On the Couch: Why Y&R’s Lily Winters Fled Genoa City

Hardcore The Young and the Restless fans know that Christel Khalil is going on maternity leave, and that’s why Lily Winters suddenly has to fly off to California. On the air, Lily learned that daughter Mattie’s university is on lockdown due to a wildfire. No one can come or go from the campus. So, naturally, Lily rushes to Northern California to…help the fire department? Get in their way? Breathe smoke? Be far enough away so that she isn’t breathing smoke — or is of any use to Mattie? We don’t know what Lily thinks she’s doing. But we’re pretty sure we know why she’s doing it. Please join us on the couch.

On The Couch: Lily Winters

Let’s face it, Lily was close to her twins when they were toddlers but she did miss whole decades of the kids growing up. They went from five to 15 overnight! Lily pretended not to notice, but we all noticed. Every single person noticed. (Take a look back on the SORAS switch-up here.)

Never mind the SORAS episode. Lily missed an entire year of Mattie’s life when she went to prison. No one can pretend that didn’t matter. It mattered a lot. Could this be why whenever Lily gets a chance to prove her maternal devotion she leaps on it? Even when it makes no sense whatsoever. 

Anywhere But Here

Then there’s the minor detail that whenever Lily shows up at Daniel’s house Heather (Vail Bloom) is there. Sure, Daniel’s ex is there for Lucy (Lily Brooks O’Briant), but it’s obvious she makes her presence well known. Lily pretends it doesn’t matter but it matters. A little. Lily is too classy to fight for a man.

So, why not remove herself from the situation and let Daniel decide whom he wants? She did that with Billy (Jason Thompson) and when it became clear he wanted Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan), Lily just moved on with her life. She’ll do the same thing here if Daniel wants to reunite his family.

Lily has other things to do. Like believing that only she can prevent forest fires.

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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