While The Young and the Restless has had the familiarity of our favorite characters we’ve known for decades over the past few years, it just did not feel like a soap opera with messy, intriguing, dramatic stories that have true impact and keep viewers talking, and talking in a good way.
The Young and the Restless Seemed To Go Nowhere
Instead, plots have been resolved too quickly and seemingly had no point. Remember when Amanda Sinclair’s (Mishael Morgan) ex-boyfriend stalked her and mistook Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) for her before stabbing her. What happened there? What was the true back story between him and Amanda? There really seemed to be no reason for him except to stab Victoria and Amanda was just an appendage to this quick story arc.
Faith Newman (played by Alyvia Alyn Lind and now Reylynn Caster) had a teenage drinking problem that was resolved within weeks and instead of it making her edgier, she’s done nothing but giggle and smile at Moses Winters (Jacob Aaron Gaines) for months with no drama in what was supposed to be a soap opera teen romance, which should always be filled with drama.
There would be weeks and weeks of episodes with no plot moving forward as characters sat around at different restaurants talking about the same thing over and over. Sometimes it felt like there was no reason to tune in since there was so little about this long-running show that felt like a soap opera. And then, just like that, it all changed.
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Y&R Got Its Groove Back
Things are finally starting to happen on Y&R and we are here for it. Bringing back a powder keg of a character like Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters) from the dead was definitely one shot in the arm this show sorely needed. Considering that she seemed dead dead and not soap opera dead makes this story all the juicier. She has ties all over the Genoa City canvas, from her fraught relationship with Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) and her fierce rivalry with Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) to the perilous relationship she is likely to have with her son Kyle Abbott when Michael Mealor returns to the soap and we see Kyle’s reaction to his mother’s abandonment.
The Ashland Locke (Robert Newman) saga that let us in on the secret that he started his fortune by stealing from a cat rescue finally has some traction as Victoria not only has her groove back but also her brain back. She is not going to be Ashland’s doormat wife anymore who believes everything he says and the Newmans are about to show us what they’re all made of.
Stories are finally moving at a fast clip again and actions are coming from characters and not from small plot points that make no sense there just to move deadweight stories along. With the Abbotts and the Newmans centerstage again where they belong, The Young and the Restless does indeed feel like a soap opera that’s been reborn.
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.
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