Did you notice that it was a week of ups and downs on The Young and the Restless? On one hand, there were major developments, including the masterful Victor Newman showing his teeth just when Meggie thought she'd fooled him into giving it all up to her. On the other hand, it felt like the ultimate betrayal when J.T. decided on Monday to move with Reed halfway across the country, and poor Victoria was unable to stop him. It was hard to be happy about Mac and J.T.'s lovely little wedding when his actions were so completely heartless and selfish. Then there was Deacon's decision to romance Nikki instead of pushing her into drunken oblivion. All in all, quite a week!
Let's start with Victor. Oy vey, will this man ever achieve some balance in his life? If Victor was a woman, we'd think he was having menopausal mood swings. Or maybe it's the male version - manopause! (By the way, I didn't make that up. I heard it in the trailer for "Little Fockers," which is coming out for Christmas!) Victor's been veering all over the place lately. He's in love with Nikki, then he's not sure he wants to marry her. He adores Victoria, but he's not averse to having her arrested on her wedding day ... for her own good, naturally. Instead of settling with Abby, he plays hardball and escalates a family squabble into the Newman War of the Roses!
We saw a lot of Victor this past week. We saw him flaring his nostrils at Deacon. We heard him bellow at Nikki. If we had a dollar for every time he said "baby" to Meggie, we'd be millionaires! But it was worth it to see that last minute on the show when Victor grabbed Meggie by the hair and let her know that he wasn't quite at death's door!
Of course you know what happened, right? Murphy used the Morse code to tell Ronan that Meggie was a homicidal maniac who had killed his son and tried to kill Murphy at the harvest festival! Kay probably called Victo,r and he and Ronan cooked up this sting to catch Meggie "in the act." No way will she be able to convince a judge -- or jury -- that she hadn't tried to murder Victor. No copping a plea for Meggie! Next stop is prison for Ms. McClain!
Daisy is another one who deserves a place in prison. If she manages to get away again, I'm going to personally smack Maria Arena Bell upside her head! (Just kiddin', MAB!) The actress who plays Daisy must be very good because I can't stand her. And is that really her hair? It looks like a Barbie wig. One thing for sure, she's no Barbie. As for the baby she's carrying, it probably will turn out to be Daniel's because they'll need to create conflict. Phyllis will be out of her mind at the thought of being a grandmother. Abby will dump Daniel, and his promising art career will hit the skids. Oh joy, what a happy show.
Regarding Daisy's return, Lauren's reaction was extreme to say the least. She's perfectly right to react so dramatically. What happened to her -- and Jana -- was heinous. Lauren and Jana should be traumatized by what happened. So here's the question: why hasn't Lauren been seeing a therapist? Michael should have insisted on sending Lauren to a shrink. She desperately needs to work through her fear. The reaction she had is justified, but not treating the reaction is a mistake. Lauren, and Michael, know better.
There was another major story last week that truly made my blood boil. I'm wondering if you feel the way I do about J.T. taking Reed to Washington? Here's my take on the matter. First, nobody decides to move in a day and leaves four days later. That's just unrealistic. J.T. also was completely selfish. He wasn't thinking about what was best for Reed, let alone Victoria. If anything, the way he treated Victoria was cruel. If the situation was reversed, he would not like it one bit.
The main complaint I have with Maria's storytelling here is that it's unrealistic. As I said, the need for a super-fast move was unreal. But so was the fact that Victoria had no recourse but to let J.T. take Reed out of state. Yes, Victoria contacted Vance and Michael to see if she had any rights, and they said she didn't. J.T. has sole custody. However, the situation has changed since a family court judge ruled against Victoria and in J.T.'s favor.
Victoria is now the more stable parent. She's married, she has a home, she's solvent, and she's healthy. By comparison, J.T. is living on borrowed time. He's just recovered from a car crash and has heart damage. He's been married for all of two minutes. He's got another child on the way. He hasn't started his new job yet, and he only has temporary housing for two months. If you were a judge, where would you think Reed would have a more stable environment? Instead of accepting Vance and Michael's counsel, she should have been more like her father and insisted that one of them get her an audience with a judge. At the very least, I think a judge would have granted Victoria an injunction to keep Reed in Wisconsin.
I have to admit that I was expecting J.T. to leave Reed with Victoria. They were pulling every heartstring with Reed hugging Victoria and her telling him not to jump on the bed. J.T. looked like a heartless SOB for taking Victoria's little boy halfway across the country. Heartless and selfish... It was hard to feel good about J.T. and Mac's wedding, all things considered.
It was also hard to feel sorry for Heather. She was playing with fire by taking Victor's money and doing his dirty work. Guess what? She got burned. Billy put two and two together and published his suspicions. That's perfectly legal. Yes, they were just allegations, but Heather should have listened to Paul. He warned her. He's seen how treacherous it is to work with/for/around Victor.
Finally, a word about romance... Deacon seems like he's sincere about his feelings for Nikki, but I don't trust him. Billy, on the other hand, has earned my trust. He's been a very good husband to Victoria. Jana doesn't deserve a guy like Kevin and it's a good thing she chased Noah away. He doesn't need her either. I still think Maria's cooking up a romance for Victor and Skye, which will just be weird. By the way, did you notice that Nick, Sharon, Adam, Jack, Diane, Ashley, and Tucker all had the week off?
Here are some letters from the mailbox -- keep 'em coming, fans!
Dear Chrissy: Sorry if my joke offended you. It was more a knock on Cane that Australia... and it was just a jest. For goodness sake, please don't stop reading! -- Allison
Your comments are always welcomed at Soap Central, so stay in touch. Contact us at Soap Central. And keep on reading Two Scoops every week!
Best,
Allison
