On The Young and the Restless, the character of Billy Abbott creates chaos wherever he goes. And he does so in the most arrogant and bulldozing of ways. Normally, we root against him because his decisions are wrong on so many different levels. However, with Victor waging war against him, ready to swoop in and steal Abbott-Chancellor right out from under him, it’s hard not to root for him. Yet, we are.
For Billy Abbott
The primary reason we’d root for Billy (Jason Thompson) is because, for once, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) needs to be stopped. Genoa City’s most powerful man relentlessly plays puppetmaster with friends, foes, and family. And while Billy Boy Abbott is a favorite chew toy for him, this vendetta switch from Jack (Peter Bergman) to Billy was quick.
But his snatching Chancellor from one of the men he hates most in this world serves him in a few different ways. First, it’s revenge, pure and simple. And two, he wants to preserve Katherine’s (the late Jeanne Cooper) legacy. And three, he wants Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) to run the company. That way, Adam (Mark Grossman) can head Newman Media and lead an attack on Billy from that vantage point.
And, honestly, it feels like all of Genoa City has been ganging up on Billy. He can’t go anywhere without his past failures being thrown in his face. And that’s not fun. It makes us think he’s the underdog, and we can’t help but root for the underdog. Except, in this case, we are.
Against Billy Abbott
First of all, Billy left Chancellor of his own volition. He turned podcaster and was unfulfilled with his life as it was. It was some sort of mid-life crisis that he did end up getting over when he returned to Jabot.
Eventually, he decided he wanted out of his brother’s fray and returned to Chancellor to help his mom out. He could be her eyes and ears and her voice in a tumultuous environment. However, he didn’t ease back in. He immediately acted like he had been there for years and didn’t care whose toes he stepped on.
Billy and Devon (Bryton James) clashed egos, opinions, and visions. He took that ridiculous victory trip to all the Chancellor offices nationwide, spreading his perspective and visions while the Winters were back home wondering what had just happened.
But Billy lost us on a couple of fronts. He wanted to un-merge the company from the get-go. Once, it happened, he wanted to rename the company Abbott Chancellor. He hadn’t been back at Chancellor for long, and felt he should dictate everything about this company without regard for everybody else. And then he called Devon out on his ego when his own was larger than life. To be fair, Devon was just as hypocritical as Billy with the whole massive ego argument.
On top of that, he created a new name and logo putting the Abbott name first, even though this was Katherine’s company long before Jill (Jess Walton) and Billy had anything to do with it. He never consulted his family and did it thinking it was to ensure his mother’s legacy, which it doesn’t. It’s a vanity decision. With Billy, he bulldozes his way around and then wants sympathy when everybody calls him out. He’s fine when he calls the shots, but when someone else does it — like Lily (Christel Khalil) — he takes offense.
He can’t handle the fact that Lily has reservations about working with him. And if you’ve seen the sneak peek for next week’s episodes, he finally attempts to give Lily the boot from Abbott-Chancellor. Nope. If this really happens, then we’re good with rooting against him. Victor can have at it. We just hope that, ultimately, this particular business story dies down. Even if he’s simply distracted by other types of drama.
What are your thoughts on Billy? Are you with him or against him? Let us know in the comments.
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