Young and the Restless July 23: Could Sharon Survive This Shocking Twist?

On the July 23 episode of The Young and the Restless, Nick wondered why Cassie was so much on Sharon’s mind lately. Sharon thought it was because she’d named the company after the daughter who died almost twenty years ago. (She didn’t mention — maybe she’s not even consciously aware of it — that seeing Daniel with his own teen daughter, Lucy, must be affecting her, too.) But what if the truth is something much, much more shocking?

Nice To See You Again

Victor (Eric Braeden) has come back from the dead. So has Nick (Joshua Morrow — who talked “Shick” endgame). So has Adam (Mark Grossman). And, most recently, Jordan (Colleen Zenk). So why not Cassie (Camryn Grimes)?

Sharon considered that seeing Mariah (Camryn Grimes) married and with a child of her own made her think of all the things Cassie had never experienced. But what if Cassie is still alive, and Sharon (Sharon Case) sees her around town without realizing that Cassie is who she is viewing?

After all, we’ve seen so little of Mariah lately. Would it be all that weird if Cassie were out there, walking the streets of Genoa City, and Sharon assumed it was just another Mariah sighting? And if Cassie is still alive, why would she keep her distance from her beloved family? Well, maybe because she saw her parents with Mariah…and assumed she’d been replaced.

Switch Partners and Dance

Or maybe there never was a Mariah. After all, Sharon only met Mariah after Cassie was declared dead. She was told that Mariah was Cassie’s long-lost twin. Something a DNA test can prove…but not disprove.

Ian (Ray Wise) was a terrible, terrible dude. What if he kidnapped a recently dead — but not quite dead — Cassie and brought her to his cult, where he brainwashed her into thinking she was Mariah and she’d grown up there? Ian wanted to use Mariah as a weapon against the Newmans. Wouldn’t her being Cassie make it all the better?

Sharon has been thinking about Cassie more now because seeing Mariah with baby Aria has made her remember Cassie as a little girl. (We know she only met her as a school-age tot.) Her subconscious is telling Sharon she’s got her first-born daughter back. But she’s too afraid to consider the possibility, and that’s causing her mind to fight itself.

What do you think? Is Cassie alive? If so, is Mariah really Cassie?