Welcome to Genoa City, the Cure for Happiness

I love the Young and the Restless.  I love it so much I even spent a significant portion of my afternoon the other day discussing the ways to make Cane a more viable player in Genoa City. Lately though the scribes over there have been trying very hard to beat us over the head with the unhappiness of nearly every character on the show.  I get that times in real life are hard for a lot of people.  I also get that realism has to be injected into soaps to keep them relevant in the day and age of 24/7 entertainment options.  But wow, I enjoy television for the escapism of it; for the wonderfully stylish lives of others which sometimes lead to danger and murder but also offers the dream, the beauty of falling hopelessly in love.

Lets just list a few of the people plagued by unhappiness this week shall we?  Billy lost custody of Delia based on yet another manipulation by Victor, Lily still has to “run into” and be bothered by her estranged husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Jill has a constant reminder of her rash choice to marry a man she barely knew, Victoria is grieving the loss of her daughter and the uncertainty of her marriage, Diane is caught in a bitter battle that will find her either dead or in jail soon, Tucker can’t understand business (which is his life), Nikki is in rehab, Abby is an attempted murderess, Neil/Sofia/Malcolm are caught in their own private little hell of “who’s the Daddy?” and last but certainly not least is Sharon who is facing 25+ years in jail for a crime that she didn’t commit and has no way of proving so.  Yaaaaayyyy!  Happy times  .  Sheesh, even Jack’s pseudo happiness is not long for this world – we all know that.  So what happened? Who tinkled in the Y&R writers Cheerios to make them so doom and gloom lately?  It’s getting rather frustrating and is not leaving me happy that I’ve sat down and watched this 45 minutes or so of television.

This week finally brought us the fallout from the big reveal that Sofia slept with Neil.  When the news first hit THREE WEEKS AGO, I thought it was done horribly. There was no build up, no excitement to hear the truth, nothing.  Then they ignored the story for what felt like an eternity.  But this week we got more of what i was looking for.  As Sofia/Neil/Malcolm tried to “play nice” during Lily’s party it proved too much and out came the truth.  Clearly Lily would be upset but I actually felt far more for this story in that short exchange than I had since the start.  Everyone was pulling their weight and that’s a really nice thing. My one big gripe is the playing of the “woe is me” card for Malcolm.  Apparently the scribes want us to forget that he practically raped Dru back in the day.  She was out if it due to medicine she was taking and thought Malcolm was Neil.  Malcolm knew what was going on and chose to sleep with her anyway.  So now, as upset as he might want to be, he might want to take it down a notch since HE broke up with Sofia and treated her like dirt before she ever slept with Neil.  Technically Neil/Sofia were in the clear to do as they wished since no one was in a relationship.  Morally?  Yeah that was low, but Malcolm doesn’t really have a lot of room to judge.  I’m interested in seeing what comes next and hope I don’t have to wait another three weeks for any developments.

We didn’t see Cane much this week but what we have seen is getting old.  I love the character of Cane and the possibilities he offers.  Why can’t the scribes see his potential?  They assassinated his character (literally) but brought him back.  So if you cared enough to bring him back, DO SOMETHING WITH HIM!  I get that he needs to be yelled at and treated poorly for his behavior.  I’m all for his public floggings, but can we have him do something other than stand there with that blank expression on his face?  Can he stop stalking the people he’s lied to, betrayed, and hurt more than words can say?  I want Cane to stay on the show and I think this is the perfect time to let him grow some independent roots that don’t require every story to be about Lily and the twins.  If Lane is going to end up a super couple, great.  Every super couple though needs years when they are apart or with other people.  I know Lane fans in their persistence and passion for the pairing want Lily and Cane back together but I think this is the time to build them up individually and then bring them together.  They’ve already started with Lily.  She had been written pretty docile for a loooonnnnggg time. So much time that I was ready for her to be gone already. Now though, Lily seems to be inheriting some of that fire and passion Drucilla possessed.  Can we see more of that Lily please?  She’s great and is sorely needed in the land of weakened women.  As for Cane, he now has a family in town so lets make the best of it.  Genie Francis and Tristan Rogers are fantastic actors, so give them something to act.  Right now, they’re really the only bright spot in the show.  Once Cane establishes something on his own let him slowly win back the trust of say Kay or Jill or even just Devon or Daniel – none of whom are without their own share of poorly planned ideas.  I feel like that’s the only way to get Lane back together in a less nauseating way.

Then there’s Adam who’s character was coming along fabulously until the whole gaslighting storyline which had Adam directly causing Ashley to miscarry her baby which subsequently made him steal Sharon’s baby and tell her that her baby died. It’s really hard to come back from that and I was marching right along with all the others who said Adam had to go.  Well, the scribes have been working overtime to redeem Adam just enough to make him root-worthy.  For me, they finally got there with the love and passion he displayed at the mention of Sharon’s name after her “death”.  It was subtle and beautifully acted by Michael Muhney.  I was on board.  But wait, there’s more.  The more in this case ended up being that Adam, in a fit of jealousy, destroyed seemingly the only evidence out there that would prove Sharon’s innocence.  I get the anger, but to profess love for as long as Adam did and to claim that only Sharon and his mother understood him why would he then trash that all in seconds?  It doesn’t make sense and no matter how cold and calculating Adam is, he wouldn’t do that to Sharon.  Would he?  That turn of events basically halts the progress Adam has made with Noah and the leaps and bounds he’s made with the audience.  I don’t get it and I’m tired of trying to.  DECIDE what you want to do with Adam and stick with it please!  He’s a great villain, so let him be one but just keep it within reason.  Let’s not go all Passions on the show ok?

If by any slim chance any Y&R executives or scribes is reading this, please, BRING SOME HAPPINESS back to Genoa City.  This doom and gloom is seriously depressing and needs to STOP!  What happened to the summer romances and light-hearted fare?

Agree or disagree with this post?  Let me know 

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