Credit: CBS screenshot

Welcome back, folks! Let’s get right to it. Here’s a look at this week’s Young & Restless and a peek at what’s coming up.

Lily and the Lawsuit

I’m of two minds about the ‘Lily and the lawsuit’ drama. On one hand, I love the idea of her being a bad-ass b*tch and not backing down considering what happened to her. On the other hand, I see Daniel’s point in wanting to keep the rights to some of what he created. He’s taken accountability for cheating and is defending Lily behind her back (“She doesn’t want to see my face every day”) and was prepared to resign if she didn’t fire him. From a soapy standpoint, I can appreciate the attempt at creating a juicy controversy, the problem is that I really don’t know what to root for here. I don’t feel strongly about Lily or Daniel getting their way, and Devon and Billy are migraine-inducing. Abby will be in the mix next week, which makes it even worse. Can we just unmerge these companies and tell new stories? Find out how Lily could end up fired here.

Red Reset

Phyllis is stirring the pot in not one, but two, dramas these days, but it’s not hitting like it used to. The writing for her has been atrocious and she needs a reset somehow. I’ll admit I was amused by her trotting over to Chance and Nate, and I’m all but certain she’ll agitate behind the scenes at Chancellor-Winters on Daniel’s behalf, but the stuff with Danny is a dumpster fire. Her harping on the “Bug” is staler than stale, even if you happen to agree with her that Cricket is ridiculous. Imagine fighting tooth and nail for this guy and then deciding to walk away because of some client she doesn’t even know. I sincerely hope this isn’t a set up for Phyllis showing up in the front row at one of Danny’s concerts. No. Just… no.

Connor’s Story

The acting continues to save this story, which is a thinly disguised PSA. If we didn’t care about the characters involved this would be unwatchable. The problem? It’s all talk. We should have had Connor integrated into Genoa City life with other young characters and watched his issues evolve. A couple of cutaways to Connor tugging the strings on his hoodie or journaling is doing the minimum. Even caring about these characters as we do, and throwing in a little Sharon for good measure, doesn’t make up for the amount of screentime this plot is taking up with discussion and therapy-speak. The writers are leaning too heavily on mental health as a plot device at this point — particularly when you consider that we endured all of Billy and Adam’s man pain before this.

Return of the Alters

Just when you thought Ashley’s story had peaked and she was ready for out-patient treatment, here comes her newest alternate personality — a Southern Belle! We’ve no idea how she managed to escape from under Traci’s watchful eye long enough to dig up a red dress and head to the bar, but we knew this was coming. As Miss Ashley sips her tequila and lime, Traci will spend time with one of her exes, Danny. You love to see it! No one needs a confidante more than our Traci.

Anyway, as things progress, Ashley’s psychiatrist pal from Paris will turn up on the scene. Will Ashley end up in Fairview before all is said and done? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

Full o’ Holes

When we say Young & Restless’ kidnapping plot has more holes than Ashley Abbott’s memory, we’re not kidding. Sure, one has to suspend disbelief when watching a soap opera to some extent, but we have our limits. Let’s start with the basics. How did Jordan manage to follow Claire to the Abbott mansion, get out of her man disguise, get cleaned up, hi-jack a delivery driver and truck, get her hands on some chloroform and a cloth, sneak into the Abbott mansion unseen and unheard, accost both Claire and Harrison and drag them both back out to the truck on her own without a peep. All whilst Traci and Ashley slept just feet away and Kyle was fully alert downstairs?!

In Act II, we had the hysteria, and I have to say both Allison Lanier and Michael Mealor did a fantastic job as the frantic parents. There’s been a lot of criticism of Summer’s reaction online, which simply isn’t warranted. She’s been this boy’s mother for eons now and loves him as her own. As such, her reaction was spot on, as are her suspicions about Claire. If someone had executed a plot during which my father got stabbed, my grandmother was hooked up to a vodka IV and imprisoned, and my entire family was poisoned, I’d need more than her spending a few weeks in Memorial to trust that she’d changed. What’s not realistic is this family so quickly embracing a young woman who was part of a diabolical plan to kill them all even if they wanted to with all of their heart.

Also not realistic was Summer waiting until the next day to call her boyfriend who used to be the Chief of Police. Um, wouldn’t Chance have been her first call?! Furthermore, why is everyone waiting on Jack and Victor to come up with a plan? Why aren’t Kyle, Nick, Cole, and Chance out looking for Jordan, Claire, and Harrison? Nick and Victor know full well she holed up in a motel before! At least they had Michael address the issue of tracing the cellphone.

Perhaps the biggest hole in this kidnapping is that it never would have happened if the Newmans had warned everyone about Jordan! Victor, who is so big on protecting family, never bothered to alert the extended family of the extent of the threat Jordan posed to any and all of them.

And where’s Billy in all of this? Well, we’ll tell you. While his family grappled with two huge emergencies — Ashley’s mental health and Harrison’s kidnapping — he was seen jovially walking up to Chelsea in the Club (after a bracing bickering session at Chancellor-Winters) and asking if she wanted to get a table for lunch. No mention of the Abbott drama, no cares about his children’s home having burned down by a lunatic, only focused on his girlfriend and Connor. Make it make sense.

Swap Meet

Nikki’s hitting the bottle (or flask) again and is putting herself on a collision course with the notorious Jordan. In the preview, we see her hanging out in an alley awaiting the meet-up. Whether it becomes a swap meet of sorts where Harrison ends up being freed remains to be seen, but we hope the kid is far out of the way for the final showdown. Why? Find out what we think will happen here.