In the world of The Young and the Restless, the Abbott clan certainly knows how to keep things interesting. Not only is Kyle’s (Michael Mealor) failing marriage to Summer (Allison Lanier) and subsequent affair with Audra (Zuleyka Silver) heating things up in Genoa City, but so is the ongoing fight between Jack (Peter Bergman) and Ashley (Eileen Davidson).
As viewers have seen for months, the two siblings can’t manage to agree when it comes to their vision for the family legacy of Jabot and their respective relationships with Diane (Susan Walters) and Tucker (Trevor St. John).
It’s resulted in Ashley launching another business venture with her Tucker, and her threatening to once again take her patents from Jabot and perhaps this time some personnel. Meanwhile, Jack has found himself relying on Diane and Billy (Jason Thompson) to dig into their bag of manipulative tricks to stop his sister.
During the week of July 24, Young and the Restless fans see glimpses of what Jack, Billy and Diane’s scheme entails when they talk about the brothers faking a public spat to make it seem like Billy is so fed up with Jack that he’s willing to join Ashley in this Abbott family war. Once on #TeamAshley, he can both feed her and Tucker bad intel as far as Jabot and gain more insight into what his sister’s next steps are.
This plan is launched officially in the episode airing July 27. As news of Jack and Diane’s plans to get married right away in a civil ceremony makes its way around town, Billy pretends to be appalled by the idea and seeks out his sister to vent.
In the following clip, Billy shares that this rushed wedding is making him question all his brother’s recent decisions, especially as it pertains to the family company. Ashley appears to take the bait, especially when she and Billy confront Jack later about how bad an idea it is to marry Diane.
#yr🇨🇦spoiler Wed🇨🇦Thurs🇺🇸 #yr50 pic.twitter.com/vKUHGt1X3gJuly 26, 2023
One or two contentious moments between Jack and Billy are certainly not going to be enough to fool Ashley into revealing her entire hand to Billy as far as what she has planned. Meaning, Billy and Jack will have to bump heads a few more times and in more explosive ways. However, the longer Billy and Jack fake division, the greater likelihood that it becomes real.
This idea of a real feud was hinted at in the episode that aired on July 26. As the brothers discuss their maneuver against Ashley, Jack and Billy get into an argument about whether or not Jack trusts Billy enough to carry out this plan. They stop bickering when Diane steps in to smooth things over.
Plus, Billy is also not a super fan of Diane. While he’s always cordial to her and respects her as Jack’s soon-to-be wife and Kyle’s mother, he asked her not that long ago if she was willing to leave Jabot temporarily to help keep the peace in his family.
Additionally, looking at the history between Jack and Billy, they have a tendency to get into some heated arguments and going to war, almost as frequently as Jack and Ashley. Time and time again, Jack has chastised Billy for his impulsive, and sometimes downright immature, decisions.
Oh, and who can forget the whole debacle of 2016 when Billy slept with Phyllis who was involved with Jack at the time? It’s still a wonder that the brothers were able to fix their bond after that.
With all that being said, will old wounds between Billy and Jack resurface during their fake feud causing the youngest Abbott sibling to warm up to Ashley? Will Ashley’s points about Jack’s poor judgment start to sink in with Billy, and he and Ashley wind up working together to oust Jack and Diane at Jabot?
As we wait to see if our hunch about Billy betraying Jack rings true, we’ll be paying close attention to the dynamics between Billy and his two warring siblings.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
