“The Young and the Restless” spoilers regarding when Victor Newman’s (Eric Braeden) crimes will be discovered – and what will happen when they are – have fans wondering how the writers will handle the storyline. It appears as if executive producer Jill Farren Phelps and head writer Chuck Pratt Jr. have backed themselves into a corner this time.
Paragon Project or no Paragon Project, the patriarch of the Newman family is 100% responsible for releasing Marco the Monster on Genoa City. With that one single decision Victor became criminally, morally and ethically responsible for the murders of Austin Travers (Matthew Atkinson), Courtney Sloane (Kelli Goss), Tobias Grey (Jeffrey Christopher), Kelly Andrews (Cady McClain) and Det. Mark Harding (Chris McKenna). Not only is Victor an accessory – at the very least – to these murders, he is responsible for Marco Annicelli (Peter Bergman) repeatedly raping Phyllis Newman (Gina Tognoni) – because at the time she believed she was making love to her husband Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman). In an attempt to cover up these horrific crimes Victor tried to kill Marco and ended up shooting Jack.
Making matters worse, Chelsea Lawson’s (Melissa Claire Egan) former father-in-law – or current father-in-law, since Gabe Bingham (Justin Hartley) is really his son Adam – has plotted to get control of her design company and now it looks as if he may go after Chelsea for custody of her son Connor!
Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) needs to charge Victor with multiple counts of accessory to murder, kidnapping, fraud, industrial espionage, and more – ASAP. The master of manipulation has a way of wiggling out of precarious situations by paying people off and sending them out of town, never to be heard from again. If this is the direction in which Chuck Pratt wants to take this storyline fans will not be happy. Letting Victor escape the long arm of the law is not what Y&R fans want to see and the comments on the soap opera message boards are proof of that. The Moustache has done too much – hurt too many people – to just walk away from this scot-free.
Victor Newman’s standard excuse for all the dastardly things he has done over the years is – I did it to protect my family – isn’t going to hold water this time. The multitude of felonies he has initiated or participated in this time are far too many. Victor must be held accountable for his crimes – he must be found guilty and made to pay. Natural, but highly improbable solutions would be to kill Victor off, sent him to prison, or have him flee town. However Eric Braden has repeatedly, and emphatically, addressed rumors of his departure from Y&R and each time the answer is a big fat NO!
So if they can’t kill him or send him away, then how in the world can TPTB at “The Young and the Restless” redeem Victor Newman? This poses a true problem for Y&R. Victor is a great character, essential to The Young and the Restless’ very existence, yet right now he is responsible for more death and damage than any soap character in history. How are TPTB going to make us love Victor again? Certainly NOT by having him take legal action against Chelsea with regards to Connor, right? Yet this is where the Y&R plot seems to be headed. After all Victor has done to so many residents of GC with his Marco debacle, instead of trying to be a better human being, he is once again making trouble. Please tell us that TPTB don’t think that fans will simply forgive and forget?
