Y&R Conflict of Interest: Why Christine Williams Is in the Wrong Job

On The Young and the Restless, Christine Williams lamented to Michael, the man who once sexually harassed and tried to rape her (but they’re good buddies now), that life was so ironic.

Young and the Restless: A Quandary For Christine Williams

Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), who tried to kill Christine (Lauralee Bell), who tried to destroy her marriage, who harrassed her (but they are not good buddies now), was dead. And it was up to Christine, as the District Attorney, to try to figure out what happened and to provide, if not justice, then at least closure to Phyllis’s loved ones. Why all of that is a very, very bad idea?

The Y&R Past Is in the Past

As Christine, herself said, not only did Phyllis hate Christine, but Christine hated Phyllis. Like, a lot. What this means is Christine cannot be impartial when it comes to the woman who seduced Christine’s then-husband and passed her baby off as his. (Said baby is Daniel.)

There are two problems with this. On the one hand, Christine hated Phyllis so much that she might want to close the investigation into her death quickly, so she can stop thinking about it. If it turns out that Phyllis was indeed the victim of foul play — we know she wasn’t, but we also know Phyllis and Jeremy (James Hyde) set it up to look like she was — then it makes Christine’s office look incompetent…or deliberately malicious.

Young and the Restless: Round and Round She Goes

The other problem is that if Christine presses charges against, oh, say, Diane (Susan Walters), and it turns out she’s innocent — which we know she is — then it can look like Christine was deliberately bending over backward not to look like she was giving Phyllis’s killed a pass. It’s a lose-lose scenario here.

A 10% Solution For Christine Williams

There’s an easy solution to this. Christine could recuse herself from the case. Heck, Christine SHOULD recuse herself from the case. It’s the only way. Just don’t appoint Michael (Christian Le Blanc) to replace you.

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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