So much is happening in Genoa City right now. Victoria's jealousy, Phyllis' scheme for blackmail, Summer out to destroy Sally, Amanda about to hear the truth about the past, and, of course, Adam. Will Phyllis' blackmail scheme work, or will it fizzle or backfire? Will Summer obtain the information she needs to bring Sally down? Do you believe Sharon and Rey's marriage will remain solid if Adam is thrown into the mix? Do you think that Amanda will finally be at peace after she learns the truth? How do you feel about making Jack and Sally a couple? Oh, where do I begin?
Chelsea suffered a stroke! Who saw that coming? I thought I would see pigs flying before I ever thought Chelsea would have a stroke. Am I the only one who didn't see this coming? I figured there would be complications from the aneurysm, but a stroke with accompanying paralysis never entered my mind. I have to say I didn't like that Adam immediately turned to Victor for help. Adam disowned the whole family and even changed his name to distance himself from the Newmans, and he vehemently told Victor he didn't want anything from him.
So, why was Victor Adam's first call when Chelsea couldn't get an immediate doctor's appointment, and then Adam asked Victor to help him get the care Chelsea would require after she suffered the stroke. How convenient it is to use the Newman name when it benefits him! Some would say it's okay because it was for Chelsea, but I say nay! He told Victor he would take care of his family without Victor's help, yet here Adam was with an outstretched hand, begging for help from the very family he'd disowned, asking, "May I please have more, sir?" Is this going to be "I love you, Pops, but only when I need your influence"?
When you cut all ties, it's not a selective thing. There is no in between. If Adam wanted to cut all ties from the family, then he should have found ways to get help for Chelsea without Victor's help. This is a revolving door with Adam -- "I love you" when I need you and "I love you not" when all is well in my camp.
Funny how this reminds me of a scene from the movie Fool's Gold. Donald Sutherland was a gazillionaire, and his daughter, Gemma, became angry with him and told him she was cutting herself off from him completely... except for food, rent, and clothes!
This begs the question -- will Adam support Chelsea through her long recovery. Adam is too footloose and fancy free to commit to anything on this scale, so, I don't believe he will have the patience to stay committed to Chelsea. His thoughts will always turn to Sharon. He still loves Sharon above anyone else, and now that Sharon and Rey are married, he will find a way of staying close to her, perhaps by continually running to her for support and using Chelsea's recovery as an excuse.
With many roads leading to Adam, I wonder how solid Rey and Sharon's marriage will remain with Adam's constant presence in their lives. Why can't Sharon just let go of Adam for good? Why does she keep involving herself in his life? I have said this previously: their relationship was always toxic, almost obsessive. Sharon has a wonderful husband in Rey, who loves her and her family unconditionally, and almost no drama clouding their relationship. Sharon and Adam's relationship had always been filled with drama with no respite between dramas. With Rey, life is calm with the occasional drama thrown in. I truly hope that Sharon will realize what she has in Rey and sever all ties with Adam. Faith is going to need that!
Oh, be still my heart!! I bow to the truth gods because this is the first time I ever heard Adam admit something was his fault. That was a shocker. Adam actually admitted to Billy that Chelsea's fall in the elevator and ultimate aneurysm and stroke, had been his fault because he'd turned off the power at ChancComm to keep Billy there to give Adam a chance to search Billy's room for the information Billy had for his exposé on Adam.
I wonder if Chelsea's health issues will prompt Adam to take a hard look at himself and see the cad he really is. I believe that if he tried to become a model citizen, people would continue to mistrust him because he's left too much mayhem in his wake. There are too many forks in the road, and I don't think he will ever figure out which one to take. Adam's "go-to" is always to blame someone else. It's time he started taking responsibility for his actions. He took one baby step by admitting he was responsible for Chelsea's stroke. Let's hope this trend continues.
When Adam admitted to Billy that that he was responsible for Chelsea's fall and ultimate stroke, that was music to Billy's ears. It gave him that adrenaline rush he so enjoyed. You could almost see him rubbing his hands together and saying "heh, heh, heh -- I'll get you, my pretty." He was already writing that exposé in his head! But, alas, his big dream was shattered by Lily and Amanda. Poor Billy, just can't seem get people to jump on his wagon and agree to any of his harebrained ideas. Lily told him he needed to lose his obsession with Adam. This might have been a good thing because Billy stormed out and straight to Society, where he had a short chat with Jack. Jack had been reflecting on all the chances people had given them, and Billy realized he'd blown the million chances he'd been given.
Billy told Jack that his life was good. He had a job he loved, his kids were great, and he had people around who cared about him, but there was something that always got in his way. He admitted his profound hatred for Adam that never seemed to go away. It was getting in the way of something he cared about and didn't want to lose. That had to have been quite the eye-opening moment for him. When Lily came to see Billy, he admitted that he had a blind spot where Adam was concerned, and he needed it to stop. He needed to figure out how to let go of his Adam issues. He promised there wouldn't be any more stories about Adam because it wasn't worth it.
In my opinion, Lily is the stabilizing factor in Billy's life. Unlike Victoria, Lily allows Billy to rant and rave, and then she becomes the calming voice of reason. Lily has a softness to her, and she merely points out the facts that give Billy pause for thought. Victoria, on the other hand, is too much the hard-nosed businesswoman, and, at times, I felt she treated Billy more like an employee than a husband. How many times has Victoria broken up with Billy because of his actions? I don't blame Victoria for leaving Billy, because some of his actions endangered her life, but regardless, every time they reunited, their relationship remained volatile, mainly because of Billy's broken promises and Victoria's need to try to change him. Lily accepts Billy for who he is -- and perhaps gets him to work on and examine himself, the only way he will really ever change.
Now that Billy is in a relationship with Lily, Victoria's green-eyed monster is rearing its ugly little head. She appeared to be content being separated from Billy. She was always frosty when she was around him. If Billy got a little too personal, she would remind him they were only co-parenting, nothing more, until she discovered he was in a relationship with Lily. Now she is using any excuse, including the kids, to win him away from Lily. Billy noticed and has called her out on it. I would love to see Billy and Lily remain a couple. Lily really brings out the best in Billy. Lily has a way of making Billy see who he really is and gets him to take a moment to think about what he is about to do.
In my opinion, Victoria has become a shrew and the female version of daddy Victor. She is the complete opposite of Lily, who is warm, loving, and welcoming. Victoria is cold, calculating, and vindictive, and she keeps everyone at arm's length. She has always struck me as being a bit aloof, but she has really taken on the daddy persona since taking over as CEO. I think the warmest and most relaxed I have ever seen Victoria was when she was with Travis Crawford (Michael Roark). She was relaxed, playful, and fun to watch when they were together. They need to either bring him back or find someone like him for her that would take her mind off business and stop her obsession over Billy again. I think that the Billy and Victoria ship has sailed.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around why Nick is angry with Victoria and standing by Phyllis. Phyllis is crying the blues about her hotel, but has she forgotten that she started this war with Victoria? Does Nick know this? (And before that, she helped Adam steal the hotel --and his company! -- from Nick!) Phyllis had approached Victoria about making a deal to have Newman clients and functions use the Grand Phoenix as their venue in lieu of the Athletic Club. Victoria declined Phyllis' offer. Phyllis decided to go behind Victoria's back and tried to convince some of the executives to use her hotel. When Victoria discovered what Phyllis had done, she bought out Phyllis' loans and became a 75% owner of the hotel. In my opinion, I believe Victoria did the right thing. Phyllis had tried to undermine Victoria, who was head of the company.
Phyllis cried on Nick's shoulder how Victoria had ripped her hotel out from under her. Nick bailed Phyllis out by loaning her the money to buy back the 75% of the hotel that Victoria owned, but Phyllis still wasn't satisfied, and now she wants revenge on Victoria. She has enlisted Kevin's help to blackmail Victoria with the information about a CFO who had embezzled funds from the Newman office in Los Angeles. She asked Kevin to give her the thumb drive with the information about the embezzlement, and she told Kevin they would be rolling in the money. Phyllis saw this as a payday so she could pay Nick back and own the hotel outright. Did Nick know how this war started, and is he condoning Phyllis' actions of going behind Victoria's back?
Phyllis is trying to get Kevin to go down that dark rabbit hole with her. She wants that thumb drive from Kevin so she can use it to get the upper hand on Victoria. How is Nick going to feel when he discovers that Phyllis is blackmailing his sister? I'm really hoping that, like all of Phyllis' other schemes, this one backfires, and she and Nick (again) part ways.
I have been avoiding the Summer and Sally story, but here we are. Both women make my teeth stand on edge. Summer is insecure, immature, and possessive. We all know how badly she has treated Kyle, but when someone took an interest in him Summer suddenly decided that she loved him. Sally comes on too strong; she is pushy, conniving, and full of herself. Hmm, maybe Summer and Sally are alike. Sally has managed to snow Jack and Lauren, and I can't wait for that to come back to bite her in the ass. Now we have drama between these two immature, insecure, scheming women.
Sally arrived in Genoa City, thinking her name alone would be her ticket to fashion, and when it wasn't, she did everything in her power to talk Jack into allowing her to run the JCV line. When Jack told her that Jabot had sold it to Lauren, she tried to weasel her way in through Lauren, but Lauren hired Summer to head JCV. Sally was livid. She bragged to Summer how she knew everything about fashion because she'd had her own fashion house and told Summer to ask for her help anytime. My guess is that Sally thought it would have been a way of getting her foot in the door and taking over from Summer. When Sally discovered that Kyle and Summer were involved, she set her sights on JCV and Kyle.
Summer and Kyle have seen how Sally has been manipulating Jack and Lauren and that she had both of them completely snowed. Summer decided it was time to look into Sally's past. Kyle agreed, and they left for Los Angeles on a business trip to an appointment at Spencer Publications, with a side trip to digging up dirt on Sally.
I have to admit that Sally does a great job of getting the information she needs. Thanks to Smiling Jack, Sally discovered where Summer and Kyle are. Now her heart is pounding because she is certain that Summer is on a fact-finding expedition rather than a business trip. She's right, of course, but even though Sally thought no one suspected her of anything, our little "snowflake" caught on to Sally's scheme and decided to do one better. As much as I don't like Summer, I think she's done the right thing. She needs to expose Sally for the con artist she is. My definition of deliciousness is Flo Fuller (Katrina Bowden) giving Summer a pantload of information about Sally from the time Wyatt Spencer (Darrin Brooks) and Sally broke up to the reason Sally left Los Angeles.
I hope Flo tells Summer about Sally and Wyatt and how Sally had faked a fatal illness after the breakup, as well as Sally kidnapping Flo and keeping her hostage so that Sally could spend the night with Wyatt and get pregnant with his child. Sally doesn't want any of this information being passed on to Summer. I can't see how Sally can stop anyone from telling Summer about her. When we last saw Sally, she was on the phone with her sister, Coco, and Sally was in a panic, hoping for a storm over the Rockies. I would love for all this to come to light and be passed on to Jack and Lauren.
I'm not sure, but in the last scene with Sally at Society, I wondered about the way Sally looked at Jack. I wasn't sure whether she has her eye on Jack because she was pleased with how she has duped him or if she has her sights on him as a mate. I would hate to see Sally and Jack paired up. I believe Jack's life would become a living nightmare because Sally looks after Sally and no one else. Jack would be left on the outside, looking in. I really hope the writers aren't going there.
Poor Amanda has been taking a beating lately regarding her maternity. It's been so painful for her to find her mother, only to discover that her mother had a daughter, Imani, that she'd brought up and loved. Thankfully, Amanda has Devon to support her and be there for her. I really felt for Amanda when Naya didn't show up for their scheduled meeting, then having Imani show up on Amanda's doorstep and threaten her. I'm happy that Amanda didn't just sit back and say, "Oh, well," and let it slide. Instead, she pulled up her bootstraps and headed off to Naya's house to get the information she desperately wants and needs. Can't wait to hear that backstory.
I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts about what has happened in Genoa City recently. I would love to read your comments and opinions, and perhaps you might like to offer up some of your own thoughts. In the meantime, it's a wrap for me. Until next time, stay safe! Be sure to return next week to read Teddi's column.
Nel
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