May the 4th be with Phyllis Summers and Matt Clark: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the Week of May 4th

We're supposed to be rooting for the good guys on The Young and the Restless and not the "bad" ones. But we can't help but be silently cheering for Phyllis Summers and, to a far lesser extent, Matt Clark, as the two volatile characters continue to keep swinging when all is against them. And somebody in Genoa City deserves a big bonus for putting these two characters together!

Two wrongs do make a right on The Young and the Restless

Phyllis was flattered big time when Matt complimented her at the GCAC on Y&R | Image: CBS

While we're not always a fan of the Artificial Intelligence storyline, as in real-life, the lawyers would have been all over this from the beginning. Victor would have urged his employees to quit, paralyzing Newman Enterprises, AKA Summers Conglomorate. Neither Phyllis nor Cane nor anyone can run companies without employees who are at their desks every day.

However, we can't argue that the technology-driven tale has positioned nearly everyone on the canvas to deal with some heavy drama, and the actors are all delivering dynamite performances that are sure to be recognized come Daytime Emmy nomination time.

It's important to look at the fine details in this tale. Yes, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) and Cane (Billy Flynn) both used the AI program illegally. Well, Phyllis certainly did. Cane certainly having it developed showed that he had ill intent.

Victor (Eric Braeden) used it too, against Matt Clark (Roger Howarth), and then, it turned on Victor himself because Cane had a failsafe program installed for the AI host user to be betrayed.

Victor has conjured up some fake emails that pointed fingers at both Phyllis and Cane, which led to their arrest. So, while Phyllis and Cane were arrested, the evidence against them was manufactured. But they're far from innocent. It's not black and white, but it's all kinds of shades of messy gray.

Under my umbrella, ella, ella

Cane got arrested in Cricket's presence much to Lily's dismay on Y&R | Image: CBS

Y&R continues to make this AI story a true umbrella tale by putting Christine (Lauralee Bell) back in power as the district attorney, reigniting her feud with Phyllis. Also, Cane's arrest is throwing a wrench into his being a donor for Malcolm (Shemar Moore). Malcolm may have to come to Muhammad (AKA Genoa City) if Cane (the mountain) can't go to New York City, where Malcolm was planning on getting his treatment.

We can't see Christine blocking Cane from a life-saving trip to the Big Apple. It might be a judge's call, but Chris would certainly go to a judge and plead Cane's selfless desire to get a go to New York, help Malcolm, and get a slice of Famous Original Ray's pizza in Manhattan while he's there, right?

Phyllis is not changing her mind. Well, at least she hasn't so far. Her stance is that Victor has made plenty of power plays that have crushed people over the decades. The Newmans still have plenty of resources through their other assets, including Chancellor Industries, which was returned to Victor.

In principle, Phyllis isn't wrong. (Well, we're certainly not going to tell her she's wrong!) Victor has walked over people, but has he done it legally? He didn't use AI all those years ago to take Jabot Cosmetics from the Abbott family. He bought up stock after Jack had ill-advisedly taken the company public.

Phyllis can't shoulder all this by herself. Her children, Daniel (Michael Graziadei) and Summer (Allison Lanier), have turned their backs on her. But when you don't have family to turn to, you turn to your friends. There's a short-list of folks in Genoa City who love Phyllis for who she is, and they accept it (mostly because they're not impacted negatively by her antics). Two of those people are Lauren Fenmore Baldwin (Tracey Bregman) and Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc). Lauren's presence alongside Phyllis at Summers Conglomorate provides the fiery redhead with a sounding board and a conscience.

Lauren and Phyllis's dynamic is not unlike Sally (Courtney Hope) and Audra's (Zuleyka Silver). There's no judgment, just friendship and gentle mentoring.

Years from now, we envision Phyllis snarking at Christine for "that time you tried to send me to jail over fake emails," and Chris reminding Phyllis that "what you did by using the AI program was still illegal!"

The welcome Matt

Matt can't be blamed for things he can't remember, or can he on The Young and the Restless? | Image: CBS

One reason we're anxious to see Matt Clark stick around is that we still want to know how the guy cheated death over 20 years ago when he yanked the tubes out of his body when he was in the hospital. Matt tried to frame Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) for his "murder," but nobody would believe that Nick would try to kill someone. Then again, many wouldn't believe that Nick would get addicted to drugs either!

Giving Matt amnesia was a brilliant wist. Rather than have him slither back into Genoa City, hiding out, spying his adversaries from afair, Y&R is taking a different approach. For the most part, we've seen him interact with people he's never met, or who haven't met him since he had plastic surgery to look like Carter Mills, the name he used when he came back to town decades ago.

And then, there are the people, like Audra Charles, who know Matt as "Mitch Bacall" from his time in Los Angeles. We envision a big corkboard in the Y&R's writing team office with index cards tacked onto it. The cards read something like, "Audra knows Matt as Mitch in Los Angeles" and "Patty (Stacy Haiduk) has never met Matt or any of his aliases, as she was off the canvas in 1994 when Matt first made the scenes and in the early 2000s when he appeared on the show as Carter.

The scenes between Matt (who doesn't know who he is) and Phyllis at the bar at the GCAC were highly entertaining, as Phyllis would never chat up anyone if they had hurt her Nick. Also, Matt wouldn't risk talking to someone close to Nick if he knew who he was.

How many different times can Matt interact with someone before he's spotted, like he was with Noah and Audra?