A Kinder, Gentler Victor: Will Near Death Soften Up The Young and the Restless (YR) Control Freak?

For a minute there on The Young and the Restless (YR), while he was struggling to make Nick (Joshua Morrow) understand what went down between him and JT (Thad Luckinbill), Genoa City’s force of nature, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) seemed weak, vulnerable, almost… human?

Will this new facet of his personality last once Ol’ Vic is out of his hospital bed and back in the boardroom? Here’s how over 8,000 of you diagnosed it:

Ruthless Reign
Victor will remain as ruthless as ever, once he regains full control of his faculties, 85% of the audience confidently predicts. He’s hard-wired that way. He doesn’t know any other way to be.

Remember when Victor developed epilepsy after rescuing Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) from a carjacker? And instead of wheeling and dealing he started playing with puppies? That turned out to be a temporary condition.

Remember when it looked like he and Jack (Peter Bergman) had buried the hatchet? It all turned out to be a plot on Victor’s part, involving a Jack lookalike.

Remember when receiving Colleen’s heart from a ridiculously generous Traci (Beth Maitland) had Victor vowing to become a better person? Yeah, that didn’t happen.

So, why should a stroke be any different?

New Life
A stroke isn’t something you can just bounce back from, especially at Victor’s age (don’t let the fact that his love interests are getting younger and younger distract you from the fact that Victor is still getting older and older), 14% of you counter.

Even Victor has to listen to his body eventually, and this might be just the wake-up call he needs to take it easy and enjoy the rest of his life.

(Remember when Victor was going to give up running the business day to day to live happily ever after with Nikki, and play with his grandchildren?)

So bring on the softer side of Victor Newman!

The Young and the Restless (YR) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes.