Pleasure and… Pain?
Even if we could overlook how uncomfortable it appeared to be for Devon and Abby to hook up on the stairs of his penthouse, that still didn’t make the tryst make sense. On the plus side, hey, at least something happened.
Young & Restless’ Most Confounding Moves… Lately!
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Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI -
It Was Fun While It Lasted
Image Credit: CBS screenshot Make that… something briefly happened. Amanda busted Devon, read him for filth and skipped town so quickly, we thought that we had accidentally been watching with the fast-forward button pressed.
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‘OMG, We’re *Brilliant*!’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Instead of just have filthy-rich Jack throw money at Jeremy to make him go away, the tycoon “borrowed” a necklace from ex-wife Nikki — aka Diane’s mortal enemy — and used it to frame Mr. Scary for theft. Because sure, that makes sense.
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On a Related Subject…
Image Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS The show did a whole promotional push reintroducing Diane as the ultimate bad girl… and then played her as a victim rather than a victimizer. Huh?
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No Way Out
Image Credit: CBS screenshot Despite the many times that Adam and Victor have screwed one another over, Dad still launched an elaborate scheme to bring sonny boy back to his company. Because… what? He likes constantly putting his legacy at risk? He doesn’t want to see Adam succeed on his own the way that he himself had to? #nonsense
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Who Needs a Storyline?
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Traci, the character to whom we most relate — that’s who. Yet she’s only used as a talk-to for other characters. What are you saying, Young & Restless? Is that what you think of your audience? That we’re just props for others?
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Hey, This Might Be Interesting
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI “Nah,” said The Young and the Restless. “Let’s have Michael and Lauren’s son come out off screen, have everybody shrug and say, ‘Whatevs,’ and introduce his boyfriend… but not like a character or anything, just as a plot point. Yeah, that’s good drama right there.”
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Viewers Are On a Need-to-See Basis
Image Credit: CBS screenshot Speaking of off-screen goings-on… as far as we could tell, the show didn’t think we needed to see “Teriah’s” journey to motherhood played out on air. Lame.
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‘Hello, Continuity?’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI On what planet would Phyllis be reduced to a cartoon character whose sole purpose is to meddle in the lives of her children and engage in a vendetta against Diane that makes zero sense, considering that she herself once tried to murder Christine in cold blood? Take all the seats, hon.
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It’s Really Not a Laughing Matter
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Young & Restless couldn’t have been more tone-deaf in the way it had Billy shrug off his rape by Chelsea in order to set them up as a potential couple. (And not even for the first time. Is the well of new ideas that dry?)
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What Are Friends For?
Image Credit: © XJJohnson/jpistudios.com Apparently, not for informing their former lovers that their longtime tormentor/attempted murderess is alive and well, because Young & Restless has never played a beat in which Bold & Beautiful fashionisto Eric has tipped off Lauren that Sheila is alive and now missing a toe along with those cards from her deck. Then again, Bold & Beautiful has never played that beat, either — double demerit!
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Did Anyone *Not* See It Coming?
Image Credit: JPI Considering the show’s love of playing drama off screen (Naya’s illness, Fen’s coming out), why on earth did it bring Heather back to Genoa City to break up with Daniel when obviously fans were going to wonder why we didn’t get to see her reunite with MIA dad Paul.
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Just… Why?
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Oh, right. Adam and Sally had to have a goodbye shag just so the show could play a “Who’s the daddy?” storyline straight out of 1979 with them and Nick. This wasn’t a plot, it was plot point theater at its worst.
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Literally Everything About Tucker
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI He’s moving and shaking, talking about buying companies, and yet he’s… broke? And he’s dedicated to the idea of reuniting with Ashley and proving it by… sleeping with Audra? What are we supposed to think of this guy besides that he’s an idiot? (Or just really badly written.)
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‘I’ll Be No Trouble at All — You’ll See’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Speaking of Audra, we welcomed her arrival in Genoa City as a precursor to something, anything happening with Noah and Allie. Yeah, that’s the end of that thought. The young couple has been completely sidelined while Audra moved into Nate’s orbit.
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Pod Man Out
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Can’t say that we shed any tears when Billy hung up his podcasting mic. But we did ask a few questions, foremost among them, what was the point of this head-scratcher of a career detour?
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We’re Mad, Too, Buddy
Image Credit: CBS screenshot After introducing Ashland as more of a menace than an actual threat — and playing him that way for a year-plus — the show finally, finally showed us the monster in the Locke Ness Monster. And killed him off. Because we wouldn’t want to let things get too interesting, right?
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Get a Room…
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI … but not in Grandpa’s house! Sheesh! We’re all for young love and getting frisky, but would Allie have felt comfortable shagging Noah in a bedroom under which Jack, Traci, Ashley… anybody could have been enjoying their afternoon tea!
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‘The Third Martini Really Makes It Make Sense’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI We were told that Phyllis loved being a hotel front-desk clerk hotelier. But instead of just letting the lady in the green dress check in guests for a while as the boss spied on nemesis Diane in her new job at Marchetti, she up and sold the Grand Phoenix. Speaking of Phyllis’ big move…
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‘Mommy, You’re Hired!’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI We know that nepotism runs rampant in Genoa City companies, but is it really a good look for a high-powered alpha female like Phyllis to be accepting a job from her daughter? And then her son? And worst of all, getting fired by both!
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‘Am I Not the Prettiest Employee Anymore?’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Our problem with Jack hiring Adam wasn’t the quantity of handsome men running around Jabot — that’s never a problem — it was the fact that it underscored the insane frequency with which characters switch jobs on the show. Their resumés must be so long, they come in volumes!
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Checking Out
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Considering what a dud Phyllis and Abby’s hotel feud was, we can’t fathom why the show would even have toyed with the notion of pitting Lily against the Grand Phoenix’s owner. Shouldn’t someone have had, ahem, reservations about the idea?
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You Don’t Know Jack About Relationships
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI After Phyllis manipulated a situation to ensure that Diane knew that she and Jack were together again in every way, he up and dumped the woman he loved. In other words, he dumped her, basically, for behaving like the woman he loved. Yet we were still supposed to root for them as a couple?
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This’ll Go Well
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI In hopes of spicing up his snoozecast, Billy decided to team up with Chelsea. You know, the woman who drugged and raped him, then cheated on him after they’d inexplicably become engaged years later. Whatever is less than no sense, that’s what this made!
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On a Related Subject…
Image Credit: CBS screenshot WTH is Chelsea doing dropping her design career to work on a podcast? The only conceivable reason for it is the writers saying “We need A to happen so that B can happen.” Even though A is so silly, leaves us going, “WTH?!?”
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Mama Drama
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Well, sure, we hear that there’s a lotta emotional stuff going on between Imani, Amanda and Naya. But because it’s all played out off screen, we never see any of it. It’s “Show, don’t tell,” people!
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Funny Business
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Maybe when you’re as rich as Kyle, you don’t bother worrying about the size of your paycheck or your job title. That’s the only way we can justify him taking what amounts to a demotion to run Marchetti.
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Zzzero Interest
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Who thought that it would be a good idea to have Billy host a snoozecast? Why did he start one knowing that he didn’t have an idea for so much as a second episode? And why on earth would Traci not be honest that it was boring as hell?
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The ‘Ultimate Bad Girl,’ Indeed
Image Credit: CBS Wait, so Diane’s master plan upon returning from the dead was to… ingratiate herself to old flame Jack by buying his dead son’s house and cozying up to his granddaughter? My goodness, she really is an evil genius! What next? Will she order lunch as a super sneaky way to stick it to Phyllis?
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Maybe She Had a Piggy Bank?
Image Credit: CBS We’ll find out eventually… probably. But till we do, we’re left to wonder: Where is a dead woman like Diane getting the money to go around purchasing real estate as part of what we’re to think is a diabolical plot? Wouldn’t Kyle have inherited anything she had upon her demise?
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Does He Also Do Windows?
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI As happy as we are to have Christian Jules LeBlanc on screen more, what in creation is Michael doing being Victor’s lackey? Michael’s a power player — or was. Now he’s reduced to generic henchman duties? Uh-uh, no.
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Board Now
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Why would Lily move heaven and earth to merge Chancellor Industries with Hamilton-Winters? Neil wanted his family to have something of their own, not get swallowed up by another family’s mega-company.
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This Makes No ‘Cents’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI On a related note, are Devon and Lily supposed to be terrible businesspeople? Why else would they want Nate, a doctor with no executive experience whatsoever, to be their COO? “You’re a smart guy; what could go wrong?” Err… lots?
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Too Close for Comfort
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI On second thought, is Nate a smart guy? He just moved himself and Elena into a penthouse across the hall from Devon… the boyfriend on whom she cheated… with Nate. If proximity to a former lover doesn’t diminish property value, what would?
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If Nate as COO is Crazy…
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI … Sally as COO is crazier. Why did she become a big kahuna at Newman Media aside from the fact that she was sleeping with Adam? The one company she ever ran (Spectra Creations) went belly up like a dead goldfish. And last time we checked, nerve alone doesn’t keep businesses in the black.
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A Rivalry for the Ages?
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI After setting up Chelsea and Sally to feud like they were the next Katherine and Jill, the show totally dropped that plot in order to have Adam’s ex… start inexplicably mooning over his ex Sharon’s latest husband, Rey? Huh?
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Ready, Set, D’oh!
Image Credit: CBS screenshot Would Chelsea and Rey have worked in the long run? Could she have stolen him from Sharon? We’d never find out, because as quickly as her fixation with the detective started, the news broke that the show had let go his portrayer.
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No More Tears
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI We’re all for sensitive, enlightened male characters expressing their emotions. But the only kind of “feels” we got from the constant barrage of man pain Chance, Noah, Billy and Jack served up for ages was… annoyance.
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Where There’s an Ill…
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI … there’s a way to craft an interesting story. Yet Dominic’s blink-and-you-missed-it ailment served no purpose whatsoever. No reveals, no “Are they gonna kill the kid?” concerns, not even any hospital scenes and definitely no impact.
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Hey, That ‘Smarts’
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Victoria has been written as Victor’s ruthless Mini-Me. Yet she had no suspicions whatsoever that maybe she’d married a big ol’ liar, even as the evidence against Ashland piled up. That’s not just an insult to Victoria, it’s an insult to women! (On the plus side, later — much later — she did get the last laugh.)
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That Shrinking Feeling
Image Credit: Howard Wise/JPI Sorry, but it will never not be funny to us that Sharon put herself through school to become a therapist, only to practice her trade… in Crimson Lights. Not that we don’t prefer our analysis with a croissant, but come on!
