A Critic’s Review of Young and the Restless: Completely Out Of Character

When it comes to 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

Once again, the best part of The Young and the Restless was the flashbacks to a time when the soap was written by someone who was decidedly not Josh Griffith. I remember those halcyon days when Peter Bergman’s Jack Abbott had a real personality and when Susan Walters’ Diane Jenkins and Michelle Stafford’s Phyllis Summers used to tear strips off each other.

I remember when Diane had a friend to the end in Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) and an enemy for life in Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) whom she always blamed for stealing Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) away from her.

Those days are long, long gone now. Now, The Young and the Restless is full of characters acting completely out of, well, character, and storylines that seem to be planned out no more than five episodes in advance – and that’s me being generous.

I didn’t have high or even low hopes for this big Diane’s back from the dead plot twist, so the less than a revelatory explanation as to how it was all pulled off – “A corpse from the morgue created the illusion. Limiting the number of people who saw me dead was key, and paying off anyone who could reveal the truth completed the effect.” – didn’t disappoint me as much as it might have some.

It also didn’t make a lick of sense considering the number of people who confronted/fought with Diane on the night of her supposed murder, the fact that the body was autopsied twice, or the fact that Nikki was VIDEOTAPED beating Diane in the head with a rock, but The Young and the Restless doesn’t really rely on things “making sense.” Storylines on the show just “are.”

Further Y&R Musings

* So, the mere act of playing with his infant triggers a panic attack, but Chance Chancellor (Conner Floyd) still thinks it’s a good idea to go back to work…right. Great decision-making skills. I think I might know how The Young and the Restless intends to write out Jordi Vilasuso’s Rey Rosales.

* So, Victoria Newman Locke (Amelia Heinle) doesn’t understand why her family doesn’t trust her to take care of Ashland Locke (Robert Newman), huh? Might that have something to do with the fact that she made him Co-CEO of the company out of sheer spite? Someone like that doesn’t deserve to sit in the power seat.

In point of fact, the only person worthy of the CEO title is Adam Newman (Mark Grossman).

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.