Another day another opportunity for The Young and the Restless’ Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) to interfere in the love life of one of his children. Poor Victoria (Amelia Heinle) doesn’t even know what it feels like not to have Victor meddling in her romantic affairs. From Ryan (Scott Reeves) to Cole (J. Eddie Peck) to J.T. (Thad Luckinbill) to Billy (Jason Thompson) to Nate (Sean Dominic), The Mustache was an active part of each relationship that Victoria had with these men. No one seems to be good enough for Victor’s firstborn.
Now to his credit, Victor knows his daughter has a habit of ignoring some glaring red flags when she falls for someone. Who can forget the disastrous love affair she had with Ashland Locke (Robert Newman), which almost saw her lose her life and Victor nearly lose Newman Enterprises?
Fast forward to the present, and Victoria finds herself falling back in love with Cole. The two understandably started bonding again when they learned Claire (Hayley Erin) is the daughter they once believed died. And for a moment, it seemed as if Victor approved of the two rekindling their feelings for each other after years apart. However, that all changed when Cole and Michael (Christian LeBlanc) "betrayed" Victor by forcing his hand when it came to Jordan (Colleen Zenk). Since then, Victor deems Cole as someone who can’t be trusted, and he further warned the writer to stay away from not only Victoria but Claire as well.
Cole has been rather defiant of Victor. In fact, in The Young and the Restless episode that aired on September 12, Cole boldly showed up at Newman Enterprises and asked Victoria out for lunch in front of him. When she excused herself to grab her belongings, Victor wasted no time taking Cole to task, again demanding he keep away from his daughter. Cole shrugged Victor off and in the same episode, he took Victoria to dinner and they even spent the night together.
Then in the episode airing on September 18, an emboldened Cole returns to Victor’s office and tells him he can’t control his life or that of Victoria. Victor claps back that Cole isn’t good enough for her. Cole further digs in, saying he makes her happy and whether or not she and Cole are together is none of Victor’s business.
The exchange between the two men continues to get heated (while providing us with a few laughs) before Victor says something very interesting. After Cole again points out that he has feelings for Victoria and the two already share a connection as Claire’s parents, Victor angrily fires back, "I don’t give a d*mn. Who knows where you were in the interim? What you were up to? How the hell do I know?"
Of course, Victor is referring to the fact that Cole has been away from Genoa City for years, supposedly at Oxford working as both a writer and professor. With that being said, Victor does raise a good point. What has Cole been doing and has it all been "above board"?
We can imagine a situation where Victor becomes so fed up with Cole’s defiance that he gets his team to look into the writer’s background. Right now, Cole seems like a boy scout, but in a soapy turn of events, perhaps Victor discovers Cole has a big secret he’s been hiding from Victoria that could ruin their blossoming relationship.
Could Cole have a gambling debt and Victor paint the portrait that Cole just wants to be with Victoria for her money? Or could Victor learn that Cole actually got fired from Oxford for some nefarious reason, and that’s the real reason he’s so willing to relocate to Genoa City? Or is there a possibility that Victor finds nothing and makes something up to tank Cole’s relationship with Victoria?
While the answers to these questions are not yet known, we have a feeling Cole better watch his back as he’s made an enemy of The Great Victor Newman.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
