Party off, Garth! The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the week of September 8, 2025

Sally and Billy's highly anticipated party didn't come off, but there was still plenty to watch on The Young and the Restless this past week!

The non-social event of the year on The Young and the Restless

Mary Richards had been to more dinner parties than the ones run by Cane Ashby. First, half of the cast of The Young and the Restless ventured to Nice, France, to Aristotle Dumas’s (AKA Cane Ashby’s) chateau. Sure, the food and booze were great, but it’s hard to say you had a good time when three people (Damian, Chance, and Carter) get killed and another guest (Nick) almost loses his life!

Worse than eating half the Veal Prince Orloff

Now, Cane’s outdone himself by canceling the gala that was set to launch Abbott Communications at Society. Sally and Billy were gobsmacked when they walked into Abby’s establishment and found the place empty – except for Cane.

On one hand, the pluses were that Cane showed how much pull he has by doing this, and the show saved on another gala, as they must be costly to produce, having multiple contract players and assorted day players and atmosphere players partaking in the same episode.

Cane, however, may have pushed too hard. Forget about taking the wind out of the launch of Abbott Communications, the billionaire put numerous wait staff, valet attendants, and other workers out of work for the night! He could have dropped a line saying that he’d paid everyone for the night.

Come to think of it, why wasn’t the party at the Genoa City Athletic Club, which Cane owns? Abby may have given her uncle Billy a break on closing out the joint for the night, but it would have been more shocking to see Sally and Billy go into the larger venue known as the GCAC. only to be shocked.

Weren’t there other factors affected by the cancellation? A launch party is usually timed with, well, something launching! Didn’t Billy and Sally have plans to have their site (or whatever Abbott Communications is) go live, maybe during the party or the next day? The two already put the launch on hold so they could go to France earlier this summer. Not having their launch party sent a message to the communications and business world that Billy and Sally can’t seem to get it together. Cane can rationalize all he wants that he was looking out for their greater good, but someone at the top might not see the trickle-down effect.

We get that cell phone service in France was limited due to a jamming device. But why didn’t Billy immediately text Jack when he found out the joint was empty? Jack being kept in the dark allowed his imagination to run in all kinds of dark directions. Maybe that's what Cane wanted to have happen?

Ch-ch-changes

Sure, Cane’s got plans, but they seem to keep changing. It’s hard to tell whether his top priority is repairing his relationship with Charlie and Mattie, getting Lily to fall back in love with him, or committing criminal acts using an AI program to take over Chancellor, Newman, Jabot, Cassidy First, and Crimson Lights.

Shine, Sally, Shine!

Thank goodness for Sally Spectra! She continues to be a bright spot in Genoa City. Sally regularly lends support to Audra Charles, who needs a win. She is also the voice of reason by telling Jack the real reason that the party was canceled. She laid the law down with Billy. He needs to make up his mind about working with Cane, and he could lose her both personally and professionally. Sally is a no-nonsense character that every soap opera should have! Billy is one lucky guy, and if he loses her, it's going to be his own darn fault!

Claire’s a hypocrite

Claire talks about all the work she’s done or is doing in therapy. What work? What therapist? We haven’t seen Claire in therapy. And a good therapist might point out to her the following 1) Kyle didn’t tell you about kissing Audra because your father, Cole, had just died 2) Kyle had a good reason for giving Audra a little rope so that she could hang herself with it in France 3) Kyle has forgiven you coming to Genoa City and trying to attack (or worse) your long-lost family and 4) Kyle is rich! Okay, Kyle’s wealth shouldn’t play a factor in Claire forgiving him, but as someone's mom once said, “It’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it is a poor one.”

Claire came clean with Holden about her wicked past, but Holden is not coming clean about his and whatever happened with Audra in Los Angeles. Claire seems to be okay with her new pal Holden not being honest with her. That seems to contradict the criteria she has for other people in her life. She's holding Kyle up to a different standard, isn’t she? Granted, the two relationships aren’t the same. But there’s a big difference – Kyle fessed up to what he’d done. Holden hasn’t.

Victor surprise

Victor is no fan of Kyle’s, but the mogul gave the Abbott heir his due. He let Claire know that Kyle kept the kiss with Audra a secret to protect Claire. He applauded him for that. Claire asked about the sudden proposal Kyle made, prompting Victor to ask Claire if she wanted him to be cross with Kyle.

Claire, take a step back and look at the situation. Victor is giving Kyle credit. Why are you so hesitant to see that? Why are you giving Holden passes that you’re not giving Kyle? What does your therapist have to say about all this? Who IS your therapist, by the way?

Looking out for you point

Nick and Phyllis talked at Chancellor Park at a point where there’s a nice view. There’s probably no one who could make Phyllis let her guard down more than Nick. Maybe it’s their great love affair. Maybe it’s that they share a daughter, Summer. Maybe it’s the video games.

The silences between the lines of dialogue in their scenes spoke volumes. Phyllis knows that Nick knows her inside and out, so we see her hesitating before she responds to him because she knows she can’t lie to him convincingly.

Phyllis is touched by Nick genuinely caring about her. That’s not something she feels from any of her other exes (be it husbands or boyfriends/lovers) like Jack and Danny. Phyllis is vulnerable to Nick. “I want recognition for my skills,” she said to Nick, feeling very exposed. He cares deeply about her, too.

Phyllis doesn’t do anything for anyone unless she benefits from it. But when Nick asked her for a favor, she replied, “Okay” before he even told her what it was. Nick pointed out he hadn’t even told her what it was yet, and Phyllis said it didn’t matter as he had saved her life.

Don’t we all have a short list of people in our lives whom we’d do anything for before they had to even ask what it was? If we’re lucky, we do. If Phyllis ends up in a power position, Nick’s the one who will keep her grounded.

Even diehard Shick fans have to admit there’s something between these two.

Comedy tonight

Kyle got a laugh from Claire when she meowed (or made some cat-like sound) when he was talking about what would happen if Audra showed up at the Abbott Communications launch party and Claire was there, too. Despite all the angst Clarie’s going through, she couldn’t help but laugh. Claire! What are you thinking? Tell Kyle you'll marry him!

Phyllis told Cane he was weird. He asked back, “Do you really think I’m weird?” She chastised him about doing that ever again until he got better at comedy. (Was this scripted?)

Attempted murder, he wrote

Mariah finally opened up to Tessa and revealed what her big secret was. She almost killed someone. Almost? Almost?? While this needs to unfold more, we can safely say that almost killing someone isn’t killing someone. Mariah! Think of all the people in Genoa City who’ve gone around killing people and have moved on with their lives.

Nikki Reed Newman alone has killed her childhood friend, Joshua Cassen (accident), her father, Nick Reed (accident), and then, there the near-deaths like Diane Jenkins and JT Hellstrom. Nikki was also responsible for driving the car (Neil was a passenger) that plowed into Christine, who lost the baby she was carrying.

Sharon killed Cameron Kirsten, who was holding Faith hostage. Sharon was accused of killing Skye, Adam’s ex, after she fell into a volcano, but Skye died by accident. Sharon was also involved in JT’s supposed death.

We’re not saying Mariah’s overreacting, but maybe she should talk to her mother and her kind-of-sort-of-not-really-though grandmother Nikki to get the scoop on how one can commit an almost murder and still live a happily life.

Then, maybe Mariah can throw herself a party at Society -- one that Cane will not cancel!

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