In a moment I’ve been waiting for on The Young and the Restless, during the week of June 17, Claire (Hayley Erin) met Katie (Sienna Mercuri) and Johnny (Paxton Mishkind). The face-to-face introduction has been teased for months with Claire often telling Victoria (Amelia Heinle) how excited she was for the day to arrive, and with Victoria prolonging her return to Newman Enterprises to ensure her children are well-adjusted and get along.
Unfortunately for Claire and Victoria, the meeting didn’t go over as smoothly as they hoped. While Johnny initially gave his older sister a hard time, Katie in particular was not happy to see Claire and was about as welcoming as a hungry grizzly bear. Regardless of how graceful Claire attempted to be in the situation, or how many times Victoria chastised her youngest daughter for her attitude, Katie was just not feeling Claire. Katie may feel she’s alone in the I Dislike Claire Club, but she’ll find her cousin Summer (Allison Lanier) is the founding member.
With Claire eventually finding a slight fan in Johnny, who offers kind words to his older sister in regard to Katie, it looks like Victoria may not want to schedule a family game night or vacation any time soon.
Now what bothered me the most about this whole scenario was the fact that Reed (Tristan Lake Leabu) was nowhere to be found. As Victoria’s former oldest living child prior to the arrival of Claire, he could have the biggest issue with his oldest sister. He’s better able to comprehend all of her misdeeds and the real threat she posed to their mom, uncle and grandparents. So it’s possible Reed resents Claire, which would be interesting to see.
There’s also a possibility that Reed could actually bond with Claire, considering Reed also spent a lot of his childhood not living in Genoa City with Victoria after J.T. (Thad Luckinbill) moved him to Washington, D.C. as a kid. And while not under the same set of circumstances, Reed also put a loved one’s life in danger as a teen living back in Genoa City, when he hit Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) with a car by accident. So the brother/sister duo could also bond over past mistakes and be grateful for second chances.
If Reed weren’t upset with Claire offscreen, him being back in Genoa City could actually help Victoria’s youngest see Claire differently. If Katie saw her oldest brother cordial with Claire, Katie could see that as an example to do the same. While Johnny is older than Katie and warming up to Claire, given Katie’s closeness in age with Johnny, his sentiment doesn’t seem to be carrying as much weight.
All in all, Reed is needed back in Genoa City ASAP. I want to know one way or the other what is dynamic will be like with Claire and how he could impact Victoria’s bigger family. It’s also worth mentioning, that it’s yet to be seen how Johnny and Katie might feel about Cole (J. Eddie Peck).
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
