It’s been a few weeks on The Young and the Restless since Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Jack (Peter Bergman) spent the tonight together at the Athletic Club during an epic bender.
Although the night served as a wake-up call for the Newman matriarch, it came at a price as Jack broke his own sobriety to convince her it was time for her to go to rehab. Nikki may owe her renewed commitment to sobriety to that night and Jack doesn’t appear to be tempted to slip back into a pill addiction, but the duo’s actions have made two people livid — their respective spouses.
Diane (Susan Walters) has spent a few episodes berating her husband for being selfish and putting Nikki above his own family. As the waters started to calm for the couple, Nikki returned to town during the week of May 27. After spending time in a treatment facility, and she boldly asked Jack to again be her sober sponsor, which Diane was furious to learn. She told her husband in no uncertain terms that if he sponsored his bestie/ex-wife again, she’d divorce him. The ultimatum was enough to sway Jack into telling Nikki no.
Then there’s The Great Victor Newman. He may not directed his anger toward Nikki, but he ripped into Jack. Since that infamous night, Victor has issued several threats to Jack to stay away from Nikki. Victor even noted that he wouldn’t have been sad if things had turned fatal for Jack in the hotel room after he mixed pills with alcohol.
Given his level of outrage, like many longtime fans, we suspected Victor would eventually have revenge on his mind. It looks like he starts to lay the groundwork for a master plan in the episode airing on May 31.
First, Victor sits down with Diane. He tries to get her take on what happened with Jack and Nikki, but Diane does a relatively good job playing it cool, not hinting at what she really feels about the issue. However, Victor sees right through her. He then pivots the conversation to pay her a backhanded compliment. Victor tells her when she first came to Genoa City, he admired her as savvy and tough before disapproving of her decision to marry Jack who he sees as "weak."
Additionally, Victor calls Diane a viper in the best of ways but says she allowed Jack to defang her and is allowing her son to take power from her as well. Victor’s parting words for his former wife are, "I used to admire you, respect you. Now I pity you." The comment rattles Diane as she knows deep down Victor has a point.
Victor’s next move is to stir the pot with Kyle (Michael Mealor). After hanging out with Claire (Hayley Erin) and Harrison (Redding Munsell) at the Abbott Manson, Victor speaks with Kyle one-on-one and goads him about how awful it must feel to work at Jabot under both his parents. The Newman patriarch says Kyle is the one who should be in Diane’s role at the company and strokes his ego further when he tells Kyle that out of all the Abbotts, he’s the most like the late John Abbott (Jerry Douglas).
With all that being said, it’s clear Victor is up to something, and we think it’s to cause chaos in the life of his nemesis. He knows if he can push Diane’s buttons and get her to think Jack is preventing her from being her true self, problems can flare up in the marriage. Jack and Diane are already facing rocky times, so Victor stirring the pot could make matters worse.
Also, Victor getting in Kyle’s head is likely The Mustache trying to push him into taking a stand at Jabot and going against his mother. However, let’s face it, Kyle hardly needed Victor’s influence to do that as he’s actively plotting against Diane these days already.
If we had to guess, Victor is attempting to cause several headaches for Jack and hopes he turns to something familiar to cope with it all — pills. Victor may even try to make sure Jack has run-ins with his former dealers to further entice him to relapse.
Before you argue that Victor wouldn’t stoop to such a low, allow us to remind you that Victor has gone to so some very low places in getting revenge on Jack in the past, including having him held hostage while Jack's doppelganger Marco took over his life. We will just have to wait and see what sinister things Victor is up to now.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
