Last fall, there were a few things we’d hope we soon on The Young and the Restless, one of them being the return of the age-old rivalry between Victor (Eric Braeden) and Jack (Peter Bergman).
Over the years, some of the best drama of the soap originated as a result of Victor and Jack going head to head. Between Jack getting with Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) originally to spite Victor, Victor kidnapping Jack and replacing him with his doppelganger Marco, them both trying to ruin relationships that involved co-mingling among the families and both men recruiting the other’s family members to work for them, the feud between The Mustache and the Jabot CEO has created some must-watch TV.
In recent years, however, their fiery rivalry has cooled. While they certainly haven’t become best friends, they haven’t felt the need to attack each other. But leave it to Jordan (Colleen Zenk) to ruin that. Once she got Nikki to fall off the wagon and the Newman matriarch turned to Jack for support as a sponsor, we knew that tensions between Victor and Jack would again come to a head.
Then, once Jack and Nikki spent the night together at the Athletic Club going on a wild bender, which actually served as a wake-up call to Nikki that she needed to go to rehab, the reignited tension between the two men evolved into pure rage from Victor’s perspective. In the wake of that night, Victor has blasted Jack for his dangerous and foolish tactics as a sponsor, and he’s issued several threats that Jack stay away from his wife.
We knew Victor would likely be planning revenge against his greatest adversary. After all, he recently fired Michael (Christian LeBlanc) and attempted to ban Cole (J. Eddie Peck) from having contact with Victoria (Amelia) and Claire (Hayley Erin) in retaliation for their acts of "betrayal" in their plot to get Jordan to a prison instead of having her rot away in Victor’s cellar.
Speaking of Michael and Cole, their encounter with Victor in The Young and the Restless episode airing on June 10 serves as further confirmation that Victor is gearing up for an attack on Jack. Victor tells Michael and Cole if they wish to redeem themselves in his eyes, Michael will start to befriend Diane (Susan Walters) again and Cole will get closer to Kyle (Michael Mealor). The smart attorney deduces that Victor must be on a revenge quest against Jack given Victor wants them to befriend his wife and son, but Victor of course plays coy.
Now we said a while back that Victor is likely going to attempt to attack Jack via his family and business. Not that long ago, Victor planted seeds in Diane’s head that Jack is stripping her of the power that once made Diane a fierce adversary, and The Mustache told Kyle it’s a shame he’s being forced to work under his mother. Victor was trying to sow discord. If Victor is able to stir enough trouble with Diane and Kyle, then Victor may see that as a win as it causes corporate and personal chaos for Jack.
We ultimately think Victor is attempting to make enough trouble for Jack that he’s pushed to return to using opioids to cope. While pushing someone to fall off the wagon is a bit despicable, Victor is very angry and he’s previously resorted to some questionable lows to get back at someone he feels has wronged him or his family. Again, he literally just kept Jordan as a prisoner in his cellar, giving her little food but lots of liquor.
With all that being said, we think Victor will run into a big problem in his plans, and the problem’s name is Nikki. She knows her husband better than anyone, so it’s possible she somehow catches wind of his requests for Michael and Cole or she feels in her gut that Victor will go after Jack. Considering Nikki considers Jack her best friend in town, she’ll probably warn Victor to leave him alone. But since we’re talking about Victor here, he’s likely to ignore her requests and move in secret.
However, Nikki may go further than just issuing a warning to Victor. She may do some snooping of her own to find out all of Victor’s plans and may recruit Lauren (Tracey E. Bregman), Victoria and Nick (Joshua Morrow) to help stop Victor from doing something he can’t take back and would prove detrimental to Jack.
While we’ll have to watch how all of this will actually unfold, the summer is looking like it will be a hot one in Geona City. Victor may want to focus on his marriage rather than revenge, as the latter could push the return of #Nack, and we’re talking more than just friends.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
