Family ties are not for the faint of heart

It was blast from the past week in Genoa City as Nick and Sharon recreated scenes from a marriage, Malcolm returned to aid Neil, and Kelly and Ben get an unexpected visit from mommy dearest, who turned out to be a Nikki's drinking buddy. Elsewhere, Phyllis woke up screaming and Dylan had a whole lotta 'splaining to do when his daddy dearest asked cutting questions about the disappearance of Ian Ward and Dylan's skinned knuckles.

I have always been a believer in technology, until the day they invented the smart phone, and that is when I drew the line. Not only did I not want to carry a device that is smarter than I am, I hate being interrupted by the telephone, which always seems to ring at the most inconvenient time, just like it does on the soaps! You know, just when someone is about to overhear something or somebody is about to make a big reveal, the phone rings, the moment is lost, and the secret drags on.

Just look at what happened to poor Nikki. She opened the door, and Ian charged in -- a good reason to have a locking screen door or a peephole. (What good is a fancy highfalutin house if anyone can barge in at will? No wonder Nikki needed a drink, but I digress. ) So how much good did that expensive smart phone do her? Why didn't she have the speed dial working so she could push one button and get help? At the very least, the ranch should have had some kind of panic button installed. Even a life alert alarm -- "I've fallen and I can't get up." -- might have helped deter Ian Ward and speed the police.

But no-o-o-o-o! Ian waltzed in like he owned the place. A phone call from Dylan to Nikki did cause Dylan to check on Nikki and derail Ian's plan, but it did not take a smart phone for that. Any old landline would have sufficed! I have to give kudos to Melody Thomas Scott and Ray Wise. Nikki was as believably frightened as Ian was believably evil. I really felt for Nikki, first as she was terrorized by Ian and then as her barely controlled anger at Victor, for not being with her when she needed him, leaked out. I can sympathize with her feelings. I never saw the point in having an intimate, committed relationship if you didn't intend to be there for each other.

I think Scott is capturing Nikki's decline and fall very well. As Nikki sipped her club soda and licked her lips, it was obvious that she coveted Avery's vodka martini with all the relish of a thirsty vampire. Later, in the best soap tradition, Maureen, Nikki's newfound drinking companion and mother to Kelly and Ben, happened to see Nikki and Victor as they were leaving the Athletic Club. How will Nikki explain to Victor that Maureen knows Nikki as "Sherry?" I have no doubt that Nikki will have a terrific explanation and that she and Maureen will be new BFFs. I expect that they will do a lot of drinking, chatting, and bonding. Maybe attend A.A. meetings by day and drink by night. Nikki might even be the first to learn what really happened to Ben's father.

Despite the fact that Paul hauled Dylan down to the station for questioning, I don't think Dylan will face any charges. I also don't think Ian is dead -- yet. I do expect him to die, and I still expect that Ian will be murdered while Nikki is in an alcoholic blackout with no alibi. I also expect that Nikki will continue to rely on Paul and fight with Victor. If I was a betting person, and I am, I would put a nickel on a separation between the senior Newmans before Thanksgiving. I would put another nickel on Nikki being arrested for Ian's murder. Can't you just see Christine salivating to get Nikki on trial and convicted before Nikki can snag Paul?

I'm glad to see that the henna is gone from Dylan's hair and that it is a more natural-looking brown. His character seems to have made a big emotional change. Frankly, I like calm -- and -- cool -- Dylan better than huff-and-puff-'til-I-knock-you-down Dylan. Perhaps because I like men (and women) who don't sound angry -- even if they are -- or throw stuff or break stuff. If they do any of those things, I always think they are mad at me, and even though they seldom are, my first thought is always that it's my job to make everything better.

But as I said, I'm shallow and selfish, so I resist the urge as much as I can. It takes a lot of energy to deal with drama, so family has priority, and believe me, mine is as much as I can handle! As my brother regaled me recently with tales about hijinks on the job that he retired from after 25 years, I laughed so hard, I had tears in my eyes. I thought his stories would make a dandy sitcom!

Somebody who has not had much to laugh about lately is Neil. How great was it to see Shemar Moore back on the show as Malcolm? Sure, it was stunt casting, but who cares? It was Shemar Moore! Showcasing the brothers' history through those flashbacks was terrific. I don't really mind the extensive flashbacks (as close as soaps get to reruns during the summer months) because I enjoyed reliving the past. It was remarkable to see how the actors and actresses have grown and matured in their roles.

It was wonderful to see Neil and Malcolm have an open and honest conversation in the present while they resolved issues from the past. Malcolm hit just the right notes to get Neil to come to his senses. It was straight, honest talk. I could imagine my brother saying the same things to me, if I were in Neil's shoes. Hopefully, I would be as quick to open my eyes (LOL) and deal with my reality as Neil was.

I had tears in my eyes as the Winters clan bonded. It was very brave of Lily, who touched me with her sincerity, to apologize to Hilary. I figure if I can forgive Hilary for being the vindictive blogger, then I can forgive Lily for being a vindictive bitch, a role that Abby seems to have inherited.

Like I said last time, Abby could have been head cheerleader at the Salem witch trials. Her behavior with both Mariah and Stitch is entitled and over the top. I've no doubt that Abby is going to fall for Stitch, but I'm not getting any chemistry there at all. If the goal is to create a mother -- daughter conflict with Stitch, Abby, and Ashley, then it's not working for me. Abby seems way too immature for Stitch, who, despite his travails, is a trained doctor, not a fluff head like Abby. A conflict between Victoria and Ashley seems far more believable to me.

With Ashley back and a possible separation between Nikki and Victor looming, is it possible that Ashley and Victor might comfort each other again? Victor will certainly want to learn all about Ashley's secret new product. It was very lucky for Ben that he has the perfect qualifications to work for Ashley. I hope to see the same attraction between Ashley and Ben this time around as the first time that Dr. Stitch examined Ashley's sore ankle.

I'm sticking with my guess that Ben did not kill his father, but covered for his mother, played by powerhouse Meredith Baxter -- what a casting coup! I think Victor will find out and try to influence Victoria to choose Ben over Billy, maybe even going so far as to actually change the DNA results. Kelly's bitterness concerning her father's death makes me wonder if she had an unnaturally close relationship to him, which has blinded her to the facts.

What I do know is that Kelly's world is about to come crashing down because Phyllis just woke up screaming. I'm pretty sure that she is going to be on her way back to Genoa City before Victor has time to ask, "Cat got your tongue?" Kelly will be a puddle of nerves, but it remains to be seen whether or not Phyllis would rather break up Jack and Kelly or stop the Newman nuptials before Nick can wed Sharon. The question I have is, "Will the truth about everything finally emerge?"

It's been more than a year since Sharon may or may not have changed the paternity test and about a year since she accidently bumped Phyllis down the stairs. I really don't think I can wait much longer. I've been seesawing back and forth about who I want Summer's father to be. I finally decided that I want it to be Nick. The Summer/Mariah conflict would be awesome, and we would have the next generation of Newmans to intermingle with the next generation of Abbotts. Plus, Kyle and Fenmore could return home to date the eligibles.

Not only that, the process of Nick and Sharon weathering the coming storm -- after all, when Nick proposed and Sharon accepted, Nick promised to stay with Sharon no matter what, and this will definitely be a "no matter what" kind of reveal -- and putting their family back together as Sharon and Mariah settle their differences will make a very good story with an eventual, potentially seven-hankie resolution. I am tingling with anticipation, so I am suspending my disbelief and accepting that Mariah has been infected by SOWAS-Soap Opera Weird Aging Syndrome -- because that is the only way that I can accept how Mariah is behaving -- and being treated by Nick and Sharon -- as though she is 18 or 19 years old (I know because my niece is that age, and she demonstrates a lot of the same traits as Mariah -- except for the difficult, ungrateful, hateful, I'm gonna-steal-your-man behavior).

As we all know, Noah is 24, so Mariah has to be at least 30, but Mariah is not being portrayed as a 30-year-old woman of the world. She is a nave innocent with a very big chip on her shoulder and a daddy fixation that, while understandable, seems oddly jarring when turned on Nick. Mariah's gratitude to Sharon for bailing her out of jail and providing a home, should have trumped Mariah's schoolgirl crush on Nick.

A mature 30-year-old surely would have realized that Nick could never be interested in a woman who is the spitting image of his dead daughter, if only because of the "ick" factor. Going after Nick makes Mariah seem selfish and out of touch with reality -- or maybe that proves she's Sharon's daughter after all! Thank goodness Mariah has made friends with Kevin. I enjoyed the quips, and I'm happy that Kevin has someone besides Chloe to obsess over.

Lauren and Michael have been through a lot of tough times and are still together, but they've never had problems in the bedroom before. I'm betting that Michael has an undiagnosed medical problem, and he will be the next one to end up in Genoa City Memorial. Will it happen sooner or later? I'm betting another nickel on November sweeps. (For my male readers: I caught an announcement the other day that said Viagra and similar drugs caused damage to a vital organ. I didn't pay close attention because it did not affect me! If it affects you, then please act immediately and take care of yourself! )

I am still upbeat about the direction that The Young and Restless seems to be heading. All the stories are interesting to me. I still have my pet peeves, like smart phones that are never smart enough to be close to a cell tower when a character needs to make a phone call and brand new cars that conk out at places where smart phones won't work and/or there are no houses or businesses nearby, even though these characters live in a city.

Another peeve is how often CBS advertises its other shows as part of the script, even if last week the characters talked about Thursday Night Football -- Go Seahawks! The network does plenty of advertising during the 23 minutes allowed for it each hour. During the show, I prefer that the writers advance the plot, not the network's agenda. Last but not least, at the end of summer, the first few minute of each episode is a rerun of the last few minutes of the previous show, but I can cope with that because the acting remains stellar, the plots are thickening rather than sickening, and we are heading toward the fall season and November sweeps.

In closing, I wanted to comment about Billy Miller and wish him luck in his new role as Jason Morgan on General Hospital. I expect that BM will be just as terrific as the recast Jason Morgan as Michelle Stafford has been as Nina Clay. Kelly Sullivan will be a great addition for Y&R. I feel very lucky to be counted as one of the many fans of both Y&R and GH. We get the best of both. We haven't lost any of our favorite actors, even if they did exchange one part for another -- sort of like football teams trading players.

Until we meet next in Genoa City, take care fellow fan addicts, and remember that you don't need meds when you have imaginary friends!

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