Image: CBS

In last week’s Deconstructing Y&R, Genoa City said farewell to Neil Winters, and even though life moved on, I was glad to see Young and the Restless characters continued to mention him throughout their conversations. Overall, the show is good, but I’m not super excited about anything that’s happening, so that ‘must see’ feeling isn’t there right now. Friday’s episode was pretty dull even with the feisty Rebekah Barlow, (played by Jennifer Taylor), back. the ending was good though, with Victor asking to speak to Sharon alone. Thoughts:

Triangle angles

I went over the reasons I’ve no sympathy for Summer in my last blog, so all the scenes of her feeling sorry for herself over a situation of her own making weren’t of much interest. She whined to Nick about Lola rejecting Kyle when that’s exactly what she did, repeatedly and fairly callously, when she returned to Genoa City, and she also used Kyle by pretending to seduce him long enough to get him to spill about Phyllis having sex with Nick behind Billy’s back. Kyle and Lola finally had sex and it sure seemed like Lola took to it naturally in those scenes. This was more in keeping with the confident young woman we first saw, and again, I lamented the changes in these characters, who have all lost their interesting edges in the course of this triangle storyline developing and playing out. I can’t really invest because of this but plenty of fans have.

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Vegas mystery

Sharon and Rey were off to Vegas after Sharon assertively insisted on accompanying him. I liked that and have to say I’m enjoying their dynamic. Meanwhile, Nikki updated Paul, who confronted Rey about not pursuing his sister’s case…and was told to take his job and shove it. Hmm. That should get Paul’s intuition working overtime. While all this was happening, Victor was meeting with the psychiatrist (who Sharon discovered was a memory retrieval expert) about ‘him’ – no doubt this is Adam, who probably developed amnesia after the explosion. As for the ‘Queen of Las Vegas’ clue Nikki found, I figured it was either someone Adam was hanging out with on the high-stakes poker circuit, or Chelsea as Melissa Claire Egan is returning to Young and Restless. It turns out it was the former and the woman’s name is Riza Thomas.

On the clock

Billy agreed to give Phyllis her start-up money, but didn’t tell Victoria the whole truth of course, so that’s a ticking time bomb waiting to derail their reunion, which is one thing I could get excited about. In related, Phyllis hired Mia to help with her venture, but she probably shouldn’t rely on her too much as I’ve a feeling it’s going to come out that she attacked Lola.

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Possible pairing

It’s beginning to look like Josh Griffith may be going the Jack/Lauren route. While it would give Lauren a story at long last, and Michael by extension, the idea of pairing those two just doesn’t work for me. As with Phyllis, Lauren is too fiery for tepid Jack with his old school romantic moves. Viewers sensed the direction this might be going and weighed in:

Are we heading to Jack/Lauren? I hope not. #YR

— MarineMom2016 (@jenniab91) May 2, 2019

I worry #YR will trash Likey just because Jack needs an age appropriate love interest. If they do a triangle it needs to be from the point of view of all three and Lauren and Michael need to be on screen They have the most at risk considering they are married.

— Linda Scott (@teachr5) April 23, 2019

Sooooo are Jack and Lauren going be hooking up or what? Tbh I am kinda totally into it! Lauren and Michael have been great but their relationship has been on the back burner for a long time. I would love for them to mix it up and tired with other people #YR

— Lilac (@MermaidDreamsx) May 1, 2019

Slow roll

While I’m not into the storylines about Tessa’s singing career, or Mariah’s stalker, given that it makes no sense to me as of yet, the tentative relationship building between Devon and Elena remains compelling as they’re clearly smitten with one another (and it’s adorable to watch) but appropriately, it’s tempered by Devon’s circumstances, particularly as Neil’s passing brings the feelings surrounding losing Hilary and the baby back to the surface.

This blog is my opinion. Please share your thoughts using the comment section.