When it comes to The Young and the Restless’ Great Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), he’s earned quite the reputation for being a shrewd businessman, a masterful tactician, a phenomenal chess player of people and the ultimate family man. Naturally, with this mixed bag of characteristics, his choices aren’t always welcomed, especially by those with the Newman blood flowing through their veins.
There have been several instances where Victor’s family members have found themselves furious with the patriarch because he feels he knows best and he butts in their personal lives. Take Victoria (Amelia Heinle) for example. She hasn’t had one romantic relationship where her father didn’t interfere and cause problems. Whether it was her relationship with J.T. (Thad Luckinbill), her marriages with Billy (Jason Thompson), her shortlived courtship with Nate (Sean Dominic) or her disaster of a romance with Ashland Locke (Robert Newman), Victor was in the midst of daughter’s pathway to love.
Victor also played a part in the relationships of Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Adam (Mark Grossman). Let’s focus on Nick and Adam’s mutual fascination with Sally (Courtney Hope). The Mustache never liked Sally and that perception certainly didn’t change when both his sons were dueling over her. Victor made Adam choose the family and his job over Sally at one point, and he eventually told Nick to stop chasing her when she was obviously in love with his brother.
With all that being said, we have a feeling Victor is once again about to stick his nose in the personal life of a loved one, and this time we mean Claire (Hayley Erin).
Already, Victor has warned his granddaughter about Kyle (Michael Mealor) and the complications that tend to surround him and his Abbott nature. Additionally, Victor spoke to Kyle, warning him not to take advantage of Claire’s naivety and strongly encouraging him to just remain her platonic friend. Well, it doesn’t take a psychic to see that Claire and Kyle are sailing toward romantic waters.
In The Young and the Restless episode airing on September 5, Claire and Kyle talk about the future of her employment as Harrison’s (Redding Munsell) nanny. With Harrison going to school, they both know her hours may be different. However, Kyle makes it clear that he still wants her to retain the job if she wants it because he and Harrison like having her around. She responds by noting that she doesn’t plan on going anywhere soon, even with Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) wanting her to come work for her.
Kyle and Claire then pivot to talking about their friendship. They’ve already been to dinner as buddies, but he suggests going to dinner again or a movie. Then he mentions, "But yeah, people might get the wrong idea." She replies, "I don’t care what people would say if they saw us hanging out. Someone ran my life before and that’s not going to happen again."
Combine the goofy and flirtatious looks between Claire and Kyle, with Claire’s definite statement, and we see trouble ahead. As the pair start to let those romantic butterflies loose, we think Victor will attempt to shut them down. He probably wouldn’t want any more friction between Claire and Summer (Allison Lanier) caused by a #Kylair coupling, and given Kyle is Summer’s ex, friction between the Newman cousins is bound to come.
Additionally, Victor may want Kyle working for him to stick it to Jack (Peter Bergman), but we don’t believe he thinks the Abbott heir is good enough to date another one of his granddaughters, especially after his tumultuous divorce with Summer.
However, having been manipulated by Jordan (Colleen Zenk) her entire life, Claire probably won’t take kindly to her grandfather telling her who she can and cannot date. Especially, since Claire has never had a boyfriend before, so Kyle would seemingly be her first. That first love is powerful in a person’s life, so will it be so powerful here that she demands Victor stay out of her business, sounding more like her mother in the process?
If Claire does, will Victor listen? He doesn’t tend to do that so well. But in this scenario, he would be wise to do so. Unlike the rest of his family, Claire was groomed to be manipulative and vindictive, even though she supposedly got that kind of venom out of her system. Could those traits come back if Victor stops her from trying to be with Kyle? Might she sabotage his Chancellor takeover plot or help Jack fight back against Victor if her grandfather interferes? It’s worth considering.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
