While again, The Young and the Restless’ Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) is my favorite character in daytime for a number of reasons (but kudos to Beyond the Gates for debuting a new character I’m already very intrigued by), even I can admit that Victor sometimes makes it hard for his fans to defend his actions.
Recently, his relentless and renewed feud with Jack (Peter Bergman) and his insistence that Claire (Hayley Erin) stay away from Kyle (Michael Mealor) are both starting to seem like a bit much. What began as payback for Jack’s Athletic Club bender with Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), has become a never-ending quest for him. Over the years, I’ve loved when the two patriarchs clashed, but this latest go-around seems like overkill as Jack isn’t even invested in fighting with him.
Besides me, on the soap’s canvas, Victor’s family also wants him to drop this vendetta. None of them are enabling his cause, aside from a little help he receives from a very reluctant Adam (Mark Grossman) and Newman Media. But the one person who has been in Victor’s corner, right or wrong, doing whatever is asked of him is Michael (Christian LeBlanc), and that’s become a little baffling.
Yes, Victor and Michael have been friends for decades, and Michael noted during the showdown with Ian (Ray Wise) at the ranch, that the Newman patriarch has been more of a dad to him than his own biological father. Additionally, Michael has served as Victor’s attorney for years (although he’s been fired on a few occasions). However, does their at-times-rocky relationship warrant Michael doing whatever Victor asks, knowing it’s not right and at a detriment to his other friends in Genoa City?
Michael is even compromising his own life and limb. Again going back to the showdown at the Newman Ranch, Ian offered Michael the opportunity to escape before he attempted to carry out a plan to kill the family, and Michael didn’t move. It was as if the attorney forgot in that moment he had Lauren (Tracey E. Bregman) waiting for him at home, or his son Fenmore (Zach Tinker). Not to mention Gloria (Judith Chapman) would have been a wreck had something happened with her son.
With all that being said, I still have to ask why Michael is so loyal? He’s a brilliant attorney and can find employment anywhere. Plus, he has more friends in town who don’t press him to straddle the line of what’s legal, who don’t regularly place him in the room with murderers and who wouldn’t have him wrestle with his conscience on a daily (sans Phyllis [Michelle Stafford]).
So do I hope Michael wakes up soon and cuts ties with Victor? That’s a complicated answer, because in many ways I see Michael as Victor’s consigliere as if The Mustache was The Godfather. So Michael staying put kind of fits. However, a great consigliere is able to be straightforward with his boss, and his boss is supposed to seriously consider his counsel. As it stands now, I'm not confident the Michael/Victor dynamic fits the bill. I think more than anything, I want Michael to stop being Victor’s doormat should they remain friends. (And to be clear, Michael is one of Victor’s few friends, if not the only one.)
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Paramount Plus.
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