It’s been teased for a while now that the week of The Young and the Restless’ 13,000-episode celebration would bring about some surprising drama in Genoa City, and so far that’s proving to be the case.
Not only has Victor (Eric Braeden) restored the old Newman Ranch, which was a gift to Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and longtime fans of the soap, but Jill (Jess Walton) has returned and in The Young and the Restless episode airing on November 13, she delivers a blow to Billy (Jason Thompson). She tells her son there’s no longer a need to bring Lily (Christel Khalil) back to Abbott-Chancellor and he’s no longer going to be running things with the business. Jill has decided to sell the company back to Victor.
Moving beyond all of the surprises Victor has his hands in, the celebratory episodes of the soap also shine more of a light on the mystery surrounding Heather’s (Vail Bloom) death and Sharon’s (Sharon Case) involvement. Again in The Young and the Restless episode airing on November 13, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) debriefs Daniel (Michael Graziadei) about Sharon breaking into her room at the Athletic Club. The news raises some red flags for Daniel about Sharon, but he’s still weary about his mother being the one to prove Sharon is guilty of murder.
Of course, Phyllis is stubborn and often doesn’t take good advice. She winds up getting a text from Sharon’s phone and Phyllis thinks this means Daniel will soon be free from police suspicion that he’s a murderer. The text notes that Sharon is ready to tell the truth about what happened to Heather and calls for Phyllis to meet the Crimson Lights owner at her home.
As Phyllis drives to Sharon’s house, she gets a slew of messages from Sharon’s phone that seem to only aggravate Phyllis while also distracting her from paying attention to the road. By the end of the episode, it looks as if she gets into a car crash.
Now what we haven’t mentioned so far is that Sharon lost her phone. As Phyllis was with Daniel, Sharon was talking to Faith (Reylynn Caster) about her issues with Phyllis. During the conversation, Sharon tells her daughter she misplaced her phone, and after not being able to find it, heads home to search there. This seemingly means that whoever was texting Phyllis to meet was not Sharon at all. Which begs the question, who was it?
From the moment Heather was murdered, we suspected that Sharon wasn’t the killer. On the night in question, viewers didn’t see Sharon bludgeon Heather to death, and Sharon blacked out and is unable to remember what happened. So is it possible that the real murderer took Sharon’s phone to lure Phyllis into a trap? While Phyllis’ car crash could be attributed to her being distracted, could someone have tampered with her car too?
Looking at the motive here, someone may want to stop Phyllis from digging for the truth so Daniel takes the fall for Heather’s murder. Additionally, this same person may want to frame Sharon for going after Phyllis, needing someone to receive police suspicion. Plus, Sharon’s spiraling behavior is bound to lead to the truth being discovered, so this individual may think Sharon getting arrested for her Phyllis obsession is a good way to settle matters.
Should our theories prove correct that Sharon isn’t Heather’s killer and the murderer is behind the text messages to Phyllis, we again think the culprit is likely Lucy’s (Lily Brooks O'Briant) birth mother Daisy (Yvonne Zima). The daughter of Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown Pelzer) simply vanished off the soap canvas years ago, so perhaps she came back to re-stake her claim in Lucy’s life. With Heather dead, Daniel in prison and Phyllis taken care of, that becomes an easier process for Daisy, who is not above resorting to crime to get what she wants.
We’ll have to keep watching to see how this all plays out, as it’s only a matter of time before the complete truth about Heather is revealed.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Paramount Plus .
