If Jeanne Cooper wins another Emmy for her work on The Young and the Restless, it will definitely be an award well deserved. During her many years in the City, Mrs. Cooper has often enthralled and captivated fans with her impressive talents. I, for one, will never forget her portrayal of a stroke victim. Often, watching her in those days I found my own mouth contorting with an effort to force out the words she so painstakingly was attempting to force out. And it was her long ago portrayal of an alcoholic trying desperately to hold on to her marriage with a husband whose attention had turned irrevocably to Jill that hooked me on the doings of Genoa City in the first place. There have been many outstanding moments during her long stay in this town. In the make believe world of Soaps, romance is mostly reserved for the young and impossibly beautiful. It seems few fans are interested in watching the presumed young at heart though older than 30 get their romantic groove on. Not the case with Katherine and Rex. Those two were a gold mine and I, presumably along with countless other Rex fans, wiped away the stream of crocodile tears rolling down my face when he was permanently deleted from the GC landscape.
But, back to the present. Jeanne has been wonderful to watch as she switches back and forth between her Marge and Kay characters. It's likely to be a rather grueling schedule, especially for someone 80, to memorize and play each Marge/Kay scene at least twice, if it's gotten on the first try, and more if it's not. And at the same time, remain completely in character for each. Just doing the Marge/Kay scenes would be time consuming enough. But she also has her scenes with Nikki, Kevin, Jill, Amber, etc. Kudos to you, Mrs. Jeanne. You are excellent!
So, is this really the end for Katherine Chancellor? I don't know whether or not she's actually leaving Genoa City for good this year. But I'm guessing if she does, it won't be this week. My guess is it will be poor Marge who will meet her maker. If that's so, what happens next is anyone's guess. Clearly, Kay is not anxious to have a doctor confirm Jill's worst fears. Because she has to know that should a doctor agree that things in Kay's brain have gone awry, Jill will waste no time guiding her mother right to the sidelines of life. And Jill will finally have what she has for so long desired. Everything that once belonged to Kay. If Marge is mistakenly believed to be Kay, will Kay become her? And if she does, will it be because she really believes herself to be Marge (a new and different take on the amnesia scenario), or will she only pretend to be Marge to buy herself some time to visit a doctor on her own terms? Whichever way it plays out, it should be interesting to watch. Signs are posted. Have your hankies handy for the cry fest dead ahead.
For Kevin, it looks like a case of ask and you shall receive. With Katherine presumed or actually dead, looks like all that money of hers is his to hoard and lie about. Who knew he was in such dire straits? That sort of came out of the blue, but it worked with the storyline. As did Gloria, who, after boasting and gloating about her expertise in purposely adding to Kay's senior moments, suddenly found a conscience and appeared to give a flying fig about what happened to Kay. Leading to the discovery of Kay's cell phone and the barman's confirmation the woman regularly getting three sheets to the wind in his bar was indeed Kay. And Marge's blood alcohol content, if one is taken, will only seem to prove that Kay had indeed fallen hard off the wagon.
Over in Paris, Victor's intuition is working as well as it did in Mexico. He must have a sixth sense about when the important women in his life are searching for him. What luck that he chose that particular moment to stalk to the very place where Ashley wound up. I already almost feel sorry for Ashley. What is it they say about no good deed going unpunished? Because even though the letters are faint, I can already see the handwriting scrawled on the wall. Victor has been grieving awhile, at least my soap standards. So that means it's just about time for him to rebound - right into Ashley. For Ashley, Victor is the only man she's ever really wanted, so there's no way she'll be able to resist him. I just hope she enjoys it while it lasts, though, because we all know who Victor is going to end up with. Nikki. Leaving Ashley once again to pick up the shattered shards of her hopes and dreams of finally having a life with Victor. In the meantime, Nikki will walk around wearing her broken heart on her sleeve, but bravely insisting she'd do it all over again to ensure Victor was emotionally whole and deliriously happy.
Whole and happy are definitely not going to be the words used to describe Adam when Victor returns and finds out what he's done. Although I'm not sure what else Victor can take away from Adam. He's already ensured he'll never be able to leave the unemployment line. The money Adam got for the diary won't last long, and is less than a pittance next to the millions Victor has as pocket change anyway. What he hasn't spent on Heather's ring (a ring he may perhaps be able to return for a refund once Heather learns the truth about the diary) will be eaten up by attorney fees. That's if he can even find an attorney to take him on once Victor puts the word out. I'm guessing the quality of life for Adam, already less than optimal, will rapidly decrease when Victor is cleared of the bogus charges and can spend all his time and energy on making Adam pay. And Jack, thanks to Adam's gullibility, will have nothing to do but laugh uproariously from the sidelines as the man he played for a patsy is further destroyed. Thank goodness, Adam still has the farm to fall back on. That may end up being the only option left to him.
But I fervently hope Jack will still manage to get what he has coming, even if he doesn't get it directly from Victor. If Sharon has any sense in her skull, for his part in the idiotic plan, she will leave Jack the way she once found him. Alone and lonely. Maybe he can warm himself by the fire of his hatred for Victor.
And then again, Jack might not be completely alone if Sharon leaves him to spin his tall tales to the empty air in the mansion. Because if the rumors are to be believed I don't imagine Phyllis is going to be very happy about what she supposedly sees in Paris between Nick and Sharon. Ouch! I hope whatever 'game' she decides to play to get back at one or both of them winds up backfiring on her and leaves her alone as well. The two schemers, Jack and Phyllis, are a match made in the hot place and I'd love to see them nursing their wounds together. Yeah, a fan can always dream, now can't she?
When it comes to Chloe and Cane, if I'm dreaming, then I guess I'm having a nightmare, and all I want to do is wake up! Every time I think Chloe can't be any crueler, she reaches down into the mucky pit of herself and comes up with yet another way to rub salt and sand in Lily's still fresh wounds. And Lily, she really has to stop being so nice to that scheming wretch of a woman. Had it been me, Chloe could have fallen over in exhaustion and went into labor and I still wouldn't have offered her a seat at my coffeehouse table. She could have sat on the floor for all I cared and I would have sweetly told her to waddle her whining, gloating carcass right out of my sight. But not our Lily. She just heaves one of those long-suffering, I'm a glutton for punishment sighs and invites Chloe to kick her one or three more times. I hope Billy does fall hard for Lily, so Chloe can eat her heart out with jealousy and envy. And if I didn't detest Chloe so much I would wish Cane would be stuck with her forever, simply for being too dumb to know better.
Be careful what you wish for. Yes, I'm referring to Neil Winters and family. For years fans, including myself, have wished there were more members in the Winters family circle. And even though I found it way out of character for Olivia to sleep with then best bud, cancer-stricken Ashley's Brad, I still hated to see her go when her storyline wrote her into a rock and hard place corner. When I heard she was returning to town, I was happy to hear it, although I still can't quite imagine what they might do with her. But I was not pleased nor impressed with the other additions to the family, namely Tyra and Ana. In fact, I find myself wholeheartedly in agreement with fan Kathy's opinion below about Tyra. As for Ana, at least the scribes have cut down on all that singing. Though I think she has a beautiful voice, I've just never had any patience for soap singing, no matter who was crooning the tune. I was disappointed in her last week though for her apparent dismissal of Karen while urging her Aunt to go after Neil so they could be a family. So much for her supposed connection with Karen. Besides, if what I have to look forward to are variations on that happy family scene where they all attacked Ana's Halloween candy, I'll pass on the opportunity. Regardless of what I like or don't like, however, a ho-hum Neil and Tyra match up seems more than likely. I suspect Karen has more than her share of the sacrificial martyr gene and I could easily see her bowing out of Neil's life to pave the way for him to have the baby she's convinced he desperately desires.
Wow! After the past week, I'm heading off to my local Toys R Us to buy a halo for Gloria. What a saint she's turning out to have been once upon a long ago time. I guess it was Terrible Tom who turned her into the uncaring mother she was when Kevin was a defenseless lad getting beaten half to death and tossed onto a hard closet floor. Seriously though, I rather enjoyed Michael and Gloria's conversation, though I was watching late at night and had to keep turning the volume down every time it was Michael's turn to scream so I wouldn't wake my four year old. Watch out Mike, as usual, when it comes to Gloria, he sometimes skirts very near to the line of elder abuse. I bet he felt a wee bit silly when River reminded him if he would do all he needed to in order to protect Fen, why wouldn't he think Gloria would do the same. Michael was left speechless on that one, but I wasn't. Because I immediately thought about Kevin and Gloria's failure to do hardly anything at all to protect him. But I guess River doesn't know about that. Yeah, yeah, I know, sometimes I think too much about these soap things.
At any rate, I'm enjoying what November has had to offer so far, and expect the month to get even better. From Victor/Ashley/Nikki, Marge/Kay, Lily/Billy, to Nick/Sharon/Phyllis/Jack, I can hardly wait to see what happens next.
See ya in a week. And from the mailbox:
Mary - Oh dear, just as we recovered from the stomach turning saccharine goopy Victor-Sabrina slop, we now get Ashley in her stead? She turned me off forever with the stolen sperm plot and holier than thou attitude while she was as back stabbing as anyone. Still pulling for Nikki-Victor to be restored.
Ladyli1 - You know what is bugging me about all the corporate intrigue on Y&R and its sister show B&B? How easy it is for all concerned to dump their loved ones for the good of the company. I mean, in the real world, shareholders don't give a rat's a** about a CEO as long as they are making money (with the exception of Steve Jobs because he is Apple)! I mean if Rupert Murdock or Summner Redstone were to disappear, ala Victor, or get sick, ala Katherine and Eric Forrester, so what? These are multinational companies that can pretty much keep moving without them. They are just that big! If I am to believe Newman, Chancellor and Forrester are multinationals, then please quit all this backstabbing by family members for the good of the company!
Cheryl - It's time for Victor to come home. This wasn't his usual getaway. His walk back through the brief time spent with Sabrina had, at least, some substance. The cohesive effort by his family and Ashley to find him and their reasons why were believable. I don't believe Adam deserved the blanket blackball he got, but his Harvard degree obviously didn't have a common sense course requirement. He continues to dig himself in deeper with the cold, cruel Jack. Wake up Adam! Heather keeps teetering on the legal fence. For a self-professed legal eagle, she is sure anxious to get the high profile cases and find someone guilty fast, evidence or not. No wonder she got fired. There is a shift happening in Genoa City, and I hope the writers hold onto it. I am truly tired of the repeating twins scenarios - now Marge and Katherine. Maybe there will an interesting twist, if Katherine hands out some cash to a few people who really care about her and need the money. I would love to see the look on Billy's face when Chloe asks him for a chunky check for child support. Then we would see if Cane and Lily survived her lies and games. I hope for interesting times ahead.
Kathy - God help us all. Boring Tyra and the kid are back. Why? They add nothing to this great soap, except time for me to fast forward every time I see their faces. When they left, albeit for a short time, I said good riddance. Then, here they are back again, being their same ole' uninteresting, blah, boring selves. Get rid of these two, and get rid of them for good. They are so out of place on this show, it's just ridiculous. You get rid of great characters like Sabrina and David and put Tyra on. What a big mistake. Just my honest opinion!
