So life is bad. You've messed up with your ex and she's sued you for sole custody of your daughter. Your other daughter's been taken away by Child Protective Services because your illegal adoption has been uncovered. And then your wife is giving you the cold shoulder when you try to cuddle. What's a guy to do? Well, if you're Billy Abbott, the answer is...brownies! That's right, just head over to Crimson Lights for some sweet treats, and the little woman will forgive all your misdeeds. At least that's what Billy thought based on the fact that he's living in the Father Knows Best house, and that's how problems were solved in 1950's sitcomland!
In truth, Billy deserved the cold shoulder. He messed up royally by purchasing baby Lucy from the black market mistress, Primrose. It was naïve of him to think that everything was a-okay. But I'm not really feeling it for Victoria either. Her reaction was that of a spoiled, privileged little princess. Oh, wait; she is one! That explains why she turned on Billy the moment they hit a rough patch. It's not like Billy's motives were bad; he bought the baby because Victoria wanted a child more than anything. He was trying to do a good thing, but he did it in a really bad way.
And there's really no forgiving Chloe for her part in Lucy winding up in CPS. Think about it; she was acting spiteful and vindictive when she told Heather about the illegal adoption. That information didn't need to be in the complaint and had it been left out, CPS would never have come to Billy and Victoria's door. Sure, Chloe was concerned about Delia. She questioned Billy's judgment concerning their daughter because he'd hired Jana even though Chloe was convinced that Jana was a lunatic.
Well, Chloe was right. Jana turned out to be mad as a hatter. But Billy made a damn good point about judging people. While Chloe held Jana's past, including crimes and craziness, against her, she was completely all right with Kevin's horrible history. Seriously, Kevin's track record is pure trouble. We all know that he's a good guy and has fixed his life, but there have been times in his past that would make any mother pause before letting her daughter go out with him. Remember the chipmunk? Remember what he did to Colleen? Remember when he was luring girls on the Internet into sexual trysts? Sweet Kevin was a pervert.
But that's all in the past and with Jana last week, he was clearly a victim. Jana truly flipped out, and it's surprising to me that it never occurred to Kevin that there was something medically wrong with Jana. Her thinking was irrational, and that was before she reverted to the old Jana with the red striped hair. Nothing she was telling Kevin made sense, and yet he continued to try to reason with her. At some point, Kevin needed to make a move, and it should have been before Chloe showed up.
The rock, paper, scissors trick at the train station was clever, but it only made an impression on Chloe. The authorities didn't understand the significance and still believed that Kevin was in cahoots with Jana. For a guy as smart as Kevin, he needed to outwit Jana before Chloe showed up to wrestle with Jana for the gun. It took that physical exertion, apparently, for Jana to blow her top. She looked like she had a seizure or a stroke, but whatever it was, Jana's dead. I'm betting on them finding out that she had another brain aneurysm, and her final weeks were a form of madness. In other words, she wasn't responsible for the evil things she did.
Have we played that story before? Yes, however, it's an oldie but a goodie. Maria Arena Bell enjoys repeating herself. This Sharon on the farm storyline was once Victor on the farm in Kansas. That was when Hope was the farmer, and he wound up marrying her and fathering Adam. Will Sharon end up in Sam's bed? You better believe it. Sharon has it in her mind that she's never going back to Adam or Nick or any other man in Genoa City. She'll accept that she's Sherry and convince herself that she can start a new life with Sam. That's probably a few weeks away, but it's coming. One thing about Sam, however: why isn't he questioning where this beautiful young woman came from and why she's hiding out on his farm? Wouldn't you have questions?
Another old favorite is Nikki and Victor. It's not too surprising that Victor has realized that his marriage to Diane is a farce. What was surprising was that he married her in the first place. I guess Vic has so much money that he didn't mind dropping a quarter of a million on a gold digger who had ripped him off once before. See, none of that made sense to me. Why was Victor so intent on marrying Diane? He could have moved her into the ranch and showered her with gifts without ever putting a ring on her finger. Now, assuming that he's ready to end it with Diane, he's going to have to divorce her. What a mess -- and for what?
The character who's really going to suffer because of the ridiculous Victor and Diane marriage is Kyle. There's a boy who's destined to need therapy as a grown man. You know that he loves his mother, but how could he not be upset with her about this development. Kyle's heart will be broken if Victor and Diane divorce and he's moved out of the ranch...again!
Which brings me to Kyle's father, Jack. Where was his head when Diane showed up in his living room wearing only a raincoat and a smile? Jack might have taken a moment to consider how a romp in the sack with Diane would affect his son...but he didn't. It was another instance when a seemingly smart man like Jack just doesn't think before he acts. He bought Abby's stock without ever thinking of what was best for his niece or his sister. Jack was focused only on using the Newman shares to stick it to Victor or forge a new deal with Tucker. As much as you might want to admire Jack, he keeps sliding back into bad habits.
I haven't mentioned Daniel and Phyllis yet. Do you think Restless Style has folded since Phyllis and Billy haven't had time to publish an issue about their dirty laundry? I have absolutely no patience for Phyllis. I think she's completely selfish when it comes to Lucy. Daniel is thinking of what's best for his child. That's the way he should be thinking, but Phyllis keeps bringing up her sordid past to get him to want to keep Lucy for himself. Daniel's mature enough to know that he's not in a position to raise a little girl. He's also cognizant of the fact that he broke up with Amber because she wanted a child and he didn't. It'll be hypocritical if Daniel suddenly changes his tune because of his mother's manipulation.
It looks like Abby is cruisin' for a bruisin'. She's out of control and in desperate need of some parental guidance. Ashley was trying to provide the latter, but Abby is on a dangerous self-destructive path. I don't think either Victor or Ashley realize how the lawsuit wrecked their daughter emotionally. Let's remember, Abby is just a kid. She's younger than Colleen and Lily. She's been crying out for boundaries for a long time, starting with all that Naked Heiress business. Unfortunately, her folks have been too self-obsessed to notice. I think they care, but they've been clueless.
If there's an oldie that's definitely been played out before on The Young and the Restless, it's who's the daddy? Malcolm or Neil? What on earth was Olivia thinking by helping Sofia alter the conception date so that Neil will believe that Malcolm's the father? Liv has lived this storyline before. Dru's lies destroyed Neil and Malcolm's relationship. Olivia saw how damaging it had been to the Winters family to keep the truth from coming out. And Olivia even admitted that she was jeopardizing her professional ethics by helping Sofia, so why did she do it? What's in it for Olivia to risk her career for Sofia?
Finally, there's the Cane and Lily story. We now know that Cane is not a ghost or an apparition or a hologram. He's a real person, and he has a cell phone. He's convinced Lily that he's really Cane, but I'm 99 percent sure that he's a double. Here's my guess, and it's based on the picture CBS released showing Genie Francis as Cane's mother, Genevieve Atkinson. In the picture, they're both dressed in black. I think that's a tip-off that something evil is brewing. Could Genevieve have it in her mind to steal Cane's children to raise them far away from Colin's influence? After all, Genevieve's two children, Samantha and Cane, died because of Colin's mob life. Maybe she left Colin years ago to save herself and is guilt-ridden about what happened to the children she didn't take with her?
So she learns that Cane has died and Colin has settled in Genoa City to have an influence on Mattie and Charlie's lives. He even marries Jill to solidify his connection. Genevieve finds/creates a Cane look-alike with the intention of duping Lily and stealing the twins... What do you think?
That's it for now. Can't wait to see what happens next week! Let's take a look at some recent notes from the mailbox:
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Best,
Allison
