Matt Foot Rubbed Sienna and All Is Forgiven: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the Week of July 27

The Young and the Restless has had some powerful villains over the years. Matt Clark ranks right up there with Sheila Carter, Eve Howard, David Kimble, and Derek Stuart, among others. Sienna knocked him on the head with a rock, hoping to rid Matt from everyone's lives, but the exact opposite happened instead.

The Unwelcome Matt

Adam Newman and Nick Newman were just two of Matt Clark's victims | Image: CBS

Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) presumably perished in a fire; she's alive and scheming in Los Angeles on The Bold and the Beautiful, but she is gone from Genoa City. Evil Eve Howard (Margaret Mason) died after being bitten by a mosquito and developing a fatal infection. Murderous David Kimble (Michael Corbett) (presumably) trash-compacted himself, and lastly, Derek Stuart (Ken Olandt) leapt to his death out of a hotel window rather than go to prison for raping Cricket (Lauralee Bell).

It's too bad none of these villains had the staying power (on Y&R) that Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) continues to have. The man pulled out his tubing while in a hospital bed over 25 years ago and managed to survive. (We still don't know how he pulled that off!) Now, he's walking around Genoa City when he should be sitting in jail.

Let's see. What crimes has Matt committed over the last year? He caused Noah's (Lucas Adams) car accident last year, which nearly killed him. Matt kidnapped his then-wife, Sienna (Tamara Braun). He paid drug dealers to sell Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow). Matt kidnapped Nick and his brother, Adam (Mark Grossman), and then he kidnapped Sharon (Sharon Case) and Noah.

He left all four Newmans in an abandoned gas station that he blew up by remote control. Fortunately, our heroes escaped in the "nick" (no pun intended) of time, thanks to Victor (Eric Braeden). Matt seems to have a penchant for doing that, too. Sienna hit him on the head with a rock, which gave Matt both amnesia and a new lease on life.

At first, he didn't remember what he did. And then, he did, but he feels horribly that he was so bad. Then, Matt helped save Nick's life after he nearly died with Phyllis' (Michelle Stafford) help. Victor decided not to send Matt to jail so he could keep an eye on Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn).

There are two major problems with this. First, Cane's not a threat to Victor. He's content to run Chancellor Industries and continue to make inroads with his former wife, Lily. Cane is not planning some big revenge scheme against Victor.

Second, it's not Victor's call whether or not Matt is prosecuted. That would be up to the police and the district attorney. We're not terribly confident in the district attorney's office as of late. Despite Kyle (Michael Mealor) being Diane's (Susan Walters) alibi/witness, Diane was still brought in as a suspect in the stabbing of her husband, Jack (Peter Bergman). Didn't Patty's (Stacy Haiduk) record throw doubt on Diane's role in what happened to Jack?

Rubbing Sienna the Right Way

The last time Matt and Sienna were in bed together she was his prisoner | Image: JPI

Why haven't the police brought Matt in for various charges? If they do, and Matt needs a character witness at his trial, he can reach out to Sienna. The bartender told Noah last week that it was hard to view Matt as a complete villain. After all, he used to bring her coffee and rub her feet.

That's it? That's IT? Some caffeine and toe-massaging? It might have made more sense for Sienna to have residual feelings for Matt if he had saved her life or donated a kidney to someone in Sienna's family. The man tried to kill her lover, Noah, and kidnapped her, and then tried to kill Noah again with his parents and his uncle.

Where did he go to get that coffee? Brazil? How magical are Matt's fingers that his foot rubs could prompt Sienna to forgive Matt for his many crimes? The last time that Matt and Sienna shared a bed together, he had her handcuffed to it -- and not in the fun way. He had ill-intentions towards her. How could Sienna possibly feel safe with Matt walking around Genoa City?

We get that Y&R doesn't want to lose an actor of Howarth's calibre. Maybe create another role for the Daytime Emmy-winner or don't cast him as a villain in the first place.

The Monitor

Phyllis and Matt cutting off his ankle monitor wasn't alarming, but it should have been | Image: CB

Matt appears to be teflon. Nothing can touch him, and everything just slides right off him. Well, losing his ankle monitor took some doing as he and Phyllis attacked the monitor with some scissors. What we found odd was that cutting the monitor off didn't alert Victor right away to what was going on.

In every dramatic program we've ever seen, traveling outside an agreed-upon location or cutting the monitor off would set it off! Victor should have been alerted right away that the monitor had been tampered with and/or wasn't on Matt's ankle anymore.

It wasn't long before Victor and Nikki (Meldoy Thomas Scott) ran into an ankle monitor-free Matt at the GCAC. Matt's done being Victor's lackey, and he doesn't like being shackled either.

Ironically, Victor was the one letting Matt stick around. If Matt loses Victor's support, he could find himself with only Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) as an ally.

He kind of has Sienna's support, but we don't understand why. Nobody's coffee is that good. And nobody's fingers are that magical when it comes to foot massages!

Now, I (Don't) Hear What's Mine

Nikki imagined Vicki was by her side when she wasn't | Image: CBS

We were fairly confident that Nikki was going to get her sight back, and she did, following a mostly stand-alone episode in which Nikki had a nightmare that someone or someones had broken into the ranch.

She couldn't see who her intruders were, so she was forced to play a guessing game. Was it Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk), determined to go after someone who was special to Jack (Peter Bergman), Patty's obsession?

Was it Matt Clark? Had he broken into the ranch to serve Nikki some delicious coffee? The kind he'd made for Sienna? Perhaps Matt was going to rub Nikki's feet? Then, she'd realize he'd changed and wasn't all bad.

Nikki kept hearing the tune "Three Blind Mice," adding to her terror as she felt she was being taunted. The episode was clearly influenced by the thriller Wait Until Dark, the 1967 film starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman, terrorized by three unknown assailants.

At one point, we weren't sure what was real and what wasn't. Even Victoria's (Amelia Heinle) arrival turned out to be part of Nikki's imagination. Fortunately, Victor showed up and reassured Nikki that she was all right.

Stay Tuned...for Tunes

Then, miraculously, and unexpectedly (it was a Wednesday!), Nikki's vision began to return! We were thrilled to receive this news! If only Y&R had sprung (we imagine it's a lot of money) for a playing of "Through the Eyes of Love," Victor and Nikki's love song. It was so appropriate! The lyrics "now I see what's mine," "our love comes shining through," "I can see what's mine now," and "looking through, the eyes of love," etc., are a perfect fit for Nikki's vision crisis.

Perhaps, we'll still get it as Victor and Nikki are getting closer than ever. We suspect that many veteran Y&R fans and longtime Victor/Nikki devotees will be playing the song in their heads as the couple continues to reaffirm their love.