Y&R Critic: The Young and the Restless Blog

Sharon Case broke my heart. Thursday’s scenes with Adam and today’s scenes with her doctor should be on an Emmy reel. She was completely and totally Sharon Newman. Strong yet frail, brave yet frightened. Completely vulnerable. “It’s happening again. I am so lost!” She was riveting. And after everything the character has been through since Cassie died, I find it completely organic and believable that she would be at this point where she says “I just want to go back to when Cassie was alive… When Cassie died it changed everything.”

The different writing teams dragged Sharon through personality flip-flops and ridiculous – some would say degrading – behavior. Fortunately these writers are finding ways to bring Sharon to a new place. I don’t want to see her go backwards. I’d like to see her move forward into a life where she is healthy and strong and can embrace her need to be loved. I wanted her to find that man in Adam, but I don’t see how that can ever be.

Adam is too damaged. He does love Sharon, but after everything that has happened to him, he is embracing the exact opposite of Sharon: he is owning his solitariness. His aloneness. I believe he knows he’s not what Sharon needs and I believe he wants to protect her from himself and from Victor’s revenge. The scene where Adam told Sharon to leave was absolutely a mirror of the scene they had once before where he had to be cold and heartless to get Sharon to let go of him and her hopes for them as a couple. He knows that if he gives her the least little ray of hope, she will cling to it and not let him go.

I’m not buying for one second that Adam is so desperate for his father’s approval that he broke up with Sharon to please his father. If I’m proven wrong sometime down the line, I’ll own up to it, but Adam is not that blind to his father’s manipulations and not that self-sacrificial. I think his father’s ultimatum made Adam realize he had to make a decision about Sharon, and the decision he made was to spare her and not use her. And if Victor thinks Adam did it to please him, fine. I see that fitting into Adam’s devious plans just perfectly. Because you know he has devious plans. He got no joy or satisfaction from hurting Sharon.

Okay, on to Nick and Sharon. Undeniable that those two have a history and, when written, can also have chemistry. I don’t really want to see them be a couple. I don’t. But if Nick can give something to Sharon – short term – that she needs, maybe it will be stabilizing for her. I just don’t trust him long term. He’s a serial cheater, unless they rewrite him. But every year around this time they bond over Cassie and it looks like Nick’s about to get hammered by his paternity hijinks, and Sharon will be the only one sympathetic to him. We’ll see.

Totally loved Michael and Lauren. I’m buying her remorse, but I’m SO happy Michael isn’t able to get over it. He would like to. He does love her. But it is much more believable and way more dramatic to have him really struggle with it. LOVED him burning up that damn matchbook. What a great non-dialogue scene.

Summer! What a brat. She just can’t help herself. She tried to tell the truth about Fen and the truth-or-dare thing but quickly abandoned it when she saw that Kyle wanted to be a hero. This little apple didn’t fall far from mommy’s tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Kyle, however, infuriated me. How dare he stand in Phyllis’s home and tell her he’s not leaving until he’s sure Summer is safe? So out of line. And then he told Nick to ease up on Summer and he can’t stop them from being together. Wow, that’s when Nick should have laid him out.

The actor who plays Kyle has a great voice and that’s all I can say about him that’s positive. He is SO unattractive and looks so old for Summer and is so tall and unhappy looking. And his adam’s apple is so distracting. I’m just not able to enjoy any scenes he’s in. I can’t focus on the character because the actor is so distracting.

I also can’t tell the difference between NuAbby and Summer’s friend, Courtney. I momentarily got them confused a couple of times in this episode.

Poor Jackie. Both Phyllis and Traci are messing with him. He really didn’t need this. I wanted to see him without some girlfriend/fiancee for a while. Why not get into the business intrigue with Adam. Does Jack still own a major portion of Newman? If so, does that mean Adam is buying him out? And he’s finally got his family’s company back. He could be doing things at Jabot, but he’s stuck begging Phyllis for crumbs of affection. Why?

Maybe with Michelle Stafford’s departure, there will be opportunity to do more for Jack. Either make them a real couple or kill Phyllis off and let Jack move on. That’s my hope.

edited to add:

Phyllis’s scenes in her penthouse, where she was a mom, were the best things I’ve seen her do in a long time. When she’s on, she’s on.

Hey friends!

My life has been hectic crazy, and I STILL haven’t seen Thursday’s or Friday’s episodes yet. Hopefully I’ll get that done before the weekend is over, but I know you all have things you want to discuss about these two episodes, so go for it!

Thursday’s recap from CBS

Michael cuts a work release deal for Kevin. Chloe wants to know how Kevin will make things up to her, and tells him that saying sorry won’t cut it.

Nick assures Avery that things are alright with them and that he’s been distracted about Summer. Meanwhile, Courtney tells Summer to invite Fen to prom so that Nick won’t suspect that she is planning something with Kyle.

Victor tells Adam to cut Sharon out of his life. Meanwhile, Chelsea determines that Dylan is the father of her child and that no one will ever know the truth. …

Friday’s recap from CBS

Phyllis tells Jack that they moved in together too quickly, and that she needs to move back into her place.

When Fen comes by to pick Summer up for prom, she informs him that they’re not going and that they have other plans.

A fortune teller reveals to Kyle that love will find its way to him. Kyle receives an important text from Summer saying she’s in trouble.

Michael tells Kevin that Carmine in sleeping with Lauren. Kevin kicks Carmine out of Crimson Lights. On his way out, Carmine runs into Lauren. …

We’re all going to have our own opinions about what’s happening between Adam and Sharon, and we definitely won’t all agree, and that’s okay. If some of you want to be mad at Adam, don’t feel like you have to apologize for it here.

Since I’m an Adam fan and a Sharon fan (separately) and not primarily a Shadam shipper, I tend to want what’s best for each of them more than I want to see them together.

It’s clear that the writers have struck a mother lode of drama by making sure that Adam is never freaking happy. And it doesn’t look like they are going to let Shadam be an actual couple. While both Sharon and Adam are growing, stabilizing, interacting with others, etc. they’re not really making any progress as a couple. And now that they’re in this “booty call” arrangement, I think the writers have unintentionally made it look like Adam’s the bad guy.

I don’t think he is. What we’ve seen is that Sharon is invested emotionally, more than Adam is. But we also saw them both agree, with Sharon emphatically stating that she’s a big girl, that they can handle a friends-with-benefits kind of relationship right now with nothing deeper. Is Adam cranky and emotionally distant? Absolutely. Understandably so. Does Sharon send him mixed signals? Yep. But does Sharon seem to have a good handle on where Adam’s head is right now? Also, yes.

So I’m definitely not on board with people saying that Adam is using Sharon or that he’s mean to her. Come on. Watch the scenes. Listen to what they have said to each other. Sharon’s no victim.

I was grateful, though, for the little scene with Sharon and Adam talking about how Victor claimed to have paid Adam’s way through college. It was clearly written to smack Eric Braeden’s hand with a ruler. Don’t make up shit in your ad-libbing that never happened.

Victor is a piece of work, isn’t he? Pretty sleazy of him to say “Go for it son” about Sharon as he’s on his way out the door. Thanks old writers for completely ruining that quasi-father/daughter relationship forever. I don’t think I can ever forgive you for that.

Is Victor behind all the gambling opportunities coming Billy’s way now? It wouldn’t surprise me one bit. And I hope Billy catches on quickly. I’m not interested in watching him fall apart and take his marriage down with him. That couple has been tormented beyond belief by Victor Newman and he doesn’t deserve Victoria’s love and loyalty. Nor does he deserve some “victory” in breaking them up. They should be happy and have a dozen kids and go start a commune somewhere just to aggravate that old snake into a heart attack.

I don’t understand Phyllis’s behavior at all. Why is she so smirky and smart-alecky? Why can’t she have normal conversations with people? She’s all sing-songy and overly dramatic. Is that on purpose? What’s the purpose? She makes me believe she is using Jack and is desperately in love with Nick and would like nothing better than to break up Nick and Avery and have Nick come crawling back to her. That’s what her behavior is saying to me. And yet I don’t think that’s where the show is going with this.

Cane and Lily. Snooze. I’m also not buying the public displays of spit-swapping. Get a room! Poor Devon. He went from being the star of Y&R for a while (music mogul, hearing miraculously restored, son of Tucker, grandson of Katherine, mother returns, big storylines) to being an afterthought.

And now, because these newbies don’t have ENOUGH story and drama and mystery, there’s someone taking pictures of Tyler and Leslie. And he’s got an old “love of his life” who looks just like Lily and she broke his heart. Please! I REALLY don’t care.

Look, I’m ALL in favor of adding new people to Genoa City because it’s just incestuous otherwise. You can’t have the same 6 people swapping partners and interacting. It’s more realistic and more interesting to add more characters. BUT. But you don’t suddenly write the entire damn show around your shiny new characters and back burner everyone else. It’s called B A L A N C E. And I’m sick to death of Dylan, Avery, Chelsea, Leslie and Tyler having all of these major storylines and being in our faces every day. With all of their off-camera relatives and friends and old lovers and whatnot. Do. not. want.

The sibling faceoff is the most interesting storyline for Adam in a long time, IMO. Except for the awesomeness of being friends with and partnering with Jack, nothing Adam’s been involved in recently has really captivated me. I love that he’s running Newman and it’s doing fantastically well, don’t get me wrong. But most of that happens off-screen.

I also love that he bought the penthouse. And I love that he’s single. I feel like they’ve been moving him into position and now he’s there. He’s pulling the strings at Newman, Victor’s been pretty well muzzled, and now Victoria has stepped up. I don’t know where Adam got the money, but he’s got something up his sleeve. And he’s two steps ahead of Victoria. But she’s not stupid, she’s clever and alert too. That’s what makes is making this good. They are worthy and believable adversaries.

What’s hard to reconcile, for me, is that she has this needy little girl thing going on with Billy and she’s obsessed with getting pregnant at the same time she’s trying to get control of Newman, sideline Adam and win over Daddy. She’s going to be supermom and make Billy’s toes curl while closing billion dollar deals at the same time. It reminds me of that stupid commercial from years ago “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, and never ever let you forget you’re a man cause I’m a woman. W O M A N” Silly.

I hate seeing Billy fall down the rabbit hole. I can’t help but feel that someone (Victor) is setting him up on purpose. But he’s the one without a spine. And it’s going to have some serious, catastrophic ending, I’m afraid. Can’t anyone on this show be happy for more than a minute?

Absolutely disgusted with Chelsea. Dylan is stupid sweet, and he’s become obsessed with this baby (at lightning speed). The fact that she’s letting him do this, knowing her con won’t stand up, is cruel. However, watching him doodle baby furniture drawings in his journal while he’s supposed to be a bartender is SO. FREAKING. STUPID I can’t stand it.

Kinda loved Chloe going off on Kevin. He SO deserved it. Even though she is a brainless twit, and I hate her attitude about Adam and her dreadful advice to Chelsea, she is much more preferable than Kevin. He did a good job of crying about being scared to be locked up, but I have not an ounce of sympathy for him. I’m glad he confessed, but I’m not giving him any kudos. He’s the idiot who thought stealing was great foreplay. Too bad she’ll probably feel sorry for him and take him back.

I also kinda loved Lily going off on Chloe. If ever a scene called for a bitchslap, that one did. Points to Lily.

I don’t care about Tyler whining and crying to his mother who we’ve never seen. I don’t care about his childhood that happened in the writers’ imaginations. I’m not going to care about Rose, the mystery woman that is somehow involved with this total newbie. I can’t believe Tyler just teleported to the cemetery, by the way.

What is going on? We have day after day after day with MAJOR storylines for Dylan, Avery, Chelsea, Carmine, Leslie and Tyler (the new kids) plus Kevin and Chloe who are, at best, tertiary characters, while the characters who are the core of the show get a minute here and a minute there.

I’m a fairly new viewer (4 years) and this influx of newbies who have jumped up onto the stage and have taken over Genoa City is offensive to me. I can only imagine how it makes all of you long-time viewers feel.

I agree Mikey! Because the queen of “my lips say no but my body says yes” just couldn’t control herself. I don’t know if she would have ever stopped running to Carmine. It’s no wonder he’s got the attitude he does “The more a woman says she doesn’t want you around, the more she does.”

Another true statement: A mistake is something you do once. So yeah, I don’t think Lauren gets to call this months-long affair “a mistake”.

I’m completely Team Michael on this and I’m loving it. And the crazier Carmine gets, the bigger his fall better be. What in the world was Carmine thinking, agreeing to go inside Michael and Lauren’s apartment with Fen?!?!?! That would have been epic, but their major confrontation is obviously not happening yet. I’m sure it will. And I hope it’s good. And then he used Fen’s phone to text Lauren? He is just a creepy stalker.

I don’t know if I would want all the details about my spouse’s infidelity. Especially if I wasn’t even sure I could forgive him. Why torture yourself with the details? But I understand Michael’s logic also, that maybe reality’s not as bad as his imagination. But still.

I fast-forwarded the Nick/Avery scenes so I have no idea what weighty things they discussed during their romantic interlude. I just found it really odd that he would get dressed, come out into the kitchen and kiss Avery goodbye while his distraught daughter was standing right there. He barely said hello/goodbye to her.

Kyle and/or Jack would have been completely justified in knocking Nick out. His behavior in Jack’s home and to Jack and Kyle is just beyond the pale. I don’t care how desperate he is to keep Summer and Kyle from doing the deed, it doesn’t justify his outrageous behavior. As Jack said, much more civilly than I would have, “You can’t keep busting into my house and attacking my son.”

Jack was remarkably restrained. So was Phyllis. That had to be all kinds of awkward for her. Jack is her current squeeze. Nick is her ex-husband and Summer’s father. She is Summer’s mother. Whose side is she on?

Obviously there’s some special secret in the envelope that Nick keeps in his lockbox. DNA test anyone? Oh I hope this builds up to a big mess! The ramifications will trickle down on everyone.

Kevin? Are they writing him out of the show? Because I don’t see how he bounces back after all this unless it’s a brain tumor. Not funny. Not entertaining. Not engaging. Stealing is his viagra. It’s repulsive. I don’t like Chloe much but I hope she dumps his worthless ass.

I kind of love Summer. She’s got Phyllis’s impetuous and fiery nature, but she has more of a heart. And she’s paying it forward. I liked that. Recently Chelsea forgave Summer and told her that she deserved a second chance, and I’m glad to see that those words meant something to Summer. And they had an effect on Phyllis.

Also, Fen perked right up when she said that, but I’m not sure if she’ll give him a second chance or not. Maybe she’ll ask him to the prom now that Kyle shut her down. I’m not buying Fen’s sudden introspection and desire to be a better person. I think he’s still got big problems that will somehow figure in.

I suspect that Michael will end up giving Lauren a second chance as she finally seems to be sorry and really want to start over. But I want him to make her work for it. And I want Carmine run out of town. He’s nothing but a troublemaker. The scenes with Michael and Carmine and Michael and Phyllis and Michael and Lauren were excellent. I’m glad he restrained his anger. That cold rage is much more effective. And scary. As some have pointed out, it may be a big crisis with Fen that gets Michael and Lauren together again.

What was up with Lauren giving Fen the same advice that Carmine gave him? “Be the guy Summer deserves.”

Surprised that Jack was ready to kick Traci out of the house! I guess he really is Team Phyllis, all the way. And I loved Phyllis’s awkward attempt to smooth things over and try to convince Traci that she genuinely cares for Jack and is going to make it work. “What’s for dinner?” Ha!

Please, please tell me that we’re done with Avery waffling and Nick forcing her to jump through hoops to prove she loves him. I’m so tired of that! Did Nick actually have a moment of insight about being an idiot? Wonder how long that will last.

So Neil keeps a journal, which is believable for a recovering alcoholic, but who would steal it and now be writing about it on Genoa City’s new gossip website? Who doesn’t want Neil and Leslie together?

Were there more commercials than show in this episode? It sure felt like it.

Ha!

So I know a lot of Shadam fans aren’t happy right now, and I feel your pain, honestly I do. But damn. I think it’s kind of cute and hot that Sharon and Adam have this fun-and-games thing going on right now.

Oh, it’s obvious that she’s got more invested in it than Adam does, but she insisted that she wanted to play. She said she was a big girl and she could handle it, and she looks like an eager participant to me. Adam loves her. He always will. But he is just NOT emotionally available right now for anything. He’s got so much that’s happened to him and is still swirling around in his life and in his head. But why shouldn’t they be there for each other? They’re best friends. And you never know when you’ll need an air conditioning repairman. With an accent. Hee!

Well this episode was all about contrasting couples.

First we had the ‘friends’ giving advice scenes:

• Carmine and Dylan at the bar. Dylan’s got a hot date and then attempts to stand up to Adam. Yeah, I’m with Adam on this. He wasn’t insulting Chelsea.
• Carmine pretending to sympathize with Michael, and then deliberately tossing the matchbook in front of him. He SO wants Michael to find out.
• Chelsea and Chloe at Crimson Lights. Dumb and dumber.
• Nick and Sharon at the Tacky House, both with relationship dysfunction, giving each other relationship advice. The blind leading the blind?

And then the couples of every flavor:

• Michael and Lauren at the nuclear meltdown phase. I’m begging you, writers. Please let Lauren confess already. You’re killing me and not in the good, suspenseful way!
• Dylan and Chelsea. He cannot tell a lie. She cannot tell the truth. And how low can she get, letting this emotionally scarred man believe he’s going to be a father?
• Nick and Avery all nerves and smiles. And then all stressed about Dylan again. Avery needs to make up her mind. STAT.
• Adam and Sharon having grownup fun. And are we to assume that Adam got the money he needed to buy up Newman shares of stock from Sharon? I kind of love that. That could be epic. Or was there another deal he made inbetween talking to Nick and getting dusted by Sharon?
• Kevin and Chloe, repulsive and stupid. There’s not enough superpower left in the catsuit, and watching other people steal just isn’t getting them in the mood anymore. So Kevin’s casing rich people’s houses because they don’t need all that shit anyway.

I loved all of the one-on-one scenes!

So true. Odd, though, that Phyllis would be encouraging Michael to give Lauren a break. Did we ever see Phyllis with regrets for all the sneaking around she’s done? I’ve only been watching for 4 years, but from what I’ve read about how she went after Nick when he was married to Sharon and their daughter was killed, it doesn’t seem to have bothered Phyllis any. I’ve never seen her regret how she broke up that marriage.

But it does appear to be bothering Lauren. So at least she has a conscience. Her capacity for lying and her inability to resist the amazing Carmine wipe out any empathy I might otherwise feel for her. Michael’s instincts with Fen were right on. He’s a troubled kid, capable of evil. He tormented Jamie. When Jamie fell off the roof, Fen didn’t try to save him and he didn’t call for help. So he might as well have pushed him. It was Paul who found him lying there. Fen framed Jamie by planting evidence that made it look like Jamie was stealing from Lauren. He continued harassing Jamie after Summer begged him to stop. So in my mind, Michael was right. Lauren was blinded to the possibility that her baby could have done anything wrong.

Yet Lauren wants to blame Michael, and Fen blames Michael for breaking up their family. It was Lauren who pulled away, shut down and hooked up with her boy toy. The blame for their situation falls squarely on her.

And even though Paul is trying to make her do the right thing, it was kind of creepy that he just walked into her apartment without knocking.

I’m not a big fan of the character of Traci, and I know a lot of people love her because she’s been on a long time and has history with a lot of people, but I find her meddlesome and judgmental. And after being completely missing in action during Jack’s shooting, paralysis and recovery, she’s going to show up to give him shit about Phyllis? He’s a grown man and doesn’t have to get his sister’s approval on his love life or his houseguests.

Cane repulses me. “Jill loves me” he says, as if he can get away with anything and it will be fine with Jill. And then he taunts his wife about Tyler. That’s bizarre. Twice he tweaked her about Tyler being with the models, deliberately trying to get a reaction from her. And she reacted. What’s his game?

Does Neil have some secret history with his parents? What was that about? Why is Leslie like a yo-yo, bouncing around from emotion to emotion, needing Neil to help her pick out flowers for a funeral? I’m not thrilled with how helpless and confused she has become.

Five bucks says Rose is Gus’s daughter from a previous relationship or possibly his sister.

Funny how everyone was at the gym today. I guess they try to make the most of the gym set when they put it up. Summer, Fen, Kyle, Tyler, Carmine… Fen’s got a death wish.

This is shaping up to be a very interesting story. Adam and Victoria are worthy adversaries. Nick thinks Victoria is making a mistake and he doesn’t care – at all – and Abby wants to be Switzerland. But Victoria, who didn’t care about her father or Newman when she went for her $500 billion, now suddenly cares. But it seems she just cares about the company, and not dear old Dad. Newman is the toy she was bored with until Adam picked it up. And now she’s on a mission.

Adam: Victoria’s a Newman. That inherently makes her dangerous. I don’t want to be blindsided.

And, thanks to Abby, you’re not.

Victoria’s family meeting didn’t turn out the way she hoped, and all she did was reveal how personal her jealousy of Adam is. Daddy’s favorite is really pissed.

Victoria: I wouldn’t be surprised if dad would offer to take a bullet for Adam.

Victor, while claiming to be so insightful and all-knowing, gets surprised by Victoria’s “betrayal”. So when he keeps saying that she’ll come around, or that he won’t let Adam take advantage of him, he’s only fooling himself. He doesn’t know his children like he thinks he does.

Victoria has hired a P.I. to get dirt on Adam and she has some info about him and his ex, “I’m saving that little bundle of information for a rainy day.” Using the phrase “little bundle” makes it clear that she’s referring to the fact that she knows Chelsea’s baby is Adam’s. This is about to get real.

Adam’s prediction to Victor looks pretty solid, “There’s going to come a time when she’s going to force you to choose one or the other: Victoria or me.” I don’t think that’s a choice Adam would force Victor to make, but Victoria definitely will. I wonder what Adam will do, but I know what Victor will do… he will side with the one who can get Newman Enterprises back for him so he can own it and be CEO himself.

Meanwhile, more breathless teary-eyed declarations from Avery. More deer-in-the-headlights from Dylan, more inability to utter the truth from Chelsea. And more neanderthal from Nick.

Mr. Mom had a rough day, including a nightmare about a houseful of babies. He’s not appearing to be really invested in growing their family some more. And there’s that poker chip on his shoulder…

And they killed off Gus Rogan! Just like that. “Rose was… Rose was… Rose was…” I think Rose was his daughter from an earlier relationship. That’s my guess. But that entire story took place in the writers’ imaginations and involved people we’ve never met so I don’t really care. It was more interesting when Congressman Wheeler was involved.