Sally: Core Families and Heartbeats Take Center Stage as a Writing Regime Wraps Up: Two Scoops for The Young and the Restless, Week of October 26

Sure, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) made some big promises about her company, Arabesque, on The Young and the Restless, but, as always, her bravado was entertaining. However, we couldn’t help but notice that family dynamics, not corporate shenanigans and kidnappings, which were fairly common on The Young and the Restless over the last few years, are taking center stage in Genoa City, and in London, too, for that matter.

London Bridge is Falling Down

The action shifted to London as Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Kyle (Michael Mealor) combined a little pleasure with the former’s business trip for Newman Enterprises. The storyline became a bit of a French farce as Kyle wound up on the balcony, avoiding Billy (Jason Thompson), who had dropped by to see his ex-wife.

The two were almost caught a few times, between Billy dropping by the Newman apartment unexpectedly, and then, Billy and Cane (Billy Flynn) bumping into Kyle in an English pub. Kyle avoided Billy’s questions, but that may come back to bite him later when Billy remembers why his nephew was so evasive. Cane’s going to be suspicious, too. He didn’t say much when Kyle and Billy bantered about why Kyle was going to Paris, but that didn’t mean that Cane wasn’t taking notes!

But the pressure is closing in on the couple. Sure, they’re just in it for fun, but Vicki thought about pulling the plug after fantasizing that Billy walked in on her and Kyle making out.

Jill’s Good News and Bad News

Jess Walton celebrates her 40th year next year playing Jill Foster Abbott. The actress walked into the role, coming off a tour de force as Kelly Harper on Capitol, and quickly made the role her own. She’s won two Daytime Emmys for playing the part, and nobody wanted to see the character written off. So, it was great news when we learned that Jill made it through surgery and was recovering.

But we didn’t get to see Jill! Instead, we saw Cane, Billy, and Kyle in a pub in England. In a perfect world, we’d have seen Cane and Billy at the hospital by Jill’s bedside. And, hey, while we’re at it, a cameo by David Hasselhoff as Uncle Snapper would have been nice, too!

A Good Mystery

We don’t know what Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) has done with Matt Clark (Roger Howarth), but we can’t wait to find out. Nick’s playing it cool, refusing to give out anything more than dribs and drabs of info so that Sharon (Sharon Case) can’t go running off to try to help the man who raped her.

Ironically, Nick’s drug dependency began at the beginning of the year after he attempted to drive off with Matt Clark, alone in his car. Matt broke free of his bonds and caused the car to crash, which led to Nick’s pill addiction. Nick may want to curb his tendencies to play the hero, but, like Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) and Sharon, we’re highly suspicious that Nick’s truly taken Matt to a care facility.

When Adam Burped Ruby

Mark Grossman and his character, Adam, are long overdue for a front-burner storyline. He may be getting one now that Adam is dealing with unresolved feelings related to the death of his daughter, Ava. His helping bring Ruby into the world has caused him to reflect on his life with Sally and the child that they lost. Adam’s fixation (is it too early to call it that?) on Ruby and Sally can’t be healthy.

Adam needs to focus on his life with Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) and their family. He's not going to put this torch down anytime soon. It’ll be fascinating to see how drawn he continues to be to Sally and Ruby, or if he’ll step aside and let Billy be the man of the house. Watching Adam burp Ruby and get her to rest was a joy. He showed up at Sally’s to lend a hand and did he ever! Sally could be vulnerable to her ex. The Billy/Sally/Adam/Chelsea quadrangle could kick back into high gear as we head into 2027!

Playing Doctor

Stephanie, Nate, Devon, Abby, and Lily | Image: JPI

Abby (Melissa Ordway) picked up on some subtle clues between Nate (Sean Dominic) and Stephanie (Vivica Fox) at the family dinner to celebrate Nate’s pending return to medicine. After Nate and Stephanie left, Abby shared her embarrassment with Devon (Bryton James) and Lily (Christel Khalil), wanting to know why she was the last to know!

It seems like Y&R is shifting focus back to the hospital. There have been many doctors in Genoa City over the years, namely, Dr. Casey Reed (Roberta Leighton), Dr. Snapper Foster (David Hasselhoff), and Dr. Olivia Winters (Tonya Lee Williams). For quite a while, there wasn’t a regular doctor in town. Now, there are going to be (at least) two!

Delicious Rivalry

Audra Charles (Zuleyka Silver) and Claire Newman (Hayley Erin) have had some memorable fights during their relatively short rivalry in Genoa City. The two women threw down again at Society!

Claire was certainly acting like she knew a lot more about what went on in Las Vegas with Audra and Holden than what she may truly know. The woman knows how to bluff! Audra hates to lose, but she mostly told Claire what she wanted to hear. We get the feeling this tense dynamic is far from over!

We ‘R’ Family

In real life, relatives who flew in for a wedding would not take off again if the bride were to give birth during the reception, which is what Sally did. They’d stick around to help the new mom. Sally mentioning Shirley and Coco still being in town was great, but we haven’t seen them.

It’s also good to see Sally go to her in-laws, the Abbotts, and rely on them. Jack told Sally (and Coco) that the Abbott home was theirs now, and it’s good to see that’s not just lip service.

Moving Forward

The new writing team of Dan O’Connor and Jamey Giddens is going to premiere on November 11, as they take over from departing scribe Josh Griffith. Let’s hope the duo takes a page from what we’ve been seeing on the show lately, which is to have less talk about all these businesses – Vibrante, Arabesque, etc. – and deal with more interpersonal, human dynamics.

Adam’s angst, Nick’s secrets about Matt Clark, Phyllis’s continued bravado, Kyle and Vicki’s secret fling, and Nate and Stephanie going public kept us entertained last week, and we look forward to how these dynamics unfold in the coming weeks and months!