In The Young and the Restless world, love doesn’t always present itself like a fairytale. Some romantic connections develop from drama and pure chaos. In the case of Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), often times this describes the beginning stages of her love life with her former partners.
Taking a look at some of her couplings over the years, her relationship with Danny (Michael Damian) certainly wasn’t like a typical romance novel. She was an obsessed fan, drugged him and pretended to be pregnant with his child. Although their relationship initially started out as a lopsided romance, Danny eventually married her for love. However, between her manipulative history and his own feelings for Christine (Lauralee Bell), things didn’t work out.
Then there were Phyllis’ "forbidden" relationships with Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Billy (Jason Thompson), which both originated in lies and infidelity. As for her on-again-off-again dynamic with Jack (Peter Bergman) over the years, even when viewers thought they were destined to be together, drama always seems to seep into the early stages of each of their new beginnings.
This all brings us to her current onscreen dynamic with Tucker (Trevor St. John). For months now, the two have been involved in a weird game of trying to gain the upper hand on the other person.
It started when Phyllis was desperately trying to locate the infamous paramedic who could serve as her witness to keep her from going to prison after the death of Jeremy Stark (James Hyde). Tucker found the paramedic and kept him from Phyllis in the hopes she would agree to help him and Ashley (Eileen Davidson) with their plans to go up against Jack and Diane (Susan Walters).
Phyllis eventually worked with Adam (Mark Grossman) to find the secret that Tucker knew about a coverup in his former company involving a musician and underage girls. Tucker eventually backed down from Phyllis and Phyllis didn’t even really need the paramedic in the end, but the #Phucker dance started there.
Phyllis again opted to mix it up with Tucker in helping him frame Billy for embezzlement in exchange for Tucker paying off her debts with the insurance company. Although she claimed that would be the last time she got involved with Tucker, she later decided to help Jack by telling him about listening spyware equipment Tucker purchased to probably spy on the Abbotts.
Of course, Tucker found out about Phyllis’ tattling, which brings us to present day.
In the episode airing on October 17, Tucker and Phyllis have a conversation as she’s wrapping up dinner with her kids. As Summer (Allison Lanier) and Daniel (Michael Graziadei) look from an inaudible distance, Tucker says he knows Phyllis ratted him out to Jack, and because of that move, Tucker claims he and Phyllis have unfinished business. He then demands she meet him in his hotel suite in 15 minutes.
As Phyllis reconvenes with Tucker in the room, she brags about again having the upper hand on Tucker. She claims she discovered proof that Tucker is Mamie’s (Veronic Redd) silent partner. That’s a secret that could definitely blow up his relationship with Devon (Bryton James), especially since Tucker claimed he had no connection to Devon’s great-aunt.
In Tucker fashion, we doubt he’ll just concede to Phyllis, which means he’ll probably do something or find information about her to gain an edge.
We’re beginning to think that the longer these two mix it up, the greater the likelihood they become a romantic item. It’s an idea that makes perfect sense given their back-and-forth is starting to look like flirting in the vein of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Plus, the two have a good deal in common and are already the town pariahs. Why not lean into their individual social statuses and become a new power couple in Genoa City?
Also, it’s not likely that Tucker and Ashley are going to fix their marriage and his entanglement with Audra (Zuleyka Silver) doesn’t exactly ring true love. When it comes to Phyllis, despite the googly eyes it appears she has for Danny lately, he has eyes for her Christine.
From a viewer's perspective, we’d like to see Phyllis and Tucker give it a go.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
