Lately on The Young and the Restless, Victor (Eric Braeden) has found himself in another round of manipulative chess with perhaps his greatest rival outside of Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) — Adam (Mark Grossman).
Although Victor and Adam are family, the father/son duo can’t help but go through a cycle of getting close only to eventually lock horns again. (We tend to think it’s because they are so much alike.)
The latest cause of friction between the Newman clan has to do with Adam’s continued obsession with merging Newman Media with the newly named SNA Media. Adam saw the opportunity of blackmailing Audra (Zuleyka Silver) as a means of getting what he wants, but found his plans completely destroyed once Audra told Victor and the Newman patriarch stepped in and shut Adam down.
Upon discovering what Adam did with Audra, Victor was upset and yet, rather calm. Even as Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) urged Victor to cut Adam loose from all Newman businesses, Victor wouldn’t do it but admitted his patience had worn thin. We knew Victor would have some type of discipline in store for his youngest son, but we just weren’t sure what that would be.
Then in the episode that aired during the week of August 14, Nate (Sean Dominic) went to the Newman ranch and apologized to Victor for his part in being complicit with Adam’s blackmail scheme by helping Audra. Victor assured the Newman Enterprises COO that all was forgiven, but asked Nate to look over the financial documents of SNA Media, which rang a little odd.
Fast forward to the episode airing on August 22, and Victor does two peculiar things that make us wonder what big move is he about to make that he hopes will get his family and companies in line.
First, in a conversation with Adam and Nick (Joshua Morrow), Victor scolds them for being more concerned about him rescinding Sally’s (Courtney Hope) job offer than them needing to get their own business venture fully up and running. He tells them they have only a week to get their ducks in a row and announce the merger of Adustus with Kirsten Incorporated to form SNA Media.
Second, The Mustache calls Nate over wanting to know his thoughts on the financial documents he previously gave him to look over. It’s later revealed in a conversation between Victor and Nikki that Victor plans to use Nate as an insurance policy in case Adam gets out of line again.
When Victoria discusses with Nate her father’s latest summons to the ranch, Victoria is quick to theorize that Victor is going to attempt to replace Adam with Nate, which would also remove the former doctor from being directly in Victoria’s ear at Newman Enterprises. But again, Victor claimed only to be using Nate as an insurance policy in case Adam does something else against his dad’s wishes.
Meanwhile at Crimson Lights, Adam talks with Nick and Sharon (Sharon Case) about the need to make a move to get SNA Media from underneath Victor’s control. Adam, and even Sharon to a certain extent, believe Victor is up to something and perhaps wants the new company to fail so he can swoop in and play hero.
To help prevent Victor from manipulating this situation further and to gain the freedom to run the company how they want, Adam suggests plotting against Victor. Nick is understandably opposed to the idea initially, but Sharon is at least willing to hear Adam out. But could Nick soon have a change of heart, realizing Victor is definitely playing a manipulative game to control his kids and everyone around them?
Possibly. However, that depends on what Adam wants to do and what Nick is willing to do. We can picture a scenario in which Adam, Nick and Sharon try to raise funding on their own for SNA Media so they wouldn’t have to rely on Victor’s investors. That kind of move would certainly dilute Victor’s ability to control the new media company.
We could even envision Victor being proud his sons took the initiative to work together in besting him. Plus, who’s to say that gaining their own investors wouldn’t give them the leverage to hire Sally in some kind of fashion capacity? After all, she’s looking for a job, and viewers would love to see the foreseeable chaotic office of Nick, Adam, Sharon, Sally and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford).
Brand-new episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
