The Young and the Restless’ great Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) has done his fair share of scheming throughout the years, but his latest plan of faking a mental decline to manipulate his family and sniff out a traitor among them may be the most ruthless Victor plot we’ve seen yet. We’re including the time he had Jack (Peter Bergman) held captive and replaced the Abbott with his stunt double Marco.
Victor’s latest endeavor is a bit cruel in that it puts almost all of his children in the unenviable position of having to worry about their aging parent and what a deterioration in his health could mean going forward. For now, Abby (Melissa Ordway) as usual is out of the Newman family loop.
However, as for Victoria (Amelia Heinle), Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Adam (Mark Grossman), they’ve witnessed firsthand their dad do things that are out of the ordinary. This includes Victor calling Adam by Nick’s name, forgetting that Adam and Sally (Courtney Hope) lost their baby and confusing Victoria and Nikki’s (Melody Thomas Scott) positions at Newman Enterprises.
Victor’s purposeful missteps appear hard for all his children to watch (again, sans Abby), but Nick in particular seems primed to make some big changes in his life to deal with the situation.
In the episode airing on Thursday, October 19, Nick meets with Victoria and Nikki to discuss his uneasiness about his father as of late. After sharing the story about Victor confusing his sister with his mother, Nick makes the statement to them, "I’m definitely not going to leave you two to face this alone, especially when we don’t even know what this is."
Now Nick’s words could very well mean he just plans to help Victoria and Nikki convince Victor to seek medical help, take Victor to necessary doctor appointments and provide overall emotional support.
However, we tend to think his bold words were actually foreshadowing his return to the family company. Especially considering that shortly after Nick made this proclamation, he and Victoria go to Victor about their concerns and Victor has a rather volatile response. That reaction is sure to sway Nick to jump back on board Newman Enterprises.
Should our theory ring true, that means he most likely would have to abandon his joint effort with Sharon (Sharon Case) to rebrand Kirsten Incorporated. We hate to see Nick tricked back into the Newman corporate machine and Sharon down a vital staff member, but at least Sharon still has Mariah (Camryn Grimes) to help her.
It’s worth noting that we’ve already predicted that Victor’s plot is going backfire in the most explosive of ways. He may finally see unity among his children, but he may soon live to regret that. Something tells us that when they find out he’s been faking, Victoria in particular will lead a charge of vengeance that could leave Victor without control of his company after all.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
