HOLLYWOOD—When you can deliver a surprise that leaves the audience speechless than you know you’re doing a great job. Kudos to “The Young and the Restless” for delivering a stunner of a surprise to viewers with the reveal that Diane Jenkins (Susan Waters) is back form the dead and up to no good yet again. Yes, Jenkins who was previously played by soap alum Maura West is very alive and has been hiding out for years.
I will admit NEVER in a million years did I expect this surprise because when those mysterious texts were being sent to Jack, Diane Jenkins NEVER popped into my head, but here we are America. I was wondering how Diane would explain her being back from the dead and she had the help of Deacon Sharpe, yes people that Deacon from “The Bold and the Beautiful.” It all involved a corpse that looked like her, but at the same time limited the number of people who interacted with that corpse.
I guess I can accept that twist to a degree, but even then that seems like a stretch. I think what is MORE frustrating was her reasoning. Diane you wronged a lot of people, but so has a ton of people in Genoa City and they haven’t faked their death. Jack was livid at her return and that the fact that she used his granddaughter Allie, who Jack is attempting to bond with as leverage has only stoked his fire more people. Remember Jack and Diane were an item at a time his torch for Phyllis was quite strong.
Diane was tossed to the curb, so we’re about to see a major rivalry between Phyllis and Diane really rev up and guess what: I’M ALL FOR IT PEOPLE! There is nothing like a good catfight and we’re about to get one with these feisty ladies and that makes TV very entertaining to say the least. Phyllis was stunned when she came face-to-face with her nemesis in the flesh, but also warned Jack this is DIANE; shielding her from Kyle Abbott is the wrong tactic, as the audience realized Diane was already making moves to get in contact with her son, who was gutted by his mother’s death. Diane is back for Kyle, the son who has thought for years his mother has been dead, and with news that Michael Mealor has signed a new contract and is returning to his role as Kyle explains this storyline people.
The face-to-face between Phyllis and Diane was great this week, but we’re waiting for the face-to-face between Kyle and his mother. We know Diane is in Los Angeles now, but she will soon be returning to Genoa City and I cannot wait to see the interaction between Diane and Nikki Newman, the woman who ‘killed’ her people. With that said, Victor, Victoria, Nikki, Adam and Nick have all come up with a plan to take out Ashland Locke. Yeah, I’m over this story people. It was fun when it started, but it has dragged far longer than wanted.
Everyone knows Ashland faked his cancer diagnosis, so it seems the next logical step in the narrative is a murder mystery. That is the only thing that would make actual sense in my opinion, but who knows what the hell will actually transpire. He already had enemies, but with Billy getting into the mix the list is growing, hell Nate is starting to look like a potential candidate and it would actual give him a storyline beyond playing house with Elena people. Michael Baldwin is safely back in GC, so you could also add him to the list of potential suspects wanting to take Ashland out America.
Victoria is playing Ashland like a fiddle at the moment, just as Adam starts to finagle the strings in this takedown. It does make me wonder if Victoria could be in serious danger with this takedown. We don’t full know what Ashland will do when cornered people. I do wonder how Sally Spectra will play into all of this. Sally and Adam’s romance is great, they have that chemistry that just works, but there has to be hiccups along the way right.
Speaking of romance, sparks are igniting between Chelsea and Rey, but I wonder where this is going with Rey’s portrayer Jordi Villauso exiting the role soon. Something major has to happen for the character to just bounce rather it’s a death or something else, has yet to be determined.
