it makes her look very foolish. -- Lorene

• This writing is highly unrealistic and it is a good thing that MAB was let go. I am just not certain that her replacement will be any better, given what some other readers have noted about Phelps past leadership. I have been cringing every single time MAB does a story that involves mental illness. I am a psychologist and MAB is so ignorant that she doesn't know the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist (she keeps writing things that indicate this very clearly), let alone the fact that there is no such thing as a "nervous breakdown" and people don't have a sudden personality change unless they have had a brain tumor, aneurysm, or a stroke. Sharon isn't psychotic so there is no mental illness diagnosis that would explain her erratic behavior (first shoplifting, then throwing things and tearing down rooms), given that she wasn't erratic before this. Frankly, I don't understand why the writing staff of this show doesn't point out all of the discontinuity and hypocrisy in the storylines, and why somebody doesn't do some kind of consultation regarding the law in Wisconsin, mental illness, etc. to ensure that there is some sort of reality check on these stupid stories. Ronan would not even give his biological mother the time of day, but he is now willing to risk his career for Phyllis? What exactly was Kevin's motivation to help Phyllis, particularly since she refused to be part of his new Internet site at first? Everybody seems to be doing and saying things against type and character. -- Michelle

Best,Allison