We were happy to see The Young and the Restless’ Cole (J. Eddie Peck) finally arrive back in Genoa City in the episode that aired on April 24. He’s been missing in action for months, allegedly touring the Newman Publishing offices around the world. He wasn’t there for Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Claire (Hayley Erin) as they battled Jordan (Colleen Zenk), he was absent when Ian (Ray Wise) subsequently held the mother/daughter duo hostage and Cole was gone when Victor (Eric Braeden) declared his unwavering disapproval of #Kylaire.
Unfortunately, Cole’s return came with a new mystery illness. In the same episode, while eating with Victoria and Claire, he had a coughing fit that spelled trouble. We can’t say for sure the severity of his illness, which he himself writes off as a simple cold, but we suspect it could boil down to him facing a life-or-death situation. It’s possible that Cole developed his health condition naturally, but we can’t rule out that Ian is behind it all.
Months ago, Ian was shot at the Newman Ranch and pronounced dead by the EMTs who arrived on the scene. However, viewers later saw Ian return to life in the back of the ambulance, but he was never heard from again. Considering Ian showed up at the ranch carrying a lot of animosity for the Newmans, especially Claire, whom he blamed for Jordan's death, it’s in the realm of possibility that he’s been plotting the perfect way to get back at Claire. And taking Cole away from Claire could cause her a great deal of grief.
It’s only been about a year and a half since Claire has been able to bond with her birth father, but she loves him and finds him gravely important to her life. She would be devastated to lose him, the kind of pain Ian would probably profess to have now that Jordan is gone.
If our theory about Ian being involved is right, then we have to think about when Ian could have gotten to Cole and what he poisoned Cole with. A man like Ian is highly manipulative and capable of doing a variety of villainous deeds, so we can’t rule out anything in this regard.
Additionally, we can’t say whether Cole could survive an attack from Ian. From a storyline perspective, while we like to see Victoria happy and in love, we aren’t sure her romance with Cole contains the fireworks she’s used to having with her past partners, which makes for less soapy drama. That’s especially true given Victoria is less of her “Ice Queen” self these days. So if Cole is taken out of the picture, that could pave the way for her character to return to type and down the road, a spicier relationship.
Again, Ian resurfacing in the soap as part of Cole’s illness storyline is just a theory at this juncture. But we’ll certainly keep an eye out for the deranged criminal’s return.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Paramount Plus.
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