For months now, we’ve been wondering where in the world The Young and the Restless' Cole (J. Eddie Peck) has been. Shortly after the holidays, and following Victor's (Eric Braeden) shocking everyone by giving Cole his official seal approval and a job at Newman Enterprises to boot, Cole disappeared. He wasn’t around when Jordan (Colleen Zenk) resurfaced to unleash terror on the Newmans, he’s been MIA as The Mustache interferes in his daughter’s relationship and his relationship with Victoria (Amelia Heinle) seemingly stalled.
Well, our questions about the author’s whereabouts are finally answered in The Young and the Restless episode airing on April 24. He returns to Genoa City having been away, touring the Newman Publishing divisions around the world. In this triumphant return, he lavishes both Claire (Hayley Erin) and Victoria with love and gifts at the tack house, then meets with Victor at the main ranch.
Victor and Cole chop it up about business, of course, but their conversation eventually pivots to Claire dating Kyle (Michael Mealor). The Newman patriarch again expresses his discontent with the relationship, but Cole counters that his daughter has the right to make her own decisions regarding her love life. Victor remains unmoved in his position, and he even tells Cole that because he’s a new father, he doesn’t know what it’s like to see his child be devastated by heartbreak.
Later in the episode, Cole again meets with Claire and Victoria for lunch, where Claire shares with her parents that she and Kyle are moving in together. While #Vole supports their daughter’s decision, they’re fully aware that the move could really ruffle her grandfather’s feathers.
Unfortunately, in the midst of this family reunion lunch, Cole has a bit of a coughing fit. While he dismisses the cough as basically nothing, we’re pretty certain it's very much something. If we had to guess, Cole has a mystery illness that may put him in a life-or-death situation. Should our hunch prove correct, we can imagine three big shifts occurring on the soap’s canvas.
Kyle and Claire put their big move on hold
We have to consider the possibility that once Claire becomes fully aware of her father’s health, she may decide to put off her move with Kyle, opting to stay at the tack house with her parents. Clarie hasn't had a relationship with her birth father for that long, so if she suspects he may be dying, she might want to be around him as much as possible.
Someone exploits the situation to break up Kyle and Claire
If Claire does pump the brakes on the big move, or even finds herself spending less time with Kyle to spend more with Cole, we have to wonder how that will impact her relationship. Kyle likely would be understanding, but someone like Summer (Allison Lanier) or Audra (Zuleyka Silver) could exploit any perceived "distance" in #Kylaire to their advantage. With Summer and Audra both wanting to break up the couple, Cole’s illness could sadly present the opportunity for them to achieve that goal.
Victoria spirals and becomes hardened
Just when Victoria finally finds love again with someone who doesn’t have a troubling vice, who isn’t trying to con her or her family and who Victor actually approves of, Cole develops a mystery illness. If the sickness puts him in a hospital bed, or worse, kills him, Victoria is probably going to be devastated and forever changed. It’s possible she turns to a vice, as Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) has in the past, to deal with her emotions. Could Victoria develop a problem with alcohol?
Even if Victoria doesn’t develop a bad habit, she may be on edge and have a low tolerance for her family’s usual backbiting and scheming. She could lash out at Victor for his continued nonsensical attack on Jack (Peter Bergman) and the Abbotts, and give him an earful for his continued interference in Claire’s love life. Oh, and if Kyle does fall victim to a trap set by Summer or Audra and hurts Claire, she may become the fiercest mama bear in town.
For now, this is all speculation in terms of the impact of Cole’s mystery illness. We just hope Cole isn’t on his way off the soap for good.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
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