Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) has been quite the busy woman lately on The Young and the Restless. When the town pariah isn’t professing to Genoa City that she’s a changed woman, she is literally making poor decisions and repeating old behavior — or so viewers think.
In the episodes airing during the week of September 25, Phyllis agreed to help Tucker (Trevor St. John) frame Billy (Jason Thompson) for embezzlement. Although she didn’t really want to assist Tucker in his Abbott takedown plot, she desperately wanted to pay off her $2 million insurance debt, which he offered to do in exchange for her cooperation.
Well, as it turns out, after Tucker gave Phyllis half of her payment, she transferred money from Jabot into a dormant bank authorized by Billy. When Tucker confronted her about not doing what he asked and putting the money in the Abbott sibling’s personal account, she claimed she wanted to make sure he would pay the rest of her $2 million first.
Phyllis stated she wanted to have "safeguards" in case Tucker flaked on their deal, and copped to having "secondary triggers" in place. The vindictive businessman eventually paid Phyllis the remaining balance of what he owed, and she transferred the stolen funds into Billy's personal account.
Now Billy isn’t an idiot and knew right away that Phyllis and Tucker were behind the financial misdeeds at Jabot, and Jack (Peter Bergman) was quick to believe his younger brother’s innocence. This is why, in The Young and the Restless episode airing on September 29, Jack angrily confronts Phyllis.
His former wife of course denies even knowing what Jack is talking about, but Jack knows she’s lying. As the two exes go back and forth about whether or not she’s guilty of the crime, she makes some statements that give us pause. Could Phyllis actually be in the process of double-crossing Tucker and helping the Abbotts?
During her heated exchange with Jack, Phyllis convincingly says, "Trust me, I’m not trying to sabotage you or Billy. I hate Tucker. I despise him."
Historians of the daytime soap opera know that Phyllis is a skilled liar, so she could very well be telling Jack anything just to make herself look innocent. However, her very specific statement about not trying to sabotage Jack or Billy, makes it sound like she may have a plan to counteract Tucker’s next move of attack.
You combine that with the fact that she was never interested in framing Billy for embezzlement and told Tucker she has safeguards and secondary triggers in place, we have to consider that Phyllis is quietly planning to stab Tucker in the back now that he’s already paid her.
We should probably also mention that Tucker levies a subtle threat to Phyllis about Summer’s (Allison Lanier) employment status at Jabot via Marchetti, which was probably not a wise move on Tucker’s part. Phyllis is certainly a mama bear, and she may be ready to lash out at him for that remark about her daughter.
Make sure you watch what happens next between Phyllis and Tucker. By the way, what is Tucker’s big plan for the Jabot and the Abbotts anyway?
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
