Wedding ring blues

A murderous bride was outed and fled her wedding. Crown Prince Nick then tracked her to a remote rendezvous with his father, King Victor. Hear ye, hear ye, the bride is unveiled in this week's Two Scoops.

Wow! It was a pretty exciting week on The Young and the Restless. I thought we would have to wait a month before Nick and Chelsea figured out that Chloe murdered Adam, but such was not the case. In fact, Chloe was well on her way to getting away with killing Adam, but her need to take a trophy and then carelessly losing track of said trophy did her in. Or maybe it was the bad stitching on the hem of Chelsea's dress, which sent Chelsea rifling through drawers in search of a pin, that did Chloe in.

Either way, Chelsea could not deny that the only possible way for Chloe to have Adam's wedding ring was to have pried it from his cold, dead -- or tranquilized -- finger. Poor Chelsea. She's defended Chloe, supported Chloe, and done everything that a friend could do, but sadly, deluded, revenged-driven Chloe responded by killing Adam -- or so it seems. Chloe never liked Adam, even before the accident, so hating Adam for Delia's death was easy for Chloe. In my mind and, as I remember, in the minds of several readers, Billy was equally to blame for the tragedy because he left Delia in the car alone.

Chloe ignored all the facts and focused on Adam as the villain of the piece. After that, nothing except his death could suffice to ease Chloe's misery, no matter how much it hurt Chelsea or Connor. Chloe is not solely to blame. She had a lot of unwitting help from Victor when he enlisted Chloe in his own revenge scheme against Adam. Victor did not intend for Adam to die, but the outcome of his plot was nonetheless Adam's apparent death in a fiery explosion -- which does, of course, leave room for a future resurrection. For now, however, Adam seems to be dead with no recast in the foreseeable future because Justin Hartley is still appearing in Newman family photo displays as Adam.

It has been nice to see Nick using his brainpower to figure out what really happened at the cabin. Instead of stomping around all mad and tight-jawed, he used his noggin to track Chloe and find that dart pistol and wrench. I have to say that if I had been Chloe, I would have tossed that evidence out long ago, and I would have retrieved that tracking device from Connor's toy. I would also have done a better job of safeguarding that ring if I intended to keep it. In fact, I would have had it melted down and reshaped into something that I could wear every day as a reminder that I had taken my revenge. All I can figure is that subconsciously, Chloe wanted to be caught.

Nick has another dilemma on his hands. He's seen Chloe meeting with Victor, and now he must have even more questions about what happened to Adam. I have no doubt that Victor will try to have Chloe spirited away so that his part in her plot is not exposed. I somehow doubt that Nick will allow the Victator to succeed if there is any way that Nick can stop Chloe from escaping the punishment that she so richly deserves. Will Nick be outraged by Darth Victor's involvement and tell all to Scott Grainger when he's interviewed for Victor's biography? If he does, it's going to get very messy for Victor.

Yes, I get it that Chloe is mentally ill, but it doesn't give her the right to murder. Patty's locked up for the rest of her life because she killed someone -- and Chloe should be too. Patty felt threatened and committed an impulsive murder. By contrast, Chloe knows right from wrong, and she's functioning very well. It took an organized mind to premeditate Adam's murder. Chloe's been smart enough to lie skillfully and to cover her tracks. She got a pass the first two times she tried to kill Adam, but now it's time for Chloe to pay the piper. I've enjoyed comic Chloe, but murderous Chloe, not so much.

Kevin will always be there for Chloe, no matter what. For Kevin, denial is more than a river in Egypt. It's an obsession for Chloe that runs straight through his heart and that is not going to change quickly, no matter how much Gloria goads him to move on. I did love Michael's comment to Gloria when she arrived at the wedding and whispered to Kevin that she had left the car running so that he could still escape. "You're a dark cloud of misery on Kevin's big day," said Michael.

Gloria, of course, was crowing, "I told you so," to anyone who would listen when Chloe abruptly terminated the wedding ceremony. She was the only one who was genuinely happy with the turn of events. The rest of the family was appalled and sympathetic to Kevin's obvious heartbreak. Speaking of obvious and obsessions, I've been fixated on Lauren's hair since a reader pointed out the hair extensions, so the first thing I noticed was not her lovely dress but the Veronica Lake hairdo. (In case you don't know the reference, Veronica Lake was an actress long before my time who was famous for wearing her long blonde hair swept over one eye.)

I do think that Y&R has the worst hairdressers and stylists on TV, and I do wish that they would do something about all the split ends, obviously fake extensions, and flyaway, plastered-down hair. I know that the trend for older women on TV is bleached blonde long hair, but I'm not a fan. To me, it looks like messy unkempt straw, so I hope that Ashley, Phyllis, Lauren, and Sharon follow Chelsea's lead and get it cut back to a healthy length -- or at least start using some good shampoo instead of the bargain brand stuff. Better-fitting wigs made out of real hair would also work.

Would Ashley be as attractive to Ravi if she had shorter hair? Is it the long hair that makes her appear so youthful, or is it good genes and exercise? There is no doubt that Ravi is very attractive, and a nice young man, but he is at least 30 years younger than Ashley, so realistically, how long can such an infatuation last. What happens when he's forty and Ashley is seventy? Will the romance last? Not likely, but for now, I can enjoy a story about Ashley the cougar. Men have been dating and marrying women 30 years younger since time began, so why not a woman, especially one who is as strong and beautiful as Ashley is.

In an article elsewhere on the site, Eileen Davison teases us about an upcoming Abbott storyline that will include Ashley's mother. I'm guessing that the truth about Ashley's parentage -- she is not John Abbott's biological daughter -- will emerge. Since Ashley has declared that she will fight Jack to gain control of Jabot, I have no doubt that Jack will fight back with whatever weapons he has, and this is a big one, one that could potentially take away all of Ashley's stake in Jabot. It would also shake up the Abbott clan and put them in contention with each other.

Next up in the "How nave can you be?" department is Cane. It's a good thing that no one is paying attention to how peculiar he's acting because it's very obvious that his behavior is anything but normal whenever he's around Juliet or her name comes up. Cane needs to tell Lily everything, and soon, before Juliet and Lily become besties and Juliet goes Fatal Attraction on him. Even though Juliet told Cane not to worry because she liked Lily and then added, "She's nice, and so am I," I wasn't convinced. No way is Juliet going to let this go.

Cane has only himself to blame. He handled himself very unprofessionally in Japan and proved to be just another dumb lug that let his drinking get out of hand and now has to deal with the consequences of his inappropriate actions. Lily is going to be furious, and I wonder if their marriage can survive yet another infidelity between two people who are supposed to love each other.

Cane is not the only person who has a hard time keeping a secret. Sharon was practically beside herself when she overheard Kevin and Michael making plans for the wedding, and I thought she was going to jump out of her skin when Chloe wandered in for a coffee. Why Nick would choose Sharon as his confidant and partner in crime astounds me. Six months ago, he took Christian from her and blamed her for the Christian/Sully debacle. Now that seems to be behind them, and everything is hunky-dory again. The issue of Christian has been dropped. Both Sharon and Nick seem oblivious to the fact that Christian is in the care of nannies, and as far as Sharon is concerned, it seems like she's forgotten that Sully ever existed at all. I still think it would have been better for Christian if Nick had found some way to share custody with Sharon.

Victoria certainly fixed her issues with Reed in a hurry. All it took was a guitar tutor and an open mic gig to settle down his teenaged angst. Reed did tell Victoria that a lot of his tension went away when she started getting along with Billy again. There are times when it seems like Billy, Victoria, and the kids could become the perfect family again, but then Billy has a conversation with Phyllis, and sparks fly. Like I said several months ago, I don't think that they are done yet, and now that an appropriate amount of time has passed since Phyllis and Jack divorced, I see no reason that Billy and Phyllis shouldn't try again.

In my opinion, Billy is dynamite with Phyllis. They are so hot together that I can't watch without blushing. Not so with Billy and Victoria, though I can see them together for the long haul. I sense that there is also potential for Phyllis and Scott to get together, but I think that Scott is going to be more attracted to Sharon first, since he seems to have the shoulder that she cries on most. Age-wise, he's more compatible with Mariah and Abby, but one of the truly great things about soaps is that age doesn't matter, so I guess there's a lesson there, even for old dogs like me.

Please join me in two weeks for the next Soap-aholics meeting at the Underground on open mic night. Chelsea Newman will debut her new single, "Wedding Ring Blues: Betrayed By My BFF," with Reed Hellstrom on guitar. As always, we welcome imaginary friends and reader comments.

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