It’s not often that The Young and the Restless will dedicate an entire episode to just two characters, so when that does occur, you can expect something big to happen. Something that sends shockwaves through Genoa City. Well, in The Young and the Restless episode airing on May 2, the entire episode stars only Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Jack (Peter Bergman), and the two get into a heap of trouble.
The episode starts out with Jack barging into Nikki’s room at the Athletic Club. She’s incredibly drunk and is in no mood to be rescued by her sponsor. However, he’s insistent that Nikki is stronger than her addiction. Unfortunately, the Newman matriarch doesn’t believe a word he says and is content with wallowing in self-pity and guilt. She blames herself for Jordan’s (Colleen Zenk) reign of terror and the pain the crazed villain unleashed on Harrison (Redding Munsell), Claire (Hayley Erin) and her entire family.
No matter how many times Jack tries to convince Nikki that she’s not to blame for Jordan’s actions, Nikki stands firm in her belief that she could have stopped Jordan a while ago if she had just let her die when she ingested the vile of poison. Nikki even notes that Summer (Allison Lanier) looked disappointed in her grandmother’s choice to let Jordan live.
In the moments Nikki isn’t bashing herself, she’s bashing Jack. She expresses her frustration with him trying to get her to stop drinking and sober up. When he mentions the idea of her going to rehab, she really lets loose, even noting how the great Jack Abbott failed as her sponsor, essentially leaving a blemish on his seemingly perfect life. Although Nikki’s harsh words were no doubt a ploy to frustrate Jack enough to get him to leave so she could resume drinking (which she does anyway with him present), she inadvertently opens Pandora’s Box for Jack.
He rattles off all the stressful situations going on in his life, pointing to Ashley’s (Eileen Davidson) mental health crisis, Harrison being kidnapped, Diane's (Susan Walters) and Kyle’s (Michael Mealor) infighting at Jabot and of course, Nikki’s failed attempts at sobriety. He says it’s all too much and how he essentially envies Nikki’s ability to escape her problems with her vice, alcohol.
Jack then starts downing vodka himself, which we thought was quite the interesting tactic for a sponsor. But then things take an even more destructive turn when Jack makes a mysterious phone call. While we were hoping the call would be to Victor (Eric Braeden), he instead calls his former pill dealer. Nikki is left completely stunned. As she begs Jack not to throw his years of sobriety away, she also hopes he’s bluffing to prove a point.
Sadly, the drugs are delivered, and despite Nikki’s many pleas that he stop this madness, he takes a few pills and washes them down with more alcohol, a terrible combination by any standards. By the end of the episode, Jack passes out unconscious, and a very concerned Nikki desperately tries to wake him up.
Now we’ll admit, part of us is holding out hope that the pills Jack took are fake and he’s doing a bit of acting to sway Nikki into going to rehab. It would be a drastic and manipulative ploy, but at this stage in Nikki’s life, she needs more help than AA meetings and even Victor can provide.
However, if Jack did indeed relapse, we expect Diane’s head to explode and for her to fully rage at Nikki. Diane was never a fan of her husband sponsoring Nikki and even expressed concerns that Nikki’s struggles could sway Jack to give up on his own sobriety. So if Diane is proven right, we imagine she won’t hold back in blasting her nemesis. In that same vein, if the rest of the Abbotts find out what happened, they too may attack Nikki. Considering she already feels pretty bad about herself these days, the pile-on could prove to be too much.
Then there’s Victor. While Diane may be content to yell at Nikki, you better believe Victor will have choice words for his lifelong rival Jack. The Mustache never wanted Jack to be Nikki’s sponsor and has already questioned Jack’s ability to be an effective one. If Victor finds out that Jack sat by and let his wife get hammered and even joined in on the fun, we expect to see plenty of fireworks. Especially, given Jack didn't call Victor. The Newman patriarch will also probably save a few choice words for Nikki too.
Additionally, although Nikki and Victor literally just celebrated an anniversary with an elaborate party, we have to consider that Jack and Nikki’s wild night together and subsequent recovery could be laying the groundwork for a possible #Nack reunion. We prefer Victor and Nikki stay together as a couple, but it is the soap world.
All in all, you’ll want to make sure you stay tuned for what happens next with these legacy characters, but we feel something big is brewing.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
