Enough is enough: Why The Young and the Restless' kidnapping stories are getting old

The Young and the Restless features kidnapping stories in order to create tension and suspense. But we are saddened by the excessive amount of kidnapping stories that we've watched over the past year alone. Here are just four of those tales that we've witnessed:

Martin Laurent kidnapped Sharon and Phyllis on The Young and the Restless

Martin played mind games with Sharon and Phyllis on The Young and the Restless | Image: YouTube

Let's face it, bad things need to happen in soaps. And those bad things come in the form of murders, rapes, baby switches, kidnappings, and more. But lately, we've witnessed enough kidnappings on The Young and the Restless to make us gag. In some cases, we've seen the same character get kidnapped twice within a matter of a month or two. Sharon (Sharon Case) is one example.

In 2025, when Jordan (Colleen Zenk) was in cahoots with Ian Ward (Ray Wise), she chloroformed Sharon and kidnapped her. Sharon awoke in a damp basement, surrounded by pipes and electrical devices. Not longer after she survived that nightmare, she was kidnapped again -- by Martin Laurent (Christopher Cousins). She woke up in a dingy room in an abandoned psychiatric facility, along with her enemy, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford). Martin put them in dangerous situations where they were forced to save each other's lives. He treated them as subjects that he was experimenting with, wanting to see whether they would put their differences aside for the sake of survival.

Note to the Y&R writers: will you please give Sharon a break this year? Stop putting her through one tormenting experience after another. It was bad enough that Jordan drugged her into believing she killed Heather (Vail Bloom). That alone was a dragged out, messy storyline that took forever before the fans finally received a satisfactory payoff. Soap writers need to understand that they run the risk of losing longtime fans when they put a character through never-ending obstacles that involve trauma and peril. As we've stated, enough is enough.

Sienna was also kidnapped twice within a couple of months

Matt kidnapped Sienna and Noah on The Young and the Restless | Image: CBS

The Young and the Restless' Sienna (Tamara Braun) has been the victim of two kidnappings as well (the first time with Noah, played by Lucas Adams). Both times, Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) was the culprit, and both times, she was drugged (as was Noah). Just as with Sharon's kidnappings, Sienna's second kidnapping occurred shortly after the first one.

We understand that soaps need to have storylines where there is potential danger involved and the stakes are high. That's what makes us want to tune in every day, so we can find out what happens next. But, at the same time, soaps need to have a healthy balance, where we are treated to some joyful occurrences as well. We cannot have non-stop doom and gloom.

Many soap fans become disenchanted, because we have enough doom and gloom in the real world -- and kidnappings, some of which don't have happy endings, unfortunately. Fans watch soaps because they want an escape. So, it isn't entertaining when we're being bombarded with kidnappings, with barely a break in between each one.

Ian Ward convinced Mariah to kidnap Dominic

Ian Ward talked Mariah into kidnapping Dominic on The Young and the Restless | Image: CBS

Now, The Young and the Restless' Mariah (Camryn Grimes) has kidnapped Dominic (Ethan Ray Clark). One of the infuriating aspects of this storyline (other than the fact that the victim is a child) is that Mariah didn't even seem like she wanted to kidnap him. She only did it because Ian Ward (Ray Wise) -- or her hallucination of him -- talked her into doing it. It came across as something she did in the spur of the moment. In the months or even weeks that led up to the crime, we saw no scenes of Mariah missing Dominic and feeling depressed because she didn't get to raise him. It feels like this kidnapping came out of left field.

All we've seen these past few years is that Mariah has been happy raising Aria, her daughter, whom she adopted with Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) -- at least, until she had that mental break months ago, when she got drunk with that man she met in a bar (Michael Swan). Since then, everything has gone haywire for Mariah, and it's hard to figure out what the root of her troubles really is. She said she tried to kill the man, but we haven't heard anything more about it in months. That part of her story needs to be resolved. Why drag Dominic into this? What happened to the mystery man? Is he out there, trying to find her so he can exact revenge?

Please, Y&R writers, take a break from kidnapping storylines. The fans need a break, and many of those fans have been loyal Y&R viewers for decades. Some of them have been watching since the very first episode. Please, show them some appreciation and gratitude for their devotion to the show. Listen to them.

If there is any soap character who deserves to get kidnapped (more than any other character across all five soaps), then it is the despicable Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) from General Hospital. With all the characters on GH who hate him (with good reason), it would be nearly impossible to figure out who the kidnapper is. Wouldn't that make for a wonderful mystery?

Catch all-new episodes on The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus.