And then it was back to square one

Just when things seemed to be shaking up, the stories took a drastic turn, and it was back to square one. How did Adam have such a sudden and miraculous cure after his meltdown regarding his tragic past? And why has the incident in Las Vegas with Adam and Chance reared its ugly (and rather dull) head again? And why was Sharon the one who apologized to Rey when he was the one who had been less than understanding? The more things change, the more they stay the same in Two Scoops.

As encouraged as I was about the shaking up of the storylines, I am so discouraged now that most of them went back to the same old, same old. So, it was back to square one when Adam agreed to let Chelsea help him fight for his future with the Newmans and when Sharon practically pleaded with Rey to stick it out with her, even though he was the one who had been wrong. And we were even back to the ho-hum incident that had happened in Las Vegas, where Adam had saved Chance's life. Why, oh why? It wasn't all that interesting in the first place, so why do we have to return to it? It can only be to keep the connection between Chance and Adam, since Chance was taking over Dylan's former spot as Paul's faithful sidekick to possibly battle against the always bad boy, Adam. Oh, joy.

It was weird that once Adam got back with Chelsea, he seemed to be all cured. No more nightmares, no more guilt, no more feeling he was a monster, nothing. Everything was all hunky-dory. It was a miracle! Adam didn't need Sharon, after all. It would have been much more interesting and realistic if he had struggled mentally with his knowledge for quite a while, though. But maybe Adam wasn't completely cured, since he considered sending his son to boarding school, far, far away from Connor's father -- and grandfather. Just wait until Victor finds out. Shoot, I can remember when Chelsea claimed that Connor meant the world to her and that she never wanted him to be too far away from her. She must be more worried about Adam's mental state than she claims.

Victoria even jumped back onto the "I Hate Adam" bandwagon when she offered the scoop of his tragic story to Billy. Well, if they couldn't be partners romantically, at least they could partner up professionally. What they didn't know was that Adam and Chelsea were listening in through a bug Chelsea had planted in Billy's office. It's just too bad that Billy and Victoria couldn't stay on the same side for long, though. Billy should have kept his mouth shut and not blamed Victor again for blowing up his marriage to Victoria, since she turned around and put the blame exactly where it belonged, right at Billy's feet. He'll never learn, I guess.

Hmmm...Billy couldn't find Alyssa, so he automatically suspected that Adam had done away with her? She may have just gone out to eat or even left town on her own accord. I guess that never dawned on him. Why did Billy assume that some harm had come to the ace reporter? There was nothing to indicate that. Even though Adam figured that Billy and Alyssa had been "cooking something up," he denied that he had anything to do with Alyssa's not being physically around. But Billy knew that Adam had burned Alyssa, and deep down, he was smoking mad that his story might come to a scorching end. Never fear, though, since Alyssa seemed to be very much alive and well and was ready to work with Billy to get the scoop on Adam out to the world. Or was she?

Adam told Chance that he hadn't kidnapped Alyssa and hadn't harmed her in any way. In fact, Adam even knew where she was -- in Kingman, Arizona. Adam had planted a lead to send her there to get her out of the way and to buy some time. Smart thinking. Unfortunately, Victoria overhead what Adam said, and instead of savoring her victory over Adam, Victoria was still out to get him, all in the Newman name. Only, of course, Adam's last name was Newman, too. Oh, those piddly little details. But Abby was right -- the feuding was hurting the people on the sidelines, also, but Victoria didn't care. She was out for blood, only she kept forgetting it would be Newman blood.

I still can't believe that Sharon was the one who apologized to Rey, when he should have been the one to say that he was sorry for piling up the expectations on her. Rey hadn't liked the way that Sharon had dealt with her bad news, which had only made her more stressed. He had expected to be her rock and had thrown a tantrum when he wasn't. Boo-hoo! But Sharon was the one who was made to feel bad about it all, when Rey should have been more understanding. Shame on him! Then Rey began his rock campaign by telling her what she needed to do and when. He just seemed so controlling by not allowing her to deal with her cancer in her own way. Only Sharon would know the best way for her to deal with her cancer and with her future surgery.

Mariah and Faith were her better support system by getting informed as to what their mother would be facing so they could help her. Mariah felt bad about acting like a brat to Sharon when she wasn't feeling her best, but her mother probably appreciated that her daughter had acted a little normal and hadn't been tiptoeing around Sharon's feelings. Patience and forgiveness would be the key going forward in a circumstance that none of them had ever been through before. Mariah was more realistic in the way she was dealing with her mother, and Rey would be wise to learn a lesson from her. Facing facts would go a lot farther for Sharon's mindset than by making her constantly feel guilty.

Well, at least the ChanceCom gang could still prove to be intriguing, although I wish they would show them more. But with Theo's upcoming downfall, that will pretty much be the same old story, the same old song and dance, also. Theo seemed to be joining the ranks of Billy in being the ongoing screw-up, although Billy will probably get sick of it after a while with Theo and will let him go, once he realizes that Chelsea only used Theo to gain entrance into Chancellor Communications to bug the place. Like Victor, Kyle will always be the one who wins, and like Jack, Theo will always be the one who loses. It will be the same corporate battle, only with new players.

And while Kyle was winning his lady's heart with a ring, Theo kept crashing and burning by unintentionally forgetting that his girl even had a heart. Not that Summer's parents approved of her engagement ring, but, oh well...you can't have everything. But it just seemed that Kyle's symbolic gesture was more to prove to Summer that he was serious about her this time, but why do they need to rush to get married? Soap couples always have to get married so quickly, because it's nothing to jump from one relationship to another in lickety-split time. Just because you can get married doesn't necessarily mean you should, and in Kyle's case, he wasn't legally free yet to tie any other knot -- which was why Nick and Phyllis weren't pleased. Seriously, there was no hurry.

So, just as Kyle and Summer practically wanted to zip down the aisle, Lola decided that she needed to put the brakes on whatever her thing was with Theo. Lola didn't want to be with Theo to get back at Kyle, and I don't blame her for that. However, Theo only saw that Lola had set her standards too high after Kyle, and he felt that he could never meet them. So, sadly, they went their separate ways. Boy, was Theo going to be in a world of hurt when he lost his new job, too. Everyone should be able to see that coming a mile away.

Hooray! Amanda decided that she wanted Billy as a friend, after all, even if he couldn't be more. But they understood each other and felt comfortable talking with each other, and she really needed a friend. Amanda shared with Billy that she admired Hilary because of her generosity toward Rose. When Amanda regretted not being able to talk to her mother, father, or sister, Billy reminded her that there were others in Genoa City who had known and loved Hilary. Plus, Amanda could get some answers from Hilary's birth certificate. It would be weird knowing that you were left at a fire station when you were born. But even if Rose had decided to only keep one twin, why go all the way to Madison, Wisconsin, to leave the other? Billy was all in for helping Amanda solve that mystery.

Amanda's story of finding out that she's the twin of Devon's beloved deceased wife still has hope as long as the writers don't try to turn Amanda into Hilary. Elena feared that Devon would only see Amanda as Hilary, and even if he did, Amanda would still need to stay true to herself. Of course, she wanted to learn more about the sister she never knew, but hopefully, she won't fool herself into believing that the siblings would be alike in every way. Amanda needed to make it crystal clear to Devon (and to herself) that she was not Hilary. And Devon had to always remember that she was Amanda, not Hilary. That's the best Elena could hope for, and she shouldn't allow her jealousy and insecurity to get in the way of her relationship with Devon.

Despite Elena's fears, Devon agreed to tell Amanda more about what he knew of Hilary and her family. He explained that it had only been a matter of self-preservation for him not to be willing to talk about his past with Hilary. Yet Devon then decided that he wanted to share his fond memories of Hilary with Amanda. Hey, Devon pretty much said it all when he stated that Hilary cherished the spotlight, adored being the center of attention, and genuinely loved rubbing people the wrong way. Oh, yeah, that was our Hilary! If only Amanda could hear all the juicy details of Hilary's nasty triangle with Devon and Neil. But if Devon had trouble talking bad about his beloved wife, he sure wouldn't be able to speak of his adored father as being anything less than an angel above.

If Nate wasn't worried about Amanda's meeting with Devon, why was Elena? They had a common concern, but they were each looking at it from totally opposite perspectives. Nate felt secure in Amanda learning more about her sister, while Elena could only see that she would end up playing second fiddle to Hilary's look-alike. Elena's insecurity may end up doing her in. But, wait...maybe she was right. When Amanda expressed that she admired Hilary and wished she could be as bright, quick, and confident as her, you could see from Devon's face that he agreed with her. Devon even invited Amanda, who was so grateful to finally have her own family, to visit him anytime to talk about Hilary. So, would the past help Devon move forward to a future with Elena -- or Amanda?

Good for Jack in reminding Nick that Summer had also hurt Kyle -- more than once. The way the Newmans keep spinning it, Kyle was the one who had done all the hurting.

Wouldn't it be fun to go to one of Victor's family reunions? Probably only if you weren't a member of the Newman family. But there would be plenty of fizzle, sparks, and blasts to go around -- without having any actual fireworks. One thing's for sure - you would never be bored.

Devon learned that when he tried to please everyone (including the deceased Hilary), he ended up pleasing nobody. Isn't that always the way?

Wasn't it great that Chelsea could still use her con artist skills to manipulate the mother of Connor's best friend into sending her son to the same boarding school as Connor? It sure doesn't say a lot about the kid's mother, does it?

If Nikki was so concerned about being Victor's protector, she should have been trying to play peacemaker between her children and Adam for years. Their competitiveness has been keeping the siblings at each other's throats for way too long.

Until next time, please stay tuned. And take care, and please stay safe!Teddi

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