A Critic’s Review Of The Young and the Restless: Toxic Relationships & MVPs

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 Wonders

When Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) opined to Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) that, “Relationships shouldn’t hurt this much,” I couldn’t help but giggle. Clearly Lily has never watched The Young and the Restless.

I, for one, am glad that Y&R decided to cut their losses where that couple was concerned, though I can’t help but blanch at what seems to be their ultimate endgame: a reunion between Billy and Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan). Granted, I could be wrong. I frequently am. And I’ll happily issue a sincere apology if Josh Griffith proves otherwise and forgoes reviving the rapemance, but until then, I’ll hedge. And complain. This is a safe space for complaining.

Further Y&R Musings

* Am I alone in silently wishing for a retread of the Sharon Rosales (Sharon Case)/Abby Many Names (Melissa Ordway) feud?

Also, I REALLY like angry Chance Chancellor (Conner Floyd). That said, he was absolutely in the wrong to take that assignment in Spain without so much as giving his wife a bye or leave, and yes, he was absolutely in the wrong for burying himself in work rather than facing his estrangement from his wife and newborn son head-on. I can’t believe he felt the need to wonder whether that was the case.

* I’m going to need someone to explain to me how a change of address would traumatize a five-month-old. Dominic More-Last-Names-Than-Mommy apparently doesn’t have a problem moving from the Chancellor manse to Devon Hamilton’s (Bryton James) penthouse, so Abby taking up residence somewhere other than her ex’s family home shouldn’t irk the child too much.

And here I thought Griffith was actually going to concisely respond to fan concern — shouldn’t a Chancellor be occupying the Chancellor mansion? — rather than deal with it in such a ridiculously superficial manner.

* I’m sorry but are we actually supposed to believe that a) the doorman/front desk clerk/on-site security team guarding the Chicago-based Newman apartment is just going to let Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) waltz right on in and up, and b) that in all these decades — literal decades — later, The Great Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) never changed any of the passwords protecting the abode and the treasures stored within?

* Nikki Newman’s (Melody Thomas Scott) utter disdain for Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) will never not be funny.

* On the one hand, I, like many of you, am more than over Victor’s toxic approach to parenting and especially the lather, rinse, repeat cycle — more like build-up, abuse, breakdown, neglect, build-up, abuse, breakdown, neglect — that The Young and the Restless has trapped him and Adam in. On the other hand, I must give TPTB credit for keeping Victor’s throughline. This is the kind of man he’s always been and will forever be. More’s the pity.

* The focus of the scene was supposed to be the foreground action of Devon’s excoriating of Tucker McCall (Trevor St. John), but my eyes were glued to Eileen Davidson [Ashley Abbott] — one of Y&R’s most underserved MVPs — silently weeping in the background.

The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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