These days, The Young and the Restless’ Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) has found herself to be a relative outcast in Genoa City. She could probably count on one hand the number of residents in town who don’t give her a side-eye for the stunt she pulled with Jeremy Stark (James Hyde). However, outside of Daniel (Michael Graziadei) and Summer (Allison Lanier), one person who has increasingly provided her a shoulder to cry on lately is her ex, Danny (Michael Damian).
Phyllis’ former husband has offered her some sage words of advice and support to encourage her to rehabilitate her life. Even recently in the episode airing October 6, Danny pushes Phyllis to stop wallowing in her own pity party and to start practicing self-love and believing in herself.
During their conversation, Phyllis develops googly eyes for Danny, which may not be a great thing given their history. A history littered with betrayal, which Phyllis briefly jokes about.
To provide some quick backstory, decades ago, when Danny was working in New York, he met Phyllis. At the time, he was married to Christine (Lauralee Bell) and Phyllis was a crazed fan who allowed her obsession with Danny to lead her to make some terrible decisions. First and foremost, she got him drunk one night, lured him to her bed and later claimed to be pregnant with his baby, Daniel.
Wanting to do the right thing for Phyllis and Daniel, he divorced Christine and married Phyllis. The first marriage between Danny and Phyllis didn’t last long, because he found her manipulative. However, after ending things, he quickly remarried Phyllis once he saw her in a new light when she tirelessly cared for their then-sick son. Later the two split again after it was discovered that Daniel was not actually Danny’s biological child.
With all that said, could Phyllis be developing romantic feelings for Danny in the present day? We certainly think so. However, is he starting to fall for her as well? We think not.
When Danny first got back into Genoa City, one of the first things he did was inquire about Christine. He was disappointed to hear she had left the country to meet with her husband Paul (Doug Davidson). Although the couple is on the rocks, they are still legally married. Then in the following preview for the episodes airing the week of October 9, he admits to Phyllis that Christine still holds a special place in his heart.
#yr Preview pic.twitter.com/YMTfJE7NG2October 5, 2023
Now Phyllis doesn’t appear thrilled to hear about Danny’s continual fondness for Christine, and that response could foreshadow a familiar storyline brewing. Again, Danny used to be stuck between Phyllis and Christine years ago and may find himself stuck there once more.
Christine may not be in town at the moment, but according to her Instagram, she’ll be back on The Young and the Restless canvas very soon.
History has shown Phyllis is willing to go to some pretty low places to get what she wants. While we think she indeed may want Danny, we don’t think she’ll again get to the point of becoming completely obsessed. After all, she’s on probation and can’t do anything to get thrown in jail. Considering Christine is the district attorney, Phyllis has to be extra careful in fact.
However, we can imagine a scenario where Phyllis plays dirty tricks to keep Danny and Christine apart. For example, since Heather (Vail Bloom) is moving back to Genoa City, that more than likely means Phyllis and Danny’s granddaughter Lucy (Lily Brooks O'Briant) is also moving to town. Phyllis could use the notion of "family bonding" to preoccupy Danny’s days as much as possible, so she can spend more time with her ex and keep him from building things with Christine.
With Phyllis, the possibilities for manipulation are truly endless. This is why we’ll be watching to see if this historic Young and the Restless love triangle returns.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
