Mental health is no joke, and The Young and the Restless wants us to feel for Chelsea Lawson and the pain she is experiencing as she seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into depression. Unfortunately, that’s difficult to do for two reasons.
The Chelsea Lawson Who Cried Wolf
Was it only a year ago that Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan), with the help of Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), Adam Newman (Mark Grossman), and some very morally flexible members of the medical community, was faking being mentally ill in order to avoid being punished for almost murdering Rey Rosales (Jordi Vilasuso)…and setting up Adam to take the fall for it.
It’s hard to feel sorry for her now, when she so recently made a mockery of people who are truly ill and need therapeutic help, instead of cynically exploiting it in order to avoid jail time.
Young and the Restless: The Children’s Hour
Secondly, Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) and Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) have made it clear to Chelsea in every way they know how that they plan to respect their son’s wishes. If Johnny Abbott (Paxton Mishkind) doesn’t want to get to know Chelsea better or spend any time with his biological mother at all, then Victoria and Billy aren’t going to force him. Victoria and Billy are doing what’s best for Johnny.
Chelsea, on the other hand, by putting on her sad face every time she encounters the boy, is so obviously trying to manipulate him into feeling sorry for her that it’s, frankly, disgusting. And then there’s her other son, Connor Newman (Judah Mackey). Chelsea is making Connor feel that he is responsible for his mother’s happiness. And that is a terrible thing to do to a child.
Yes, Chelsea is sad — though her reasons, including Rey dying before consummating this great love that only she imagines they had, is suspect at best — she should not be dumping her recovery on a pair of children. It is not Johnny and Connor’s job to facilitate her recovery. And her making it seem that way is making Chelsea very unsympathetic.
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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