Almost Paradise, Danny and Cricket remarry: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the Week of November 17

The Young and the Restless gave longtime viewers a big gift in the form of Danny and Cricket’s second wedding ceremony. It wasn’t in Hawaii like the first one, but it still managed to give us all the feels.

The Young and the Restless wedding bells are ringing

Major kudos to episode director, Owen Renfroe, for directing a beautiful episode that captured this emotional episode that Danny (Michael Damian) and Cricket (Lauralee Bell) fans especially enjoyed!

One of The Young and the Restless’s most dangling plotlines was Danny and Cricket finding their way back to one another. Back in the mid-1990s, they split when Danny broke up with his bride via overnight letter (remember those?). He felt super-bad about betraying his marriage vows with a groupie named Phyllis Summers and fathering an out-of-wedlock child, Daniel (Michael Graziadei).

However, it turned out that none of that was true! Danny was drugged and didn’t betray Cricket, and he didn’t even father a child. However, by the time all that came out, Chris/Cricket (both will be used interchangeably in this and in future stories) had moved on to a new life with Paul (Doug Davidson).

The best wedding location is found in the heart

The years went by. Chris and Paul split (twice), and last year, Danny and Cricket renewed their romance. The duo’s first wedding, 35 (!) years ago, was in Hawaii, a scenic paradise.

Their second union, which aired earlier this week, was just as touching, sentimental, and emotional as the first one. It’s tough to beat paradise in Hawaii, but the Genoa City Athletic Club, probably the show’s biggest set, served nicely for the big day.

Economics in today’s world don’t allow for the whole town or tons of guest stars like they used to. (Remember the Brooks sisters coming back for Victor and Nikki’s blowout wedding in 1984?) However, the show delivered nicely, bringing back Danny’s sister, Gina (Patty Weaver), and Cricket’s bestie Nina (Tricia Cast) for the special day.

Outstanding guest performers in a daytime drama series

We’re not sure what gifts Nina and Gina brought, but the presence of Cast and Weaver warmed our hearts just as much as the ceremony did. The best part was that the two women didn’t just sit on the comfy GCAC chairs, smile, and throw rice (not that rice is thrown anymore, but you know what we mean!). The show actually gave the two actresses some meaty material to play.

Weaver’s Gina put Phyllis on notice. She didn’t care that the fiery redhead called the GCAC her residence. Danny’s sister let Phyllis know that there was no way that she was going to ruin her brother’s and Cricket’s day. Phyllis knew Gina to be a formidable ally of Danny’s. If Phyllis had plans to disrupt the wedding, Gina’s presence gave her cause for pause.

Just as Gina lit into Phyllis, Nina lambasted Cane (Billy Flynn) for his role, indirect as it was, in the death of her son, Chance (Conner Floyd). Amy, who also lost her son, Damian (Jermaine Rivers), gave Cane a piece of her mind. Read our raves about Cast and Pettiford here.

You don’t bring me flowers

Lucy’s and Jack’s absences were explained by them being under the weather. It was great to see Esther (Kate Linder), Traci (Beth Maitland), Diane (Susan Walters), Amy (Valarie Pettiford), and others at the wedding. The four women alone bring decades of history to Y&R. It appeared no expense was spared on flowers, too, in more ways than one!

The GCAC main room was filled with beautiful flowers! Also, all eyes went to Phyllis when Cricket received some flowers, including mums, which she is allergic to. Help us out, Y&R veteran viewers. Has Cricket’s allergy ever been mentioned before? The device worked in that it was potentially brief, but it only lasted as long as it took for Cricket to toss the bouquet into the hallway. Would all her enemies be vanquished so easily!

The flowers from Paul (Doug Davidson), wishing his ex a happy future, were much more pleasant. Sure, they brought tears to Cricket’s eyes, but for a totally different reason! Paul's name hasn't been mentioned much, but the reality is that Chris had many happy years with him. They can't just be washed away.

Michael performs the ceremony? No Kidney-ing

Y&R’s greatest strength is its history. That’s why Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) officiating at Cricket and Danny's wedding had us scratching our heads. When you combine the fact that he once sexually harassed her, burrowed a hole from Nina’s apartment to Cricket’s in an attempt to rape her, and lied to her about hiring Isabella (Eva Longoria) to drive a wedge between Chris and Paul while she was in Hong Kong, is he truly the person to officiate her union to Danny?

Sure, Michael’s moved heaven and earth to show he’s a changed man. He donated a kidney to the groom decades ago. Michael turned over a new leaf due in no small part to the love of a great woman, Lauren (Tracey Bregman), his wife. However, there’s just a smidge too much irony (not in a good way) to have Michael be the one to marry Danny and Cricket. But at least he got to stand near his kidney during the ceremony.

Bridal registry

The only thing missing from Chris and Danny’s wedding – and maybe it didn’t need to be there – was a big, dramatic conflict. Something beyond pesky mums and Cane getting an overdue tongue-lashing. It’s great that Paul sent flowers, but what if he had come to the ceremony just to do that “forever hold your peace” thing? On one hand, Danny and Cricket were apart for decades, so they deserve an uninterrupted ceremony. On the other hand, they just reconnected last year. Snarky threats from Phyllis and her pulled fire alarms weren’t much in terms of conflict. Weddings are supposed to be the culmination of lovers beating the odds to get together. We want to see more conflict so that wedding days are bigger payoffs!

Next week, we might see Lauren apologize to Phyllis for accusing her of sending Cricket the potentially deadly mums, as they weren’t her idea. It was Esther who inadvertently caused the near-mishap as she revealed towards the end of the show. (Oh, how we would have loved to have seen Katherine Chancellor roll her eyes upon finding that out if she were still with us! "Dear God in heaven!") But does Phyllis truly deserve an apology because people think the worst of her? She crashed Cricket’s bachelorette party. She has berated the happy couple at Crimson Lights. And, oh, yeah, Phyllis ran over Chris and Paul with her car and got away with it.

Paging Human Resources

It’s a good thing Phyllis and Cane don’t work together anymore, as they’ve taken their relationship to a new level by having sex. Cane’s getting into bed with Phyllis so he can find out if she stole his Artificial Intelligence program. He knows she did it. He just needs to find the proof. Phyllis keeps denying that she stole it and gave it to Victor.

There’s so little trust in the world. How can Cane develop genuine feelings for Phyllis as she’s betrayed him? How can Phyllis show her face to Cane, as she has stolen from him, and Victor’s attacked Cane’s company?

To Live and Die in L.A.

The drama with Nick (Joshua Morrow), Sharon (Sharon Case), and Noah (Lucas Adams) continues in Los Angeles. We haven’t seen this much action take place outside of Genoa City since half the cast went to Nice, France, last summer.

We’re on the edge of our seats now that Noah and Sienna (Tamara Braun) have been kidnapped. Sharon standing up to Matt (Roger Howarth) got our hearts racing. But we have to ask, where oh, where is the Newman family security team? First, there was Aunt Jordan (Colleen Zenk), then Cameron Kirsten (Linden Ashby) got out of jail and showed up for another round of horror, then Ian Ward (Ray Wise) popped back up, and now, Matt Clark has been resurrected. Only Batman and the Amazing Spider-man have bigger villain rosters!

Sure, the Newmans are to be forgiven for not knowing that perceived dead antagonists are going to come back to haunt them in the flesh, but how many times does it have to happen before they hire some full-time security guards? Lots of rich, high-profile folks have them. Think of all the hottie hunks Y&R could bring on that would serve a dual purpose – protect the Newmans and provide eye candy for viewers!

Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus