Seriously, as I watched Victor and Nick have one of their many disagreements, I could mentally hear an announcer exclaim, "It's time to play Family Feud... with the Newman family," since not-so-friendly debates between Victor and Nikki happened almost as often. I just wonder whose voice I am hearing in my head during this introduction. Could it be Joey Fatone, who's best known for being a member of NSYNC and who was the Family Feud announcer for approximately five years? He's certainly been making rounds through the game show circuit lately. But no, if Mr. Fatone even got a whiff of the Newman shenanigans, he would be the first one to bail out of their dispute and emphatically declare, "Bye bye bye." Alas, dear Victor, Joey Fatone will never yell from the rooftops that "It's gonna be me," as the Newman family feud announcer.
The Newmans have practically become the Hatfields and McCoys, except there is no other family involved in this discord. But, then again, the Newmans have never needed anyone else to help them implode. They are very capable of doing that all by themselves. As the hostility escalated among the Newman family members, there seemed to be no sign of a truce in sight. If the good people of Genoa City had to give the top ten answers for the reasons why Victor would disown one of his own children, Nick could provide most of them, although he might wish for Adam's help with that. Adam always seemed to give Victor plenty of reason to want to kick his youngest son to the curb. Are you kidding? It's been like a revolving door, in and out, with Adam and Nick as Victor's sons.
Nick probably wished that there had been lines drawn in the sand instead of on the tack house floor, so he would still have a place to live. Instead, Victor threw his son out, bag and baggage, of a place where Nick had been living with his own family for years. Did Nick ever pay rent while he lived there? Since he had always desired to live independently from Victor and the family business, he should have insisted on it. The way Victor talked, Nick had been living in the tack house through Victor's good graces, but Victor has a tendency to exaggerate whatever good graces he has. Nick could have been paying for the privilege of living on Victor's land, and Victor still would have considered that he had been granting his now former son of a huge favor.
If Nick did pay rent, he would most certainly have a case to file a lawsuit against his father for tossing him out of his place of residence without giving prior written notice. I believe a 30-days notice to vacate is the norm. Nick should sue Victor for illegal eviction. Victor loves spending time in the courtroom. He gets so entertained by the cat-and-mouse game of bribing the judges. Of course, Victor would just throw money to get the verdict he wanted, but maybe Nick could still have the satisfaction of legally battling Victor in a court of law. While he's at it, maybe Nick should consider legally changing his last name too. Nick Nolongeranewman. Yeah, it has a nice ring to it.
Victor sure seems to be acting out of character, since his battle cry has always been that everything he has ever done has been to protect his family. How is this protecting Nick, Faith, and Christian? Victor is taking away the only home that Faith and Christian remember having with their father. Aren't Faith and Christian Victor's family too? If he disowns him, it's like Nick was never Victor's son. Therefore, Faith and Christian would no longer be Victor's grandchildren. Of course, Victor doesn't see it that way. And he must have realized that Nick would go running straight to Chelsea with the suggestion of moving in with her. Wasn't Victor worried that Nick would corrupt his other grandson Connor? I do agree with Chelsea, though, that it would be good for the brothers...I mean, cousins, Connor and Christian, to get to know each other better. Yes, it would probably be a great thing for the two young boys to grow up as siblings, since that's what they were -- even if Nick didn't know it.
Wasn't it awfully generous of Victor to let Nick return to the main house to pick up the materials Chelsea had used to remodel Faith's room? Boy, Victor sure turns a blind eye to following the actual letter of the law, but what else is new? Victor had absolutely no legal right to remove any anything from the tack house. However, it was so sweet of Chelsea to suggest remodeling Faith's room in their next place of residence, and Christian's too. Little did she know that place would be at her very own address, and fortunately for Nick, she liked the idea. Nick's such a considerate guy. He even offered that they move to another place, since he had "a pretty sizable nest egg," if Chelsea's current abode held too many memories of Adam. Nick can only hope that his relationship, as an ex-Newman, with Chelsea will go more smoothly than Adam's did. Victor will still consider her a member of the family though. Strange.
So, if Victor disowns him, would Nick still be considered Victoria's brother? I know he would. Victoria loves Nick dearly. And she's strong enough to not let her dad kill the relationship she has with her sibling -- even if she's not tough enough to close the door on her feelings for Billy, once and for all. I know that I have said it before, but Billy really does like to have his cake and eat it too. He made the bold statement that he has moved on with Phyllis. Okay, Billy, be happy, live long and prosper -- or whatever Spock from Star Trek says. So, why does he suddenly care that his ex-wife is dating Ben? Billy shouldn't, but I don't think that he was ever really ready to let Victoria go. All of his late nights at the office have proven that, plus Billy has put a lot of time and energy into erasing Cane from Brash & Sassy. He can't let that go to waste now. Billy has Victoria during the day and Phyllis at night. What more could any hot-blooded guy ask for?
Hmmm...I wonder if Victoria finds it weird dating a man named Benjamin now, since she was once in love with Dr. Benjamin Rayburn. And it doesn't look like she's going to have any better luck with this Ben either, since her entire relationship with him seems to be built on her health problems, which may include symptoms of some drastic mood changes. Victoria's still plagued with blurred vision accompanied with a hearing distortion at times, even though her tests showed she was perfectly fine. I think the doctors need to do some more testing. Something's not quite right with Victoria.
I was joking before, but maybe Victoria really does have a brain tumor. Or could the stress piling up on her be causing Victoria to have developed a multiple personality? (I rather doubt it.) Or maybe Victoria is suffering from schizophrenia. I really don't think that's the case, either, but wouldn't it be a great storyline? Wow, that's something that Amelia Heinle could really sink her chops into. With her talent, she would almost be guaranteed another Daytime Emmy award. But since it's highly unlikely that the writers would go that way with such a reserved and sophisticated character, Ms. Heinle will have to earn another coveted statue in the conventional way.
Give it up for...Victor Newman! Well, he's no Steve Harvey, although Victor's famous enough in his own right. Victor tends to make a bad host, especially with his enemies. Just ask Billy. Honestly, Victor and Billy need to get into each other's faces again, if only to hear the Mustache call him "Billy Boy." I was somewhat relieved when Victor paid a visit to the Brash & Sassy office, only to find Billy at Victoria's desk. Billy sure spends a lot of time at Victoria's desk, considering he's not even the CEO. Anyway, I was practically praying that tempers would rise and the insults would start flying...but instead, they both shared their concern over Victoria and agreed to put past differences aside and to join forces to help Victor's daughter. What? Is this The Twilight Zone?
Okay, now this is getting to be too much, when Victor and Billy would become buddy-buddy for any reason. It's just so unbelievable that it's almost laughable. Victor and Billy have had better instances where it would had made sense for them to work together, but the cause has never been great enough for that to happen. Next thing you know, Victor will take Billy under his wing, just as he's already pretty much adopted Scott. Out with the old (Nick) and in with the new (Scott -- and Billy?!) Thank goodness the fantasy faded and reality returned once again when Billy decided that Victor was a bigger threat to Brash & Sassy than Ben, after all. Whew! My head was getting more fogged up than Victoria's has been lately with the possibility that Victor and Billy could ever be friends.
As it turns out, Victoria would have been insane to allow Ben to invest in her company -- not because of his association with Cane, but because he left Cane's phone number out in the open, where anyone and everyone could see it. What a nitwit. I thought he was supposed to be a savvy businessman. Ben knew he was meeting with Victoria. It was almost like he was trying to sink the whole deal. Well, if that was Ben's goal, he succeeded.
And who would discuss the intimate details of a sex romp out in the hall of a club's hotel? Victoria and Ben weren't even whispering, which was a good thing, or Hilary might not have been able to catch all the juicy details on film. I can't think this will help Brash & Sassy's reputation any. Man, that lady will stoop to anything to grab the ratings on her show. Lily was right. Hilary can use all of her unsavory tactics and do the most "awful" things, and the golden opportunities will still flow her way. Lily tries to do everything right, and it only bites her in the rear. Hilary and Victor have both proven that it pays to be ruthless and diabolical.
And, of course, Hilary took full advantage of her footage and immediately aired it to Victoria's embarrassment. Billy didn't look too thrilled, either, since she had just secured a loan with the Hamilton-Winters Group. Or was it an investment? Neil referred to it as both, but they are two totally different things. A loan must be paid back, whereas an investment yields money from profits, as long as there are profits. Anyhow, Victoria thought all her problems were solved. She only had to guarantee that the DARE campaign was back on so Lily's career would be back on track. But then there was Hilary. Honestly, people should be looking around every corner before they speak, especially if they know Hilary is in the vicinity. She's like a snake with fangs bared, ready to strike.
Now that his chance of working for Ben flew out the window, Cane will still be desperate to find a job. Susan could only see lower-level positions at lesser pay in Cane's future, unless he was willing to relocate. He wasn't because of his family, so Cane's destiny could be flipping burgers at McDonald's. Does Genoa City even have a McDonald's? Let's hope so, for Cane's sake. It's a relief to know that he's living at the Chancellor estate, though, and that the woman he thinks of as a mother hasn't totally turned her back on him. It's a tad absurd that Cane is being blamed for the entire fallout of the sports commercial, when Billy really did joke about making a bet, which was unprofessional, and when Juliet really did okay the run of the backstage footage without the hockey league's prior approval. Cane was not the only ingredient to scorch this project. But he should realize that continuing to target Victoria will only get him in deeper and deeper, when he should be finding a way to dig himself out of the mess he had a major hand in creating.
Why is Juliet always in Lily's face? Lily threw Cane out, so Cane's new baby mama should be deliriously happy. But I think Juliet really wanted Lily's happy family life, which will never be. How can it when Juliet took that life away from the same man she wants that kind of life with? And then Lily lost her only income when Victoria put her DARE commercial on hold. Cane was not the only one whose life had totally fallen apart. Lily's was also in shambles, and Juliet just seemed to want to pick up the pieces -- and to carry them off with her to glue back together for herself.
However, Lily probably wouldn't even mind, since somehow Jordan's lips found their way to Lily's. Really, Lily should have seen that coming. I certainly did. Jordan's been pretty obvious about his feelings for Lily, which is what made Hilary jealous. That and Hilary's insecurity. Actually, Hilary only has herself to blame. If she had left Lily and Cane alone, Lily wouldn't now be tempted by another man and a chance for a career in New York. But Hilary had to have her vengeance and blow up Lily's life. For a quick second, Lily's future had seemed secure once again in Genoa City with the DARE campaign, but will the clip of Victoria's "meltdown" kill her chances? Can the Hamilton-Winters Group afford to take such a negative hit to their reputation? And could Neil even back out of the contract?
Why do I get this crazy impression that Y&R is trying to turn Reed and Mattie into the latest version of Romeo and Juliet? Wouldn't that be ironic, having Mattie be the new "Juliet," since a woman of the same name played a huge part in ruining Mattie's happy and loving family? Reed's mother fired Mattie's father, so they can no longer be together. Oh, yes, it's all so similar to the brouhaha between the Montagues and the Capulets. Or even the Hatfields and McCoys. Why, Reed and Mattie could play their own game of Family Feud, and they would actually have families battling against each other. Give the top six answers for the reasons two youngsters in love cannot be together. You know what their number one answer would be: Cane. (Or "Dad" in Mattie's case.)
Just as quickly as Nick moves out of the tack house, Abby will be ready to move in. I hope she redecorates the living room and kitchen, or it will just seem weird to no longer have Nick there. Really, Abby needs to make the place her own. Wow, it's rather surprising that she's still living in the same place that she lived in with Stitch. Talk about a lot of memories. Just being reminded of her miscarriage and how that all came about should have been enough to have her scurrying to find another home in record-breaking time. You would think she would want to get far, far away from any reminders of that sad circumstance. It's rather bizarre how Ben just silently vanished without a trace, but I knew Stitch was curtains the second his marriage with Abby fell apart. That's just the way soaps roll.
Oh, come on, Jordan. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that the spark between Abby and Scott will flare up and that Sharon will be the one left out in the cold. It's just a matter of time. It's crazy, but when I first saw Sharon with that razor and Scott was standing in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, I thought she wanted to shave his chest. Really. I know...my mind is warped. But seeing Scott without his beard is taking some getting used to. Is there some way he could trim up his hair too? I realize that curly hair is difficult to manage though.
The question of will they or won't they kept slowly crawling along for Mariah and Tessa, even as Noah still believed he was the answer to Tessa's prayers. You have got to feel for the guy, since he seemed to be totally clueless and appeared to still be so naïve. Was Nick ever this gullible? Now that Tessa has told Mariah about Crystal, that will give them the opportunity to get even closer -- as best friends, of course. Ri-i-ight. If Noah believes that, I have a bridge to sell him. Nah, it wasn't awkward at all between Mariah and Tessa. They were just like a pair of college roommates. Yeah, college roommates where one confides in the other so they can become more intimate, therefore shutting each one's boyfriend out of their loop. Why, it's just like a sorority.
But never fear, Tessa, because Scott was hot on Crystal's trail when he propositioned a Russian girl. I was curious as to just how far he was going to let her go when she started to strip him. Scott didn't seem to be in too big of a hurry to stop her. After he finally and reluctantly did, Scott found that the lass could barely speak a word of English, and since he only knew a smattering of Russian, he learned all he needed to know about Crystal's situation. Let's see. Crystal was in trouble, and a nice woman was helping her. Scott put two and two together and surmised that Crystal was in something much bigger than they had ever imagined. Well, of course. It was the obvious conclusion.
Jack couldn't be more pleased that Dina was working at Jabot, even if she had caused so much pain for them all when he was a child. And Dina certainly hasn't been a wallflower since she starting working at Jabot. On her first day, she had no qualms about giving orders to anyone within hearing distance. I am sure that Gloria tried to stay as far as away from the sound of her voice as possible. But Jack noticed that Dina's calculations weren't entirely spot on, which should have raised more red flags about her medical condition. Was Dina depressed, or was dementia slowly creeping its way in? Or could Dina even be going through the first stages of Alzheimer's disease? Jack and Ashley really need to keep an eye on their mother. Hopefully, Graham cares enough to watch out for Dina -- or was he helping her to cover her tracks? She sure whipped out the correction to her calculations in a hurry.
Why do I have a sneaky suspicion that Billy is going to use Dina as a weapon against Jack? The only question is how. But then Dina told Ashley she didn't care for Phyllis and seemed willing to remove any obstacle from a reconciliation between Jack and Billy. Okay, now you have my attention. That could be fun to watch. Bring it on.
I had hoped the writers would forget the whole Ashley and Ravi love story, so, of course, that's one story they didn't drop. To me, the lovebirds make much better friends because the age difference is so vast. It will only cause problems down the line -- but that's exactly what soaps are made from. Okay. I get it. I guess I'd better exercise my theory of "live and let live" in this case. They are rather cute together.
So far, the most interesting scenes from the whole teenage angst story have been the ones between Mattie and Hilary. Good for Mattie for not letting Hilary try to backpedal her way out of the part she played in destroying Cane and Lily's marriage. And way to go for telling Hilary to mind her own business. Sadly, Hilary always uses her job at her "trashy show" to stick her nose into everyone's business, and everyone always ends up the worse for it.
Jack raised Brash & Sassy's rent to try to eliminate Jabot's competition. At least, that was his story to Phyllis. But it's probably true, and taking Billy down would just be the icing on the cake. Jack probably considers Victoria the easier Newman to beat, and after all his losses against her father, he was ready for a win. It's been a long time coming, Jack, if it even happens.
When Billy talked to Dina about his father, John, he reflected, "He's one of the most forgiving men I've ever met," and Dina replied, "Yes, he is." Wouldn't that be "was"? Do they know something we don't know?
If Benjamin Hochman is a shark, then Victor Newman must be "Mack the Knife."
Until next time, please stay tuned.
Teddi
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