In all of daytime television, you won’t be able to find a better chess player than The Young and the Restless Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). The Mustache is constantly thinking three steps ahead of friend or foe, and even his family is susceptible to his manipulative tactics if it serves his greater desires.
Our sentiment was most recently exemplified as he mobilized his attack against Jack (Peter Bergman) and Jabot. Not only did he use Audra (Zuleyka Silver) to steal Tucker’s (Trevor St. John) precious Glissade, Jabot’s industry rival, but Victor also exploited the rift Kyle (Michael Mealor) has with Jack and Diane (Susan Walters) to lure Kyle to work for him.
Victor even moved his children, sans Abby (Melissa Ordway) of course, around like pawns at Newman Enterprises and its subdivision Newman Media, so he had the perfect well-oiled and loyal family business that would do his bidding and be safe from external attacks.
Proving he can juggle multiple balls at one time, Victor is additionally going after Abbott-Chancellor, certain that only he and Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) can ensure the company grows in a way that honors Katherine’s (Jeanne Cooper) legacy. Now Victor has more of a challenge on his hands with this task, as Jill (Jess Walton) and Billy (Jason Thompson) aren’t just going to roll over and let Victor steal their company. However, Victor is determined to acquire Chancellor and put his wife at the helm, especially now that Nikki has expressed her hopes of one day running the company. And history shows, what Victor truly wants, he usually gets.
Having said all of that, Victor tells Kyle in The Young and the Restless episode airing on August 28 his next desire. The Newman patriarch wants Claire (Hayley Erin) to work in the family business, specifically, he wants Claire working with Nikki at the soon-to-be-acquired Chancellor. Although Claire herself has turned down Nikki’s offer of employment, wanting to continue being Harrison’s (Redding Munsell) nanny instead, Victor still wants his granddaughter working for him.
When Kyle comes to understand that Victor wants him to fire Claire to make that happen, Kyle is resistant to the idea. He knows his son adores Claire and would be crushed to see her go. Additionally, Kyle claims that with his pending move, having a new nanny for Harrison would be too much change at once for the little boy.
Victor doesn’t appear to be the most understanding of Kyle’s pushback by the end of the episode, and by all accounts, Victor will insist. Considering Victor is Kyle’s boss and looking ahead at show hints, it seems Kyle will give in to Victor’s request.
Claire is scheduled to confront Summer (Allison Lanier) in a future episode, and it’s likely over Kyle’s push for Claire to leave her job as Harrison’s nanny. Given how mean Summer has been to her cousin, Claire will naturally think Summer is to blame for Kyle’s shift in attitude.
We can imagine that after some harsh words are exchanged between these two Newman heirs, Claire may mention that Victor wants her to work under the Newman Enterprises umbrella. Summer in exchange may recall that after she spoke with Victor about helping in her custody battle, Kyle seemed more open about compromising. With Summer also knowing Kyle is still hiding things about the nature of his job at Glissade and why he’s working with Audra, is it possible that Summer will sense Victor is once again playing puppeteer?
If Summer does figure out what Victor is up to (excluding his plans to take over Chancellor), she may clue Claire in as to how their grandfather works. While the two women are a far cry from besties, they both adore Harrison and want to prioritize what’s in the best interest of the child, so there’s a chance they’ll confront Kyle and Victor about Claire staying on as Harrison’s nanny.
Should Claire and Summer actually get on the same page in this regard, we aren’t sure how Victor would respond. On the one hand, he may be happy to see the two women have finally found some common ground as family. On the other hand, it’s possible Victor becomes angry with Kyle for not doing what he asked in a way that didn’t stir up more trouble. The one thing we are pretty certain of though is that Kyle is going to get sick and tired of hopping every time Victor says jump.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
