Hell froze over in Genoa City as Victor changed his mind: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the week of August 18-22, 2025

Never think anything's impossible in life. Victor Newman changed his mind on The Young and the Restless about Kyle and Claire. Of course, don't think for a minute that Kyle is 100% off the hook!

The Young and the Restless, Victor's cold heart melted

In a move that both shocked and pleasantly surprised us, Victor had a change of heart and realized that he shouldn't stand in the way of Kyle and Claire. Kyle just saved $5 million. His accountant will be thrilled!

The squabble Victor had with Nikki was a treat to watch, given the long-running chemistry between the couple, and the moving heart-to-heart talk Victoria had with her dad actually meant something.

There was some terrific characterization as to why Victor was especially protective of Claire. He didn't seem to have the problems with Kyle and his other granddaughter, Summer, that he had with Kyle and Claire. That's because he felt a kinship with Claire, as both he and Claire had terrible childhoods. Victor grew up in an orphanage after his mother, Cora Miller, dumped him there at the holidays (that tidbit always added a Dickensian touch to Victor's background), and Claire was raised by her psycho aunt, Jordan.

Kudos to the women in Victor's life, who found him exasperating, but still managed to show how much they loved him. Victoria truly let her dad know that she cared about him despite his reactions to some (all?) of the men in her life. He didn't care for Ryan or Cole for years. It wasn't until shortly before Cole died that Victor came to fully appreciate him.

Claire beamed as if she were a ray of sunshine when she learned from her granddad that he wouldn't stand in her way if Kyle was the man she really wanted. In true Y&R fashion, a change of heart doesn't come without conditions. Victor summoned Kyle to his ranch to deliver the news of his decision, cutting Kyle off as the young man was in mid-sentence.

Jack and Diane continue to prove that they are Genoa City's most supportive parents when it comes to checking in on their adult child. They make sure that Kyle knows they're there for him without being too helicopter-like about it.

Mattie and Charlie's allowance

Mattie and Charlie are the two most-talked-about characters on a soap opera since As the World Turns tossed around "the search for Sierra" back in the late 1980s (IYKYK). (And Sam is the least talked about, for that matter! But that's another Two Scoops column.) Cane desperately wants to have a relationship with his kids, and Lily wants to protect them from their dad. The problem is that Mattie and Charlie had no idea that their father was the secret, billionaire Aristotle Dumas. And that's a big problem.

It's a problem because while Mattie and Charlie thought their dad was working with ex-cons, he was building a massive fortune. But is this really a problem? And how was it a problem? How would working with ex-cons preclude Cane from picking up the phone and calling his kids, or taking a week off here and there to spend time with them? Mattie and Charlie are out of college by now. When most kids are in college, they're too busy to spend time with their parents.

We can think of a million reasons why Cane and Mattie should see past their father's lies. Actually, make that a billion reasons. Phyllis pointed out that the money Cane has should soften the blow in terms of Charlie and Mattie. Most kids would love to find out that their dad had more money than Croesus.

Cane wants a better relationship with his kids. He can make that happen by buying their affections. Maybe Mattie would be open to taking some of their father's money, while Charlie wouldn't be. There'd be some conflict, but we'd need to have the twins back on the canvas for this to happen. If Cane's master plan is to win Lily and their kids back, how does taking over Newman, Jabot, Chancellor Industries, and other businesses accomplish that goal?

Only the best

We learned that part of Cane's plan will involve AI (AKA Artificial Intelligence). He asked Phyllis, a Web guru, what she knew about the emerging (it's already here, actually) technology. Phyllis quipped she couldn't give a TED talk about AI, but bluffed she knew more about it than she may know.

Okay, if Cane truly has billions, then why doesn't he just hire an experienced, AI-knowledgeable person? Instead, he's got Phyllis sitting in the park reading AI for Dummies or some such tome. Where is the rest of Cane's team, by the way?

He should have replaced Carter by now with someone who'd received an extensive background check first, of course. And where's Amanda? Does Cane know that she enabled everyone's cell phone again while back in Nice? Amanda is Cane's valuable associate, and it's odd not seeing her on our screens. Maybe she's on her way back from Nice by, you know, train?

We've written about how we don't often see all these high-powered business executives actually working on Y&R, and we still don't. However, it was good to hear Lily share with Devon her thoughts on how the meeting they'd just had went over. We don't want to see execs crunching numbers and handling boring business matters, but a little would go a long way. Remember when Ashley used to have those colorful beakers and test tubes in her lab? Jill had that male secretary, David. There were photo shoots and other things in place that made Jabot, for example, look like a real busy company.

The jig is up for Audra

We saw Audra's facade drop just a bit when Nate kept pressing her to come clean. It was as if she entertained the idea of confessing that yes, Claire was right. Yes, she was in cahoots with Victor, but nothing happened with her and Kyle (minus a little kissing), and maybe, just maybe, Nate would have forgiven her.

Sean Dominic played Nate's interrogation of Audra as if he were certainly open to the idea of moving forward, and we got the impression that forgiveness wouldn't be off the table. But she just couldn't go there. Whatever happened to Audra in her past has made her afraid to let anyone in. She's ambitious to a fault. She may have lost Nate forever.

Supportive Sally

There is no one more supportive in Genoa City than Sally Spectra. She doesn't judge her pal Audra for her actions. She provides not only a sympathetic ear but also helpful advice (sans pressure) and a job so that Audra can land on her feet.

We wonder what it would be like if ex-beau Wyatt Spencer passed through Genoa City and reconnected with his ex-love. Wyatt dumped her more than once, and Sally's happy with Billy now. But it would be interesting to see Wyatt's take on his ex now that she's built a new life.

Amore in the Afternoon

For years, Jack was a loner. He wasn't going to be Nikki's husband forever, as she and Victor were destined to be together. Jack was pressured into marrying Patty Williams, whom he never fully loved. He was widowed when poor Luan died suddenly. His flings with Mari Jo, Lindsey, and others were just that: flings.

But Diane is Jack's OTP (One True Pairing). They didn't get to have that honeymoon in Europe thanks to Cane, so Diane created a festive Italian date night with her husband in an effort to make up for that. Killing Diane off was a big error, and Y&R asked us to take a leap that her demise was faked by Deacon delivering a look-alike corpse from the look-alike dead body store. However, it was a leap of faith worth taking. There's plenty of story to be mined from Diane's time away from Genoa City. Did she have another relationship? Another child?

Coffee, tea, or Esther

Chance is gone. Jill only appears via video calls. We didn't get to see Nina for Chance's memorial. There's been no mention of Phillip III, who's alive in Australia. We don't get to see the Chancellor family mansion. It was one of the show's oldest sets, predating both the Newman ranch and the Abbott mansion.

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Fortunately, we get to see Esther, as Sharon brought her on to manage Crimson Lights. Esther reconnected with Cane, and the show recalled the connection between the two, given Cane's brief marriage to Esther's daughter, Chloe. Esther was a bit sassy with the billionaire. Perhaps if he's looking for someone to be his next assistant, he should think about employing his former mother-in-law. She knows who everyone is in Genoa City!

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

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