A Critic’s Review Of The Young and the Restless: High Praise

When it comes to The Young and the Restless, every fan has their own opinion – and Soap Hub is no different. For five days, we sat and watched the good, the bad, and everything in between, and now we offer you a handy review, and a cheeky critique, of Y&R’s week that was.

The Young and the Restless: A Critic’s Week In Review

All in all, this was a pretty solid week — high praise considering the litany of complaints I level at The Young and the Restless on a pretty consistent basis.

I’ve been calling for a Sally Spectra/Nicholas Newman hookup for what seems like years now, though I would have preferred the hot ‘n’ heavy affair to begin back when Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) were very much a thing and for it to have begun merely as a means for Sally to get up Phyllis’s nose but to blossom into something altogether more — shades of Phyllis/Nick/Sharon from way back when, but I’m happily accepting the storyline as it’s now being told. Aside: Poor Adam Newman (Mark Grossman); if ever there was a man who was his own worst enemy.

I also adored Victor Newman’s (Eric Braeden) and Jack Abbott’s (Peter Bergman) interaction. The minute I saw spoilers indicating that The Mustache was to issue a threat to his perennial rival, I groaned. Been there, done that. To Josh Griffith and the rest of The Young and the Restless writing staff, I apologize. You most certainly subverted my expectations.

Oh, and Nate Hastings’ (Sean Dominic) turn to the dark side? Chef’s kiss!

All that praise aside, there were still a few things that had me shaking my head in bemusement:

How is that Sally, who ran her own fashion house — a fashion house that would have been a qualified success were it not for the machinations of sore loser Bill Spencer (Don Diamont) who, in the end, literally leveled the establishment WITH SALLY INSIDE — is, in Victoria Newman’s (Amelia Heinle) mind, less qualified to run Newman Media than surgeon-cum-businessman Nate?

If nothing up to this point had me questioning Victoria’s acumen — like her signing half of Newman Enterprises over to Ashland Locke to make a point to her family — then that opinion of hers certainly would have.

Then there’s Nick who “couldn’t believe” that, “[Victor] just has to have his way and interfere in everything.” REALLY? If there is one constant on The Young and the Restless it’s Victor’s need to, “move the chess pieces around so everyone is exactly where he wants them, no matter what they want for themselves.”

The Young and the Restless (YR) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Genoa City, check out all the latest that’s been posted on Y&R spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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