The beat goes on

Though the Abbotts and Newmans continued to bicker and verbally beat each other up in the workplace, Jack's family remained upbeat about his condition. Once Chelsea learned Gabe's identity, Adam did not miss a beat declaring his love for Chelsea and Connor. Joe took a beating as Avery prepared to beat feet. Read on as Y&R's Two Scooper reports from her beat in Genoa City.

Despite a convulsion, Jack's heart continued to beat, and by the end of the week, Jack was squeezing Phyllis' hand again in a way that was definitely communication. It was very clear to see how much Jack's condition improved just as soon as Stitch got his license back and "Dr. Rayburn" was reinstated in the residency program. He had no sooner encouraged Phyllis to keep trying to communicate with Jack, than Jack communicated in a way that Dr. Stitch and Ashley could see was more than Phyllis' imagination.

Now that Stitch and Ashley keep bumping into each other and Abby has become a busy executive, I'm pretty sure that Dr. Rayburn will be trading up from daughter to mother. From the first, I thought that Ashley and Stitch should be paired. I think Abby is fated to be a "bridesmaid," and it will be a while before she gets to be happy for more than a minute. Abby is usually upbeat no matter what, so she'll survive and forgive her mother and her boyfriend for falling for each other and betraying her.

Unfortunately for Victor, Jack was busy refuting Victor's story to Phyllis as Paul was finding the gun that Victor had had one of his many minions plant in Chelsea's apartment to implicate Gabe and render Gabe's testimony invalid. When you think about it, that's a pretty good plan, as long as the minion doesn't get caught. I do think Victor and the minion should have shown more concern about where in Chelsea's place the gun was planted, and while I'm thinking about it, why not plant the gun in Gabe's apartment instead of Chelsea's?

My friend Bessie was really on a rant about how evil Victor has become and how dumb Paulumbo is now, as compared to his private eye days when he was the first one to figure things out. I could have printed her last three or four emails and taken a vacation, but I'd beat myself up for being lazy if I did that. I will say that I, too, think that Victor has behaved very badly through this whole fiasco. It's one thing to bend the rules a little because you want to provide for your family, but it's another to lie, cheat, and steal to take the bread from another family when you have plenty of bread in the cupboard already. Victor had no business stealing Jabot. He has plenty of bread.

It seems even more heinous to think that Victor captured his prize by by kidnapping Jack, trapping him at the mercy of Cray-cray Kelly, and replacing Jack with a criminal from a Peruvian prison. How exactly did Victor find Marco? And what came first? Did Victor find Marco and come up with the plan to replace Jack, or did he decide to replace Jack and then put an ad in Craigslist for a double? I also wonder why the guy auctioning Jack contacted Marco instead of Victor, who must've had a lot of shady contacts already if he could find Marco in the first place.

(Big sigh) These questions, unfortunately, are the kind that Y&R, like most soaps, usually lets go unanswered when the story finally wraps up.

Adam was spot-on when he figured out that Victor was framing him. Like father, like son, I say. Adam thinks that Victor is not proud of him, but he is wrong, Victor is very proud of him. I think Victor would be very proud if he knew that Gabe was Adam and had outplayed Victor and all the Abbotts. It's just that Victor will never say, "Son, I'm proud of you." Instead, he says things like, "I didn't turn my back on you when you were falsely accused." The trouble with Adam and Victor is that they are so much alike, they can almost see their own reflections when they look at each other.

Justin Hartley is just about the same age that Eric Braeden was when he became Victor, the leading man and eventual patriarch of The Young and the Restless. Victor and his alter ego have reached the age where they both might want to slow down a little. If so, Justin Hartley's alter ego is poised to follow Victor as the next leading man. Justin Hartley has a very impressive acting rsum, and he could carry the show and its many storylines for years to come. Adam could easily be the new Victor.

Bessie commented that older viewers are leaving the show in droves. That may be true, but if they are, they are being replaced by droves of younger viewers because Y&R's ratings are higher than they have ever been. That says to me that stories featuring younger actors are very appealing. It also says that if the soap genre, Y&R in particular, is to survive for another 40 years, then a new generation of actors will have to take center stage. A changing of the guard, "The king is dead, long live the king," and all that jazz! Unlike many of my peers who don't like change, I like the direction that the show is going.

The younger cast running a multinational conglomerate is a hoot. What could be better than all the young'uns under one roof, bickering and romancing all while working that 9-to-5? Is there any doubt that Billy and Victoria will reunite and be that wonderful family we were rooting for before Delia died? Adam and Chelsea will be a family with Connor soon, too. I was crying along with Adam and Chelsea (I could feel her heart beat, couldn't you?) when he told his story and expressed his undying, unwavering love. I don't think there is anyone on the planet who hasn't wished for a love like that. Chelsea feels it too; that's why she stopped Adam from telling the corporate gang that he was Adam not Gabe. Chelsea is still too stubborn to admit it, but it won't be long before Adam melts her heart completely. (Adam is much more smitten by Chelsea than Nick has ever been by any of the many women that he has romanced. For all of Adam's flaws, at least he is faithful -- so far!)

Adam is proving to be more Victor's son than Nick has shown himself to be. The difference between Adam and Victor, I think, is that Victor's life experiences have hardened him so much that he is no longer the charming bad boy heart-melter that Adam is now and Victor once was. I do hope that Adam and Victor eventually come to understand how very much each loves the other despite their complete inability to communicate in the here and now.

Will Sage take that paternity test, or will something conveniently stop her so we fans can obsess until the kiddo is born? (Who wants to bet that it will be delivered by Nick somewhere that is not a hospital, unless the baby develops some serious medical condition and then Dr. Stitch will deliver it?) If Sage does get the test, won't she need samples from both Nick and Adam because they are brothers? Nick recently expressed his undying, unwavering love to Sage. Once Nick finds out that Sage has been lying and knew Adam's identity all along and that she slept with Adam and denied it, will Nick kick Sage to the curb like he did Sharon?

Continuing on with my plan to make Adam the new Victor, I would make Sage's son be Adam's kid. That way they could do the Jacob and Esau story. In five years, they could age Sage's baby and Connor to teens and do some teen stories. In another five years they could be aged to adults. Nikki, Victor, Neil, and Paul could sit on their various porches, rocking and giving advice. Nick, Victoria, Dylan, Sharon, Lauren, etc., would all be in their late 40s, like now. Billy and Adam would be enemies just like Victor and Jack. Their kids would be the new twentysomethings as Summer, Mariah, Noah, Fen, and Kyle age into thirtysomethings. What do you think? Too crazy?

I'm proud of the job that Abby is doing as COO. Gabe was smart to appoint her. She was a great negotiator with the truckers. I just hope that she did not make a mistake by drinking too much Champagne and then accepting a ride home from a virtual stranger, even if he was a union rep. I didn't see anything in writing that sealed that deal legally, so I wonder what will happen if Abby turns down the next proposal that Mister Berg makes? If Abby's not careful, she could find herself in a predicament similar to Avery's.

Fans are very sorry to see Jessica Collins leaving her role as Avery, the legal eagle who has been a fixture in Genoa City for the past four years. My friend Anne says that Avery is her favorite character, and she is devastated to see her go. Collins gave a stirring soliloquy as well as an emotionally charged performance that spoke for rape victims everywhere. She will definitely be missed.

Avery has not been the same since she was raped and tried to take the law into her own hands. Avery was so convinced that it was Joe who had raped her that she took a gun and almost killed him. For once, the police caught the rapist and arrived in time to stop Avery, but the fall from her lofty perch on the scales of justice made Avery rethink. She told Joe that she was leaving town to get a fresh start and so should he.

Joe, on the other hand, is not held in high regard, but he's sticking around anyway. Michael referred to Joe as a "greasy lummox," and Joe confirmed that opinion when he said, "I get punched, slapped, or tied up at least once a week in this town, so I must be doing something right!" Joe kind of reminds me of my dog, Boomer -- most of the time he means well, but he can't help standing on my foot, and I never know where his tongue has been. I don't think Joe is a bad guy; he's just focused on himself, like Boomer is focused on food. Joe needs a job. He came to town, a supposedly successful real estate magnate, but what's he done lately except get beaten up by husbands and ex-boyfriends because he keeps going after the wrong women? Note to self: why didn't Michel push Joe at Lauren instead of Cane?

Joe would make a great opponent for Adam. He's dark where Adam is light. Both are handsome, and they are both tall. They could go nose to nose without one of them having to stand on a chair, their tiptoes, or high heels! Maybe Joe killed Delia, and they could send him off to the pokey. I did think that Adam was exaggerating a lot when he told Connor how long he would have to serve time in prison. Maybe it would be for life, but it's more likely to be five to ten in the pen and then parole and community service. A good lawyer might get Adam an ankle monitor so that he could serve his time at home, and his business would not miss a beat. Prison overcrowding is a real issue, though perhaps not in Genoa City, where Victor seems to spend all his time in the visitors' room getting special privileges.

Devon and Hilary are happily making wedding plans, oblivious to anything that Neil may be thinking or devising as revenge. Devon tried to give some advice to Cane, but Cane was way too angry to listen to anyone, including Michael or Lily. Admittedly, Cane has been declaring his love for his "smoking hot wife" for some time now, and Lily has had the luxury of the moral high ground, which she used to castigate and chastise Cane at every opportunity. She was super shrewish, and no matter how "smoking hot" she was, eventually that was not enough.

Lily has lost her sexual hold on Cane. Lily skipped a beat and responded to Cane and Lauren's kiss with overkill. Bedding Joe was a terrible decision. I can understand how she expects forgiveness, and I do think Cane should give it to her eventually, but I don't think it should be as easy as Lily wants it to be. She slipped up in a spectacular way. Cane shared a short, provocative kiss with a woman who was not his wife, but he did not bed her.

Cane may be right to want a divorce. I probably would. If I were in a committed relationship, I don't think I could forgive even a single infidelity, however, I don't think I would be so vindictive over one drunken night that I would demand sole custody of my children. Keeping children away from one parent or the other seems like it would hurt the children too much. Besides, what single person in their right mind would want to work and care for two children when they could divide the time with a perfectly loving and responsible other parent?

I've got two cats and a dog that keep me hopping all the time. I can only imagine what it would be like with children. Oh, I forgot, in soapland, there is always a babysitter or nanny handy whenever one is needed. That goes for housekeepers too. Soap houses never get dusty or messy or need vacuuming. The dishes are done automatically and no one ever has to do laundry or make beds except Esther. I did find an imaginary housekeeper. Unfortunately she only removes imaginary dust and she doesn't do imaginary windows.

Until next time, fellow fan addicts, take care of yourself and keep the beat going with those you love. See you in two weeks at Crimson Lights for another meeting of Soap-aholics Not-So-Anonymous when, as per usual, we will discuss our imaginary friends and their funny foibles.

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