Is Cane's chateau secretly Fantasy Island or Dallas: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the Week of July 14, 2025

A little over a month ago, The Young and the Restless had several prominent Genoa City residents fly to Nice, France, so they could attend a gala put on by the enigmatic Aristotle Dumas (AKA Cane Ashby). While it probably hasn’t been over 30 days for the characters, as one day can span several episodes, we’re guessing that Jack, Victor, Devon, Lily, et. al. must feel like they’ve been there for a year!

The Young and the Restless, RIP, Damian Kane

Of the many stories that have been unfolding, the most significant one, especially for Damian, has been Damian’s death. We have to admit we were gobsmacked by the character being bumped off. After all, the show had months or years to play out a Damian/Lily/Cane triangle. Lily, by her admission, partially kissed Damian to get under Cane’s skin.

Later, she shared that the feelings were genuine. So why kill off Damian? This is one of many questions we’re asking. Nick Newman appears to be the audience’s voice. He already commented on how the trip “jumped the shark” after Lily shares that Cane felt his life was in danger.

The Nick of time

Nick may not have the most business sense in Genoa City, but he certainly appears to have the most common sense. He’s asking questions that the audience is likely wondering about, too. For example, if Cane was so concerned about his life, why didn’t he hire an entire security team, and not just invite Chance, a lawman with zero jurisdiction in Nice, France, to help him?

Nick’s fed up with what’s going on. When he says that he’s prepared to walk down the side of a mountain to get away from Cane’s place, we believe him!

Speaking of poor Damian and his developing romance with Lily, we have to wonder why she had a delayed reaction to his death. Sure, we all process grief differently, but it wasn’t till an episode or so after Damian’s murder that Lily began to cry. Well, we answered our question. Many attest to the belief that grief is not linear.

Hide and seek

We don’t have an idea of just how vast Cane’s estate is. The establishing shots show that it’s pretty big, but the train cabins that everyone is sleeping in are all connected. So, why is it taking so long for news to travel? You’d think Damian’s death, no, his murder, would have shot through the train from the locomotive to the caboose like a runaway drink cart with unlocked brakes on it!

Sure, we get that not everyone can be in every episode, and no, we don’t want to hear that reactions to Damian’s passing occurred off-camera, but still. Isn’t there an intercom system on the train?

Why is Sally off swimming by herself with Damian being dead? The last thing someone should do, as we all learned in teen slasher movies, is to go off by yourself. Well, maybe Carter was with her. Wait...

Audra and Billy surprised us for different reasons

One of the more touching reactions to Damian’s death came from Audra. We sensed her sadness for Amy and Nate was genuine. After all, Audra noted, Amy likely found strength from her renewed relationship with her son. How is she going to take the news of his murder?

And when will she find out? Maybe Cane could hop on another jet and zip over to Genoa City. The least the billionaire could do is pick up the rest of Amy’s healthcare and make sure she’s taken care of for the rest of her life. After all, Cane believes that he was the intended target.

While Audra’s reaction to Damian’s death touched us, Billy’s cavalier attitude caused a chill to go up our collective spines. No, the two men weren’t close, but Billy was acting casually about the loss of life. Just how badly does he want control of Chancellor Industries back?

He needs to take a lesson from Audra about true compassion. Though the cynics among us are wondering if Audra leaned into her grief and concern so that she could get comfort from Kyle. The Abbott heir had better hope he doesn’t have to face Judge Judy (or Justice Judy, depending on which show you watch) if he decides to someday fight having to pay Victor Newman $5 million for breaking Claire’s heart.

"Umm...is not an answer!"

First, we still think it’s viable that Claire is going to break Kyle’s heart, given the amount of time she’s spending with Holden. Maybe Claire will understand Kyle and Audra sharing a kiss in a moment of weakness and grief? Here’s hoping that Kyle understands Claire might need to do the same in light of Cole dying.

But back to Judge Judy – we can just hear her now blasting Kyle in her courtroom over A) signing a ridiculous contract with Victor, thinking he’d be swayed by the gesture, and B) NOT PUTTING A SHIRT ON WHEN AUDRA CAME TO HIS DOOR. Insert face palm emoji here!

Does Kyle not know what’s at stake here? We’re not just talking about the $5 million, we’re talking about the $5 million Claire’s heart.

Kyle knows that Audra is in a financial bed with Victor, and her sexual innuendos have been anything but subtle. Kyle has been playing with fire ever since he boarded Cane’s train. We don’t blame Kyle for showing some human compassion to Audra, but maybe, just maybe, he could have done it with his train cabin door open and his shirt on. (That said, we have to applaud Kyle. He’s been hitting the gym and looks terrific!)

Shoulder blades

Speaking of physiques, in what world could someone think that their knife would magically pass through Damian’s broad shoulders and hit Cane? The two men were not changing their positions before the attack occurred. Damian had his back to the killer. There was no way the killer didn’t know what he/she was doing.

Plus, once forensics show that the knife wound in Damian’s back meant that the blade had to be thrown with significant force, we think Cane will be cleared. The cameras show that Cane and Damian were too close to each other for Cane to be the killer.

Kyle had better hope that Cane was telling Chance the truth about not having cameras on in the train cabins. If Audra were to say that Kyle kissed her, she better not leave out that he was only trying to comfort her because she was distraught about Damian’s death.

The dream seasons

Cane's guests may feel that this whole trip has been a horrible dream. And who knows, maybe it is? Both Nikki and Lily have had nightmares (or dreams) during their stay. Lily dreamed of kissing Damian, only to see the man before her turn into Cane. Later, Nikki had a dream that she was unable to help her children, Victoria and Nicholas.

Maybe this has all been on big nightmare? Soap fans have been using this theory about their shows ever since Dallas explained away an entire series as Pam’s dream. This was all to explain away Bobby’s on-screen death that had occurred at the end of Season 8.

If Y&R were to go down this path, and let’s face it, not a ton has happened since Damian’s death, so the show could do this, it’s possible that not only might Damian be alive, but Cole would be, too. This tracks especially if it’s been Nikki’s dream. Her fear for Victoria could have manifested in having a nightmare that Cole had died, and her daughter needed her.

The perfect frenemy

We got a chuckle out of Phyllis asking Sharon about how long their truce was going to last. We give kudos to Y&R for not forgetting this plot point. Too often, on soaps, we see a lack of continuity as characters interact with one another, conveniently forgetting what had gone on before. So it's nice to hear occasional references to this ticking time bomb. We know that when (if?) Sharon and Phyllis toss out their new understanding that it’s going to be epic.

In the meantime, we’re looking forward to finding out who killed Damain. Our money is on Carter. We don’t know much about him, but outside of Cane, nobody else has a motive.

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