Victor vs. Billy: A War Without Winners On Young and the Restless August 20

Victor Newman and Billy Abbott are headed for war on The Young and the Restless. Usually, in the real world — and definitely in Genoa City — a battle requires choosing sides. Do you want Billy or Victor to win? Thanks to the Tuesday, August 20 episode, it is now much easier to make up our minds: We desperately want…both of them to lose.

In This Corner

That Victor (Eric Braeden — who teased some great scenes coming up) is horrible is an undisputed fact. He’s a horrible husband, a horrible father, a horrible grandfather, and often a horrible boss. But Victor sunk to new and exciting depths when even Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) — usually his strongest defender and enabler — was horrified to think that Victor would exploit Jill’s (Jess Walton) illness to bring down Billy (Jason Thompson).

Victor insisted it was necessary. Nikki didn’t believe him. Victor swore he wouldn’t do it. He’d just threaten to do it. Nikki didn’t believe him. Victor assured her that Johnny (Paxton Mishkind — who has a fun side gig) and Katie (Sienna Mercuri) wouldn’t mind him going after their father because they already knew Billy was a loser. Oh, and Victor exploiting their grandmother? Well…he’ll think of some reason why they won’t mind that, either. Just when we thought Victor couldn’t get any worse, he…did.

On the Other Side

That Billy is a horrible person is an undisputed fact. He’s a horrible husband, a horrible father, a horrible son, a horrible boss, and a horrible gum chewer. He was willing to exploit Jill’s illness, and he seems determined to browbeat Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) even as she deals with her son.

But Billy sunk to new and exciting depths when he decided to go off on Lily (Christel Khalil), accusing her of undermining, betraying, and refusing to do anything he says. (Which is pretty much the same tack he took when he broke up with her.) Just when we thought Billy couldn’t get any worse, he…did.

Split the Difference

In business, there is the concept of a win-win. If we were sympathetic to both Victor and Billy’s positions, that’s what we’d be rooting for. But thanks to their behavior in just one episode, what we want more than anything now is to see a Genoa City lose-lose between Victor and Billy. Would that make us the winners? Perhaps. Maybe Nikki, Jill, and Lily will end up coming out on top.