Young & Restless’ Standalone Snoozefest Surrounding Billy Fell Flat: ‘I’d Rather Watch Water Boil’

Credit: CBS screenshot

Young & Restless is lopping along toward the holiday with a sleigh full of issues ranging from the characters they’re keeping on the front burner, to the lack of drama, and beyond.

Billy’s Standalone Episode

Let me begin by saying that no matter how sick to the teeth we get of Billy, Jason Thompson’s performances are the saving grace. With that said, Young & Restless viewers appear to be really most sincerely over Billy feeling sorry for himself due to situations he brings on. Thus, centering an episode around the angst of it all, particularly after we’d already seen him go through a similar experience in the cabin after which little changed, probably wasn’t the best idea. Throwing it on the pile with the endless Adam man pain and the exhaustive rehash of Adam and Billy’s feud, just made fans want to light it all up.

On a positive note, it was nice to see Katie and Johnny. Future Johnny almost made me wish for the pair to be SORASed so we could have a teen generation other than Faith. It’s always lovely to see Sophie Pollono as Delia as well. Her scene was the one that resonated the most what with her vanishing after observing how pointless it was to try and get Billy to listen.

Soaps.com readers had a lot to say about the episode and most of it wasn’t complimentary. Rose remarked, “I would rather watch water boil,” while Dja commented, “This episode felt pointless and like a big waste of time. There’s no redeeming for Billy we just went through this crap with him last year.” Others were left confused about some of the dialogue and even the reason the episode was conceived of in the first place:

What are they talking about how Billy worked so hard to be better? How? He tried to kill Adam months ago, was a flaky partner for Victoria and is still obsessed with Adam. What has changed? 🤷🏾‍♀️ #YR

— Tracey (@sweetsucre) December 16, 2020

What I don’t understand is that we know Billy isn’t the shooter so WHY are we getting an episode of him reflecting on his life and feeling sorry for himself. He hasn’t done anything wrong?! #YR It’s all so repetitive

— BBHEADOFVETO (@bbheadofveto) December 17, 2020

Ah well, at least there was a bit of comic relief when Abby went at Billy for always wanting to be the center of attention? Really?! All this woman does is talk about herself!

Everything Else

* Despite not being thrilled with the Billy-centric episode, I was able to appreciate the bit of suspense and mystery surrounding the case. As predicted, the expendable Alyssa was involved, and the story played out as anti-climactically as most, with no twists. In related commentary, one couldn’t miss the tension between Lily and Victoria, who seemed a bit put out at not leading the charge to save her ex, then later seemed jealous after Billy was released. I truly hope they’re not looking in that direction for a triangle. See photos of other possible love interests for Victoria.

* Theo’s exit was a bonafide trainwreck for several reasons, but I was relieved they wrote him off in such a way that it left open the possibility of a return.

* In watching the Sharon and Nick scenes I couldn’t help but notice how effusive Sharon seemed in contrast with how she is with Rey, with whom she’s planning a wedding. Here’s hoping something super soapy will happen to put the kibosh on the New Year’s Eve nuptials. Humor me… If Adam were to burst into the wedding and stop it, what would you want him to say or do?

* The Sally, Summer, Kyle, Jack, Lauren stuff is barely passable as ‘drama in the workplace’, but at least there’s potential, particularly with Sally and Summer, if their confrontation was anything to go by. They’re still missing the mark where writing Sally is concerned as she’s coming across as two-faced and phony as opposed to a layered character with flaws and vulnerabilities that drive her to do what she does. There seems to be an emerging focus on Jack’s loneliness, so I assume we’re going to see him get a love interest before too long.

* Abby and Chance have garnered a following among the romance crowd, and they’re cute sometimes, but I have to call it like I see it. It doesn’t sit right to install a vanilla character like Abby in the Chancellor mansion where we once watched the inimitable Duchess reign, and it’s at the point where I want to throat-punch the characters when they start gushing about their life together and starting a family. Enough! On a positive note, having Nina gift them with the angel and flashing back to the scene of Katherine and a young Chance was perfection.

* Nick swooped in to help Phyllis hang onto the hotel as expected, and it left me torn. While their new evolved relationship is something different, I was as disappointed and deflated as Phyllis at the outcome. After finally giving us a tune-in worthy rivalry in Phyllis and Victoria they cut it off at the knees. Even worse, they had Phyllis whining, “Why wasn’t I as ruthless as Victoria?” Indeed, we’d all like to know the answer to that question! What are the writers thinking?

* While Amanda and Devon planned another dinner date, the Nate and Elena situation took a weird little turn when she seemed to be taken aback by him saying she’d given him faith about the future, but then they were back on again after his bad news. I’m wondering if he’ll sue Devon. As for Elena’s roomie, Lola intervened with Faith after she got another mean text. Some wondered where Faith’s sisters were. The answer to that is they’re busy working at Jabot I guess. Besides, Lola needs something — anything — to do if she’s sticking around. Here’s hoping the Faith storyline gets meatier as it’s been slow and a little hit or miss.

This is just my opinion. Feel free to join the conversation below.

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