The Young and the Restless’ Victor (Eric Braeden) is without question guilty of being a control freak, and that’s evident in how much control he exerts over his family and their relationships.
Poor Victoria (Amelia Heinle) has had Victor interfere in nearly all her romances, with him protesting his daughter’s “awful” choice of mates. Heck, he once had Victoria arrested just so she couldn’t marry Billy. And let’s not forget, until Victor had a change of heart this past December, he kept threatening Cole (J. Eddie Peck) to stay away from his daughter.
The Newman patriarch hasn’t just reserved his relationship interference for his firstborn either. He never approved of Sally’s (Courtney Hope) romance with Adam (Mark Grossman) or Nick (Joshua Morrow), and he made it very clear to both his sons.
Fast forward to the present, and Victor is showing no signs that he plans to let his family members make their own decisions, especially as it pertains to friendships or romances with anyone from the Abbott family. After he discovered Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Jack (Peter Bergman) at the Athletic Club after the duo had an awakening alcohol and drug bender, Victor has a renewed sense of disgust for all things Abbott. He continues to implore Nikki not to hang around Jack and for Jack to stay away from his wife.
Of course, Victor has also voiced his disapproval of Claire (Hayley Erin) and Kyle’s (Michael Mealor) relationship. He has repeatedly said he doesn’t want his granddaughter with the Abbott heir and has even claimed that Claire is a bit too naive to be in a relationship with him (which is odd considering Jordan [Colleen Zenk] groomed Claire to read and manipulate people).
Because Victor is so adamantly against the duo, it’s raised alarm bells for Diane (Susan Walters) and Jack, who know Victor’s disapproval could put Kyle at risk of becoming a victim of one of Victor’s schemes. Nikki even expresses her concerns to Claire about Victor’s disapproval in The Young and the Restless episode airing on February 6. In response, Claire ultimately decides to host a dinner for herself, Kyle and Victor so her grandfather realizes Kyle is good for her. She also wants Victor to see the similarities between himself and her boyfriend.
With all that being said, we don’t think a dinner is going to change Victor’s mind and believe he may soon enact a plan to break up Claire and Kyle for good. Could this plan involve Victor having Kyle arrested or at least threatening to have him arrested?
Back in the summer/fall of 2024, Kyle was in a downward spiral of revenge, wanting to get payback on his parents for firing him from Jabot. As such was the case, he teamed up with Victor to run Glissade. To prove himself worthy of the sole CEO position, Kyle committed corporate theft and stole from his family company, a crime.
This may all seem like a moot point considering Jabot now owns Glissade and Kyle is back at the company as the co-CEO, but could Victor warn Kyle to stay away from Claire, threatening to have him arrested for his actions? Or could The Mustache have his team present evidence of the crime to the district attorney and just have Kyle arrested, skipping the step of a warning? While it may seem a DA wouldn't want to waste time prosecuting such a "victimless" case, Victor is a powerful man with powerful connections, so he could make things happen (including making sure his hands are clean in the corporate theft scheme should Kyle be arrested for it).
And let’s say Victor doesn’t rely on Kyle’s corporate theft to have him arrested. Victor is a man of means. It’s possible he tries to pin another crime on him.
Heck, taking things a step further. What if Victor finds some dirt on Jabot, enough to do real damage to the company, and threatens to dismantle the company unless Kyle backs off Claire? Kyle would be in the awful position of having to choose between his family legacy and the woman he loves.
We can’t say for sure what Victor’s next move may be, but we don’t think Claire should expect well-wishes from her grandfather as it pertains to her current love life.
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.
