The Young and the Restless
The last time Ashley left Genoa City, she accepted an out-of-town job offer and left relatively quietly, a whimper, if you will. This time, with Eileen Davidson saying she’s wrapped up her run, she left with a bang… and a big one!
After confessing to making Jack think he wasn’t John’s son, sharing more than one emotional showdown with her family, and learning she owned all of Jabot’s patents, Ashley moved to Paris to start her own company.
The Good
Y&R pulled out all the stops to tell the story of Ashley’s exit, putting the entire Abbott clan front and center. The acting, dialogue, directing, and production values were all top notch.
Initially, some felt Jack (Peter Bergman) not being John Abbott’s (Jerry Douglas) son was far-fetched. Dina had never hinted at any other infidelity and the show had done other paternity swaps.
How could any other known patriarch on Y&R be Jack’s dad when Jack slept with many of their daughters?
Had Neil Fenmore (Jim Storm) proved to be Jack’s dad, Lauren (Tracey Bregman) and Jill (Jess Walton) – Neil’s daughters – would have been horrified because that would have meant they’d slept with their half-brother!
It turned out Jack was John’s son after all. The paternity test that indicated otherwise had been orchestrated by Ashley, who wanted revenge against her half-brother who had a clause put into Jabot Cosmetics by-laws that no non-blood Abbott could run the company.
Some suspected that Ashley was pulling a fast one, but her plan counted on a lot of coincidences happening; the most far-fetched one being that Kyle (Michael Mealor) would dig the memory card that had Dina’s (Marla Adams) “confession” on it out of the fireplace.
(And why would Kyle want to prove his father wasn’t an Abbott since that would block him from running the company someday himself?)
The story, as it …continue reading on the next page —>
The story, as it played out, also counted on Ashley having one big grudge against her brother. But, it’s easy to see why she did.
After all, Jack had not only put the Blood Abbott Clause in, he once blackmailed Ashley: If she didn’t go back to the lab and let Jack run the company, that he’d tell John he wasn’t her dad.
The Bad
It’s challenging for soaps to have timelines that track with characters who’ve been on for decades. Y&R took a page from This Is Us and told some of its story in flashbacks, showing John and Dina’s crumbling marriage.
But sadly, the powers that be played fast and loose with time. Y&R social media posts claimed the show was flashing back to 1972.
Apparently, they forgot that Jack was in Vietnam in 1972, where he fell in love with Luan (Elizabeth Sung) and conceived Keemo (Phillip Moon), who in 1994 was revealed to be 20.
Perhaps a more incredulous leap is how could John and Dina have created a contract in which Ashley was given all rights to her creations for Jabot in the 1990s? That’s during the period of time that Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) owned controlling interest in the company after Jack unwisely took Jabot public.
It’s unlikely that John and Dina could have legally constructed a document when the Abbotts didn’t own controlling interest in the company. And the CEO office at Jabot is a newer one. Wouldn’t that contract in the wall safe have been discovered during a move years ago?
Speaking of Victor, it’s criminal that Ashley didn’t have a farewell scene with the mustached mogul. Ashley is the lone true viable threat to Victor and Nikki’s (Melody Thomas Scott) romance.
Granted, Braeden …continue reading on the next page —>
Granted, Braeden was on a recent vacation from the show, so this could have been a scheduling issue. It’s nice that Y&R gave Ash a farewell phone call with Neil (Kristoff St. John) — albeit off-screen — but why no love for Victor and Ashley?
Speaking of Ashley’s contract, let’s talk about how multiple people in this story manipulated poor Dina. The woman is suffering from Alzheimer’s yet Ashley, Jack, and Kyle didn’t hesitate to confuse the poor woman when they wanted to fulfill their own needs.
Such actions are unforgivable. Maybe the next Jabot fragrance could be called “Shameless”?
While it’s understandable that stories are told at an accelerated pace today, Traci (Beth Maitland) sure assembled that shredded contract quickly! She could get a job at the Genoa City Police Department or even the CIA!
Y&R’s to be commended for involving all the Abbott family members in this story. Incorporating John’s nickname for Ashley “My Beauty” was a nice touch, and thankfully, the landmark Abbott living room is not one of the sets that has been retired or dismantled over the years. (We still miss the original Newman ranch!)
A bonus would have been bringing Mamie (Veronica Redd), the Abbotts’ longtime housekeeper, back to help fill in some gaps, especially when Jack had questions about his paternity.
On that note, didn’t Jack question why his mother Dina was confusing him for the late John? If Jack had had a different father, he wouldn’t resemble his “dad,” would he?
“The Beauty”
It would have been an easy out for Ashley to have taken the high road and sign her patent rights over to the family – but she didn’t do that.
This sets the stage for Ashley to return as a powerful woman in her own right, someone who may have a company so strong it could rival Jabot, Brash & Sassy, and any other competitor.
Ash’s power play also leaves Jabot in turmoil. The Abbotts are going to need to act quickly to come up with new products if they want to keep the company alive.
The family itself also needs to heal. While this was all going on, Billy (Jason Thompson) sunk to new depths by sleeping with Summer (Hunter King), a young woman who was technically once his niece when he was married to Victoria (Amelia Heinle).
But can the Abbotts come together and heal? That’s their goal, to survive both as a family and as a business. This saga has resulted in Ashley’s exit from the canvas, which nobody wanted to see.
Whether you felt Ashley’s decisions were in character or not, viewers got to see the Abbott clan front and center for weeks, embroiled in high stakes turmoil.
What did you think of the story? Did the acting and other dynamics make the plot holes forgivable? Sound off in the comments section below!
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.
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