Enduring legacies

This week on The Young and the Restless, the episodes highlighted both the foundation of legacies that continue to be built on the show and the foundations that have already been built by legacy characters that paved the way for what the show is today. Join our Two Scoops columnist as he reflects on this past week (and even the past 40 years!) in Genoa City.

Before we dive in to the two major events featuring legacy characters on Y&R this week -- the Chancellor-Winters launch party and the "very special episode" featuring the two Abbott sisters, Traci and Ashley -- let's first talk about some of the other happenings around town (and in New York City).

First of all, who is Chance's new partner, and when can we see more of him?! He barely had more than a few minutes on-screen (if even that), but DAMN, he was sexy (and seemingly a good actor from what little we saw). I'm not sure if there is a plan for him to be featured more at all, but he could be a good character to throw into the Imani/Nate/Elena triangle! He was way more interesting to me than the guy at the launch event that Imani was on a "date" with (I think Giancarlo was his name?). Whatever his name was, he did not hold my interest at all, nor did I care to see him again (no offense to the actor because it was clear that was the purpose of his character and that Imani was just using him to hide her real interest in Nate). As for Chance's new partner, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this was just a soft introduction to his character and that we will see more of him -- maybe he'll even get a name!

All kidding aside, it seems that Abby is still not too keen on her husband's professional life as cop. She remains the ever-supportive wife to anyone who will listen, but she was clearly a bit bothered when she was assuring Lily that Chance never had any interest in working for Chancellor Industries and that he was "born to do exactly what he is doing." I have a feeling that there will be some conflict regarding his work on the police force in a future storyline for them (and it's about time they got a new story)!

Abby isn't the only Newman daughter who will likely be facing some trouble in her romantic life soon. Victoria has decided to give Ashland yet another chance after all of his lies, and they have seemingly moved to New York City for good. I just don't know what to think of this latest development. After all the drama she and Ashland have been through in the past year, I was sort of looking forward to both of them moving in different directions and having storylines with some different characters. It's sort of intriguing that they want to start a new company to take on Newman Media (or, more specifically, Adam), but I dunno... I'm just not that excited about it. Maybe the writers have something great up their sleeve, but I guess only time will tell. I'm a little irritated with Victoria right now, but I'll try to withhold judgment until we see where all of this is going. I think it is a mistake to remove them from Genoa City, though, because they both shine more in scenes with other actors than they do alone together.

Screen chemistry is certainly not a problem for Adam and Sally, though! It was great to see them again this week, and I really enjoyed their scenes as they celebrated their new promotions at Newman Enterprises. I'm a little perturbed, though, that once again, Victor is not giving Adam his due and has secretly only offered him the position of CEO at Newman Enterprises in an effort to make Victoria jealous enough that she comes crawling back to reclaim her position. Does he just not care at all how much it would hurt Adam if his plan works? And honestly, why do he and Nikki even think that would work? I'm sure Victoria already knew that once she left the company, it would be Adam who took over her CEO position, so I'm not sure why they assume she would be jealous and suddenly come running home.

Speaking of new job offers, Adam and Sally weren't the only ones who were presented with a new career opportunity. I was a little surprised that Summer asked Kyle to leave his position as co-CEO of Jabot to become the CEO at Jabot's newest subsidiary, Marchetti. That's a demotion, right? I sort of understand her reasoning, and I get why she would love to be working with him after all the great work they did at Jabot when they worked there together, but it just seems like sort of an odd proposition. Honestly, I don't really care where Kyle works, so I'm not going to spend too much time on the topic. I'm much more interested in his storyline with his recently "back from the dead" mother, Diane, which I hope is the larger focus that the show will be taking with his character.

And although Diane claims Kyle is her main motivation for remaining in town, I agree with Jill when she outright accused Diane of also having her sights set on Jack. We are certainly seeing more of her with Jack than Kyle recently, which has been an interesting dynamic. I love that Diane crashed yet another big event in Genoa City, but at least this time, she had a good excuse for being at the Grand Phoenix -- although I don't believe for a second she was just there to take advantage of the spa while Phyllis was out of town. I 100% agree with Jill that Diane had other intentions for being there. And, on the topic of Jill and Diane, how fun were their scenes at Crimson Lights after the Chancellor-Winters launch party? They were some of my favorite scenes this week, and I hope Jill will stick around town long enough so that we can see these two interacting more.

It was great to see Jill in general again this week. I was hoping she would show up for the Chancellor-Winters launch party, and the show did not disappoint by bringing her back yet again! I love how direct she is with everyone and how she seemingly has no filter between what she is thinking and what she will say straight to your face! It was hilarious that she convinced Diane to sit down and chat with her by reminding her that she wasn't one of the suspects in Diane's murder when Diane was presumed dead. The look on Diane's face was priceless!

As for the Chancellor-Winters launch party, I thought it was a successful and fun celebration that was sprinkled with just the right amount of drama. It was great to see a new legacy being built not just by the merging of the two companies but by two major Y&R families coming together. Devon, who is both a Chancellor and a Winters, is the glue that binds them all together, but it is great to see all the characters from both of these legacy families building something that will be a new foundation on the Y&R canvas for generations to come.

My favorite part of this event (aside from Jill being a part of it) was that Nate got to stick it to Devon and prove to him that Devon doesn't always know what is best. I was thrilled when Imani talked Nate into following his instincts and sharing more with the press than what Devon had thought would be appropriate. Devon may claim otherwise, but he clearly still holds resentment toward Nate and seems to enjoy putting him down whenever Nate has ideas that could be good for their new company. I'm tired of Devon always being the naysayer whenever Nate has something to suggest.

Imani was right when she told Nate that he should listen to her more, because she really is bringing out his confidence at the company and guiding him in the right direction toward success. And, of course, Jill took notice of Imani's interest in Nate and commented that Elena had better watch out for Imani, which I literally laughed out loud about. Have I mentioned how much I love Jill? It was also very satisfying to see Imani standing up for herself to Amanda when her sister once again tried to steer her away from having anything to do with Nate. Imani is right that Amanda needs to back off because, ultimately, whatever happens between Nate and Imani is between the two of them, and they can make their own decisions. Imani actually reminds me a lot of Jill with her "no holds barred" attitude -- it's all making sense now why I like her so much!

Aside from the little bit of drama that Imani and Diane brought to the festivities, it really was a great way to showcase the new legacy characters of these established families on the show. And they weren't the only legacy families being featured this week because we were treated to a special Abbott sister episode to celebrate Eileen Davidson and Beth Maitland's 40th anniversaries on the show in their roles of Ashley and Traci!

I thought it was brilliant the way the writers handled this episode at the end of the week that featured flashbacks of many of Traci and Ashley's great moments throughout the years. Any time there is more screen time for Ashley and Traci, I am a happy viewer! It was fun to see them out to lunch with their newly discovered great-niece, Allie, to share some of their history with her while also establishing Allie as a new legacy character on the show. And Allie couldn't ask for better great-aunts than Ashley and Traci!

In the span of how many years Y&R has been on the air, I am a fairly new viewer (although I've been watching the soap for just over 20 years now!), so some of the flashbacks they showed were new scenes to me, and they were so much fun. I'm sure they were even more fun for viewers that have been watching for over 40 years that were certainly having all sorts of nostalgic feelings. I especially loved the flashbacks of Lauren and Traci's tumultuous relationship over the years and the way they revisited Brad's past on the show, too (I'm still bummed that they killed him off all those years ago). Allie's reaction to all the tales from their younger years was priceless, too, because some of the stories were definitely ones you might not believe if you hadn't heard them straight from the source!

Some of my other favorite moments were Traci's recollection of how her daughter Colleen's death affected her (she almost had me in tears!) and Ashley's personal battle as a breast cancer survivor. It was also great to see their father, John, in flashbacks again, and it was a lot of fun to see the old flashbacks of Victor and Ashley's romance, too. I was also really happy with the way they incorporated Abby, Billy, and Jack into this special Abbott episode, even though the focus remained on Ashley and Traci. It was a touching reminder of how far all their characters have come and why we care about all of them so much. And the same can be said of the Chancellor-Winters launch party -- you could almost envision Katherine, Neil, and Dru standing there in the crowd, beaming at the accomplishments of their children and grandchildren. This past week's episodes did a great job of highlighting the legacies that the show has built over all these years while also reminding us why we continue to tune in, which is to see those legacies continue to grow (and to enjoy the wild, touching, and dramatic ride along the way, of course).

That's all I've got for this week, folks! Don't forget to hit the comments and let us know how you felt about this week's episodes, too! Were you feeling the nostalgia like me and also feeling excited about what the future holds? Or did some of the storylines miss the mark? As always, I'm looking forward to your thoughts.

Until next time,Vance

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