Young & Restless Just Sounded the Death Knell for [Spoiler] — Plus, May Sweeps Messiness

Young & Restless has been putting us to sleep on the regular, but here’s hoping things take a more dramatic turn as we roll into May Sweeps next week.

Why We’re Here

The following is said with love for our soap and a desire to see it live up to its potential and return to its former glory: Young & Restless has been a veritable snoozefest of long, drawn out conversations in recent weeks, leaving eyes glazed over and fingers poised over fast-forward buttons.

We’ve endured scene after scene of talk about a company that exists only in Billy’s mind, and half of an entire episode was devoted to Adam asking Chelsea to work with him. We were trapped into an over-long monologue about Kyle’s snoring, and Daniel’s simple request for Tessa to teach him how to play guitar was spread over two days. I understand that the writers are trying to inject charm and romance into the scripts. “Love in the afternoon” and a touch of humor are necessities. But it’s like they’ve completely forgotten why we’re tuning in.

In a word, we’re here for drama. We’re here for scandals, slaps, scraps, shocks, disasters, plot twists, dramatic break-ups and make-ups. We’re here to escape the tedium of every day life, not watch people talk about it ad nauseum. It’s lovely that informative tidbits of psychology are being woven into the dialogue; in fact it’s downright admirable, but we’re here for dysfunction. Complex characters shedding their pasts to become well-liked, or reformed, if you will, has deadened the energy and undercurrents of the show. Lily sniping at Audra is surface level conflict compared to characters with deeper historical grievances crossing paths.

Finally, a significant part of Genoa City life surrounds big wigs running big businesses, but the companies themselves cannot become more important than the interpersonal drama of the characters working within them. The last exciting business story involved Ashland Locke, but the success of it had nothing to do with Newman Enterprises, and everything to do with his relationship with Victoria. Musical CEOs/COOs simply isn’t of interest. I repeat: All of this is said with love for the soap and a desire to see it live up to it’s potential and return to its former glory.

May Sweeps Messiness

I’m looking forward to things picking up, what with May Sweeps upon us. Hopefully, Dumas finally makes an appearance after all of the hype. I’d expect Audra and Victor’s scheme to either blow up in their faces, or succeed and cause heartbreak. Now that Diane’s remodel is complete, Jack can get back to feuding with the Mustache and looking for corporate moles. It appears that Michael being caught in the middle will cause him some grief. Phyllis is clearly struggling in the aftermath of the kidnapping and may end up losing the one thing keeping her tethered… her job with Billy. Nick and Sharon may or may not come back together, and trouble appears to be brewing for “Teriah”, if the preview is anything to go by. Bring on the messiniess!

Death Knell

From the moment Cole started coughing in Society with Victoria and Claire, I figured he was a goner. Nothing like this happens on a soap without a reason. Considering Victoria needs someone entirely different as a partner and Claire needs a good reason to go off the rails, it’s a good bet that Cole’s days are numbered.

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The opinions expressed are my own. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this week’s Young & Restless in the comments.