Okay, everyone in Genoa City has agreed -- Victoria's a fighter. Chelsea pointed that out to Billy. The Newmans all stressed that as they waited in the hospital for word on her progress. And Mariah practically cheered that to Sharon as she reflected that both Victoria and Sharon would need to fight, fight, fight for their lives. I could almost picture pom-poms in her hands as Mariah gave a mighty sis-boom-bah for the former sisters-in-law to hold onto the people who loved them during their battles. So, while Victoria was in her medically induced coma, her family and friends were prepared to support her as they moved forward against the foe, so they would win, through thick and thin, forever as they go, go, go, go. Okay, some of those last words may have come from my high school fight song.
And Nikki joined in on Mariah's cheer when she said that Sharon was a warrior and could fight and win her battle against cancer. Boy, was it bizarre seeing this former dueling duo being bosom buddies or what? Her ex mother-in-law gave the old college try in her pep talk for Sharon to take any fear she might have and throw it out the window, which was good advice at long last. Nikki and Sharon finally had a common cause, and they taunted their diseases to just try to stop them. And since both were mothers, they could relate that "being a parent means being afraid every day of your life." Even though Nikki was relieved once Victoria came out of the coma, she was still fearful, so she kept Billy away from her daughter. Victoria's focus and positive energy needed to be on her recovery.
Since it's leap year, Nikki was justified in taking a leap of faith by believing that Victoria would fight and win against the injuries she had suffered at the hand of Ripley. That's right, Victor. Ripley. Not Billy. As usual with Billy, Victor put two plus two together and got five, since he put the blame of Victoria's knifing right on Billy's shoulders. I mean, Billy had done just about everything wrong recently, especially when it came to Victoria, but he had absolutely nothing to do with Ripley's attack. Billy hadn't invited Amanda to attend the Newman gala with him, and it wasn't his fault that she chose to follow him there. And Amanda sure hadn't known that Ripley was stalking her. This was all on Ripley, and someone really needed to let Victoria know that.
But Sharon said it best: "We can't change the past, and we can't predict the future, but we can control what we're doing right now." Yet Billy's always had trouble with that, since his vision has never been anywhere near 20/20 when it comes to perception. When Victoria had tried to support him, Billy had only seen it as her way of trying to fix him. However, Victoria hadn't even been aware that there was a problem and had believed he was on the right track until he showed her that he had gone off the rails. Victoria had just wanted Billy to be his best self, yet Billy perceived it as not being true to the person he felt he was underneath. When Billy told Jill that he was "as good as it gets," it showed he had no intention of changing. As Nikki observed, Billy was not enlightened; he was in denial.
Victor, being Victor, could only see that Billy Boy had once again cheated on his daughter, which wasn't true. Billy still loved Victoria. He proved that again by sneaking into Victoria's hospital room and leaving pictures of their children next to her in bed. Billy was just being a dunderhead in wanting, so badly, to eliminate all the stress from his life that he chased away the one person who tried to accept him the way he truly was, even if he couldn't see it for himself. Billy actually took the easy way out by leaving Victoria, and he refused to fight for what they had together, which caused the split. If Billy had faced reality, he would have remembered that a successful and loving relationship is made up of compromises on both sides. He just hadn't been willing to do any giving on his end.
A great start for Billy to change his perception would have been to accept the job Jill offered him at Chancellor Industries, even if it was a made-up position, since he could have made the job his own. Dunderhead. Amanda told Billy that she felt bad for Victoria because Amanda had misjudged her situation with Ripley. Situation. Somehow that seems like such a tame word for stalking. Amanda was done with playing with fire, so she vowed to keep her distance from Billy. But how fortunate for Amanda that the situation happened, since it finally convinced Devon that she had not been trying to hide her past because of Colin. In fact, he believed that Amanda had been an innocent dupe who only took Colin's case to get far away from Ripley. Uh-oh. Elena should start worrying.
I was afraid that the Colin-stole-Devon's-money story would end with a dull thud, especially since Colin wasn't around to jazz it up, and I was right. Colin eagerly gave every penny of the $2.4754 billion back to Devon in an offshore bank account, Yeah, and if you believe that, I have a bridge for sale, cheap. You can bet if Colin were physically in the picture, he wouldn't be returning all that dough. But he insisted in his text, "Money can make a person crazy." Okay. So, Devon got his big bucks back, and we were right back to where we started. Somehow, it made the whole thing seem pointless. Jill received a single red rose from the man who had taken her on a wild ride and had never made her feel more alive and free. Colin was a cad, but Jill had truly loved him. Right, Mate?
Now, it seems that all our beloved characters are at a crossroads. Just when it looked as if things were finally going to pick up and get moving, Nikki was able to convince Victor not to go back to Newman Enterprises as CEO during Victoria's absence. But all was not lost yet because Adam also decided to return to the fold, since he insisted that he was perfectly capable of handling the daily demands of the family business. What a trooper -- and so generous. Okay, Adam did admit that he regretted not accepting Victor's prior offer but said that his head was currently on straight. Hey, if Victoria had to be out because of a stabbing, someone should take advantage of it.
Seriously, Chelsea really needs to grow a backbone. What happened to that crafty con that we knew from way back when? If Adam were to say jump, Chelsea would ask how high, even if she knew the leap could lead to disaster. Chelsea warned Adam that trying to step back in at Newman Enterprises as CEO could appear opportunistic, but she immediately backed down and told him to go for it once Adam admitted that he wanted to prove himself to his father. Oh, yeah, I'm sure the rest of the family would understand that. And, naturally, Adam spun it to Victor that his desire to return to the company was motivated by wanting to step up for the family. Good play, especially since it's just what Victor had been waiting to hear from Adam for years.
If anyone knew about taking advantage of a golden opportunity, it was Phyllis, as she continued to plant herself at Nick's side during this sad and scary time. Come on, Phyllis has never done anything out of the generosity of her heart, so when she arrived with coffee in hand in the hospital, it was an obvious ploy to win her ex-husband back. Again. Really...the writers couldn't think of something different for our spicy redhead? With Nick and Phyllis, it was always leap forward and then spring back. We've already been there, done that numerous times. Oh, I guess that would be that she's been there, done that, wouldn't it? It's time for Phyllis to have a new man to challenge.
Phyllis had a chance at something different and possibly exciting with Chance, since he and Abby were about as exciting together as watching paint dry. Phyllis was the only thing that made those two interesting at all, but she threw in the towel. Chelsea made a good point when she told Abby to make sure the Grand Phoenix was her dream, because Phyllis would fight to the death to get it back. How many times did we hear Abby say that Society was her dream? But Abby rarely visited Society anymore. For her, it was all about the Grand Phoenix, because that was Phyllis' dream. Abby knew that going in, which made her want to own it all the more. Abby only wanted it because Phyllis wanted it. Oh, it was still a triangle, only the threesome consisted of Abby, Phyllis, and the Grand Phoenix.
Abby created her own excitement by giving Phyllis a limited time offer to buy the redhead's shares of the hotel for three times their value. So, Abby was offering to pay a boatload of money to snap up Phyllis' dream right out from under her nose? How did Abby believe that Phyllis would ever accept that offer? Not even in her wildest dreams. But then a process server handed Abby papers of a lawsuit filed by a former guest that Phyllis had prodded, ahead of time, into taking action, and as the lawsuits started piling up, Abby only saw that the hotel was cursed. Yeah, by Phyllis. Abby reminded me of a little puppy yapping on a porch, wanting to leap off and play with the big dogs, only she didn't know how. She should beware. Phyllis' bite was much worse than her bark.
Abby almost had a shark on her side when Amanda offered to help her with the lawsuits. Too bad Amanda was such good friends with Phyllis, though, because it would take ferocious for Abby to be able to overcome vicious, and Amanda's got a pretty mean bite herself. Amanda voiced that Abby must love the Grand Phoenix to be willing to go through so much grief. But really, the hotel was just a shiny toy to Abby, so she finally sold her shares to Phyllis. However, Abby then announced that she would put her own brand-spanking-new hotel on the property across the street that would be bigger and better than Phyllis' "shack on the beach." All that was missing was a glove for Abby to slap Phyllis across the face and challenge her to a duel -- but her message was loud and clear.
Chance was more into Phyllis' dirty type of playing. Apparently, he felt his yapping girlfriend needed help, so he decided to find the recordings that Phyllis was using as leverage. Oh, for heaven's sake, go back to curbing your inner caveman, Chance. Why didn't he just let Abby fight her own battle? She didn't love the Grand Phoenix like Phyllis did, and she should never have held it hostage just to get Phyllis' goat, which was "petty and ludicrous." If Abby wanted her new hotel to battle Phyllis', then so be it, and at least it would be her fight. But no, Chance had to protect her, so he hired Kevin to neutralize Phyllis. Sure, Kevin might appreciate the money, but he was about to add to his family tree and didn't need any more trouble, especially at his job or from Phyllis. Will he never learn?
Ahhh...Mariah was so great with the philosophy when she talked to her mother, but she needed to heed her own advice. After her "needy daughter sneak attack" on Sharon, Mariah reminded her that "caring about somebody you love is not a burden." That was so sweet. It's just too bad that Tessa couldn't hear those words, since she was so busy with Tanner on tour. Shoot, Tessa was so swamped that she couldn't even bother to answer her own phone. It was strange how Tanner was always on hand to play secretary, even when Tessa took a shower. Don't they have separate rooms? I don't know. I would feel weird if my ex-husband were in my room while I was bathing. But then again, I would never allow my ex-husband to be in my room, anyway. Maybe it's just me.
But, no, it was Mariah, too, since she was a tad put off by the video chat with her girlfriend sitting next to her shirtless ex as they talked about Tessa and Tanner being rock's new power couple on social media. Mariah had better watch her temper, though, because distance was not her friend in this, and she might unintentionally drive the two songbirds together with her jealous tantrums. And speaking of friends, instead of continuously telling Theo to take a flying leap, Mariah should grab ahold of any ally she can get in this. He's a pretty savvy guy. Theo might have some good advice, and since Mariah wouldn't listen to her own, maybe she should listen to his, since he always seemed to find a way to land on his feet.
But Theo was also trying to find his footing when it came to Lola, since he wanted to test the waters between them once she came up for air after her breakup with Kyle. And Lola didn't look displeased after Theo mentioned taking her out sometime. Lola sure has been taking her upcoming divorce from Kyle well, certainly a lot better than Summer did when the shoe was on the other foot. Lola cried and then was ready to leapfrog over her sorrow and move on, which was admirable. And Theo was wise to give her time to adjust to being on her own again. His patience could very well reward him in the end. Mariah should take note -- Theo would be a good friend to have.
However, on the other hand, Kyle and Summer had absolutely no problem with losing a client, since their only thoughts at work were of sex. Jack would be so comforted in knowing that. Speaking of Jack, it's time that he had his own storyline again. But anyway, since Kyle and Summer didn't appear to be capable of focusing on anything but making love in the afternoon, they tore out of work like bats out of hell. Hopefully, Jack had someone on standby, before Jabot lost all its business. He could always offer Billy a job to bail the company out, but Jill had already tried that and failed. Jack could only hope that he had enough employees left to anchor the running of the daily operations, or Jabot could sink as fast as Jaboat after hitting a Titanic-size iceberg.
Jack tried to get off the back burner when he informed both Ashley and Abby that Dina wasn't doing well and that they should prepare themselves for the worst. Jack has gotten very close to his mother in the last couple of years. He will miss her more than anyone else when she is gone. Jack then advised Adam that he should help with the family business as long as Adam was willing to step down with grace once Victoria was able to return. Obviously for Jack, with age came wisdom, because he sure has mellowed. Yet the past battles between Victor and Jack were certainly better than the current sleepwalk going on between Newman Enterprises and Jabot. But with Chelsea and Chloe entering the fashion world again, maybe the competition between the two will finally reawaken.
As Chelsea and Adam decided to return to the scene of the crime and remarry at Hope's farm, Nikki read Victoria's favorite poem to her from the book Hope Is the Thing with Feathers. Hope and love were all around as Nikki waited for Victoria to once again say, "I'll be fine."
It seemed that Noah had only just arrived when his parents started trying to shove him right back out the door. Let's see -- Noah made a surprise entrance at the party, his parents hugged him, he showed off his artistic tribute to Victor, and Sharon immediately suggested that he return to London then called Nick to have him back her up. Weird.
Okay, I am sensing that the Genoa City Chronicle is the town's newspaper and that they have their own website. I mean, there are almost no physical newspapers anymore. So, it would seem that anyone who checked the Genoa City Chronicle website would see the same headlines and the same column about the big news in town, right? Yet the front page (so to speak) of the Genoa City Chronicle that Billy checked out online was slightly different than the one Sharon looked at. Billy read that Victoria was stabbed with the "suspect still at large." Sharon saw that Victoria was attacked at the anniversary gala and that the "suspect remains at large." Also weird.
Until next time, please stay tuned.
Teddi
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