More than ever these days on The Young and the Restless, the big families of Genoa City have resorted to infighting among themselves rather than going after their competitors and enemies. Even now, the Newman family is in a world of chaos with Adam (Mark Grossman) having a bone to pick with all his siblings, sans Abby (Melissa Ordway), and a bigger issue with Victor (Eric Braeden).
When it comes to the Abbott clan, they aren’t fairing that well when it comes to family drama either. Although Jack (Peter Bergman) and Ashley (Eileen Davidson) have declared a cease-fire after months of arguing about Diane (Susan Walters) and Tucker (Trevor St. John), a new conflict is steadily brewing between Jack and Billy (Jason Thompson).
Despite Billy siding with Jack in the latter’s feud with Ashley, it appears their sister’s concerns about Diane’s presence at Jabot have seeped into the subconscious of Billy, who is now on a crusade to prevent his new sister-in-law from gaining any more power at the family company. Billy feels his brother is blind to the potential harm Diane can do to the business, so the younger Abbott has taken up the task of protecting their father’s legacy.
Lily (Christel Khalil) warned Billy in the episode airing on September 5 about going after Jack and it looked like he took her words to heart, claiming he knew what he had to do. Well, in the episode airing on September 7, he launches a new plan of attack.
He seeks to rally support around a potential Jabot bylaw that would block Diane from having a seat on the Jabot board for at least 10 years, effectively limiting her ability to be promoted into a higher position.
Before anyone dismisses this idea as ridiculous, Jabot has been known to have some interesting bylaws in the past. It wasn’t that long ago when Jack championed an Abbott blood clause that prevented anyone not a blood descendant of John Abbott (Jerry Douglas) from running the family business (granted that was years ago during a feud with Ashley).
Now in terms of Billy’s new plan of attack, it seems he may have a hard time garnering support for the anti-Diane rule. He pitches it to Abby and she immediately rejects his idea. This leaves him feeling a bit dejected, yet no less determined, and that’s pretty much the mindset he’s in when he runs into Kyle (Michael Mealor) at Crimson Lights.
Kyle makes note of his uncle’s demeanor and Billy isn’t exactly shy about sharing that he’s having some problems with Jack at Jabot. When Kyle inquires if this is due to Diane, Billy tells his nephew to worry about Newman Media since he abandoned Jabot to work there. Before Kyle turns to leave, he makes the strong statement, “Just don’t mess with my mother.”
Given the forceful way Kyle utters the words, it seems like more of a warning. With Billy not likely to stop pushing back against Jack and Diane, will Kyle soon step in to go to war with Billy in order to defend his mother?
When you consider Kyle is likely on borrowed time at Newman Media considering he’s defying Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) by still dating Audra (Zuleyka Silver), and Diane suggests in the September 7th episode that Kyle could replace Billy as CEO of Jabot, it seems possible that these two men are on a tumultuous collision course.
Plus, Kyle and Billy being at odds isn’t exactly new show territory. The have a history of arguing over executive positions at Jabot. Kyle also wasn’t the biggest fan of his uncle sleeping with Summer (Allison Lanier) years ago.
We’ll be paying attention to see what’s next in the Abbott family saga. But we have to say, we miss the days when the Abbotts would go blow for blow in a battle royale with the Newmans.
Brand-new episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
