Location, Location, I Do, I Do, and Audra Charles: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops Year-End Edition

The Young and the Restless gave viewers a mix of the old and the new, the familiar and the innovative in 2025. The show has never looked better and features a cast of beloved favorites while boasting some dynamic players who are newer, too!

The Young and the Restless, the wedding of the year, 30+ years in the making

A 31-year-old wrong was righted when Cricket (Lauralee Bell) and Danny (Michael Damian) remarried. They divorced by infamous overnight letter (remember those?) back in 1994 when Danny gave vague reasons as to why he and Chris had to go their separate ways. Soon, all was revealed. Well, not all, but we were introduced to Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford), who, we later learned, had drugged Danny and lied to him that he was the father of her son, Daniel (Michael Graziadei). The truth came out as it almost always does.

Phyllis paid when she lost custody of her son after her lies were exposed. And then, Danny and Christine got back together. Oh, wait. They didn’t! Cricket had moved on to a life and marriage with Paul Williams (Doug Davidson). Danny left Genoa City with Daniel to go on a tour.

To longtime Danny and Cricket fans, it seemed like a dangling plot line that was left unresolved. Well, it got resolved this year when Danny and Cricket got married. The wedding had everything! Nina and Gina (Patty Weaver) back for the festivities? Check. The ceremony went off without a hitch. Check! Phyllis crashing the reception and toasting the happy couple? Check. On paper, Phyllis’s remarks to the couple sounded perfectly legit, but in Stafford’s capable hands, the dialogue took on new meaning. All the pain and heartache Phyllis felt – even though she doesn’t love Danny that way anymore – leapt off the screen. Phyllis managed to not ruin the Cricket's big day and still be true to herself.

Missing in action, dearly departed

Nina losing Chance was referred to as her having lost her only son. Does this mean Ronan (Jeff Branson) had died? Or was it an oversight? We’re hoping for the latter as Nina shouldn’t have to go through a double loss…where was Phillip (Thom Bierdz) when Chance died? The show took a big leap when it revealed over a decade ago that Phillip had faked his death after getting in a car wreck so that he could live openly as a gay man in Australia. It’s a good thing he came home. Eventually, social media exploded, and he would have had to have, well, come out.

It was so anticlimactic having Chance’s funeral be off-camera. If the character’s going to be written out, and we’re not going to properly mourn him on-screen, it might have been better to just write him out of town. Or have him move to Los Angeles to live with Nina while he recovered from a gunshot.

We also wanted on-screen memorials for Cole (we did get an episode showing the Newmans returning from his service, and they mourned his passing), and Damian (Jermaine Rivers). He wasn’t with us very long, but we’ve no doubt that Daytime Emmy nominee Valarie Pettiford (Amy), would have acted the heck out of a memorial scene. She certainly did in the park when Nate (Sean Domnic) gave her the news.

In fact, Amy and Nina both ripped into Cane at Cricket (Lauralee Bell) and Danny’s (Michael Damian) wedding. We’ll talk more about that later, but it would be great to see Nina come back to Genoa City and seek revenge against Cane. She’s been working in Los Angeles for years, and she inherited millions from Philip when he “died.” She probably has enough in the bank to go up against Cane, especially as Victor has used the AI program to decimate Cane.

Speaking of Cane, he sure talks about his kids with Lily, Mattie (Lexie Stevenson), and Charlie (Noah Alexander Gerry) a lot. Y&R keeps them alive off-screen through one-way phone calls with their parents. But there’s someone else we’re wondering about who’s in Cane’s life. What about his son, Sam, whom he had with Juliet (Laur Allen)?

Like Ronan, Sam hasn’t been mentioned. We think he’s living with Juliet’s family, but if Cane isn’t making inroads with Charlie and Mattie, maybe he’d want to look into Sam. Sam’s much younger and might still be in some formative years.

Y&R has gotten so much of its history right (keep reading). Perhaps in 2026, Ronan and Sam will get some love.

Meet Aristotle Dumas, wait, you already have

The buildup to the introduction of Aristotle Dumas went on entirely too long. It seemed like everyone was talking about him. The show did its best to make the enigmatic billionaire sound as if he were in the same league as Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman). It turned out that Aristotle was Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn), Lily’s (Christel Khalil) ex-husband, who wanted to get back with her. Many fans had already guessed online that Aristotle was Cane and that he’d be played by Flynn, whose casting by the show had been announced. To get back with Lily, Cane amassed a fortune and developed an Artificial Intelligence software program that was going to bring the business elite of Genoa City to its knees. That’s all well and good, but how would destroying the business lives of Lily’s friends, the friends of her late father, Neil’s (Kristoff St. John), going to endear Lily to Cane? It wasn’t going to. Cane found out the hard way not to go up against Victor. The mogul is always two steps ahead of his adversaries, and Cane was no exception. Once Victor got his hands on the AI software, he used it to screw up Cane’s holdings. The Abbotts are afraid of what Victor’s going to do to them, too.

A few dangling plotlines haven’t been addressed in this story, and we’re not sure we should hold our breath going into 2026. For starters, why did Cane think his life was in danger since the only killer around was his loyal aide, Carter (Vincent Stabla)? Cane hired Chance (Connor Floyd) to find out who was trying to kill him. But Chance was the one who ended up dying, trying to save Cane. Talk about irony! Also, Victor got his hands on some letters that indicated the late Colin (Tristan Rogers) swindled an old woman out of her money; therefore, Cane’s billions were falsely obtained. That story beat appears to have been dropped unless we missed an episode explaining it away.

It was heart-wrenching to see Rogers, best known for playing General Hospital's Scorpio, in his final daytime appearances. He had words of wisdom for his son that he'll be able to carry with him the rest of his life.

Kudos to the Y&R production design team. Sure, we never saw the insides of Cane’s chateau, but all that shrubbery gave us the feel that they were all on a vast estate. And it’s good to know Cane’s train by his chateau could be reused in Genoa City. It’s believable that Cane is so filthy rich (or at least was) that he’d own more than one choo-choo.

I love LA

Y&R almost always stays close to Genoa City. After the sojourn to France, a smaller number of characters – Nick (Joshua Morrow), Sharon (Sharon Case), and others – traveled to Los Angeles. Claire (Hayley Erin) went there to find herself and get away from Kyle (Michael Mealor), who had the audacity to love her, stand up to her grandfather, and put Audra Charles in her place.

Y&R viewers were in for a huge shock when the story shifted to Los Angeles. We’re not just talking about the resurrection of Matt Clark (Roger Howarth). Though we would like it if the show addressed just how the character went from Rick Hearst as Matt, yanking his tubes out, hastening his death, to becoming Howarth’s Matt.

We need to take death seriously on soaps. Otherwise, daytime dramas shouldn't kill people off. For all we know, Aunt Jordan (Colleen Zenk) is out there, having kidnapped Cole (J. Eddie Peck) from the hospital, and he didn’t actually die. (Peck floated this idea by Soap Central in an exclusive interview.) Ditto for Chance. Maybe Cane whisked the lawman away and is keeping him alive while he’s in a coma. Hmmm…Cane has been saying cryptic remarks like “all will be revealed” or words to that effect.

Artificially Inflated

It’s been hard to get into the AI story because the real-life emerging technology is on the new side. We’re not really sure how it all works. We do know that using it the way it’s been described on the show is illegal.

There’s been so much about talking about AI, and except for Victor using it to take down Cane’s company, we haven’t seen its true power. Jack dismantling Jabot Cosmetics online so it can’t be attacked is an idea, but it’s too nebulous and vague. We don’t see the impact. Is there an employee that’s lost their job?

Frankly, we loved Ashley’s (Eileen Davidson) idea that she go to Victor and plead the Abbott family’s case. It sure worked once before when the family needed an extension so that the Abbotts could reclaim Jabot in 1999. Ashley went to Victor and implored him to be there for him. Otherwise, what they had meant nothing! Swoon! Victor could not help but be swayed by the woman he once loved. We’d much prefer watching Ashley emotionally appeal to Victor than to see Jack sitting the back room of Crimson Lights at his laptop, trying to handle the matter that way.

Team Audra

The Y&R writers hand Zuleyka Silver’s Audra the best zingers on soaps, and the actress fires them off against everyone and anyone who dares to challenge her. (We've also seen a heart underneath Audra's bravado.) Her main target is Claire. These two have terrific showdowns. No matter how things play out, Audra is an expert when it comes to reframing.

If Claire blasts Audra for trying to break her and Kyle up to please Victor, Audra points out that, as Claire and Kyle aren’t together anymore, maybe Victor should fork over the money he promised. Heck, even Victor was impressed by Audra’s tap-dancing when she tried to buy time after failing to score with Kyle in France.

In 2026, we’d love to see Audra become a “have” by marrying into one of the richest families in town. Kyle seems to be an obvious choice, but we’re sure that Y&R can come up with a creative way to turn Audra into a force. She already is, but can you imagine her having a financial power base?

Things we loved & things we want to see more of in 2026

Mandi Line, Y&R’s Daytime Emmy-nominated costume designer, never fails to entertain us with the fab fashions worn by Genoa City citizens. Whether it’s a big event – like Cane’s chateau in France (we believed they were all summering in France based on their wardrobe alone!), Cricket and Danny’s wedding, Billy (Jason Thompson) and Sally’s (Courtney Hope) launch party with Abbott Communications – or just every day attire, Line crossed the finish line in first place every time!

There were so many dynamic performances on the show this year. Michael (Christian LeBlanc) and Victor’s “break up” showed that it’s not just romantic duos that can break our hearts when they call it quits, Diane’s (Susan Walters) efforts at redoing the Abbott mansion and how they were tied into her self-worth and her wanting to be a true Abbott were emotional, clearly showing why Walters is a Daytime Emmy-winning performer.

Sharon and Phyllis look like they’re finishing out the year (mostly) holding to the truce they made after becoming Martin Laurent’s (Christopher Cousins) prisoner. Brava to that story twist. Phyllis can’t be at odds with everyone all the time, can she?

Beth Maitland broke our hearts as we watched Traci come to realize that the chance she took on love turned out to be filled with deceit and broken promises.

Another welcomed return was Jess Walton's Jill, who has a son by birth, Billy (Jason Thompson), in Genoa City, and one in name, Cane. Walton always delivers. If the show could lure her back for more appearances next year, bringing back the Chancellor mansion in the process, we'll stand up and applaud.

And while we didn't get Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) back on screen, Chris's ex-husband sent flowers on his ex-wife's big day. That was a nice touch. Though we wouldn't have minded Paul standing up and objecting, maybe telling Christ that (gulp!) they're still married!

Y&R delivered on special episodes with Michael and Lauren’s 20th anniversary show, and re-airings of Cricket and Danny’s original wedding in Hawaii. The bonus in that program was seeing Jack married to Nikki, and Victor married to Ashley (Brenda Epperson). Victor owned Jabot at the time, but that didn’t need to be addressed daily (like we hear with the AI program). Instead, it was all about the human dynamics and interactions. Nikki was not going to tell Victor she was facing a dangerous surgery. She couldn’t allow herself to be vulnerable, even though the audience was screaming at their TVs for those two lovebirds to get back with one another.

Another hit was the 2010 Christmas episode in which Victor played out a Scrooge/A Christmas Carol episode that gave us the brief returns of George Kennedy (Albert), Signy Coleman (Hope), and Raya Meddine, whose character, Sabrina, was taken from us way too quickly.

While Kennedy has passed away in real life, we’re willing to suspend belief should Y&R want to resurrect Hope (think of the effect that would have on Adam, played by Mark Grossman), and Sabrina, who would technically still be married to Victor!

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