What Cole’s June 5 Young and Restless Illness is Really About

Cole has been sick for weeks on The Young and the Restless and, on the June 5 episode, Victoria and Claire convinced him to go back to the hospital. The previous day, both Victor and Jack agreed on a single, solitary thing – they didn’t want Cole’s sniffles inadvertently infecting people they actually care about. But what if that’s exactly what this story is about?

Alternative Universe

While the rest of the world battled the Covid-19 pandemic, like in Genoa City – and all the other soaps, too – went on as if the rest of us weren’t wearing masks and social distancing and losing jobs and keeping kids out of school until they fell so far behind they still haven’t caught up. That felt weird. Soaps, unlike other forms of media, were supposed to represent everyday lives of everyday people. (What? You don’t have a bunch of relatives coming back from the dead regularly?) And when they ignored Covid, they began to feel especially out of touch.

Better Late Than Never

So what if this is YR’s way of making up for that? What if Cole (J. Eddie Peck) returned from England specifically so that he could be patient zero of a new, soap-based pandemic. Can you imagine Victor (Eric Braeden) wandering around Genoa City, screaming that he’s rich, which means he doesn’t need to wear masks, and he can go wherever he wants, thank you very much, you got that? Can you imagine Sharon (Sharon Case), Nick (Joshua Morrow), and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) being forced to pod together, so that, for months, all they see is each other? What about Claire (Hayley Erin) being rushed to the hospital where tests reveal she isn’t Cole and Victoria’s (Amelia Heinle), after all? The possibilities are endless! And we’ll finally get to watch them suffer the way we all suffered for years. It’s only fair!