Y&R Critic: The Young and the Restless Blog

Okay, so Ricky is purely an evil villain. Looks like he killed his ex-girlfriend for breaking up with him and he is seriously scary and threatening to both Daisy and Eden. And then there’s his vendetta against Phyllis. He openly dismisses and insults his father, and it looks like he’s going to do something big and bad.

He’s been good at being bad, so I’ve actually enjoyed having him around. But he’s the kind of bad boy who won’t be able to stick around. So he’ll end up dead or in jail or in a mental institution with his mother.

Kyle is annoying me but I was glad to see him cut his father some slack, finally. I think he’s justified in hating Nikki forever, and he doesn’t owe her anything, including politeness. But his father is an innocent victim and he’s a better parent than Victor Newman will ever be. He means well and he has Kyle’s best interests at heart, even if he’s not good at it. Victor, on the other hand, may genuinely like Kyle (as much as Victor genuinely feels anything), but he’s also definitely using the situation to get back at Jack. Kyle is a means to an end for Victor.

So, good for you, Kyle! Don’t be an ass. And if you can manage it, it would be great if you could tweak Victor somehow on your way out the door.

And now, of course, circumstances have conspired to make Nikki run to Jack, and to make Jack feel like he can confess his love to Nikki, while Katherine has convinced Victor to go tell Nikki he really loves her. Just in time to see Jack and Nikki kissing. I think we’re supposed to feel bad for Victor. Fail. Not gonna happen. You got that?

I feel bad for Jack. Because he will inevitably be the wounded party in this sick push and pull thing that Victor and Nikki have going on. Not to mention the damage that Sharon will suffer as well. It’s never a good idea to pair up with Victor Newman, whether it’s for business or for “love”.

I remembered that Eden and Abby have been snarking at each other ever since Abby got sorased and showed up at Eden’s rehab. Actually, even oldAbby disliked oldEden, right? So it makes sense to me that the two of them have claws out, but I still don’t get where Abby gets off being so judgmental.

Happy for Michael and Lauren that they don’t have to move, but I don’t think they’re out of danger. Ricky is still there and he’s more dangerous than Daisy, IMO. And Eden’s not safe there either. But I’m glad they finally got Daisy out of that apartment building. I just hope we don’t have to watch her play house with Daniel for much longer.

And Christine randomly shows up. If this means Ronan will be back, I’m in favor of it.

I have to agree with Ashley. That’s a pet peeve of mine for sure, saying you “made a mistake” when you’ve chosen to do something you knew right up front was wrong. Sorry, that’s not a “mistake”. It’s not accidental. It’s deliberate and it’s colossally bad judgment with no regard for the consequences until you get caught.

So Ashley is getting pressured on all sides (Katherine, Billy, Harmony, Tucker) and if I had to bet right now I’d say she’ll end up forgiving Tucker. Because she acts like she wants to, even though she says she doesn’t.

He had a ONS with Diane, he completely ignored Ashley’s pleas to stay away from the Beauty of Nature deal, he hid the fact that he had history with Genevieve, and then he slept with Harmony. If I were Ashley, I’d walk away from Tucker for good.

Sofia also has awful taste in men. Why she even wants Neil is a mystery to me. He doesn’t love her. He doesn’t want her. He tells her he cares about her AND Harmony. Nice. And now she’s going to use Moses to keep him? Gah! I wish the women on this show had more self-resepct.

Speaking of which, Chelsea is shaping up to have more integrity than a lot of the other characters in Genoa City. I don’t blame Victoria for wishing she would go away. But Chelsea has turned down all offers (bribes) and has signed all the legal paperwork and constantly reassures Villy that she wants them to keep John and be good parents to him. At this point, Billy and Vicki need to just move on and let Chelsea do the same.

Wonder how long Adam will sleep on the couch? But it’s consistent with his nature to be helping Chelsea. He offered sincere help to Diane too. I think he has a soft spot for spunky women in trouble. Loved the story he told about playing chess when he was a boy and how he realized what he wanted his future to be. Wonder what Chelsea will decide to do with her wide-open future? Stay strong you two! Don’t let Victor Newman – or anyone else – push you around.

Church!

There’s something in the water in Genoa City that is making everyone stupid.

Tucker’s an idiot and so is Neil. How hilarious was it when Devon and Lily and Neil were talking about Harmony and Tucker hooking up and Neil was like, “Oh, snap! We’ll just act like I was never interested in Harmony!” Just because Sofia hasn’t mentioned his confession, and she seems to be acting normally, Neil thinks he can just go home and act like nothing happened. And Devon said, “I guess you dodged the Harmony bullet.” Good for Lily, calling them both on that nonsense. “What are you gonna do, just ignore your feelings for Harmony and just pretend nothing’s changed with Sofia?” Fool.

I have never seen adults go around and confess their stupidity and sexcapades so publicly. To everyone. And to their kids. That’s TMI folks! Your kids don’t want to know that mess. Damn. They might as well all just go over to Phyllis’s office at Restless Style and give her notes so she can put it online.

When Devon asked Tucker and Harmony “How did this happen?” I yelled at the TV, “It’s none of your business!” He can have an opinion, but he doesn’t have a right to interrogate or judge his parents. Especially after the similar huge mistake he made! He’s a hypocrite and Abby is a self-appointed busybody.

Loved Victoria, telling both her parents how it is. Hated it when she got all sentimental over Victor just because he cooed at her baby. Seriously? Stay strong Victoria.

Loved Katherine telling Victor “What in the hell are you doing?” Hated it when she told Victor “That love story between you and Nikki s still being written with no end in sight.” Gag.

Eileen Davidson and Billy Miller broke my heart when they talked about what happened with Tucker and Harmony and Ashley wondered if it was her fault. I liked Billy reassuring Ashley and being a brother. But he brought up her previous breakdown so now I wonder if they’re going to go there again.

Billy’s scene with Victoria was also very touching. When he told her that his talk with Ashley made him realize for the first time how Victoria must have felt about his one night stand with Chelsea. Too bad Victor had to hear that, because now he’ll think he was justified all along, treating Billy the way he did.

And it looks like we’re headed for a storyline about Harmony crashing and burning.

And am I imagining it, or did they completely mess up the timeline with this story? They had some people acting like Tucker and Harmony’s hookup just happened last night, but then Nikki mentioned”that meeting the other day” where Harmony publicly confessed.

If Katherine kicked Harmony out, where has she been the past couple of days since her confession? And if it just happened last night, was the AA meeting later that same night? Or this morning? Then why would Nikki say it was “the other day”? And they were wearing different clothes.

And did Victor and Sharon go to Chicago?

Doesn’t make sense.

Suddenly Eden is a slut? When did that happen? That doesn’t seem fair. And coming from the Naked Heiress, it’s ludicrous. I guess they’ve decided the only thing Abby is good for is snarky catfights. And she’s empowered because she turned out to be right about Tucker.

But anyway, Eden jumps into a ONS with Kyle, gets rejected and treated like dirt, ends up making out with Daniel, gets humiliated, and then has to endure Abby’s bitchy rant? And Kyle’s clumsy and insulting proposition? At least she got to say this:

To Kyle: I can handle your perfidious self righteous cousin.

To Abby: Oh are those words too big for you? Here’s some you’ll understand. Back off bitch.

Ha!

It was so odd to see Phyllis attacking Daniel and – sort of – defending Daisy. It was stupid and irresponsible of him to get Daisy drunk and leave her with Lucy while he went out looking for… trouble. But I just don’t get how Phyllis treats her own son all the time. She’s completely unsympathetic to him, she tries to force him to do her will and she publicly emasculates him. At one point, Daniel was a sympathetic victim in this Lucy storyline and he had the moral high ground, trying to do the right thing. Now he just seems sleazy and weak. And his mother is a bully. But this was awesome:

Phyllis: You know I really wish you were wasted.

Daniel: Me too.

Me: So say we all!

And then we had Abby bonding with her mom and trying to make her feel better, which “Raging Red” nail polish was perfect. I wonder if she’ll take Abby’s advice and try to ruin Tucker financially. I don’t care about Tucker and if he has to slink out of town with his tail between his legs, I’ll be happy to see him go. It was so great when he was pleading with her not to leave him and he shouted “Don’t do this!” and Ashley shouted back, “I didn’t do this! You did this.” Preach it, sister.

How sad was it, seeing Jack shout at his toe? Silliness, but Peter Bergman did a fine job, as did Billy Miller. I like it when the brothers bond. I wish they would have more moments like that. And the two Newman brothers also. I hope it turns out that Jack was right, and he’s getting feeling back. And then he and Billy can go “beat the crap out of Tucker.”

I kind of loved how Phyllis told her story to Daisy and Daisy related it to Ricky and now, of course, Ricky is going to use it. That was awesome. And both Daisy and Ricky are dangerous right now. I like that too.

Sharon says she’s concerned that being with Victor is going to upset a lot of people, but the only one who seems to actually care is Nikki. Both Adam and Nick seemed sad and disappointed, but that’s about it. Their comments to Victor about her were very telling. Of course, Noah has yet to find out.

And Victor is obviously doing this because he’s a disgusting, lecherous old septuagenarian who has been lusting for Sharon anyway and because he wants to punish Nikki. ‘Cause nothing spells true love like emotional abuse and revenge sex.

So in one episode we see Nick and Adam basically wash their hands of Sharon, and we see Sharon briefly struggling with the wrongness of her decision, and then it all gets wrapped up by the episode’s end. Sharon and Victor are headed for the private jet with a quick pit stop for the viagra, and both Adam and Nick are moving on with their lives.

I know they include scenes of Victor working out in the gym and walking around with his shirt unbuttoned so we’ll think he’s virile and dashing and not 72 years old. And you have to give Eric Braedon credit, he looks fantastic for his age. But damn. He’s 72. He looked a little tired and silly punching like mad and grunting. It’s as pitiful as older women who are addicted to plastic surgery in an effort to appear eternally youthful. You’re not fooling anyone. And we wish you would stop.

Nikki does the insufferable bitch so well. She almost seemed drunk when she savaged Sharon with “Is it really Victor you’re after or do you just want to be me?” Sharon’s comeback was a thing of beauty “You started on a pole and wound up in a bottle. Why in God’s name would I want to emulate that?” I’d say that round went to Sharon.

Nikki, wounded and intensely jealous, will run to her rebound man, Jack. And that’s not going to end well either. Girl, you should have kept Deacon, I’m telling you.

And as if that’s not enough jealousy and rebounding and hooking up for all the wrong reasons, we also had Daniel/Daisy/Eden/Kyle and the 2 bimbettes all mixing alcohol and hormones. Yikes.

I said it yesterday, I’ll repeat it today. I do feel sorry for Daisy. Of course she’s naive and dimwitted not to realize it herself, but it was hard to watch Phyllis beat down her door and shout at her “My son doesn’t love you! He doesn’t want you! It’s your wedding night and he’s not here.” And the scene at Jimmy’s where Kyle gets an eyeful of Daniel and Eden sucking face and then Daisy and Phyllis come in… wow.

If Daniel hadn’t seduced Daisy that first night, it wouldn’t be quite as disgusting. But eww. And now he runs and tries to pick back up with Eden? He’s lost the moral high ground for sure.

Good for Chelsea, telling Victor to stuff his money. I like that both Adam and Chelsea are still on the road to recovery from their shady pasts. And I like that it’s not entirely easy. But I’m hoping for an interesting line of business for Adam now. They’ve brought up the issue of money and what the future holds, and he’s certainly smart and savvy and capable. Let him restart the Newman Fund or some other kind of business and get on with his life!

Finally, I’m not sure what to make of Jack’s final moment in the physical therapy room. Did he feel something in his legs? After one miraculous workout session? Dun dun dun! Friday cliffhangers galore.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I’ll share it with you anyway.

I feel sorry for Daisy.

Before you get upset and remind me about the way she treated Lauren and Jana, please don’t. I know. I remember. And I’m not excusing her bad behavior. Just because I feel sorry for her doesn’t mean I think what she has done is okay. It’s not.

But we feel sorry for Patti, don’t we? Another crazy woman who has done all kinds of evil things.

And I think Daisy actually has a much more compelling excuse for being crazy and evil than Patti Williams. Plus, people are constantly using Daisy for their own purposes. She gets taken advantage of all the time. The most pathetic thing I’ve heard on Y&R in a long time was when Daisy told Ricky “I’ve just had the best sex of my life!”

Sometimes it seems like the writers on Y&R hate women. The way women are viewed, the way they are treated by the men and by each other, the humiliating and degrading things they are made to do… it’s really disturbing at times. And we’re in a cycle right now where no one is happy. Is there one happy woman on this show?

I guess Lily is the happiest, but they have had her go through an STD, cancer, her husband’s murder, gaslighting, finding out her uncle is her father, her babies being kidnapped, and ultimately making her get back together with the husband who faked his death and drove her to think she was insane. Lucky Lily!

But just when I think it’s all about hating and mistreating women, I remind myself of what they do to the male characters as well. The men are rapists, abusers, lawbreakers, adulterers, terrible fathers, liars, narcissistic, selfish and psycho. Even the least flawed among them have their moments where they are despicable.

So if it’s not misogyny, I guess it’s just shocking drama to the writers. They think it’s entertaining. It’s unexpected! It’s soapy! It’s Drama! Only it’s so overused that it’s ordinary, everyday, predictable, offensive and demeaning.

With Daisy and Daniel right now, they are both pitiful to watch. I don’t know which one is the most abused and pathetic. Is it Daisy who is clearly being set up, probably to be killed? Or is it Daniel, first raped, then forced to “step up” and forced to interact with a daughter he never wanted to acknowledge, eviscerated publicly by his mother, treated like a 12 year old, and now desperately trying to do something right for that baby girl, so he seduces the crazy woman and marries her.

Meanwhile, Phyllis is the worst mother in the world to him. Poor Daniel.

I also feel a little bad for Ricky. But at least no one is actively abusing him like they are with Daisy. And if it turns out that he killed his ex-girlfriend, then all sympathy will disappear. He’s got a real menacing streak in him. But right now, Phyllis and Paul have been so hateful, I’m rooting for him to take them down.

Looks like Eden will be out of the line of fire. Glad of that. I don’t know why they had Ricky live with her. It seemed like they were going to have him fall for her, but then he became enamored of Daisy, instead. So now Ricky is angry, hostile, jobless and homeless. That’s a recipe for success!

Of course Michael Baldwin apologized to Phyllis. Because Phyllis is allowed to get away with everything and everyone ends up telling her she was right and they were wrong and they are so sorry. “Bad” things sometimes happen to Phyllis, but they are twisted in some way so we feel sorry for her. It’s not karma or justified punishment. It’s supposed to elicit a “Poor Phyllis!” response from us.

Michelle Stafford is quite skilled at showing us Phyllis’s manipulative, narcissistic, insecure and jealous nature while also seeming vulnerable. But I’m not so sure how successful the writers are at making us feel sorry for her and be on her side. It’s kind of like Victor. They’ve done so many manipulative awful things, it’s hard to care about them or feel bad when they suffer a loss of some sort. And you know they’ll bounce right back and have everyone kissing their feet again so we end up angry and frustrated instead of feeling sympathetic in any way.

Ricky said it best, “I know Phyllis. And to know her is to loathe her.”

Thank you Jill (and the writer who remembered) for not letting Genevieve off the hook. She has attempted murder twice already. She is completely unrepentant. She betrayed and abandoned Jack. She is underhanded and willing to break the law and use anyone and anything to get what she wants. And she has the nerve to insult Jill?

I was embarrassed for her though, and for Jill (and for Genie and Jess) for the ridiculous mud fight the writers had them engage in. It had to be humiliating. It’s 2012, writers. Your audience is made up primarily of women. Do you really think they want to see nonsense like that? I could see a slap. In fact, I wanted to slap Genevieve myself. But the mud fight? Come on.

I surprised myself by being happy to see Colin. Apparently he and Genevieve worked out a way to get him out of prison. The writers planted that seed way back when Colin got arrested and taken back to Australia, so I’m delighted to see they didn’t drop it.

Kyle is quickly becoming annoying. I was ready to extend quite a bit of sympathy to him because of the horrific things he suffered but he’s using up my goodwill. I like Eden and so far she hasn’t been the clingy type who needs a boyfriend to feel complete. I hope she stays that way.

I love evil, plotting, unbalanced Ricky. I want to see him stir things up. Paul deserves it. Phyllis deserves it. He’s not over-the-top or one-dimensional (Angelo) and there’s just enough history (crazy mom, abandoned by his dad) to make you feel a little sorry for him and understand his motivation.

Obviously Daniel has some plan in mind. He clearly is still disgusted by Daisy. In fact, it was so obvious, I’m surprised Daisy fell for it. But it seems misguided at best. Not sure it’s going to end up working out the way he’s hoping. I’m sure he thinks this will get him solid custody rights with Lucy and he’ll have some plan to cut Daisy out of it. But it seems really skeevy to not only propose to her, but actually have sex with her too. How does he think he’s got the moral high ground after that?

Where the heck is Adam?

The only thing that made Tucker a borderline acceptable character to me was his loving devotion to Ashley. He was an ass to his mother, spending years plotting how to devastate her. He knew he had a son out there somewhere but apparently never tried too hard to find him. He operates in the shady gray area in business, having been caught bribing people, yet he tried to take Adam down for the same thing. I’ve never forgotten how he treated Jill and Diane. Plus his hairstyle and plunging neckline to show off his bling is criminal.

Now that he is obsessed with Beauty of Nature for absolutely no reason, and he has a history with Genevieve that he is keeping secret, and he jumped Harmony’s bones just because his widdle feewings were hurt that his wife wouldn’t answer her phone, he is completely detestable. Dead to me. And a mediocre actor to boot.

He may have “arranged” for Devon to get his surgery, but it was Harmony who did the research and found out all the info about it.Tucker just greased the skids.

Too bad Abby’s murder attempt was unsuccessful.

Debbie Morgan is a talented actress, and Harmony’s remorse was palpable, unlike Tucker’s shell-shocked unrealistic portrayal. Too bad the writers had to do that to her. Now Katherine is tossing her out. Why was Katherine so angry? Defending her loving son? Or is she morally outraged by infidelity now? I didn’t get the reason for that whole fiasco.

And words fail me regarding the idiot Neil. “I didn’t know. Why didn’t you say anything before now?” That whole “let’s get married and be a familiy for baby Moses” storyline is ridiculous, pointless, annoying and insulting to Sofia who foolishly thinks Harmony is out of the picture now that she was caught bedding Tucker.

As much as I love Jill, and I hate to see Jess Walton take a leave of absence, they spent more time having her say goodbye to Cane and Lily than they spent on the 2 minute scene where Adam’s vision spontaneously returns. It’s inexplicable.

But the worst – absolute worst – is the crapfest of Sharon and Victor.

I feel a commitment to watch the show and not FF since I blog about every episode but I have to tell you, dear readers, this is going to be difficult. I was physically nauseated watching Tuesday’s U.S. episode. I don’t think it was anything I ate. It started the moment Sharon and Victor walked into his tacky ranch, all candlelit and romantic with a gift waiting for Sharon. And magically Victor took care of Faith too so Sharon could have “all the time in the world” to spend with Victor. And it lasted until well after the episode was over.

I feel so sorry for Sharon Newman and Sharon Case. They’re making her the aggressor here. Making it her idea. Making her smile as she kisses Victor. Blech!

It didn’t have to be like this. This is NOT the only story they could write for Sharon. It’s almost like the writers hate her character and are trying to destroy her. It’s working. They’ve already destroyed Victor. He’s detestable.

A confession:

Young and the Restless is the only daytime drama I watch. It’s the only daytime drama I’ve EVER watched. Hell, it’s the only daytime TV I’ve ever watched. And while I’ve only been watching for 3 years (every single day), I’ve educated myself on a lot of the history and background of the show in an attempt to better understand what’s going on.

An observation:

In serialized fiction, at least on prime time TV and in book series featuring the same characters, the writers have two goals in mind: tell a compelling story and flesh out your characters so they are real, fully featured people that the viewer/reader gets to know and can identify with.

It is common in such fiction to have a character occasionally do something that is out of character for them. This throws a curve to the audience, reveals something unexpected about the character, and adds a frisson of excitement to the story. (I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use the word “frisson”.)

The operative word here is “occasionally”.

A warning:

If a writer wants a loyal audience, he will create these characters so realistically that fans feel they truly “know” them. And the occasional surprise ends up building an even more realistic and complete persona for the character. If it’s a bad move, the character may suffer terrible consequences and may even end up dying. At the very least, the character will probably learn something from it and grow in some way. Their actions affect the story as well as the people in it.

What a writer does NOT do, if he wants a loyal audience and wants fans to keep coming back for the next installment, is have his characters do sudden and uncharacteristic things all the time. He doesn’t completely abandon the history that has been built and have the character do things purely for the shock and awe and drama. This is not entertaining. This does not even make sense.

This alienates the loyal audience and causes them to abandon the story.

MAB, Writers, CBS, Sony… look at the ratings for The Young and The Restless. You are alienating your audience. Your desperate attempts to create a cliffhanger at every commercial break have resulted in absurdities and have dulled the senses of your viewers.

Instead of keeping people on the hook, eager for and anticipating the next episode, you have insulted, frustrated and even angered your viewers by taking characters they have gotten to know over the years and done things to them and have had them do things to each other that make no sense in the context of their character.

You have no sense of pacing. Storylines that should be built on and gradually unfold in order to seem organic and real are rushed through in an episode or two. Storylines that are peripheral and involve minor characters are dragged out for months.

Your characters have done so much that is out of character, they have become unrecognizable. Your deliberate and insulting dismissal of who these people have been, and what they mean to each other and to the viewers has cost you. Rewriting their history, playing with their ages, ignoring medical science, law and physics has turned it into a jumbled, laughable mess.

You are driving away your viewers in droves.

A question for TPTB:

Do you really think there is anyone, anyone at all, who wants to see Sharon and Victor pair up as a romantic couple?

Because the answer to that is no. And you’re about to learn that the hard way. You actually made Sharon say to Victor “So let’s freak them out.” Obviously, that’s your idea of good fiction.

Well, let’s see how that ends up working for you.

A suggestion:

Rather than comparing yourselves to other soaps, why not compare your show to good, solid serialized fiction that we see in prime time and read in popular book series? Set your sights higher. That would truly break the mold.