Sally pours salt in Nick's wounds: The Young and the Restless, Two Scoops for the Week of July 21, 2025

Perhaps the oddest part of the whole sojourn to Nice, France, is that many of our favorites on The Young and the Restless have yet to see the inside of Cane’s chateau! Maybe Nick and Sharon did, but we're guessing they were housed in a room in the chateau's basement!

The Young and the Restless, party on (INVITATION)

Maybe they should have read the invitation more carefully. But the residents of Genoa City have been restricted to wandering in the maze of shrubbery (until they find the courtyard where they can chow down on gourmet food) and their tiny train car cabins.

And where on the luxurious grounds is that dumpy room that Nick and Sharon were forced to remain under house arrest (shouldn’t that be “chateau” arrest?)? But there are more important things to worry about than folks seeing the inside of Cane’s home.

Candy Cane

The story has taken a dangerous turn with Cane making sure Nick and Sharon are confined. Does Cane think that Nick truly tried to keep him? And does he think that taking the law into his own hands will endear him to Victor, who controls the keys to Chancellor Industries, the company that Cane desperately wants? How’s Lily going to take it when she finds out her ex is hurting her friends? If Cane has done all this to rewin Lily's heart, he's bungled it royally.

Cane threw Amanda and his security team under a bus by claiming to Nikki that they were the ones who insisted Nick be arrested. If Cane expects to be taken seriously as a mogul alongside Jack and Victor, he’s going to have to stand by his own decisions. Cane hardly got any points with Lily by being okay with Nick and Sharon being placed under house arrest.

We don’t understand why Nick and Sharon simply weren’t confined to their train cabin. Nick being a suspect in Damian's death is a stretch at best. Why did they have to be taken to a musty, dusty room? Cane's security needs to be protecting him, and not making enemies.

Cheers!

We have to give the Y&R sound effects department credit, though. When Nick clocked his guard with a champagne bottle, we heard that impact. OUCH! But if there was ever a reason for Nate to go back into medicine, it’s this. Every show needs a doctor on staff (or on contract, take your pick) for emergencies like this.

It’s quite possible that something major could come out of Nick and Sharon being imprisoned. They just might realize that they belong together, and there are no guarantees in life. Or he might want to take up with Sally again, given how she stepped up. Time will tell.

Performers of the Week

Major kudos to Michael Mealor and Zuleyka Silver for their performances as, respectively, Kyle and Audra, for the showdown in Kyle’s cabin. Maybe Audra truly is grieving for Damian, but she saw a chance to get intimate with Kyle, and she went for it. Sorry, Audra. Kyle was onto your scheme all along. The fallout from their cards being put on the table, or, maybe in this case, Kyle’s bed, was dynamic!

Ditto regarding Kyle confronting Victor in front of Nikki, no less. Once Victor gets Nick to safety, he should truly reconsider giving Kyle a chance. The man has earned his place in Claire’s heart.

The showdown in Kyle’s cabin is far from the end of the banter between the Jabot cosmetics heir and the Vibrante founder. They ran into each other in the maze of shrubbery later in the week and threw down again.

Can't see the forest for the shrubs

One of the pluses of so many characters being in France and getting lost in the shrubs and there being so many different train cabins and shrubs to get lost among is that the show’s writers can mix and match characters. Surprise pairings can come about on a given day. For example, former lovers Billy and Phyllis caught up with each other. Michael had a reason to reconnect with Victor and put their differences aside for a moment.

We’re hoping that the Newmans, Abbotts, Devon, Michael, Lauren, et. al. have all learned a valuable lesson from this trip to France. Don’t accept invitations from people you don’t know! (And yes, they all know who Cane is, but they didn’t know that at the time.) Don’t go to an area that may not have cell service. And don’t go anywhere without bodyguards. Nick called Sharon tough for tackling the lock that kept them prisoners. Nick’s also a fairly tough person, given how well he tackled Cane’s bodyguard. But it came at a steep price. Nick was hurt badly!

The missing ingredient: Jill Foster Abbot

We’re glad to hear Jill’s name be mentioned, and it’s good that Cane invited her. The story would be richer if Jill were there as Cane posed as her son for a while.

It’d be nice to see Jill make a surprise appearance in this. As Cane’s surrogate mother, she could probably get him to do away with all this intrigue and get his guests back to Genoa City. Cane wants to make a name for himself back in the United States. He needs to start making things happen and not hide behind others.

Not concerned enough

It was curious that Jack and Diane saw Nick and Sharon being escorted away and didn’t take more action. Yes, they knew something was wrong, and they were very concerned. But take action! Victor wasn't much better in terms of taking immediate action. Remember when Victor and the police stormed into a prison to rescue Nick when it was revealed that he was innocent in Matt Clark’s attempted murder? Surely, Victor could take on Carter and make Carter show him where Nick was.

Carter country

Still, it’s nice to see Victor take the psychological approach. He and Chance outwitted Carter. That’s not easy because Carter wears glasses, and all assistants to billionaires who wear glasses are super-smart. But Victor is smarter. Carter is showing extreme loyalty to Cane. Is he in love with him? Or does he just love him for rescuing him from a bad life? What was that life? Why didn't we learn more about Carter before we discovered he's likely Damian's killer?

There's no way that Damian's killer was trying to strike Cane or anyone else with that knife throw. Damian Kane's shoulders were too broad, and his back muscles were too big.

Carter may be good at throwing knives, but he didn't have any weapons on him when Cane and Victor were questioning him. Why didn't Victor just pick Carter up by the neck and demand that he be taken to his son?

Take some action

Cane passing off Nick’s confinement onto Amanda and his security team isn’t sitting well with us for lots of reasons. Cane’s not coming off as an all-powerful mogul if he’s so easily influenced.

Why didn’t we see Victor, Chance, Nikki, Jack, Diane, Devon, Lily, Abby, Phyllis, and whoever else is on the estate confront Cane and demand that Nick and Sharon be set free immediately? Like, yesterday! Phyllis is looking out for number one, but she has a big soft spot for Nick. She'd blast anyone to smithereens who harmed her videogame partner and the father of their daughter, Summer.

We're ready for Cane to stop talking in riddles. He’s going to explain everything soon. Okay, when? His true plan will be revealed. What is it? All will be explained. Again, when? He told Nikki that his security team and his lawyer advised me to imprison Nick and Sharon, so he did it. That's not what happened. Why is he buying up all the real estate in Genoa City? How was using a fake name (Aristotle Dumas) going to win Lily back? It probably won't.

Collusion, conclusion

As the week wrapped up, we learned that Sally is far more resourceful than anyone realized. She used her experiences in the carnival world to administer extensive first aid to Nick. We're fine with injuries being tended to with a tea bag, a clean rag (well, a cleaner rag), and a bottle of alcohol. After all, medical miracles happen all the time on soaps.

We're less sold on some of the miracle legal avenues that characters are going down. How could a document that Amanda had that exonerates Nick hold up if the case went to trial? How could it be enforced if it weren't real? How would a sale Nikki would make -- Chancellor Industries in exchange for Nick -- hold up if a judge reviewed it? Nikki could challenge it on the basis that Cane had essentially kidnapped Nick and held him against his will. Lawyers call it "under duress."

What's also a bit more difficult to swallow is the reason Cane thought he was in danger of losing his life, when (it certainly looks like) it was his ex-employee, Damian, who should have been fearful for his life.

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