A Critic’s Review Of The Young and the Restless: When Flashbacks Shine Brighter

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 Personal Highlight

My goodness, that episode spotlighting Tracey Bregman [Lauren Fenmore] sure was a riot. Blonde Lauren. Paul. Paul and Lauren, together. Fire and brimstone spouting Mary. Nutty Shawn. Nuttier Sheila. Danny (Michael Damian) in all his big hair glory. Traci Abbott (Beth Maitland) with a bit of a ‘tude. Julie Williams *erm* Susan Seaforth Hayes as Joanna. The Young and the Restless sure was different way back when. Actually, it was just better.

Further Y&R Musings

* Speaking of Lauren’s very special episode, couldn’t The Powers That Be — looking at you Josh Griffith — have come up with a better concept? I mean, a trip down memory lane to pacify Fenmore’s curious boyfriend…would you sit down and spill 40 years’ worth of tragedy and triumph to a youth who you’ve never met before that very moment?

Also, what was the justification for introducing Fenmore’s beau when it’s more than obvious that we’ll never, ever be seeing the two of them again? Shock value? Provide an opportunity for the writers to boast that they’ve made a third legacy character a member of the LGBTQ+ community?

Given that nobody at The Young and the Restless seems particularly eager to write for and/or feature the soap’s lone same-sex couple, the introduction of Trey seemed pointless at best and gratuitous at worst.

* Boy, am I disappointed in Jill (Jess Walton) capitulating to Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). With their shared history in mind, somebody of whom Victor disapproves would be the very somebody that Jill would want to associate with.

* Dear whoever thought that it would be a good idea to turn petulant man-child Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) into a mini-Victor — YOU’RE WRONG!

* I’m really confused as to Nick’s (Joshua Morrow) purpose. Is it to father children that we’ll never see him parent? To perpetuate a feud with Adam (Mark Grossman) that stopped being entertaining years ago? To be the unheeded conscience of the Newman family? All of the above? Something else entirely?

* I want to get excited about this simmering Lily (Christel Khalil) and Jill (Jess Walton) vs Devon storyline, but I can’t help but feel that it’ll fizzle out just as quickly as the battle for custody of Dominic Plethora of Last Names did.

* Jack…Jack, Jack, Jack. Ugh. That’s all I have to say.

* So, Dr. Malone thought it perfectly fine for Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) to burden her child with the truth about her suicide attempt, but she doesn’t think it appropriate for Chelsea to launch what would most likely be a purely therapeutic podcast where she’d talk about her mental health struggles, and her recovery…does that track…like, at all?

Then again…no Billy (Jason Thompson) and Chelsea hosting a podcast, so…I guess I can get behind the doc’s thinking after all.

* Who do you think moved out of Billy and Lily’s shared penthouse?

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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