The Young and the Restless Performer of the Week: Christel Khalil

Christel Khalil always delivers grounded, realistic performances as Lily Winters on The Young and the Restless. The actress was handed a storyline in which she learned her former husband had orchestrated a grand scheme to win her back. Poor Lily merely received heartache, but Khalil has won Soap Central's Performer of the Week for Y&R honors for Lily's natural response to this surreal situation.

The Young and the Restless Performer of the Week: Christel Khalil

With all due respect to Billy (Jason Thompson) and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) wanting to make new business deals, the person most affected by Cane's return and the revelation that he is the enigmatic Aristotle Dumas has been Lily. She came to Nice, France, not knowing the man she was intent on meeting was someone who broke her heart years ago.

We're expecting this story to play out more fully in the coming weeks and months. Therefore, it's way too early for Lily to admit she may have any romantic feelings for her ex. For now, Khalil is playing Lily as a woman who needs to understandably put up some walls and erect them quickly to keep Cane from hurting her again.

Still, Khalil, as Lily, ran through a myriad of emotions upon learning that Dumas was Cane -- disbelief, shock, and anger. She didn't reserve her animosity for just Cane, either. Lily was mad at Victor (Eric Braeden) for knowing Dumas was her ex and letting people go on this journey anyway.

Grounded in reality

There are far more snarky people in Genoa City than Lily is, but Khalil steps up when Lily is charged with firing off a zinger. "What do you think?" Lily snarked at Cane after he asked how she was. In another instance, she responded, "How about never?" when Cane brought up reconciling.

Lily knew that teasing her ex with the fact that she and Damian (Jermaine Rivers) might be dating would get under his skin. She gave Damian a passionate kiss and later told him she didn't mean to do that, so he wouldn't get his hopes up. Khalil reminded us that Lily was capable of great vulnerability when Lily told Damian she'd thought about kissing him for real, too.

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Lily's acting is entirely appropriate for someone who has been thrown into a drama orchestrated by her ex. She's angry. She's in disbelief. It'd be so easy for Khalil to go over the top in Lily's reactions, but she's too grounded in her work to fall into melodramatic histrionics. The actress walks the perfect line, and there's never, ever a false note in her performances. Kudos are going out to the Daytime Emmy-winning Khalil for being the heart and soul of this complicated storyline.

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

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