Riding the Dark Horse to success -- and into immunity

Nick was ready to ride his Dark Horse into success and respectability. Was Victor working with Rey to cause Nick's arrest during the launch? If Victor and Jack have the same father, could Jack legally change his last name to Newman? Beware of big gala events, debt collectors, and the Mustache in Two Scoops.

Anytime there is a grand event in Genoa City, you know something off the wall is bound to happen, whether a huge secret is revealed, a patron is maimed or killed, or a citizen experiences an unexpected downfall. So, it was hardly surprising that Nick was arrested at the launch of his new business, Dark Horse. On the contrary, if something newsworthy hadn't happened, that probably could have been the greatest shock in soap history. And since Mariah was covering the gala, it was all captured on camera for the viewing world to see. Who wouldn't want to be invited to a party in Genoa City, unless, of course, you were the one scheduled to be the target of injury or disgrace?

Of course, Victor loves attending these celebrations, even if he's not invited. He's so entertained by any impending disaster and has probably been responsible for the majority of them taking place. Oh, yes, Victor hasn't seen a party that he didn't want to crash, especially if it involves a member of his family. And by the smirk on his face, he took extreme pleasure in watching his son being placed in handcuffs. But did Victor have a hand in the shenanigans at the Dark Horse gala? He sure had the motive to exact revenge on Nick, but he didn't seem to have any connection to Rey or to his investigation. Or maybe Rey was part of Victor's plan to learn the whereabouts of J.T. Hmmm....

But, hey, since when can a debt collector (or a "financial recovery service" worker, as Victor referred to it) place someone under arrest? Never, so obviously, Rey was employed by the police department, which was good timing, since he will be needed to fill the spot left vacant once Doug Davidson leaves. Although Paul has tried, the police commissioner could never rid the city of the corruption brought mostly by Victor. Yet, Paul was always respected, especially when he was half of the crime-fighting duo with his "Boy Wonder" and son, Dylan. Ahh...good times.

As I watched Stacy Haiduk play Susan on Days of our Lives the prior week, I was reminded of how much I loved the acting of Doug Davidson whenever his Paul was in any scenes with his precious Patty Cake. He was always so gentle, tender, and understanding with his sister. Paul Williams is part of Y&R history, and the fans will miss his calm, quiet presence delivered admirably by Mr. Davidson. His ouster hardly seems fair after 40 years, but unfortunately, the acting world can be brutal. I will miss Paul, though, and hopefully, one day, he will return. That happens all the time on soaps.

Come on, we know that Nick had absolutely nothing to do with J.T.'s disappearance. But he did impersonate J.T. to gain the knowledge to take Victor down; however, Rey did not know that at the time of Nick's arrest. The new detective in town believed Nick and J.T. had partnered up in a joint effort to take Newman Enterprises down. Boy, was he on the wrong track but in the right area code. Nick wasted no time in signing a full immunity document to disclose everything he knew about J.T., which was practically nothing except that he had impersonated him. But because Sharon hadn't told Nick about J.T.'s fateful night, it had left Nick open to criminal charges.

Thank heavens, Rey was more concerned with finding J.T. than with prosecuting Nick. But then again, Rey wouldn't want to make an enemy of Victor so early at his new job. Rey claimed Paul was the one who brought him to town, but Victor and Paul had the same goal. Victor could still be behind it all and just be putting on a false mustached face in front of his family about supporting and protecting his son. Nikki sure falls for his claim every time. But Paul acted as if Rey's investigation was on his orders, and he wasn't happy about Nick's immunity until Rey pointed out that he had discovered that J.T. was last seen at Victoria's house. Maybe Rey was on the right track, after all.

But wasn't the Dark Horse gala festive before Rey's rude interruption? Sharon, Victoria, and Mariah looked especially stunning. And the new venue was very impressive. The team of Nick, Jack, Sharon, Abby, and Arturo could bring some much-needed tension and drama, if the business has a chance to become a success. Besides, Nick hoped to maintain the convention of using ethical business practices, so it would be interesting to see if he would be able to accomplish that goal. After the big reveal of Nick pretending to be J.T. and the tragedy of Hilary's death, new storylines are desperately needed that can grip the viewers' attention once again.

And things seem to have been going at a snail's pace since Hilary died, which has made Y&R somewhat snoozy. After the accident and Hilary's instant transformation into sainthood before her death, nothing else on the soap seems to have had much consequence for quite some time. Summer tried and failed to get Billy in the sack, and as a result, ended up going on an unexpected cruise, therefore losing her bet with Kyle. Big deal. Jack witnessed Dina's decline and decided to move back in with the Abbotts. Well, okay, that had some merit. Tessa returned to town (and to Mariah, so she claimed) and begged for money all over the place, so she could pay some so-called low-life extortionists.

At least Mariah tried to show that she could still be a little feisty when she finally questioned Tessa about her motives for returning to town. But Tessa just whispered sweet nothings and promises (which were also sweet nothings) and the "L" word into Mariah's ear, and all was well. Of course, Tessa was going to deny, deny, deny. What was Tessa going to say -- that she only returned to Genoa City to a bunch of nave and innocent fools so she could swindle them out of some money? It's possible that she was being honest about her sister and the danger, but I am truly sick of hearing about Tessa's sister. It's just weird that we are all still expected to become invested in someone that we barely saw on our TV screens.

Sharon was so concerned for her daughter falling back into Tessa's web of lies that she threw some money at the raven-haired girl. Really, there was probably no one left in town that Tessa hadn't asked for money, and her reasoning did seem to be rather suspect. If she was so worried about her sister's safety, why didn't she appear to be more concerned? Shoot, Tessa should have hit Devon up for the big bucks while he still had a little respect for her, then her problems would have been solved. Tessa ended up calling Sharon, who heard some scuffling and screaming in the background. But was this all just a part of an ongoing scam?

Tessa claimed to have been attacked at Crimson Lights, yet there were no other witnesses to the assault. What luck that no one else was in the coffee shop to verify her story. Maybe Sharon should worry more about her lack of business than about Tessa's sob story. And surprise, surprise, Tessa made sure to eliminate all other evidence by destroying the security camera tape. Even though "the man" never spoke a word, Tessa swore, up and down, the attack was a warning to pay the money. So what that Tessa had some bruises. She could have caused the injury to herself to cash in on a huge bonanza. Con people have done more for less. It all just looked so staged.

I am not buying the love at any cost between Phyllis and Billy. Actually, Phyllis appeared to be so insecure in her relationship with him that she was willing to let him gamble to keep the excitement going between them. From the expressions on her face, Phyllis was not the least bit "fast, fun, and loose" about Billy attending the poker tournaments, but if she tried to stop him, she feared she would lose him. Phyllis wasn't willing to take that gamble. Billy is the most fun to watch when he screws up, and it shouldn't take long for it to all come crashing down on him.

It was pretty obvious that Jason Thompson had a cold while filming those romantic, lovey-dovey scenes with Phyllis in Las Vegas. I could hear it in his voice. It must be tough on an actor to have to act sexy when it's the last thing he or she feels like doing. And I wonder if Gina Tognoni worried about coming down with his illness while taping their scenes together. That's the risk one takes when working on a soap due to all the love-in-the-afternoon action that tends to take place. If we hear that Phyllis appears to be a little sick in upcoming episodes, we will know why.

Phyllis will eventually have to face reality, once she realizes that she and Billy can't control his gambling addiction. Her desperate attempt to hang onto him has blinded her to this fact. Phyllis must really feel threatened by Summer to go to this extreme. When you're an addict, there's no such thing as gambling responsibly. And Billy only wants Phyllis to feel the same buzz in her bones that he feels every time he places a bet. Billy's disease spread from betting at the poker tournament to at the horse track and then at sports games, which should have been a colossally huge red flag for Phyllis. With Billy losing more than he was winning, it seemed he was already well on his way to spinning out of control.

Poor Lauren had to pay the price for Phyllis wanting to do whatever it took to keep Billy by her side. If Phyllis was her right hand, hopefully Lauren had a loyal and trustworthy left hand. Then Lauren jumped in to help Jack find his biological father, and this story could actually develop into something if it would ever get moving. I just hope it doesn't fizzle out and leave us with an anticlimactic ending. When she looked at the picture, Lauren could account for every man except for one, so they believed he might Jack's daddy. But even Dina didn't remember who the man was, so they seemed to be back to square one. But then Victor seemed to know who the man was.

In fact, Victor was rather spooked when he saw the picture of his father, Albert Miller. Nikki and Victor were both wondering if Jack could be Victor's half-brother, but Victor demanded that they keep the man's identity a secret. If Albert Miller was as cold and spineless as Victor claimed, keeping Jack in the dark would be a blessing to him, even if he didn't know it. However, Victor's not known for being gracious, especially to Jack, so his wanting for the possible truth to remain hidden could only be for selfish reasons. Oh, no, if it were true, Victor would never want Jack to know they were related.

Wow, could Jack legally change his last name to Newman if he and Victor had the same father? Jack Newman. It has a ring to it, doesn't it? Oh, I can just picture Victor and Jack merrily sitting at the Thanksgiving table, grateful for the blessing of finding out they are brothers. It would just warm the cockles of my heart. Shoot, that dinner would probably end up being the biggest food fight in history. Once Abby gave him the update about the man in the picture, Jack refused to express in words that he and Victor could be related. And Victor would hate Jack thinking he was on an even playing field with the Mustache for any future feuds.

Victor especially wouldn't even dare to consider how much help they could be to each other in the corporate world. Why, if Victor and Jack combined forces, they could almost take over the world. But Victor is too unethical for Jack, who doesn't always play by the rules, either. Jack and Victor could never work together, since they spent too many years working against each other. Besides, if Jack and Victor got along, they would no longer have a favorite rival, which would take the edge away from them both -- the edge that each needs to succeed in business. Without Jack as his nemesis, Victor would have to find a new target to goad, and I would pity the one he picked.

Of course, both the Newman and the Abbott families would finally have some peace if Victor and Jack made amends, but wouldn't that make Y&R a dull soap? Imagine if everything was happy-go-lucky all the time between the two families. The birds would be singing, the flowers would be blooming, the bees would be buzzing, and we'd get tired of watching all the sickening sweetness. We need Victor and Jack to snipe at each other once in a while, or what fun would it be? I just wish Jack would win a battle or two from time to time. The rivalry between them was never the problem; the total of the wins for each one was.

Well, it was time for Summer to pay the bet, and Kyle was willing and ready -- until he saw just how uninspired Summer was to do it. I am liking this guy more and more all the time. Rather than forcing Summer to pretend to want to be with him, Kyle faked being asleep to release her from her debt. It seems to me that Summer is going after the wrong guy. If Summer truly saw just how insecure her mother was to keep Billy's love, maybe she would reconsider pursuing him. But for Summer, it's only a game, anyway, with Billy being the prize. Little did she realize he was actually the booby prize.

Strangely, Summer appeared to realize that maybe she let a good thing get away, but if chasing a guy was only a game for her, it wouldn't work for Kyle, anyway. He wanted more than casual sex from Summer. When Summer told Tessa that she had a habit of picking the wrong guy, Tessa responded that maybe Summer was afraid to choose the right one. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I agree with something Tessa said! I must write this date down. Kyle was right in being afraid to relight his torch for her, because sadly, Summer claimed that they were only friends. I'm not sure when the spoiled Supergirl had time to get bitter and cynical, since she was always given everything under the sun. But maybe that was the problem.

Finally, we have life without Hilary for Devon and Shauna, who forgave Lily for killing her mentor and idol. At one time, Shauna only desired that the court system lock Lily up and throw away the key, but in a flash, she felt Devon should visit Lily in prison. And when he finally did, Devon realized how much he still loved Lily and that no forgiveness was needed. But I'm not surprised Lily got prison time, since Christel Khalil asked to be dropped to recurring. Lily will probably be shown in prison from time to time while her family tries to adjust to life without her. I would hate to see her leave as Lily, though, since I have always liked her on-screen chemistry with Daniel Goddard's Cane.

If Billy's current motto is "reckless can be fearless," he might want to find a new one before his recklessness calls his bluff.

Sadly for Jack, even though 1 + 1 = 2, A + A does not = B. But considering his past with Jill and Lauren, that probably ended up being the most fortunate equation in the long run.

Didn't Nick look spiffy and professional with his clean-shaven look?

The Rosales family of Arturo, Rey, and Lola have now all located to Genoa City. Are we ready for this?

Until next time, please stay tuned -- and keep on buzzing.Teddi

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