Oh, my gosh, we finally have a reason to be excited about watching our favorite soap again. The big reveal we have all been waiting for finally happened, and I can't wait to see the dynamic confrontation between Victor and Adam Newman that will inevitably take place. And I do mean Victor's son Adam, not some guy named Gabriel Bingham. "Spinning wheel all alone. Talkin' 'bout your troubles and you, you never learn." Blood, Sweat and Tears sang it so well in the song "Spinning Wheel." Adam certainly has isolated himself again with his poor decisions, and you would think with all of his past terrible choices, he would have learned some kind of lesson. But more on that later.
When I think of the Paragon Project, for some reason, the lyrics of Bobby Vee's hit "Rubber Ball" have been bouncing around in my head. "Bouncy, bouncy. Bouncy, bouncy. Bouncy, bouncy. Bouncy, bounce-ee-ee-ee." Why, that perfectly describes the Internet sales for Chelsea's fashion designs. Up, down. This way and that. High and low. That's been the fate of Chelsea 2.0's numbers since the Paragon Project invaded Victor's computer. As Blood, Sweat and Tears also sang, "What goes up must come down." And up. And down. It's almost like a roller coaster ride, only not nearly as fun. (Especially when compared to the Beast at King's Island. Wheee!)
"Talkin' 'bout your troubles and it's a crying sin." Sing it to me, baby. That's what soaps are made of. Chelsea should know better than to trust Adam, even if she loves him. And why on earth would Adam even dream of trusting Ian, since the paragon of paths obviously knew who Adam was? What in Ian's past proclaimed him to be a pillar of virtue? Ha, I still laugh that Adam believed he was calling all the shots. Somehow, I just can't see Ian being at Adam's beck and call and jumping at his every whim. Ian has never been a lackey before, and that wasn't going to change. Just because Adam ordered Ian not to let the Paragon Project affect the sales of Chelsea 2.0 didn't mean it wasn't going to happen, especially if Adam continued to ruffle Ian's feathers.
Ruffle Ian's feathers? Are you kidding? Adam was practically plucking them all off with his demands. I don't think Mr. Ward took too kindly to Mr. Newman's attitude, and if you think about it, Adam was unintentionally to blame for the yo-yo effect of Chelsea 2.0's numbers. Ian sure showed him by claiming the Paragon Project had become an indestructible beast with a mind of its own that wiggled and weaved of its own accord. That rascally Ian sure has a way with words. Adam was unaware that his and Ian's creation had become a runaway train that Adam wouldn't be able to stop, even if Ian were to allow it. Which he didn't.
There was no doubt Adam unleashed a monster, and I'm not necessarily referring to the Paragon Project. Too bad the clubbing Adam took over the head didn't knock some sense into him. Adam has always been pretty single-minded, and the results of that tend to blindside him at times. His ultimate revenge on Victor has always made him unable to envision that his goal could unintentionally hurt the woman he claims to love. His purpose was to hurt his father, but he ended up harming the business Chelsea had so lovingly created. And having Ian released from prison had the potential to bring pain to other members of his family, such as his niece Summer. For such a normally sharp, eagle-eyed fellow, Adam has been horribly shortsighted.
Victor being Victor either overreacted or grabbed at the excuse that the Paragon Project was messing with his company just so he could target the Abbotts again. Sure, Billy gave Victor the reason to pursue him again by snatching up Newman Enterprises' shipping line and other subsidiaries at very cheap prices. But Jack was absolutely right that even though Victor would have done the exact same thing, as Billy claimed (and then would later have boasted about it as I have just added), Jack stressed that they were better than Victor and should do the exact opposite of what Victor would do. Why, dear Vic could be the poster child of unethical practices in business.
Jack was also correct that Victor had been "blinded by rage" since the purchases. (It's truly amazing how many "blind" sayings keep coming out on The Young and the Restless, isn't it?) So Victor decided to bring out all the guns against an Ashley-less Jabot run by "Billy Boy" Abbott who had started all the commotion in the first place. What was Ashley thinking when she left Billy in charge during her jaunt in Europe?! She might want to rethink that decision for future trips.
Talk about someone with an agenda. I seriously doubt Jabot's welfare would be the highest priority on Billy's mind. He had wanted the right ammunition to get back at Victor, probably ever since Victor had gotten Victoria arrested at Billy and Victoria's wedding. Billy's decisions have not been for the good of the company. I mean, he insisted Gwen, the vice president of accounting, take a few days off during the time of the IRS audit. How could that possibly be the best thing for Jabot? And if Gwen was a good, loyal employee, why would she even consider doing such a thing? Wouldn't any repercussions fall on her as vice president, especially if she were absent during the audit? I' m just saying, if I were Gwen, I would insist on being there, especially since the time off came from Billy's directive, not Ashley's.
So, Victor decided to exact his revenge against the Abbotts yet again. Ho-hum. What else is new? What I did find surprising was that the cops apparently could arrest anyone at any time as long as Victor demanded it. Really? Whatever happened to, well, you know, proof of a crime? Victor yelled, "Off with their heads," and the cops jumped? And police officers could arrest someone on behalf of the FBI? I always thought FBI agents did their own thing. Actually, it seemed like the cops and the "Feds" always resisted working with each other on any TV cop show I have ever seen. Gosh, times have changed.
While Victor was chasing his own tail, getting ready to fire at the poor, almost innocent Abbotts, his real nemesis proved to be even more lethal to Newman Enterprises. Ian seems to be a little more villainous than he was during his last visit to Genoa City. Mr. Ward almost became somewhat of a pussycat toward the end before he was carted off to prison. His growl left something to be desired, since his claws had drawn no blood. At least Phyllis could finally see past his "purr" after Summer disclosed Ian's identity to her mom when they saw him in the park.
Phyllis has got to hate her coma, since she has constantly become a stooge because of it. Or a sucker, as she put it. First Marco then Ian. As she told Jack, Phyllis was "zero for two in the trusting despicable humans department." Phyllis has had a tough time seeing evil coming. She needs to freshen up her wily, cunning senses to once again get ahead of the game. A fiery yet savvy Phyllis is the Red we know and love.
Although it almost took a brick wall falling on his head, Victor finally relented and switched his focus from the Abbotts to Ian Ward, who appeared to be a patient in the prison hospital. That place must have a revolving door because Ian seemed to be able to come and go as he pleased -- which he resolutely denied to Victor and Phyllis. Ian even claimed he and Phyllis had never crossed paths. Leave it to Ian to take advantage of every situation by suggesting Phyllis must have seen his doppelgänger, which seemed to be all the rage in Genoa City at the time.
Certainly, Ian knew Phyllis was Jack's wife and Summer's mother. Phyllis was so ideal for Ian's cause, which was to destroy the Newman family. Thankfully, Jack was still Phyllis' knight in shining armor. "Ride a painted pony, let the spinning wheel fly." But Jack didn't need a trusty steed to realize Ian had a partner in crime, and Kevin was on the case to determine just who that was. Watch out, Adam! The walls were closing in. When Adam admitted to Chelsea he had made "a big mistake," I knew he would never tell her of his latest plot against Victor. That would have been too easy. Chelsea might have forgiven him if he had. It's the lies she couldn't forgive.
The next thing you know, Ian escaped from prison. Ha, yeah, like the bars had ever contained him there to begin with. Yet Kevin believed Ian had been in Chelsea's apartment building the whole time. The truth about Adam and Ian had been staring at Chelsea all along, and she just refused to see it. Needless to say, she wasn't happy to learn Adam had brought a dangerous guy into their lives. Although Adam admitted to putting the bug onto his father's computer, he insisted Ian had forced him after learning the truth of Gabe's identity. Adam claimed everything had spiraled out of control. Oh, yes, blame the spinning wheel. Come on, Adam. That's the best you can do?
No, Chelsea was right, and Adam hasn't changed at all. He still committed horrible deeds all in the name of revenge on his father, and he still refused to accept responsibility for the consequences of his actions, especially when everything blew up in his face. At no time did Adam appear to be threatened by Ian except when Mr. Ward bashed him over the head -- but Adam never saw that coming. Adam was the one making the demands even if Ian didn't necessarily follow his orders. It was no surprise Chelsea threw Adam out. No matter what Adam said, he always put vengeance against his dad over the love of his family. Adam may hate to hear it, but he is just like his dad.
Silly Adam, thinking he could push Ian around. The only thing Adam's demands did was cause Ian to run straight to Phyllis with the truth of Gabe's identity. Well, okay, technically Ian was sitting on a park bench, singing another little ditty about his sweet little Paragon being the glimmer in his daddy's eye while he waited for Phyllis to stroll by. How did he know Phyllis would walk through the park? I guess Ian knew Phyllis better than we thought. Adam can't say he wasn't warned when Ian called him and told Gabriel Bingham to rest in peace. Wow, things for Adam really were spiraling out of control.
While Chelsea relayed the news to Billy at Jabot, Phyllis delivered the big reveal to Victor at Newman Enterprises. The look on Jack's face said it all. He should have known the truth about Adam would come out sooner or later. Jack had many chances to be proactive with the reveal so that he could spin the news any way he wanted it. Jack really blew it. However, I loved when Victor yelled at Jack that he knew someone close with Jack was also involved with the Paragon Project when that someone was actually close to Victor. Well, not so close in reality. Again, Victor should be very proud of his not-so-dead son for pulling off such a complex scam for so long. Normally, Victor would admire that kind of cunning trait -- except, of course, the impact from Adam's actions hurt Victor and his beloved company.
So, where will this leave Adam? He lost Chelsea even after she was willing to give him another chance once she learned of his deceit. Chelsea could only see that with all of Adam's talk of love, he was just totally consumed with hate for his father. She finally realized Adam had always put everything else in his life in the way so she and Adam never really had a chance together. Hey, you reap what you sow, Adam. Chelsea had given Adam a second chance when he had never done anything to deserve it, but she was the one who paid the price.
Now that the cat is finally out of the bag, to put it mildly, it will be interesting to see who will accept Adam as the person he has become since the car accident. Does he even know who that is? Jack will probably get a whole lot of flak from Phyllis and his family once they learn he has known all along. I can't say Victor will be pleased Jack knew either. I'm sure it won't help cure Victor's vendetta against the Abbotts. Now that Ian is supposedly under lock and key in maximum security, will Victor be able to get the code to eradicate the virus in his computer? I suggest Victor talk a lot nicer to Ian than Adam did. As Adam found, Ian doesn't take kindly to threats and demands, which are Victor's strengths. Victor may just be hanging on to that virus for a while longer.
Finally, at the bar, Noah learned the whole truth from Marisa about the entire Victor/Marco/Jack fiasco, and maybe it took his grandfather down a notch in Noah's eyes. But I doubt that will last long. Victor always comes out on top. Speaking of the Underground, my husband happened to catch a few moments of Y&R with me the prior week, and the first question he asked was why the bar did not have any customers. See, even my husband noticed it. I know a lot of activity and gossip take place in a bar, but that's usually when it's open. Yet all of the madness and mayhem in the Underground seem to happen when the club is closed. It's just weird.
My husband also thought Sharon looked too young to be Noah's mother, so, of course, I had to check on the actors' ages. Sharon Case is 44 years old, and Robert Adamson is 30 years old. Therefore, if the characters of Sharon and Noah are the same age, Sharon would have been 14 when she gave birth to Noah. And Joshua Morrow's Nick would have been 11! No, no, no...we have to choose to suspend disbelief in this case and just totally ignore the actual ages of the actors. Okay, soap disbelief suspension is back in place. I feel so much better now.
What's going on with Sharon and her doctor anyway? I am starting to think there's something more to Dr. Anderson than what meets the eye. She appeared to be truly concerned for Sharon's mental health, but something just didn't ring true. Patty ran into Sharon's room, believing her to really be pregnant after her little chat with the doctor. But did Dr. Anderson really tell Patty that supposedly confidential information, or was it only in Patty's mind? And just what medication did the doctor give Sharon?
Why would the doctor want Sharon to believe she was pregnant if she wasn't? Anytime Sharon has mentioned her condition, Dr. Anderson never contradicted or corrected her. And the doc seemed to want Sharon to believe she was in the middle of a bipolar episode when Sharon was only excited about actually being pregnant. Paul had better pay more attention to what is going on at his sister's current residence. Some of Dr. Anderson's actions seemed suspicious if not unethical.
However, caped crusader Paul and his boy wonder Dylan were still on the case of Hilary's disappearance, and the pilot of the plane was the one in their x-ray vision. Oh wait, that's Superman. Anyway, the pilot only admitted that Hilary was the woman on the gurney and that the plane flew back from Dallas to Genoa City. Yep, guys, Hilary is right under your very noses. To the Batcave! Shoot, that boathouse could almost act as their Batcave, since it appears to be so isolated. Hilary's dream country home must be way out in the boondocks. To the Boatcave! Those crazy crime fighters should feel right at home there.
Neil seemed to be on a spinning wheel of his own making. Seriously, he could never be a good spy or secret agent. Gwen was following him all over the place. He never even had a feeling of being watched. On the other hand, we can hand Gwen a cloak and a magnifying glass, since she used her deductive reasoning skills and was blessed with a genuine talent for being a buttinsky in order to locate Neil and Hilary in the boathouse. "Catch a painted pony on the spinning wheel ride." That was one merry-go-round mustang Gwen needed to dismount. Unfortunately, Gwen didn't have the super sleuth know-how to hightail it out, or she should have ridden that carousel horse far away from there before Neil caught her. "Hi ho, Silver, away." Pronto!
Wouldn't it be great if Gwen's roundabout horse could be like the Lone Ranger's Silver? That super gray stallion could do almost anything. Using his teeth, Silver could even untie a rope binding the Lone Ranger's hands. I can't count all the times a trick like that would have come in handy. Ha, ha! Gwen really could have used a horse like Silver if only to get her out of a jam. Wow, the Lone Ranger, our beloved masked hero, would battle the forces of evil for the safety and welfare of all. Sheesh, I can remember when cops and crime fighters used to be the good guys. Now, the mobsters rule -- on some soaps, that is. (Looking at you, General Hospital.)
Strangely enough, though, Neil seemed cool, calm, and collected and only wanted to explain the whole story to Gwen. And he actually told her the truth as far as he knew it to be. Why, that's totally unheard of in Genoa City. Neil should be totally ostracized for doing such a daringly drastic deed. Neil declared he had fallen for Gwen and only wanted a future with her. Wow, you know what they say about the love of a good woman. Well, actually, nothing. I always thought there was a saying for that, but I couldn't find one. Let's just leave it that Neil's desire for a life with Gwen convinced him to finally take Hilary where she could get the right kind of care. At a hospital. What a crazy concept! It just seems like Neil's about-face was too little, too late to erase the pain he caused Devon -- who believed his new wife had been kidnapped or was dead.
And when a Jane Doe suddenly surfaced at the hospital, Devon was sure it was Hilary, but he learned it was only the flowing and cascading-haired Marisa who had been mugged but swore up and down that it wasn't by her husband. Yeah, that made sense because Neil would have needed to travel from that supposedly remote location in lickety-split time to get Hilary there that quickly. Bur never fear, the dynamic duo was still on the case, and with the help of their trusty sidekick Stitch, Paul and Dylan devised a scheme to put a tracker on any appropriate medical supplies that left the hospital. Now, that is clever. They make me so proud.
It was a good thing, too, since Neil decided he couldn't move Hilary after all. When Gwen had a change of heart and asked to help him care for Hilary, Neil refused to let her because he didn't want to make her an accomplice. I hate to break this to you, Neil, but just Gwen's knowing about Hilary's location and not telling anyone makes her an accomplice. That ship has already sailed, my friend.
Adam observed that Ian's actions indicated that the self-declared "paragon of retribution" desired to go back to "three hots and a cot a day." I have never heard that expression before. Clever.
Mariah had the line of the week. "As much as you try to erase your past, it always catches up with you." And as often as that happens in Genoa City, you would think they would all learn from it.
I love it when the writers get caught up in certain expressions. The key word this time was "clock." Mariah told Kevin that Marisa had gotten "clocked" on the head. Neil wished to Hilary that he could turn back the clock and later told Gwen to hurry because the clock was ticking.
Until next time,
Teddi
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