The war of the Abbotts continues to rage on in The Young and the Restless, with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Jack (Peter Bergman) and Ashley (Eileen Davidson) have been at arguing back and forth for months over Jack’s reunion with Diane (Susan Walters). Not ones to stay on the sidelines, Diane and Tucker (Trevor St. John) have continually fanned the flames and are willing to go to new lows to prove their loyalty to their respective partners.
In Tucker’s case, he’s involved himself in a manipulative plot with Phyllis (Michelle Stafford). He’s currently blackmailing her, holding her freedom from prison over her head, in exchange for her to do everything short of illegal to drive Diane mad.
He knows that Phyllis getting under Diane’s skin not only brings a smile to Ashley’s face, but an angry and distracted Diane is likely to make mistakes, which would lend itself to Ashley’s point that Diane isn’t fit to be a top executive at Jabot.
Now as far as Diane’s part in all the conflict, she has been relatively subdued in launching an attack. However, during the week of July 10, she shared with Billy (Jason Thompson) that she’s willing to play dirty to protect Jack and Jabot. Then during the week of July 24, Jack even gives Diane the greenlight to dig into her legendary bags of tricks. Which begs the question — what will Diane do?
At the moment, it seems like there isn’t much Diane can do to attack Ashley directly from a business standpoint. The latter has already branched out to start a new company, and with the help of Tucker, has managed to find loopholes in her contract at Jabot that could allow her to take some of her patents and such with her in her final departure.
However, Ashley has to "show cause," hence Ashley’s desire to drive Diane mad and prove she’s unfit, and therefore Jack is unfit for hiring her. So it would seem Diane has to really keep cool and play defense.
However, could Diane actually turn the tables on Ashley starting with her wedding to Tucker? The soon-to-be McCalls are fast approaching the day of their nuptials, and perhaps Diane could see the big day as the perfect opportunity to attack Ashley and throw her off her game. Here’s how.
For starters, after Tucker’s awkward sitdown with Phyllis and Diane during the week of July 10, both women appeared to be left with a bad taste in their mouths. While the ladies loathe each other, as we previously stated, we can see a scenario in which they put their hate for one another aside to plot against Tucker. Especially, if Diane agrees to testify on Phyllis' behalf in regard to Jeremy Stark (James Hyde).
One way in which they do this is to work together to stop Tucker and Ashley’s wedding. Ashley has been hesitant in getting close to Tucker because he’s previously cheated on her, so it would appear likely she would call off a wedding if she caught him being unfaithful again. With that being said, could Diane and Phyllis team up to frame Tucker for cheating and make sure Ashley sees that? Furthermore, would Phyllis be willing to play the pawn to come off as the person he’s unfaithful with?
If Diane does manage to ruin Ashley’s wedding and her relationship with Tucker, that definitely would impact Ashley’s next steps in business. Tucker has been the battery pack in Ashley’s back, charging her to leave Jabot and branch out to start a company with him. The two at odds would prove detrimental to Ashley’s future career moves.
While we can’t say for sure yet whether Ashley should be on the lookout for Diane as it pertains to her wedding, we can say with certainty that Diane is up to something.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
