Honestly, I cannot believe it took this long for one of Nick's loved ones to finally tell him about that fateful night regarding J.T.'s probable doom. And if it had to be one of the four, Nick's mother was the perfect one to spill the beans, especially since it had really been her beans to spill. After all, the other three were only her accomplices, so to speak, since she had never really asked any of them to do anything. But once Phyllis, Sharon, Victoria, and Nikki boarded that speedy train, they zoomed down the tracks and never looked back. Seriously, someone should have just kicked the fearless foursome right in the caboose. They would have it coming. Woo-woo!
Ah yes, the secret videotaping at the Newman ranch sure explains how the culprit has known everything that's been going on with the Newmans. Are you kidding? Hidden cameras seem to be the norm in the Newman households these days. Victoria had better check her house again, also, especially since her place has been bugged before. The critters just seem to love it there. I can't blame Nikki for freaking out and shooting her gun after seeing a shadowy figure on the wall. Thank goodness she missed, since the figure turned out to be her husband. Obviously, Victor should have spent more time with Nikki at the firing range -- or maybe count his lucky stars that he didn't.
And the camera kept on rolling as Nikki laid out all the details, as well as the planted evidence, of the horrible night of the girls' night out party to both Nick and Victor. So, if the filmmaker is not Phyllis and didn't already know everything about that night, he or she got an earful about it then, which may work against Victor's plan to protect the fragile females of the family. It was such a relief to see Victor and Nick on the same page for a change, working together for a common cause. Even if the killing didn't do much for J.T., it seemed to have worked wonders in reuniting father and son.
So, who planted the poker by the Newman fireplace, the clothes on Nikki's bed, and the gun in the stables? Hey, maybe it was Nikki, whether it be consciously or subconsciously. Nikki's been consumed with guilt ever since that disastrous night, and at times, she's even wanted to turn herself in. Heaven knows, Nikki wasn't happy that her husband was in jail for something she did, and she was very aware that Victor would do anything to protect her. If Nikki was unable to muster up the courage to go the police herself, she might have sown the seeds and hoped that eventually Rey would figure it out for himself. Good luck with that.
No, even as much as Nikki would love for the whole thing to be over, I highly doubt she would be videotaping herself. Wow, actually that sounds just like something J.T. would do. He would sure know the technology. Oh, no, could it be that J.T. really did survive being clubbed with the fire poker and was getting the ultimate revenge on his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law? That would certainly be creative, since the person has held their lives hostage for almost a year now. With all the grief that Nikki and her family have suffered due to the tragic events of that night, if J.T. was the very-much-alive cameraman, Nikki might be ready and willing to slug him with the fire poker again -- except, of course, we know that the refined Nikki would never do that. Or would she?
And good for Nick for not letting past grievances against his father get in the way of trying to help his mother. Michael was the best weapon Nick could get to accomplish his goal of getting Victor out of jail. No, Nick didn't need a "sudden epiphany," since Victor had obviously been railroaded. Victor just needed a good attorney, and Michael knows his stuff. It's just too bad that Phyllis didn't see it that way. In fact, she couldn't understand why Nick was helping his father at all, since everything is, after all, about her.
My mother has a theory (which Christine also speculated on last week) that J.T. is still alive and that Phyllis may be in cahoots with him. And maybe that's not so crazy, especially since Phyllis indicated to Sharon that she felt the Newmans were hanging them out to dry. Phyllis insisted she wouldn't go down for it. She has been wanting to get even with Victor for years for all the wrong he has done to her in the past. Phyllis had believed J.T. was dead at the time, but she could have found out later that he was alive and then realized it would be the ideal time for Victor to get his just deserts. J.T. and Phyllis both would want to finally put the Mustache down -- like a dog -- and what a way to do it by sending Victor to prison for years with the final irony being that he was locked away for killing someone who was actually still alive.
It's weird that even though Phyllis had no problem blabbing just about every other secret in town, whether it was her place or not, she wouldn't even unzip her lips to let her latest honey know the truth about J.T.'s fate. Really, it was beyond tacky for Phyllis to announce at J.T.'s memorial that Reed's dad was an abuser, when Reed was only trying to honor the memory of his father and to say goodbye. And Phyllis' reasoning was that she just couldn't "down" all the niceties said by the other mourners. Hogwash. If she didn't want to take the chance of hearing nice things about J.T., she shouldn't have gone to the memorial. She knew that J.T.'s memorial was being held for his son's benefit. And only a couple of people had something nice to say about him, anyway. J.T. wasn't always a bad person.
If Victoria had really wanted to protect Reed, she could have shared with her son one happy memory from back when she was first married to J.T. More than likely, she felt guilty about the secret she kept hidden rather than about looking like a hypocrite. However, it really was so sweet that Reed and Victoria apologized to each other. Love means sometimes having to say you're sorry. I don't care what Ali MacGraw's Jennifer said to Ryan O'Neal's Oliver in Love Story. Man, that had to have been the sappiest movie of all time, but boy, was it a big hit at the box office at the time. All the lovelorn ladies cried along with sweet Jen (who had the coolest hat) when she sobbed, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Jennifer really must have been living in dreamland if she believed that. But we'll give her a pass for that, since she died in the end. Oops, spoiler alert!
But, come on, the only person who owed anyone an apology was Phyllis, and the only person she offered that to was Nick. What? And he immediately accepted it with his lips puckered. Why didn't Nick demand that Phyllis apologize to Reed because it was a cruel thing to do and to Victoria for telling a secret that wasn't hers to tell? Nick told Nikki that he wanted to protect his mother and his sisters, and maybe the first person he should shield them from is Phyllis. She's the one who started the whole J.T. cover-up, although he didn't know that. And why didn't Nikki and Victoria let on that Phyllis and Sharon were a part of it all, when they were very aware that Phyllis had had no qualms before about throwing them under the bus?
But that could be an explosion for another day and another time, when Nick finally learns that both his ex and his current loves have kept this huge confidence from him. He'd probably just poo-poo Phyllis' part in it, anyway, since nothing ever seems to stick to her. Nick always downplays Phyllis' bad acts with the notion of that's just the way she is, so it's all good. That's outrageous. But Red (again) must have a sex appeal that blinds all men in her orbit to her treacherous ways. Billy got caught up in it, also, but thankfully, he's back to thinking reasonably again.
Sadly, Billy didn't see then that Phyllis would be an everlasting dynamite, always able to blow up his world and his love life at any given moment. When Billy finally saw her for the troublemaker that she was, he regretted how he had hurt Jack for no reason at all. Even though Billy's vision cleared to see that all he had once had with Phyllis was only a fiery passion that would die out in time and that what he had with Victoria was real and solid, the hurt Victoria felt over Billy's admission drove her straight into Cane's lips -- again. Apparently, Victoria and Cane both needed a distraction, and they found it.
Even though Billy had thought he and Victoria were on the right track, Phyllis pulled the perfect stunt to derail them. Even if Phyllis didn't want Billy, she didn't want anyone else, especially Victoria, to have him either. The more Billy tried to fast-talk his way out of it, the more Victoria wanted to slow things down, maybe even for their romance to come to a screeching halt. Victoria didn't want to be Billy's second choice, and I don't blame her. But I agree with Nikki that Victoria was not second to anyone in Billy's eyes. He had just been too blinded for a while to see it.
Billy and Victoria have been giving me another couple to cheer for again, so I hope it's not over for them. Of course, I was always crystal clear about how much I loved Billy Miller's Billy Abbott with Amelia Heinle's Victoria Newman, and I feared that no other Billy would be able to do the couple justice. And even though it took a little while for him to get there with me, Jason Thompson finally got his own version of Billy to the place where I think Billy and Victoria would be ideal for each other. Billy seems to have finally grown up enough to give the love of his life the time and space she needs after her horrible ordeal. Don't let me down, Billy!
Cane was just wrong. Dead wrong. (Oops, sorry, Hilary.) Lily needed any positive motivation to help her survive her year in the clink, and the GED class was indeed a wonderful opportunity for her. If it can help keep her mind occupied during those days, when each one seemed like a lifetime, then not only would the class be aiding her, but it would also be very beneficial to the other women in prison. Cane was being horribly selfish, and he should feel ashamed of himself. He almost seemed to be trying to place the guilt he felt onto Lily's shoulders, but it was the very last thing she needed from him. Cane should offer Lily his support and comfort in any way possible, even if it did cut into his precious but impromptu visiting time with her. Or maybe Cane just used it as an excuse to lock lips with Victoria again.
Devon indicated he was sorry to Ana by releasing her version of Fen's song to the public. But why on earth wouldn't Ana want the world to know that she had written the song? It's rather mind-blowing, unless she plagiarized the song. But that can't be the reason why she wants the songwriter to remain hush-hush, since we already went through the same type of thing with Tessa stealing Mariah's words for lyrics and then claiming them as her own. Maybe the song was closely connected to a past love of Ana's, so she didn't want to outwardly own the song. But to give up future profits for it? It's all rather baffling. Oh, and welcome back, Neil!
What's going on with Kerry, and why the syringe? Jack must be a little sick and tired of the whole blood Abbott thing, so a needle probably wouldn't be a welcome sight to him. Kerry obviously has her own secrets. I just hope she isn't using Jack for her own selfish purposes. The poor guy's been through enough already.
Okay, now it's getting to be a little over the top the way Rey keeps splitting his devotion between Mia and Sharon. Make up your mind, dude. If you love Mia, who's your wife, leave Sharon alone. Sharon really deserves better, anyway. Rey seems to be sincere when he's with Mia, but it takes him no time at all to drool over Sharon, whenever he's around her. Mia had every right to feel insecure with Rey's obvious behavior. But she sure didn't do herself any favors by when she considered rekindling the "loud and exciting" fireworks with Arturo. Mia appeared also to be torn between two lovers.
I am surprising myself by liking Kyle and Lola together more and more. With the bad boy/good girl vibe, they are adorable together, and he's sort of a sweetie pie to her cutie pie. Their star, Kola, was just too precious for words. And yes, cheesy, too, almost like mac and cheese out of the box. It's a good thing Kyle admitted he was sorry for buying the expensive Christmas present for his lady, because that went far with her. "Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be...." Oh, I can almost hear Andy Williams' voice crooning the tune from Love Story. Oh, my gosh, I have got to get that song -- and that movie -- out of my head. But seriously, the lyrics seem to be a perfect fit for this delightful young twosome.
Try as I might, I just can't seem to get too invested in Arturo and Abby. They're nice, and it's neat that they admitted they love each other. But I'm still waiting for that special oomph from them, I guess, and I'm just not feeling it yet.
The line of the week was Victoria's to Nikki, "It's only paranoia when no one is out to get you." That's a slightly different spin of way I know it, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." Either way, it's true, and I love it.
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