The welcome Matt (Clark) returns: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the week of October 27

The Young and the Restless still played the threat of Cane's AI program, but the top-rated drama shifted other stories to the forefront, and that made for a very compelling week!

The Young and the Restless, we are family

Soaps are all about family and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Legendary soap opera creator Irna Phillips was once asked why she couldn't write a soap about a nice normal family that never had any problems or conflicts. "Name two!" the soap pioneer responded.

We were reminded that no matter how old kids get, they'll always be little ones to their parents. That was certainly the case when Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), Danny (Michael Damian), and their son, Daniel (Michael Graziadei), got together at Crimson Lights. Poor hungover Daniel couldn't take any more meddling from his well-intentioned mother when he was in the best of health. Struggling to regain his balance after having too much to drink the night before made the scenes all the more entertaining. There's a nice, familial rapport among these three. Despite the conflict, they're a family.

The highest bidder

Speaking of Phyllis, she also made a power play by giving the AI program belonging to Cane (Billy Flynn) to Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), who may -- or may not -- use it against Jack Abbott. Maybe Ashley (Eileen Davidson) will stop him? Or maybe Victor's got something else in mind. Knowing Victor, he probably does. Any scene with Stafford and Braeden works fine for us. He's, at best, bemused by her bravado. Meanwhile, Phyllis shows she has no fear by challenging TGVN (The Great Victor Newman).

Crystal Claire

How many times did Claire (Hayley Erin) insist to Kyle (Michael Mealor) that there was 100% absolutely nothing going on between her and Holden (Nathan Owens). They were just friends who were going to be visiting Los Angeles at the same time and were going to hang out together. Kyle didn't think that held any water so he hopped on a plane to the City of Angels and tried to rewin Claire's heart. That only made her push him away more. Kyle returned to Genoa City, which left Claire free to party it up with Holden on Halloween. The two got close. Like really close and returned a hotel room where things got hot and heavy. It's hard to believe that Claire didn't see this coming. Did Kyle do everything right? Maybe not, but let's see how long it'll take before Claire comes clean with the Jabot heir.

We are family

Sharon (Sharon Case) not only got a divorce from Nick (Joshua Morrow) all those years ago, but she also divorced the Newman family. Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) didn't have to pretend to be nice to her ex-daughter-in-law anymore. But all that changed this past week when Nikki and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) flew to Los Angeles to support Nick and Sharon while Noah (Lucas Adams) was in the hospital.

Sharon kept her guard up around her ex-mother-in-law and her former sister-in-law, but after the two women assured Sharon that she was still a part of the Newman clan, and that they cared about her Sharon let loose with bridled up emotions. She's going through something horrible (having a child being in a car accident) yet again and it's driving her to the brink!

I Love L.A.

While Kyle's not going to be happy about it, we have to admit that Nathan and Claire becoming intimate with each other was pretty hot. They're not cheating on anyone and they may not (or may) be the love of each other's lives, but they must feel like there's nothing wrong with having a little fun in life. And that's just what they're doing. Y&R costume designer Mandi Line did her usual fabulous work with the Halloween party at The Shadow Room. But sometimes all a guy needs to look good is a black sleeveless undershirt like the one Nathan wore. (It helps of course to have a worked out physique, of course!)

Restless style

We're all for Y&R mixing and matching with character pairings. Introducing new characters like the dynamic Sienna Bacall (Tamara Braun) is always a good thing. But nothing beats a showdown between two characters who have tons of history together. Y&R doles out Victor (Eric Braeden) and Jack (Peter Bergman) showdowns sparringly, which makes us appreciate them all the more. A few weeks ago, the two men sparred at Society. Recently, they went at it when Jack helped himself into Victor's living room at the Newman Ranch and put him on notice. Victor reveled in Jack tipping his hand, telling him that his nice suit was an early Halloween costume. But Jack must have felt it was worth it. He let Victor know that he wasn't afraid of him and his AI program.

Two little pigs

We often hear how much parents on soaps love their children, but we don't get to see it nearly enough. Y&R rectified this by having Kyle spend time with Harrison (Redding Munsell) on Halloween. There must have been a prior plan for Claire to join them as the house made of sticks (from the Three Little Pigs children's story) as Kyle was the house of straw, and Harrison was the house of bricks.

Kyle did a great job of hiding his disappointment from Harrison that Claire was in Los Angeles and that their future wasn't looking very hopeful. We've always wondered why Harrison has been so reslient. In his short life, he's known two fathers -- Ashland (Richard Burgo; Robert Newman), and not one, not two, but three, count 'em three mothers! There's Tara (Elizabeth Leiner), who gave birth to Harrison. Then, there was surrogate mother No. 1 in Summer (Allisoner Lanier), and then, Harrison regarded Claire as his mom.

We know kids are reslient, but come one! Doesn't he ever ask about Tara? How much legal trouble did she get in with that whole stealing from her own business matter? We can only guess that little Harrison is so together because he has a loving, attentive dad in Kyle. Kyle may want to think twice or even thrice before returning to a past relationship or embarking on a new one. Give Harrison some stability. It's what most if not all children crave.

Diane speaks the truth

Kudos to Jack and Diane (Susan Walters) for blasting Cane over hackers get ahold of his AI program. Diane made a dig at Cane about having blood on his hands, a reference to Damian (Jermaine Rivers) and Chance (Conner Floyd) dying on his estate. Both men were murdered by Carter. Cane keeps saying he feels badly and he never met for anything like this to happen. There's a great opportunity for Cane to go on a path of redemption. If he comes to the aid of some folks in trouble, perhaps Lily (Christel Khalil) and his kids will see him in a differernt light.

The Cane Mutiny

Most people will never know the kind of wealth that Cane Ashby has acrued. Or stolen. Or has because his late father Colin (Tristan Rogers) conned a rich, old woman out of. But most people would know how to spend it. We've seen Cane make some missteps with his fortune. It's great to have so much money that you can have trains on multiple continents, but what about security? People can just pretty much walk onto his train without being announced.

But Cane's not the best at hiriing security. Where did he get that staff at his estate in France? Did he call the Joker and the Riddle and say I'll take any henchmen you can't afford? And let's not get started on Carter (Vincent Stalba). Has Cane ever heard of a background check? Didn't he notice any special attentiveness that Carter was giving him? And what kind of firewall did Cane have in his computer systems? Why work with Phyllis, who is extremely volatile, knowing (he pretty much figured out that she did) could hack into his system and swipe the coveted AI program?

If Cane wants to use his money wisely, he should drive a truckload of cash to Charlie and Mattie (Noah Alexander Gerry and Lexie Stevenson) and buy their affection. Okay, that might not work fully at first. But everyone's got bills. Cane could be the financial saviour to his kids. Then, they'll let him back into their lives.

The Welcome Matt (Clark)

Talk about a Friday tag! We were floored when Sharon spied Roger Howarth's character as Matt Clark, the man who had once raped her and terrorized her and Nick. Is he behind Noah's accident? How did he survive his "death" nearly 25 years ago? Matt's return may make Nick and Sharon's adventure in France last summer look like a stroll in the Jardin du Luxembourg!

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