On the surface in The Young and the Restless, Jack (Peter Bergman) and Diane (Susan Walters) are on the brink of a complete marital breakdown. They continue to bump heads over Kyle (Michael Mealor), with opposing views on who bears the responsibility for his newly-emerged quest for vengeance and what steps are worth taking to reconnect with their son. Well, things go from bad to worse in The Young and the Restless episode airing on October 17, when the couple have two very public spats.
Perhaps still embarrassed to show their faces at Jabot with suspicion lingering that Jack and Diane’s own son stole Jabot’s new product for Glissade, the couple opts to work from Crimson Lights. They hardly speak to one another until Jack attempts to break the ice by calling attention to the discomfort. That turns out to be a volatile mistake by the Abbott patriarch, as Diane unleashes on her husband.
She blasts Jack for not doing anything in the face of their product being stolen. She wants Kyle to pay for his actions by having him arrested for corporate theft. Jack doesn’t want to do that, seeing Victor (Eric Braeden) as the real villain here.
The more Jack talks about Kyle being their son, the more she questions if that is true at this point and storms off. During this whole exchange, Claire (Hayley Erin), Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Cole (J. Eddie Peck) look on from the patio of the coffee shop, feeling sympathetic for the pair.
Later, Diane winds up at the athletic club where she spots Kyle ordering a shot. As he’s been during most interactions with her lately, he’s quite smug and arrogant. She pushes his buttons to see if he’s remorseful for stealing from his own family company, and he admits to nothing. However, he does suggest if she’s feeling betrayed, it’s her actions that have led to this place.
The mother/son duo continue to exchange words, with Diane telling Kyle her desire to have him arrested, charged and punished for stealing from Jabot. Jack walks up just in time to hear Diane’s "threat," and he immediately jumps to the defense of his son.
Jack rips into Diane for threatening their son with prison time. She notes that Kyle is not the child she raised, and Jack rips off the bandage and tells her she wasn’t around to raise Kyle for much of his childhood. Diane is taken aback by the harsh reminder that she faked her death and left town for years. Jack doesn’t stop here though.
In a big surprise, he suggests that everyone was right about Diane. That she’s a "raving narcissist who only cares about herself." Diane starts sobbing until she can’t take anymore and runs off. Jack runs off in the opposite direction.
Again this blow-up has spectators. Not only are Claire, Victoria and Cole on hand to see everything unfold, but so is The Mustache himself. Victor watches the entire argument with the most satisfying grin.
Now we have to point out, Kyle watches this huge argument between his parents, and he doesn’t look pleased at all. In fact, he looks sad to see his parent’s marriage so fragile and shocked they'd do this for people to see.
With all of that being said, we’ve had to ask ourselves lately, "Are Jack and Diane really in this bad of shape or are they pretending as a part of a bigger plan to reconnect with Kyle and retaliate against Victor?"
A few weeks ago Jack and Diane got into an argument at the athletic club with Victor, Traci (Beth Maitland) and Alan (Christopher Cousins) watching nearby. Traci noted then how unusual it was for Jack to argue like that in public, and Victor seemed pleasantly surprised to see the lovers’ spat. Fast forward back to the episode airing on October 17, and after witnessing the public display from Jack and Diane at Crimson Lights, Victoria says, "... Jack doesn’t normally act out like that in public. He’s always very discreet."
Adding to the interesting comments from Traci and Victoria, we also have to mention that Jack and Diane have chosen to argue lately in public in front of a member of Victor’s family if not Victor himself. In fact, during that latest argument, Diane even looks at Victor as Jack is chewing her out, almost as if she is looking to make sure he is paying attention.
These subtle clues seem to suggest that Jack and Diane may be working an angle here. If they are pretending to be at odds, perhaps they think if Victor buys this narrative, he will get cocky and slip up, revealing his master plan for revenge against Jack or revealing information they can use to stop him. Or perhaps they feel if Kyle sees the trouble he‘s causing his parents, he’ll stop doing things to create friction between the two. Heck, maybe then he’d consider reconciling with them.
Either way, we’re going to keep our eye out on things. It’s hard to believe that #Dack could be coming to an end after all the two went through to reunite.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
