Credit: Howard Wise/JPI
One of the features of Young & Restless’ 50th anniversary year has been the mining of the show’s rich history, which is why the glaring omission made in its most recent episode gave many viewers such a jolt!
Young & Restless delved deep into the past with the Jordan and Claire story, which centered around the revelation that Victoria’s believed-dead newborn never actually died decades ago, and instead was alive and plotting the demise of her and her entire family.
Nikki’s new assistant, Claire, turned out to be Baby Eve, who had been raised by her evil/crazy great aunt to believe that the Newmans had discarded her. After a bout of attempted murder at the lake house, during which Claire learned the truth and decided to help her birth mother and her kin, a DNA test was run that confirmed she was indeed the biological daughter of Victoria and Cole.
Victoria’s maternal instinct kicked in well before the DNA test provided definitive proof, but nonetheless, she was left reeling from the chain of events, the stunning revelation, and unsure of exactly how to proceed.
Enter Sharon. Or more accurately, enter Victoria… into Sharon’s Crimson Lights cafe, where coffee and pastries are doled out with a side of advice on the regular. But let us back up a little bit.
First, it was Nick who sought out his ex for a chat. By sheer coincidence, Sharon was taking a break from running her new corporation and available at just the moment he stopped by to fill her in on everything his family had gone through… including Victoria learning that she had a grown daughter.
This is where the staggering omission comes in. Sharon’s reply to Nick was something along the lines of “I can’t imagine what Victoria is going through.” Really, writers?!?!
Sharon, who had a daughter, a twin she never knew existed, turn up in her life as a grown young woman who attempted to gaslight her, and who had to go through the mental and emotional gymnastics involved in the difficult journey of forgiveness and getting to know Mariah, could not imagine what Victoria must be going through?!?
It was patently absurd to have Sharon say she couldn’t understand what Victoria must be feeling when she lived through such a similar experience!
When Victoria later arrived at the coffee house, Sharon gave her advice and still never touched on the fact that she could totally relate to what her former sister-in-law was going through. While the back stories differ, both Claire/Eve and Mariah grew up being brainwashed and wreaked havoc as a result, and both Sharon and Victoria were confronted with a “sudden” grown child who resented them. They’ve a ton in common with their experiences, yet Sharon made no mention of hers.
Given Young & Restless’ track record when it comes to its history, the omission was beyond glaring, and this viewer was quick to call it out.
Hold up! We’re not done. There was also another puzzling omission in the past week.
Young & Restless has been dancing around a love triangle involving Sharon, Chance, and Summer, but rather than dive right in, it’s oddly been taking place mostly offscreen. While we’ve seen plenty of Summer mooning over Chance, there’s been precious little in the way of scenes between Sharon and Chance.
Given that there’s a big Sharon-centric episode coming up this Friday, one would have thought the love triangle would have come into sharp focus around, say, New Year’s. Yet Sharon and Chance weren’t seen together. While it’s not as staggering an omission as the aforementioned missing history, it’s certainly a head-scratcher.
Likely, it was a choice. If Young & Restless is pivoting to a Summer and Chance pairing, they may have opted to play down Chance and Sharon as a couple in the lead up. Nonetheless, some fans weren’t happy. This viewer took to social media to call it out. How are we supposed to feel truly invested in a half-hearted storyline or love triangle that’s taking place on the back burner/offscreen?!
