Y&R August 2022 Discussion Thread

[SteelCity]

What happened to Sharon's degree that she worked so hard for? It's really stupid, so much so that you can't even take business stories seriously because you know it's not going to stick. Remember Dark Horse? It really sucks, because in my own fantasy storyline, I introduced a Black family that own a skin and haircare business and would do business with Jabot. That would be a great spinoff, which I will start writing!

[StevieM]

I have never watched a whole episode of Y&R in my life.  But for the first time I have an opinion about something that happened on the show.

The adoption of Johnny seems like it was pretty disgusting.  They promised her an open adoption and that Johnny would know where he came from.  Instead, they don't give her a single visit, treat her with contempt for daring to ask to see him, and still haven't told the poor kid that he is adopted by Victoria.

I also think it is terrible that there was a prenatal termination of parental rights (TPR) agreement.  No woman should ever be asked to sign something at the point, before she has met her child.  A situation like that is ripe for coercion.

I don't watch the show, but that is what it sounds like to me.  Can any long-time viewers offer some thoughts?

 

[janea4old]

Chelsea was a con artist hired by Victor to waylay Billy in a foreign country.  Chelsea raped Billy via a substance thing, and that's how Johnny was conceived.  There was no affection involved.  
Pregnant Chelsea and her mother Anita came to Genoa City to con the couple Billy and Victoria, and to get them to pay her for the baby.  I could go on but it gets me really angry, so I'll stop there.

[StevieM]

My understanding is that Chelsea, regardless of her initial intentions, turned down $10M from Victor to leave town, after the baby was adopted, and that she did not, ultimately, sell the baby.  

Regardless, she was promised, if I understantd correctly, an open adoption.  And it is wrong for Billy and Victoria to be denying Johnny the right to know where he came from, or any relationship at all with his natural mother.  In fact, didn't Billy say (a couple years ago) that he didn't want them to ever have a relationship, meaning at any point in his son's life?  So when Johnny is an adult, will he be shamed if he wants to know her?  That makes Billy and Victoria lousy adoptive parents.

[janea4old]

In my personal opinion, Victoria is the mother.  Chelsea is (for all reasons that matter) the surrogate.  It wasn't set up that way legally, but that's what the reality was for many years.

Yes of course they should have told Johnny that he was conceived via another woman than Victoria, but I think the hesitancy in telling him was "how do you tell your child he was conceived via rape".
But yeah better for them to have told him when he was younger so he doesn't hear it from anyone else.  But still, how do you find the words?

I guess the show should (at least) have had scenes where Victoria and Billy discussed when/how to do this.

Another factor is that the pandemic stopped children from appearing on any of the soaps for a long while, and children have rarely appeared in the the past year.

Now that Y&R has committed to this storyline, Johnny has just been SORASed somewhat, with the new actor debuting in Sept. 2022.  He was previously played by younger twins.
Spoiler thread about the recast:
https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/61466-yr-casting-call-for-a-teen-boy/

Edited August 23, 2022 by janea4old

[KMan101]

 

No offense to Rikaart, whom I love, but Kevin ran his course a LOOOOONG time ago.

 

The Johnny story feels like they're grasping at something to do and giving us the inevitable Billy/Victoria re-pairing even though they seem to be trying Chelsea/Billy, who somewhat work, but Chelsea feels played out. Love MCE but Chelsea/Chloe leave each other redundant IMHO.

[Vee]

Chelsea and Chloe are not just redundant of each other, they have not a purpose on this show in maybe 10 years.

[StevieM]

Chelsea cannot legitimately be called a surrogate IMO.  She is the birth mother.  That is not the same thing, and I don't think it is OK to call a biological mother nothing but a surrogate.  They are more than just vessels to bear a child.  Humanity has a very dark history of dismissing women as "just a surrogate."

As I understand it, she broke down an cried after signing the adoption papers.  That means that she probably didn't want to do it, and was made to feel that it was the only right thing to do.  She was not looking to relinquish her child, but was persuaded that she had to.  To me, that is an adoption that never should have happened. 

Regardless, she was promised an open adoption.  Billy and Victoria lied to her.  They closed the adoption, shut her out completely, and treated her expressions of love for her child with utter contempt.  Billy has even indicated that he plans on coercing Johnny for his entire life not to have a relationship with his natural mother.  In my mind, that makes them people who have no business adopting a child.

[edgeofnik]

I thought it was Chelsea that claimed Billy raped her, which was part of the con. She later admitted on tape that it was a consensual encounter. Billy was a heavy drinker, I don't recall anything about Chelsea needing to drug him - he was pretty good at that himself!

The whole story was a bit disjointed because Chelsea disappeared for a few months only to show up on Billy's doorstep pregnant.

[Vee]

Did Billy ever go to proper AA? Is he on the wagon? I can't even remember now.

[janea4old]

That's why I said "it was a substance thing".   Billy was too drunk to legally consent.  And Chelsea knew it.  Thus it was legally rape.

It happened in Myanmar and I don't know what their laws are about that.
But it would be considered rape in Genoa City, which is located in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin law:
Does intoxication impact the victim’s ability to consent?
Answer
Yes, if the victim is under the influence of an intoxicant to a degree which renders that person incapable of giving consent if the defendant has actual knowledge that the person is incapable of giving consent and the defendant has the purpose to have sexual contact or sexual intercourse with the person while the person is incapable of giving consent. Wis. Stat. Ann. § 940.225(2).
https://apps.rainn.org/policy/policy-crime-definitions.cfm?state=Wisconsin&group=9

[Taoboi]

8-17

 

Well...uh...sums it up.

 

I know I rolled my eyes a few episodes back when Chelesa...after what 10 years...decided she wanted to bring up how Johnny was made. After years of her not even being in Billy's orbit...NOW she wants to be? Talk about being transparent with the writing.

 

Not rolling my eyes at all the Devon vs Nate drama though. Loved Elena cluing Nate into Imani's Lady MacBeth act. Of course, I gasped at Sally revealing she got no phone call. And now Lily has been dropped into the middle of the drama. So...Devon has a deeper issue with Nate than he's just new on the job huh? There's the potential for messy there if only the writers would go there. And bring back Olivia while you are at it...but I know wishful thinking. 

 

See? Knew Chance would be onto Victor? 

 

 

[soapfan770]

Nope, which was bad because Katherine of all people was used to prop Billy for his drunk antics there 2009-2011 during the MAB years.

I believe he sobered up during his DID story back in 2019 and has been for the most part since. 

[soapfan770]

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[janea4old]

I think Billy went to Gamblers Anonymous (or some sort of treatment program for compulsive gamblers.)  Not AA.

Edited August 26, 2022 by janea4old