The Dumas Dilemma: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the week of June 2, 2025

The Young and the Restless took us back in time a bit this past week with a gala fit for a queen. And that queen’s name is Nikki Reed Newman!

Birthday party on The Young and the Restless

It wasn’t a blowout at the Colonnade Room like the olden days, but Y&R took viewers back to yesteryear with its birthday gala celebration of Nikki Newman. The jazz lounge was the perfect locale as it accommodated all the guests. The room was packed — you just had to block out that at least three of Victor’s foes, Jack, Kyle, and Michael, made the guest list.

A party wouldn’t be a party in Y&R without a lot of speeches. Victor’s was poignant as he told guests that Nikki had given him the world. Kudos to the show for scoring him verbalizing his feelings for Nikki to a slow version of The Young and the Restless theme song.

This party had it all – decorations, fabulous outfits, music, dancing, and more speeches. Kyle did his best to praise Nikki. His gift, a bracelet containing charms with all of the names of Nikki’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren (Cassie, Bella, Claire, Summer, Reed, Faith, Johnny, Connor, Katie, Christian, Dominic, and Harrison), was a nice touch! Kyle’s speech about “Queen” Nikki was spot on: She will back those she loves with her whole heart. Pietro and Claire may have put together a terrific gala, but Kyle's speech was the icing on the cake.

Viewers were moved, but alas, Victor was not. Nikki gave the best speech of all as she recalled the late, great Katherine Chancellor, who has been gone for over a decade now. Genoa City galas just don’t seem the same without Katherine. So, Nikki recalling her dear friend was fitting. Hats off to Y&R for that and also for keeping the photo of Neil Winters, whom the jazz lounge is named after, in plain sight. Viewers miss both Kay and Neil, and the show is to be commended for keeping their names and their memories alive.

Freedom in France

We’re glad that there’s a countdown going on with Aristotle Dumas. It’s going to be about a week now before his (her?) identity is going to be revealed on June 13th (right?) when several Genoa City power players travel to his fancy home in Nice, France for a face-to-face gathering.

We can see it now. Newmans and Abbotts alike are waiting in Dumas’s home. A pair of big doors open, and the enigmatic Dumas is finally revealed! Is it going to be Cane Ashby, Lily’s ex-husband? Tucker McCall, Katherine’s son? Is it someone who’s been under our noses all along, like Ashley? (Is it a coincidence that she’s headed back to Paris, which puts her in proximity to the overseas travelers?) Or is Dumas someone new? This is the most highly anticipated reveal, and we are looking forward to finding out the mystery individual’s true identity!

Paging Dr. Anybody!

There’s someone else we’d like to see make an appearance on the canvas – a doctor! The show had Chance return to the police force to handle legal emergencies. But what the show could truly use is a doctor! Cole has been very ill, and outside of a day player doctor (who didn’t have many lines), he hasn’t been attended to professionally.

If Nate doesn’t give up his desire to be in the business world, maybe the show could invite back his mom, Dr. Olivia Barber, to tend to Genoa City’s ill people. We’re curious not only about Dumas’s identity but also to find out just what’s ailing Cole Howard. He coughed upon returning from his international business trip, leading many to speculate he’d picked up a bug while being abroad. Then, he got truly sick and went to the hospital. Later, he showed up feeling just fine (or so it appeared) at Crimson Lights.

We can’t say we were too surprised that he relapsed again and at Nikki’s party, no less. But what is wrong with him? Why isn’t he immediately being rushed to the hospital? Cole did not look well when he left the party, but the subject of his health changed pretty quickly. How can viewers take Cole’s illness seriously when other people (outside of Vicki and Claire) aren’t?

While we’re still concerned about Cole and his health, we are breathing one big sigh of relief that Amy is not only making a comeback from her cancer diagnosis (yay!), she’s also announced that she’s going to be staying in town. We thought that it might be the end of Amy when she went to get treatment in Boston. This is another reason Y&R needs a doctor on contract!

The 5 million dollar man

Audra’s not exactly the most ethical person for taking Victor’s money to start up her new cosmetics company. Of course, Victor’s not going to win Humanitarian of the Year for his bribing her either. But Audra stands to ruin more than one life if she seduces Kyle away from Claire. Kyle will be out 5 million dollars, and both his and Claire’s hearts will be broken.

We have to say, though, it’s very nice to see Audra show genuine joy over Amy’s health getting better. She’s thinking of someone other than herself — this humanizes Audra. We don’t know if Audra will truly go through with Victor’s plan when it comes to taking down Kyle. But she probably will.

Speaking of Kyle, what the heck was he thinking by offering to give Victor five million dollars and to leave Genoa City if he hurt Claire? For starters, how would something like that even be enforceable? If breaking hearts were a crime, pretty much half of the town would be in prison right now. What constitutes “hurting Claire” anyway? What if he hogs the remote or the covers? Does the contract state that it would specifically be sexual infidelity?

And is Victor thinking of the fallout from this? Forget about Claire being mad at him. Victor will incur the wrath of Nikki, Victoria, Cole, and Nicholas should they learn of his scheme. We suspect a good lawyer would get Kyle out of having to pay Victor, as there is likely not a clause in the contract that addresses entrapment. That’s what Victor is doing. Why wasn’t Kyle’s charm bracelet and heartfelt speech to Nikki enough to get Victor to change? We can’t think of the last time Victor admitted he was wrong.

The unsinkable Sally Spectra

Every soap needs a voice of reason on the canvas, and these days, that person on The Young and the Restless is Sally Spectra. She wisely pointed out to Billy that delaying the debut of Abbott Communications would make the company look bad. Oh, sure, she changed her mind, but that’s because she knew there was no changing Billy’s mind. And they will have more info about Dumas after they go and meet him in France in the middle of the month.

It's fun to watch Sally be non-plussed when Phyllis descends upon her with her wild accusations, snarky remarks, and opinions about Sally’s past. Sally matches Phyllis's snark when she needs to (suggesting she’d be a seat filler at Dumas’s party like people are at the Oscars? Ouch!).

At the end of the day, she doesn’t let Phyllis get to her. She’s a great partner for Billy. She challenges him when he needs to be challenged, but Sally supports Billy. Some think he won’t succeed with Abbott Communications, but with Sally by his side, we suspect that Billy will come out on top!

Jobs “R” Us

Lily asking Damian (a man she doesn't truly trust yet) to spy on his boss for her didn't sound like the best plan given her business acumen. It may have backfired when Damian got fired by Dumas's assistant. To make matters worse, Holden, Damian’s pal, lost his job, too. That’s when Damian asked Lily to find a place for Holden. Lily said she’d have to run the idea by Nate and Devon. But are high-powered, well-paying jobs all that available at Winters?

Mariah's mystery

We're very glad to see Mariah start to have flashbacks about her big secret and how that secret involves a familiar face to soap opera fans. Yep, that was Michael Swan (ex-Duncan, As the World Turns) who appeared in Mariah's black-and-white flashback. Color us intrigued!

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