Home for the Holidays

There was plenty to celebrate this week on The Young and the Restless as Diane and Allie enjoyed their first Thanksgiving as part of the Abbott family, Chelsea shared a heartwarming moment with Johnny, Adam proposed to Sally, and Daniel flew back into town like a breath of fresh air! It wasn't all smiles and celebrations, though, because there is always room for some drama during the holiday season. Join our Two Scoops columnist as he serves up all the gossip from Thanksgiving week in Genoa City!

Happy Thanksgiving, indeed! Although the holiday week was short (only three episodes aired), it was certainly sweet! Before we dive into all the gossip, I want to wish each of you a happy Thanksgiving (even though you will be reading this after the holiday has already passed)! I hope you were able to spend time with the ones you love (virtually or in person) and that you were able to find some time to reflect on all that you have in your life to be thankful for. It's holidays like these that can help to ground us and remind us of all the good that is in our lives. I am certainly thankful for all of you that take the time to read my opinions about a show we all love. Cheers to all you Two Scoops readers and Y&R fans!

Now, on to the gossip! How great was it to see Daniel back in town this week?! What a nice surprise for the holidays! I knew he was returning (because it is hard to avoid casting spoilers), but I try my best to avoid storyline spoilers, so I wasn't sure of when exactly he would be back. I was so excited to see him this week -- and Lily certainly was, too! It was as if no time had passed for these two when they ran into each other at Society and reminisced about their shared history.

I really hope Daniel will be around for a while and that the writers are planning to put him and Lily back together. They were one of my favorite teen couples back in the day when I was watching the show as a teenager/young-twenty-something myself while their storyline unfolded back then. It was great to see Lily enjoying herself and laughing again (something she hasn't done with Billy in quite some time). She and Daniel had more chemistry in their one episode this week than Billy and Lily have had during their entire relationship! Anyone else feeling that?

It was great to see Daniel back in scenes with his mother, Phyllis, too (although I thought someone was being murdered when she screamed upon seeing him back in town)! Michelle Stafford and Michael Graziadei have always been great screen partners, and it was fun to see their characters reconnect. Daniel said he may be staying in town for longer than just the holiday season, and I really hope that's true. Whatever new venture he wants to be involved with at Chancellor-Winters, I hope they sign him to a contract! Speaking of contracts, is the actor on contract with the show again, or is his return open-ended? I can't seem to find any information about that (but all my fingers and toes are crossed that he's on contract)!

I agreed with Phyllis when she told Daniel that she feels there is more to be told regarding his relationship with Heather, and I hope we learn more about that soon. Although I feel bad for Daniel that he is having relationship problems with Heather, I am also elated that it means he and Lily may have a real shot at getting back together in the coming months. I honestly had even forgotten that Daniel and Heather were an item and had left town together with his daughter, Lucy, until it was mentioned this week. I enjoyed all three actresses that portrayed Heather (Vail Bloom, Eden Riegel, and Jennifer Landon), so it would be great to see any of them back in the role.

As much as I would love to have Heather back to see some drama play out between Lily/Daniel/Heather, it almost seems pointless because of the status of her father, Paul, on the show. With Doug Davidson no longer on Y&R, it would be weird to have Heather back and never have any scenes with her father. As far as I can recall, Paul is supposedly still in Genoa City, running the police force, but we just never see him? It's so sad how the show treated the actor as a "day player" toward the end of his run on the show after so many years of being a staple on the Y&R canvas.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Daniel's return could also mean the return of Paul if Heather were to show up in town -- but, honestly, I'm not sure Doug Davidson would even want to return to the role at this point. Maybe enough time has passed, and they can give him a good enough deal with a new contract and plenty of screen time? Or they could potentially recast Paul if Doug won't return, but I'm not sure how that would go over with fans because, like me (and like the actor himself), most are a little sour about his sudden exit from the show.

In other "home for the holidays" news, Allie and Diane celebrated their first Thanksgiving as official members of the Abbot family. Granted, it has been awhile since Diane has been around, so I could be wrong about her never having spent a Thanksgiving in the Abbott household. But now that she is there with her son, Kyle, this feels like her first real Thanksgiving there as part of the family (much to Ashley's chagrin). I get why Ashley wants to get rid of Diane, given their history, but I also was hoping that Jack (and Diane) got through to her this week when Diane insisted that Jeremy Stark would be the bigger threat to the Abbott family if Ashley doesn't leave her past in L.A. with him alone. Alas, Ashley made it clear to Tucker at the end of the week that she is still hellbent on getting rid of Diane, no matter the cost.

I wonder if Ashley will be feeling the same way about "the cost" of getting rid of Diane once Jeremy learns where Diane is living now and that she helped put him in prison. Now that he is getting released from jail, I am excited to see more of Jeremy (and James Hyde in the role) to see what havoc he will wreak on Genoa City (and the Abbotts in particular)! I do hope, though, that the Jeremy storyline becomes a story of redemption for Diane and that she can finally feel at home in Genoa City. It has been great to see Susan Walters back on the show as Diane, and I don't want to see her go anytime soon. I actually think that Diane and Jack could be a really great couple if Jack can get over their tumultuous past together.

As for Allie's first Thanksgiving with the Abbotts, I am glad that there wasn't too much drama and that she got to enjoy the day with her newfound family. I like to think that her father, Keemo, would be happy to know that she is there and enjoying the holidays with them. She may not have a lot of happy days ahead of her if Audra continues to pursue Noah, so it is nice to see her enjoying life somewhat drama-free (for now) after all she has been through in the past year.

Noah certainly seemed conflicted over "what might have been" with Audra when he clued his mother, Sharon, in on having learned that Audra miscarried their child shortly after he left her in London. I can understand why Noah would feel that way, since he didn't know about the pregnancy at all, but I hope he doesn't let this new information ruin the great relationship he has with Allie. I do like Audra, too, though, so I hope she sticks around (I love me a troublemaker). Maybe the newly single Chance could strike up a romance with Audra or Allie, depending on who Noah ultimately ends up with. However, I get the feeling that the writers may have a romantic storyline in store for Chance and Sharon, so we'll see what happens! 2023 will certainly be an interesting year in Genoa City (but isn't every year?)!

Noah wasn't the only "Newman" with conflicted feelings this week. His sister, Mariah, learned that she and Tessa were not going to be able to adopt the child that they were hoping for because the mother decided to let one of her cousins adopt the baby instead. The mother assured them that if it hadn't been an option for the child to go to a family member, then she would have chosen Mariah and Tessa as the parents, but sadly, it was just not meant to be. I really felt bad for them, but I know the right child will come for them at the right time. That seemed to be how they felt about it, too, and I was glad to see that they were understanding of the mother's choice, even if they were conflicted over "losing" a child. I'm hoping for good things for their family in the new year!

I'm also hoping that more good things will come for Chelsea in the new year. Her interaction with Johnny at the end of the week was a nice surprise, and I am glad that the writers took the time to write those scenes and give them more of a bond. She may not be the mother that raised him, but she is still his biological mother. I am glad to see that he is no longer holding any grievances toward her after the initial shock of learning about their true relationship. Melissa Claire Egan continues to knock it out of the park with her acting as Chelsea deals with the ramifications of almost killing herself. I am so happy to see that Chelsea is on a path toward improving her mental health and that the people she cares most about are in her corner.

Now, before we wrap up this week, we must talk about the big drama that unfolded just before the holiday -- Adam's proposal to Sally! The writers of the show sure are testing me lately with these two (and Nick)! I was sooooo irritated at the beginning of the week with Nick and Sally continuing to date and get closer. Does anyone want to see them together more than they want to see Adam and Sally back together? I seriously want to know if there are ANY Nick/Sally fans, so please leave a comment (here on the site or on one of the social media posts featuring my column) if you are Team Sally/Nick rather than Team Sally/Adam. To me, Sally and Nick just feel very forced. They have nowhere near the same chemistry as Sally and Adam. Like Adam said to Sally this week, they are perfect for each other and practically made for each other!

Having said that, I was not happy when Adam drunkenly pulled Sally aside from her date with Nick to propose marriage. What was he thinking?! I get that he was making a last-ditch effort to steal her away from Nick, but that was not the way to go about it. It came off as desperate, and he put Sally in a very uncomfortable situation with Nick waiting for her just a few feet away. What was she supposed to say -- "Sorry, Nick, I have to cut our date short because I've decided to marry your brother now"?! This was not Adam at his best, but I do get why he did what he did and that he is struggling with how he feels.

Before we talk about the rest of what went down with Sally and Adam this week, though, I just have to get this off my chest -- Nick is a prick! I fully agree with Adam that Nick is primarily interested in Sally because the sex is good. He hasn't "gotten any" for a while, since breaking things off with Phyllis earlier this year, so it makes sense that he would want to continue seeing Sally for that reason. But I have a really hard time believing that Nick has any actual real feelings for Sally. He doesn't interact with her the same way he did with Sharon or Phyllis (hell, even Chelsea!) when he was in love with them. This is just fun for him, which I'd be fine with if he weren't also creating emotional turmoil for his brother.

Nick and Adam had finally gotten to a good place as brothers earlier this year and were starting to act like real family. It even seemed like they had gotten to a place where they could count on one another and lean on each other, when needed. So, for Nick to just blatantly "slap Adam in the face" by continuing to pursue Sally is just cruel and not characteristic of the Nick that I usually love. The writers seem to be creating drama for drama's sake rather than considering Nick's character and how they are tarnishing it. Like Adam, I think that Nick will ultimately end up back with Sharon and I feel that the writers should just start to tell that story now and leave Nick and Sally in the past. Maybe a Nick/Sharon/Chance triangle is going to be a hot topic in 2023?

I was very happy with how the rest of the week played out for Adam and Sally, though, when he showed up at her hotel room later that night. She rightly called him out for his drunken proposal, but then it seemed like she started to really hear what he was saying and to believe his profession of love when she agreed that he may be more truthful drunk than sober. However, I didn't agree with Sally when she tried to claim that Adam is only saying the things he is to try to come between her and Nick because he doesn't want his brother to "win her." I think Adam is being completely honest when he says he wants to marry her and make her happier than Nick ever could. And thankfully, it seems like Sally might be starting to think so, too, based on how she reacted to his late-night visit. This keeps me hopeful that the writers' endgame is to put Adam and Sally back together (after they torture us viewers for a little while longer, of course).

But what do you all think? That's all I've got to say for this week but don't forget to hit the Comments and share your opinions, too! I leave you with a final "happy Thanksgiving," and I hope your upcoming holidays are merry!

Until next time,Vance

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