Credit: CBS screenshot, Howard Wise/JPI

Young & Restless dropped a few, if not bombs, then firecrackers, ahead of a dream sequence Valentine’s Day offering. Here’s a look at what happened and what’s coming up.

Daring to Dream

The Valentine’s Day episode wasn’t… great. It was a fun idea, but sorely needed was an unpredictable twist to shock us. What if it had been Billy dreaming of Phyllis, Nick dreaming of Sharon, etc. Young & Restless has come to feel so tired. Here’s a quick look at the dream sequences:

While I can see the lure of reuniting Adam and Chelsea on paper, the onscreen reality isn’t translating to bigtime romantic sparks. There was far more energy crackling in the air when Adam told Sally that he’d reconnected with his ex than there was in his imagined exchange with Chelsea, which centered almost entirely around their son. That said, this was probably the writers means of communicating to viewers where this is going… whether they like it or not.

While I’d really like to see something completely different for Phyllis than yet another “one-sided, chasing an ex” scenario, I supposed that’s exactly where this is going. It’s not unexpected that she would begin to have feelings for Billy again given their close proximity and her single status, but the chemistry between them is giving “co-conspirators”, as opposed to “couple”.

The Nick and Sharon dream sequence almost felt like it might really be happening… but it would have been just a little too out-of-the-blue on Nick’s side of things. Nonetheless, I expect it’s headed there as we haven’t seen any other options dangled for either of them romantically-speaking.

A Love Triangle Takes Shape

As predicted, a Claire/Kyle/Summer love triangle is in the cards. I’m leaning toward Team Summer, mainly because I want drama and have been hoping for writing that will force Claire out of the Mary Poppins mold she’s been jammed into. Having her first love be an unmitigated disaster might finally turn her into the type of character she should have been all along. Also, let’s be honest, Summer and Kyle give “meant to be together”. Theirs is a soap love story spanning most of their lives.

Dropping Firecrackers

I don’t know about y’all, but I need to know exactly what Amy did to Damian that could possibly warrant this kind of treatment. Who abandons their dying mother? If he had found out that Jackson wasn’t his father and that she lied to him years ago, his coldness and distance might make sense. Regardless of what she laid on him, it was nothing less than shocking to me that he would even consider walking away from a mother who had just told him she was sick and didn’t have long to live, so there had better be an explanation concerning their past… and make it a good one.

Audra’s connection to Holden was established, and I couldn’t help but think about the ramifications. Watch for an upcoming story on SOAPS about where this is headed.

Perhaps not so shocking, expected even, was the reveal that Billy’s been lying to absolutely everyone and is still going guns-blazing after Adam and Victor. He’s led Phyllis, Daniel, Sally and Jack to believe that he’s let go of what happened at Chancellor, and yet he instructed someone over the phone to dig into exactly what Nikki’s been doing at the company since he left.

With regard to who he was speaking to, he’s clearly colluding with someone, and the only person I can think of who would want to hit back at Victor is the man who’s name just coincidentally was brought up during another conversation in Genoa City this week… Tucker McCall. Victor helped Audra scoop Glissade out from under him and that makes him the most likely candidate as Billy’s partner in crime, as it were. Will he return? Only time will tell. Let’s hope if he does, he actually gets to do something more than hang out at the local bars snarking at people this time around.

The opinions expressed are my own. Please feel free to join the conversation about this week’s Young & Restless in the comment section.