After another eventful week on The Young and the Restless, I find myself scratching my head. No, it’s not because viewers still have no idea who the dead woman was on top of Claire (Hayley Erin) when Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Cole (J. Eddie Peck) found their daughter. It also has nothing to do with me racking my brain trying to figure out what sinister plans Victor (Eric Braeden) has in store for Jordan (Colleen Zenk). However, my scratching in confusion has everything to do with the hypocrisy I’m seeing in Genoa City lately as it pertains to Diane (Susan Walters) and Summer (Allison Lanier).
Zeroing in on Diane, she’s livid with Jack (Peter Bergman) for the risk he took to save Nikki’s (Melody Thomas Scott) life and get her into rehab.
For Jack to break his years of sobriety with opioids, nearly killing himself, to provide a wake-up call to Nikki was incredibly dangerous and a bit stupid. Despite his point to the contrary, I feel he could have taken placebos and pretended to go off the rails instead of popping pills and chasing them down with vodka. Diane is right that his impulsive decision to take opioids could have resulted in deadly consequences that left her a widow.
From this perspective, I agree with Diane. However, for her to call Jack selfish is way off base here. He was doing what he thought he had to in order to save a friend he’s known longer than he’s known her. Diane continually calling him selfish is where I have a problem, especially when you consider her own past.
This is the same woman who literally faked her death for years, devasting a young Kyle (Michael Mealor) in the process, all so she could escape the consequences of her own manipulative actions. She wasn’t trying to save anyone, she was only thinking of herself. Diane certainly wasn’t thinking about her son. Talk about hypocrisy. At least Jack compromised his life for someone other than himself.
Again, I agree with Diane that Jack was foolish, and had she admitted to feeling jealous that Jack would go through all this trouble for another woman, his ex-wife, I may even be squarely on her side in this argument. But to call Jack selfish is where I draw the line.
Moving onto Summer, her jealousy of Claire is really getting out of hand. For Summer to just label Claire as this deranged woman who is incapable of change and worthy of a second change, is absurd coming from her. It’s like she has very selective amnesia.
If Summer wanted to keep all those who have attempted murder or have committed some heinous act away from Harrison (Redding Munsell) and out of her face, then Summer needs to start with Phyllis (Michelle Stafford). She is a woman who recently faked her own death, and once upon a time, Phyllis tried to kill Christine (Lauralee Bell) by running her over with a car. Christine was only spared because Paul (Doug Davidson) pushed Christine out of the way.
There’s also the time before the attempted murder when Phyllis drugged Danny (Michael Damian) to sleep with him. Then she pretended to be pregnant with his child. While Daniel (Michael Graziadei) isn’t Danny’s biological son, Danny still opted to raise him.
Beyond Phyllis’ antics, Summer is completely forgetting about The Great Victor Newman. Over the decades he’s been on top in Genoa City, he’s done some truly despicable things that would have him rotting away in prison if this were real life. Heck, he currently has taken vigilante justice to a whole new level and is keeping Jordan locked away in his soundproof cellar.
Taking things beyond Summer’s family, Michael (Christian LeBlanc) once tried to sexually assault Christine, Kevin (Greg Rikaart) locked Colleen (Lyndsy Fonseca) in a restaurant freezer and tried to burn her alive and both Billy (Jason Thompson) and Chloe (Elizabeth Hendrickson) have tried to kill Adam (Mark Grossman). Every one of these "former criminals" has been given a second chance and is looked at as an “upstanding citizen” of Genoa City.
So yes, Claire came to Genoa City with a vindictive agenda to kill Victor, Nikki, Victoria and Nick (Joshua Morrow). However, Jordan was clearly pulling the strings with Claire, the new Newman has gone through therapy and Claire has done nothing to hint that she’s not reformed. She’s even won the trust of her new grandparents. With that being said, isn’t it a bit hypocritical of Summer to be so harsh with Claire given the company that already surrounds Summer and Harrison?
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
