Young & Restless’ Phyllis May Wish She’d *Stayed* Dead When She Pays the Ultimate Price for Her Stunt

Young & Restless’ Phyllis is currently hiding out in parts unknown as she tries to “come up with a plan” to deal with the colossal mess she’s gotten herself (and others) into this time… but it’s only a matter of “when” and not “if” she returns. Although her biggest concern is being sent to jail for the rest of her life for murdering Jeremy Stark, the whole fiasco may cost her even more dearly than that.

Most of us would just go drown our sorrows if our adult children rejected our concerns, but not Young & Restless’ Phyllis. When Summer and Daniel rebuffed her because of her ongoing hysterics over Diane, she threw back some cocktails, lit into Michael and Lauren, and ran off to join forces with a convicted criminal to fake her own death.

The extreme scheme queen went through with the plot too, which included making a scene in the middle of a gala after having ingested poison to frame her nemesis, and then letting her shocked loved ones get word that she’d “died” in an ambulance explosion on route to the hospital.

We love us some Chance, but the head detective is seriously slacking given that he hasn’t investigated why the ambulance was nowhere near the actual route to the hospital when it crashed nor has he run the dental records to confirm that the body recovered from the back of the ambo was indeed Phyllis! The supposedly eagle-eyed cop also failed to notice her when she showed up at her own memorial service in a wig and glasses.

Phyllis clearly doesn’t have much to fear from Genoa City’s law enforcement, which may be why she then decided to text Summer to meet up in the park where everyone in town goes. She didn’t even bother with a disguise!

Despite the amusing flubs in the case from Genoa City’s “finest”, Phyllis remains in hiding because she’s concerned about going to prison for the rest of her life for stabbing Stark to death with a pair of scissors. Certain that no one would believe it was in self-defense, the chaotic redhead promised her daughter she’d come up with a plan to get out of this so she could return.

We can hardly wait to see what Phyll comes up with — it’s not like she can pin Jeremy’s death on Diane — she was locked up for murdering Phyllis at the time. That said, Red may not get the chance to enact a plan of her own… not if her son has anything to say about it.

Now, Phyllis may be impulsive, but she’s not stupid. She reached out to Summer exclusively and excluded Daniel because she knew if her son found out she was alive (and letting Diane go down for something she didn’t do) he would want to do the right thing. Indeed, when a spiraling Summer decided to come clean with her brother after the fact, he went sideways.

Daniel’s portrayer Michael Graziadei confirmed in a recent chat with SOD, “He’s one of those people who wants to step up and do the right thing — no matter what the consequences are.”

The consequences promise to be many and varied for Phyllis, who has left her children in a terrible quandary. Summer is lying to her husband Kyle, whose mother is facing life behind bars for a crime she didn’t commit, and Daniel is guilt-ridden. His recent tirades (which also went down in the public park) suggest that he’d like Summer to tell her husband the truth at the very least, and ideally, go to the authorities.

Summer, however, is unconvinced that they would be able to “make Chance understand” that Phyllis killed Stark in self-defense and has refused. Now, there’s tension between the siblings, as Summer is furious with Daniel for not being a person she can trust at such a critical time. Daniel, meanwhile, can’t seem to believe that his sis is fine with keeping quiet because she’s told herself that Diane is getting the karma she had coming for her past crimes, both literal and figurative.

Given that this is a soap opera, Phyllis’ self-defense plea would almost certainly get her off the hook, and it’s unlikely she would see any charges related to faking her death. Heck, Diane let people believe she was murdered knowing any number of people could have gone to prison for the crime and never faced a legal challenge when she returned. It’s more probable that Phyllis will have to face the court of public opinion, which could give her a particularly ruthless go of it considering what’s playing out in her absence. But even that is nothing she hasn’t weathered before.

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So, what then would be the ultimate price for Phyllis to have to pay for what she’s done? Ironically, Phyllis backtracked on her plans (which led to the fatal confrontation with Jeremy) because she realized her children truly did love her and that they were in pain believing she was lost to them forever. But the position she’s put them in now is torturous, and Daniel may not ever be able to forgive her.

We all know about soap karma — the payback a character gets when the writers can’t send them to prison for 20 years — but they have to experience severe consequences nonetheless. What if Phyllis pays the ultimate price of losing the love and respect of her son?!

Would Daniel disown his mother for enacting such a diabolical plot against Diane and then adding insult to injury by revealing herself to him and Summer, thus making them accessories to her crimes? Give us your take in the comment section.

Take a look back on Phyllis’ lies and loves in the photo gallery below.