D’Oh! Young & Restless’ Off-Kilter Kidnapping Is the Last Straw in a Series of Missed Opportunities — Here’s What *Should* Have Happened

It’s been a minute since I settled in to write a soapbox, SOAPS readers, but given all the glaring missed opportunities on Young & Restless of late, it felt like the perfect time for a vent sesh. Here’s looking at just some of the current storylines that have left us screaming at our television sets and devices… because they could have been so much soapier!

Mariah Kidnaps Dom

Sharon’s troubled daughter is hanging around Genoa City and Tessa and Daniel are right there. Imagine if she’d spied them kissing and decided that she needed to “save” Aria! Mariah taking Aria would make a whole lot more sense than her going back to this Dom/Bowie stuff, which is giving us whiplash. In addition, this stuff with Imaginary Ian is a retread of Sharon/Cameron. What are the odds of that happening in the same family in the space of a year… even on a soap?!

Cane’s Gift

Ashby is desperate to get back in good with Lily, so why wouldn’t he have offered her Chancellor? They could have reconciled over it until Victor inevitably took it back and she called it quits with her ex again. Phyllis would have been left out in the cold, which could have been a catalyst for organic angst and a much-needed new direction, rather than the ranting we’ve been getting for months. We love you, Red, but girl…! Billy getting Chancellor has merely given us repetitive dialogue about him being a screw up that we’ve heard a thousand times before.

Mad Matt and Sienna

How do you bring back a major villain, incorporate an illicit affair, and yet end up with no drama? The whole thing was a yawn. Noah was a boring, spoiled brat, they didn’t activate “Shick”, which would have given us something at least, Sharon felt weirdly disconnected from the Matt stuff, and Victor getting involved made it feel so eye-rollingly predictable.

They could have had drama. Sienna could have cheated on Noah (some suggested with Nick), Noah could have cheated on Sienna with Audra, Sienna might have plot twisted back to Matt’s side, she could even have killed him and let Noah take the rap. Here’s another great idea (there were plenty to be had):

Splitting Newman Heirs

It’s a given that Victor will be the ultimate mastermind of all moves made in the Newman family until he’s no longer with us, but you’ve got to at least give us the illusion that one of his offspring will be ruthless enough to step into his shoes. This was being done very effectively in years previous with both Adam and Victoria, but not anymore.

Victoria is finally showing some spunk, but Adam’s had the very Victor sucked right out of him by the Kumbaya version of Chelsea. Adam should be doing some twisted “ish” to get Newman back from Cane, thereby setting up a rivalry for years to come, but teasers suggest Adam will back out of even doing a fake kidnapping threat. Stated plainly, there’s so much potential for villainous drama being missed with this character that it’s criminal in and of itself.

Claire’s World

When Claire broke up with Kyle it was the perfect time to bring Summer back. It would have revived the conflict between the cousins, and she’d have been in town for the Phyllis stuff. But no, they had to leave the door wide-open for Claire. Boring! Meanwhile, Harrison is fixated on Claire, instead of something really uncomfortable for Kyle, like wanting him and Summer back together, or, I don’t know, wondering when his biological mom, Tara, is coming back.

As for the Claire/Holden/Audra stuff, it went pear-shaped when they revealed the secret. Something Claire could potentially hold over Audra’s head was juicy. But it makes no sense if Holden’s the one that would potentially go down for murder if Claire somehow opened that can of worms. They could salvage some drama here by having Audra and Holden start hitting the sheets, causing Claire to go full psycho.