As a viewer of The Young and the Restless, I’ll admit that I’ve found myself disenchanted with Victoria (Amelia Heinle) as of late.
My issues with the Newman heiress started when she plotted with Nate (Sean Dominic) against Lily (Christel Khalil) and Devon (Bryton James). She had no problem being so callous to intervene in the Winters/Hasting family. Then subsequently, Victoria had no issue having an affair with Nate even though he was with Elena (Brytni Sarpy). In fact, she completely disregarded Elena's feelings and has yet to offer her a meaningful apology.
Then there’s Victoria’s treatment of her brothers. We understand she and Adam (Mark Grossman) have never really gotten along, but her insistence that Victor (Eric Braeden) turns his back on his youngest son in recent months is beyond perplexing. Victor is Adam’s only living parent, so her desire for The Mustache to sever ties seems rather cruel.
Plus, when I think about it, Victoria’s reasons for constantly making such demands and antagonizing Adam seem rather hypocritical. She alleges that Adam continually hurts their father, but it wasn’t that long ago when Victoria led a charge to sue her father for millions and attempted to strip him of Newman Enterprises. That sounds pretty harmful in my opinion.
As far as Nick (Joshua Morrow), she fired him as Newman COO just to essentially appoint Nate. Outside of Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), Nick is Victoria’s best friend, so for her to just sideline him from the family business appeared rather ruthless. Again, she never really apologized for her actions, but rather attempted to rationalize them to her favorite sibling.
With a laundry list of reasons why I found Victoria bothersome, I’ve recently discovered a reason to hope that the ice princess is finally unthawing and becoming a bit more likable. Since being kidnapped by Claire (Hayley Erin) and Jordan (Colleen Zenk) and later finding out that there is a possibility Claire is her presumed-dead daughter Eve with Cole (J. Eddie Peck), a softer side of Victoria has started to emerge.
It was quite endearing to watch her during the week of December 11, advocate for Claire, even against her family. Victoria’s been adamant that Claire never stood a chance growing up under Jordan’s control, and that the young woman is deserving of more than just a prison cell. Even if Clarie proves not to be Victoria’s biological daughter (but to be clear, we definitely think the duo are related), Victoria has vowed to help her with her legal predicament. Talk about compassion.
It’s my hope that this crack in Victoria’s tough exterior continues to expand and viewers get to see more of her human side in 2024. Additionally, should our hunch about Claire being her daughter prove true, I’d like to see Victoria hit the refresh button with Adam.
If Victoria could be willing to embrace Claire as her child, and the young woman held hostage the Newman clan and poisoned them, then Victoria should be a bit more receptive to Adam and understand Victor’s need to always be connected to the family’s black sheep. Not for nothing, Adam hasn’t tried to necessarily kill any of his family members to my recollection.
To add, if The Young and the Restless viewers are getting a retooled version of Victoria in the near future, I’d love to see her partner with Cole again. He seems to bring out her better side and unlike Nate, Cole won’t feed her most cutthroat desires.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
