This past week on Y&R was a little quieter than most, but viewers were still treated to a few surprises throughout the week, as the past started to catch up to a number of Genoa City residents! At the top of the week, Nikki and Jack came to blows over her reluctance to give Diane the benefit of the doubt. Nikki has been cordial and polite toward Diane for the most part, but you could tell that her contempt for the woman was still simmering below the surface. And given their history, I'm not surprised that Nikki doesn't trust Diane's intentions in general. In fact, I'm sure that history will continue to be a wedge between Jack and Nikki's friendship.
Jack and Nikki might have even more to argue about soon if Kyle and Summer's custody battle continues to rage on. After all, Jack is Kyle's father, and Nikki is Summer's grandmother, so they will certainly be on opposites sides. Honestly, though, I sort of hope that Jack and Nikki don't get pulled into this custody storyline, because so far, it hasn't painted anyone in the best light. Summer, in particular, has been especially annoying lately. Just like her mother Phyllis would do, Summer put her own insecurities ahead of Harrison's desire to go on a fun trip out of the country with his father. I really don't know how Summer can think fighting for custody of a child that is not biologically hers is going to end well for her. It really feels like we are watching her bury herself as she digs her feet deeper and deeper into her own stubbornness.
So far, Kyle seems to be the reasonable one (even though he could stand to temper his temper), but I'm sure Nikki would still side with her granddaughter if push came to shove; so, it's not totally outside the realm of possibility that the writers may be setting the stage for Nikki and Jack to become enemies. I'm sure Victor would be more than pleased about that! But could things really get so volatile between Nikki and Jack that an all-out, no-holds-barred Newman vs. Abbott war breaks out? Victor has certainly set the stage for war with the actions he's taken to target not only Jack, but "Billy boy," too.
If Victor pulls off his latest coup of a business deal and reclaims ownership of Chancellor Industries, then he will be taking the company away from Billy and successfully striking another major blow to the Abbott family. In an ironic twist that Victor is absolutely reveling in, Billy himself has set up the circumstances for Victor to be able to take control of the company because of his insistence that the company break from Chancellor-Winters to become Abbott-Chancellor! I have to admit that I was pretty stunned by this latest development, and it's amazing how swiftly and methodically Victor has already made several blows to the Abbott family in his quest for revenge against Jack.
Before we go into all that, though, I have to pause and have you all take a moment to reflect with me on something that always bothered me. Why is it that Victor seemingly has no concern about his friendship with Ashley or for how his attacks on the Abbotts will affect their daughter, Abby, since the two of them are Abbotts, too? Victor claims to be "all about family" but conveniently forgets that his own daughter is very much a part of the family that he is seeking to tear apart.
Although, to be fair, Abby seems to have familial ties to pretty much every major family in Genoa City now, so Victor would have no one to wage war against if he actually did stop to consider her feelings. And now, Abby is about to add another prominent family's last name to her collection: Winters. Yes, congratulations are in order for Devon and Abby, who became engaged this past week. I am actually really happy for them and have enjoyed them as a couple, but I hope Abby gets a story of her own again soon, aside from just propping up Devon from time to time. I really want to see her get embroiled in the latest Newman-Abbott war, should it come to pass. And if Victor has his way, it will most certainly come to pass!
Victor is striking at the Abbott legacy by having secretly purchased Glissade to position it as direct competition for Jabot, he has effectively turned Kyle against Jack by making him co-CEO of Glissade, and now he's whisking away Billy's first real shot at being a major power player in the Genoa City business scene by taking over Chancellor Industries. Victor is not messing around, and I'm kind of here for it! It was a fun surprise, and the fallout is sure to shake up the Y&R canvas, which is exciting. In particular, I really like the idea of Lily and Nikki working alongside one another at the helm of Katherine's company; that is, if Lily doesn't immediately return to the Winters side of the company once she learns that the Newmans are about to own Chancellor Industries again!
Poor Lily, she just can't seem to catch a break these days. But this time, it will be her own bad decision that may leave her jobless if she can't decide where her loyalties lie. At least Devon is likely to take her back at Winters anytime, given how upset he was that she decided to abandon their original plan to work together and leave Billy out in the cold. As satisfying as that would have been to see unfold, I can understand Lily's hesitancy in regard to working alongside her brother on the Winters side of the company. He has certainly shown that he doesn't play very well with others, so it's hard to trust that they wouldn't butt heads on a regular basis.
But I do have a hard time believing she thinks it will be any easier working alongside Billy. Sure, Billy has been heaping a lot of praise on her and stroking her ego, so it's understandable that she'd be flattered by his confidence in her abilities. But I was still surprised that she decided to leave her family company to join him at Chancellor.
I am very curious to see where Lily lands if/when Newman Enterprises takes ownership of Chancellor Industries. Will she willingly work alongside Nikki, as Victor is hoping? I sure hope so. I like the idea of seeing some new faces interact with one another amongst all these different businesses in Genoa City. Lily and Nikki could really become a force to be reckoned with, and I know that Nikki will do her best to honor Katherine's legacy -- certainly more so than Billy would! Perhaps they'd even have Jill's blessing if Lily is working there, since she does have a lot of respect and regard for Lily.
Part of me hopes that Jill won't be happy about it, though, because I'm hoping something major like this may prompt her to make an actual visit to Genoa City. It's been fun to at least get to see her on the business video calls every now and again, but it's always much more fun to see her interacting with the rest of the cast in person. I hope we see her return to town with all the fury of a woman scorned once she learns what Victor is up to. Hell, I'd even get on board with her having teamed up with Victor to make this happen because of her displeasure regarding the Chancellor-Winters split! Wouldn't that be wild?!
She certainly didn't seem pleased at how Billy's ego got the better of him already, so maybe she'll return to town to teach him a lesson. Either way, I can't wait to see what she does next and am keeping my fingers crossed that it involves a trip to Genoa City.
Jill or no Jill, though, Billy's ego is certainly about to be his undoing again. I won't be surprised if some of the personal demons that he's tried to put behind him start to surface again as he faces losing everything -- a feeling he is all too familiar with. Will he slip back into his gambling habit or make another reckless decision as he lashes out at those who wronged him? He will certainly be out for blood once he learns that Victor is attempting to take Chancellor Industries out from under him, and unfortunately, Billy all too often ends up spilling his own blood when he seeks revenge on others. If, on top of all that, the truth about Chelsea cheating on him with Adam comes out (which it most certainly is about to), then he could be headed for one doozy of a downward spiral. And Adam had better watch his back, as he'd certainly be first on Billy's hit list!
But if Adam has anything to say about it, the truth will never come out about his one-night stand with Chelsea. He is doing his best to cover up what happened when they were in Baltimore together by claiming now that what they've been keeping a secret about is that he was rude to Chelsea and blamed her for what Connor is going through. But Sally didn't seem totally convinced, did she? Adam had better get in touch with Chelsea soon to clue her in on this latest development before they get caught in the lie. I know it's terrible, but I don't want the secret to come out. I am dreading the fallout from their tryst. I want all the other Adam/Sally fans out there to know that I feel their pain -- we can't catch a break with this seemingly star-crossed couple!
At least we have Traci and Alan to add some fun and lightheartedness to the show! They just become more and more adorable as their relationship progresses. It was so sweet how Alan was prepared for rejection when Traci announced that she had to leave town, and I was thrilled that he agreed to go to Los Angeles with her. I hope we get to see them having fun on their travels and that they make an extended stay in Genoa City once they finish their time in L.A. It's great to see Traci shedding the ghosts of her past relationships and putting her heart out there on her sleeve for Alan.
Not everyone is so lucky, though; in fact, most in Genoa City aren't typically very lucky in love at all. But the character who has most been haunted by their past recently is, of course, Sharon, who has been on a steady decline mentally for a few weeks now. I really hope someone figures out how her new medication is messing with her soon, before something tragic happens and she goes off the deep end. This past week, she hallucinated that Nick showed up at her doorstep to make out with her, but of course, he had just left her house shortly before then and was in a business meeting at Newman Enterprises.
The kiss was nothing more than a figment of her imagination, but will she remember it as real and then take Nick off guard by trying to kiss him again or even just by bringing up the kiss to him? Hopefully then someone will start to realize just how bad things are getting for her. Will Nick be Sharon's knight in shining armor once again? Could this be the start of a new chapter in their love story? Or might this tale be headed in a darker direction?
Sharon's future is not the only one I am afraid for right now, but her past trauma seems to be ever present again as the show continues to draw parallels between Lucy's storyline with Faith and the storyline between Cassie and Daniel years ago that resulted in Cassie's death. Lucy has latched on to an older girl, Faith, that she desperately wants to be friends with; similarly, Cassie latched on to an older boy she was crushing on, Daniel, that she desperately wanted to spend time with. And now, Lucy seems to be planning on crashing a party with "an older crowd" that will be drinking, similar to the night of Cassie's fatal accident when she followed Daniel to a party where he was drinking.
But just how far will the parallels between these two stories go? Should Lucy die, Daniel will have to experience the pain that he thought he had caused Nick and Sharon to feel when Cassie died. Like Cassie, could Lucy really be headed toward her own fateful, and possibly fatal, night out?
I wish I had the answer to that, but I'm excited (and nervous) to see how it all turns out! Since I don't have all the answers, that's all that I've got for you this week, folks. Don't forget to share your own opinions about this past week's episodes, too, by posting in the Comments here on the site and on social media posts throughout the week.
Until next time,
Vance
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