A Critic’s Review Of The Young and the Restless: So Many Questions & So Few Answers

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

Boy did this week’s worth of Young and the Restless leave me with questions, the most pressing of which is, did Jack Abbott’s (Peter Bergman) explanation for why he’s so gung-ho to forgive Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters) her multitude of trespasses actually hold hold water?

To quote him verbatim: “Ever since Diane came back, she has gone to great lengths to show she’s a different person to the one who faked her death, who turned all our lives upside down…she has been playing defense since she got to Genoa City.”

Okay…where to begin with that one? I supposed I could start by pointing out how ironic it is that the woman Diane was before she left faked her death was a lying liar who lied, and since her return all she has done is pile lie on top of lie. Also, and I can’t believe that I’m about to cut for *long inhale and exhale* Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford), but isn’t it true that all she’s been doing is playing defense against the woman who once framed her for, amongst other things, arson?

And wasn’t it just earlier this year that Jack was explaining to someone or other that Phyllis was going to Phyllis and people were just going to have to accept that? If that’s the case, then why is Jack now taking exception to Phyllis Phyllising?

I mean, I get why he’s angry — there’s a little boy involved in all this palabra — but at the same time, I actually don’t.

Here now follows yet more questions I’d like answers to, in no particular order:

* Why oh why has Abby Many Last Names (Melissa Ordway) been reduced to monologuing to a toddler? Do I really need to point out — AGAIN — that this is a character who — either through blood or marriage — is related to not one, not two, but three of the families that this soap revolves around?

* Speaking of Abby Many Last Names, I feel the need for the Winters/Hastings family to be mended. This ongoing tension between Devon Hamilton (Bryton James) and Nate Hastings Jr. (Sean Dominic) is ruining what is left of two core families. Neil Winters (the late Kristoff St. John) would have knocked some sense into these two.

* Why are Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) and Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) so surprised by the fact that they make a good team? This is not the first time that they’ve come together for a common cause.

Speaking of Nikki, where does this madam get off dragging Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope) for faking a terminal illness? Young and the Restless fans of yore will recall that Mrs. Newman did exactly the same thing in an effort to keep Victor Newman’s (Eric Braeden) head from turning in…wait for it…Ashley’s direction!

* Are Sharon Rosales (Sharon Case) and Chance Chancellor (Conner Floyd) adorable together? I’m starting to think that they’re adorable together.

* Did Jeremy Stark (James Hyde) just materialize at will inside Jack’s office, because there is no way that he wouldn’t have crossed paths with Summer Newman Abbott (Allison Lanier) given the time (mere seconds) that elapsed between her exit and his sudden, silent, perfectly positioned appearance behind Phyllis.

* What exactly was the point of revisiting Cheslea Lawson’s (Melissa Claire Egan) rape of Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) — and let us be clear, she raped him — when 1) Y&R refused to call it out for what it was and 2) the event had already been swept under the rug by a previous régime who saw fit to pair the rapist and her victim in a love story?

* Is it just me reading too much into things because I desperately want to see Lauren Fenmore Baldwin (Tracey Bregman) and Michael Baldwin (Christian Le Blanc) in any kind of story, or was Lauren a little too interested in Danny Romalotti’s (Michael Damian) whereabouts?

If nothing else, can I at least get the old band — literally — that was Lauren, Danny, and Traci Abbott (Beth Maitland) all together again for a rollicking Christmas carol or two?

* Given that Jabot is famous for makeup and perfumes that it produces, wasn’t it a bit odd to hear Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) joke about the company’s, “fashion secrets,” being at risk rather than its, “beauty secrets”? Okay, maybe that one question is a mite pedantic…but I stand by it and all the others!

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