Young & Restless Round-Up: Jordan and Claire’s Next Chapters — Plus, Jack’s Marital Mess, and the Trouble With Ashley’s Alters

Credit: CBS screenshot

Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Young & Restless this week, shall we?

Pass the Aspirin

No one in the Chancellor-Winters scenario is on the same page, and we’ve all got migraines from listening to Devon and Billy’s egos harping. Board of directors? A joke. It’s made up of the same people doing the infighting. At this point, let Phyllis hack the Chancellor-Winters computer system and do her worst. At least it might be entertaining. Back in the day, when Victor threatened to take over Jabot, he did it. It was about the relationships, not the business, and it drove more interpersonal drama. It hits differently when you’re doing it right.

PSA Problem

I was away for the Chelsea/Adam scenes this week but could see from the recap that it took up a lot of airtime in Monday’s episode. Unless this is going to drive story and prove to be a catalyst for a change of direction with these characters moving forward, it’s just a long-winded mental-health PSA. Find out what may be coming for Adam and Chelsea here.

The Trouble With Ashley’s Alters

The trouble with Ashley’s alters is a common refrain: They’re all about threats and plans, but they take no action. Ash, Ms. Abbott and Belle all talk a good game and are as entertaining as all get-out thanks to Eileen Davidson, but as is so often the case, the writing stops short of the drama that is there for the taking. Why not let Ms. Abbott put Tucker in a coma and frame Audra. Go there! Please!

More: Why Sharon needs saving

In related commentary, how disjointed is the writing that Abby has no idea what’s going on with her mother and no one in the family has bothered to tell her? The Abbotts literally did an intervention and she’s still in the dark! Abby wasn’t told about the huge threat Jordan presented to the Newmans, either… and being a Newman, one would think that would be a courtesy. She’s out of the loop to a bizarre degree.

Jordan and Claire’s Next Chapters

Young & Restless definitely has pacing issues. A lot of fans have Jordan fatigue. Perhaps the character should have disappeared for a time and have been brought back just when we’d forgotten about her for more impact. One unbelievable escape and abduction after another has just been too much. Speaking of unbelievable, many are still trying to get their minds around Claire being trapped under a dead woman in a storage unit. Who was this woman? Was she working with Jordan? Why couldn’t Claire work her way out from under her body? Why was the door to the storage unit closed (and possibly locked) if the woman was still in the middle of forcing Claire into it when she had a heart attack and collapsed? Just weird. Claire’s next chapter likely involves acceptance and Kumbaya, but another twist may be ahead for her and Summer.

As for Jordan, it was a hella fun nod to the past to have Victor put the madwoman in his infamous cage. (He must have moved it from the old house after it burned down lol). And I definitely got a giggle from her line about the food being terrible. For those not in the know, when Victor kept first wife Julia’s handsome friend Michael in there, he fed the photographer rats. Will Jordan manage to pull yet another Houdini and escape from the Newman ranch? One thing’s for sure, it’s not gonna be a good look for Victor if she does. He bold-faced lied to everyone in his close circle that she’s dead. If she turns up ready to terrorize again, his name will be Mud, not Mustache.

At this point, what’s his plan? Leave her there to die? He’s giving her food and water, so maybe he’ll just keep her alive and torment her? I kinda hope she finds a way out. That way she can pop up a year from now when Claire’s getting married or something and turn everything upside-down.

Off the Wagon and Over the Edge

Kudos to the writers for having Jack actually fall off the wagon. It’s not that we couldn’t see it coming — Diane’s “worry” that he might be tempted while helping Nikki was a bit of a tip-off — but we honestly don’t expect follow-through anymore, so to see it happen felt shocking! The entire standalone episode was excellent. Tons of drunk, snarky Nikki and Jack finally letting the facade fall after all he’s been through. In a case of interesting timing, we also had friction between the Abbott sisters and Diane this week. I smell marital problems ahead!

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