It’s been months since The Young and the Restless fans have seen Ashley (Eileen Davidson). She’s been off the canvas getting psychiatric help in Paris after her mental health struggles with dissociative identity disorder and the revelation she was a victim of Alan’s (Christopher Cousins) twin brother Martin. (We still aren’t certain all that he did to Ashley, but it was clearly traumatizing.) Now with Devon's (Bryton James) and Abby’s (Melissa Ordway) nuptials coming up, Ashley is set to make her triumphant return back to Genoa City.
Unfortunately, we think it’s possible her return can spell the end of the relationship between Alan and Traci (Beth Maitland). For a while now, we’ve suspected that Traci has been falling in love with Martin who is passing himself off as Alan. That somehow, Parisian police misidentified Martin’s dead body and it was really Alan who fell to his death on that fateful night. And instead of sneaking off into the shadows, Martin has taken on his brother’s identity and started dating Traci, ingratiating himself further among the Abbotts.
Now for those ready to claim this may be a stretch, allow us to remind you that this is the soap world so almost anything can happen. Plus, lending credence to our theory has been the behavior of “Alan” since he arrived back in Genoa City with Traci. He is a lot more expressive with his feelings, has voluntarily picked up his whole life to move to Genoa City and he’s committed to moving into the Abbott Mansion. While we could credit Alan’s change of behavior to him being in love, we tend to think the changed behavior stems from "Alan" actually being Martin.
Should our hunch prove correct, then Martin seeing Ashley again could make for some interesting scenes given he’s been obsessed with her. Perhaps, Martin starts exhibiting odd behavior or doing things to find himself in the proximity of Ashley. She may start to take notice and soon question if her sister is dating her victimizer.
If Martin is pretending to be Alan, then Ashley, Traci, the Abbotts and all of Genoa City could have a villainous crisis on their hands. Not for nothing, with Jordan (Colleen Zenk) still locked up, the show’s canvas is missing a menacing presence. That is, if you don’t count Sharon’s (Sharon Case) downward spiral tormenting Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) and Daniel (Michael Graziadei).
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
