The Noah Newman We – And Young and the Restless – Could Have Had

When Noah Newman returned to The Young and the Restless, he first wasted months pining after an ex-girlfriend who was now in love with his sister. Then he did some freelance art design work, and then he joined his dad at New Hope to help build housing for the homeless.

Young and the Restless: Noah Newman In Flux

Noah (Rory Gibson) kind of dragged from place to place, and we tried to figure out why we should invest in this moper, aside from him being the son of Nicholas Newman (Joshua Morrow) and Sharon Rosales (Sharon Case).

Y&R: Coming Into My Own

Finally, Noah seems to have found a purpose outside of pining and drawing. He told Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes) and Tessa Porter (Cait Fairbanks) that he was inspired by their wedding to start a club. He’s sure Grandpa Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) will let him use his real estate to get it up and running.

Of course, the fly in the ointment is that Nick expects Noah to keep running New Hope while Nick moves back to the corporate side of Newman Enterprises. But Noah finds homeless people boring, and working to help others is a total drag.

Mariah, Tessa, and Allie Ngyeun (Kelsey Wang) were totes sympathetic. Poor, put-upon Noah can’t be expected to just “suck it up” and do a job he isn’t passionate about. Who ever heard of anyone being forced to do such a soul-crushing thing?

Young and the Restless: What Could Have Been

This is who Y&R is putting forward as their new, young leading man? A spoiled brat who puts his needs before anyone else’s and can’t be bothered to think about anything but his own happiness?

Might we not have thought better of Noah if he returned to Genoa City, like so many members of Gen Z, fired up about social justice and fixing the world? If he turned down his family money — like Nick once did — because of the way Newman Enterprises exploits workers and pollutes the environment (name a large, multi-million dollar company that doesn’t do both of those things)?

How much better would the story have been if his conflict with Nick were about Dad not doing enough for the less fortunate, and if it involved quite a bit less…there’s no nice way to put this…whining? Do you agree? Let us know in the comments section below.

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.