By the end of The Young and the Restless episode airing on January 28, Ian (Ray Wise) got the upper hand on Victor (Eric Braeden), Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Michael (Christian LeBlanc) when he stole a gun from a Newman security guard. Weaponized, Ian thinks he’s in control and is determined to go out with a bang.
After knocking out the security guard in the episode airing on January 29, Ian directs his attention to Victor and Nick. Ian demands that Victor contact the rest of his children and Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), and direct them to join them. Victor doesn’t want his other family members brought into this, but Ian insists Victor calls them or he’ll shoot Nick. Although Nick tells Victor not to do it, shockingly Victor calls Adam (Mark Grossman) and makes it appear he contacts Abby (Melissa Ordway), although he doesn’t actually call his youngest. When Adam arrives, he’s horrified to see his father and brother being held hostage.
Ian takes the liberty of yelling upstairs for Nikki to come down to join them, which she does along with Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Claire (Hayley Erin). The women are curious about what’s going on, but quickly realize the danger seeing Ian with a gun. The trio walks over to the rest of the Newman clan, and Victoria pleads that Ian let Claire go. However, he has no intention of doing that as he blames her for Jordan’s (Colleen Zenk) death.
Shockingly, Ian confesses that he really did love Jordan and that Jordan felt the same. Claire tries to give the deranged villain a wake-up call, stressing her aunt was incapable of loving him or her. But Ian believes Claire is wrong and writes her off as another detestable Newman.
Then one by one, Ian goes through the present Newmans, dressing them down. Ian eventually asks Victor which child he’d like to see die first, but Victor offers Ian both money and his own life to spare his family. The con man scoffs that the money means nothing to him. As Victor makes his case about Ian just taking his life if money won't suffice, he inches closer to Ian. Unfortunately, when Victor throws in a dig about Ian being a coward, that's enough to push Ian into pulling the trigger and shooting The Mustache in the stomach.
The rest of the Newmans panic and huddle around to help Victor to the couch. Ian refuses to let them call an ambulance. Taunting them and getting closer to Victor in the process, he gets close enough that an injured Victor lunges at him, and the two wrestle for the gun. A shot goes off, and it’s soon revealed that Victor shot Ian in the stomach.
Nick manages to get the gun and the emergency squad is called to come to the ranch. As the rest of the family tends to Victor, Nick talks to a wounded Ian, who attempts to persuade Nick to finish the job and kill him. The younger Newman doesn’t take the bait and surprisingly doesn’t ask Ian about Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) and Aria.
This brings us to our point about Victor making a big mistake. While he likely doesn’t regret shooting Ian to save his family, Ian’s life currently hangs in the balance and he hasn’t revealed where Tessa and Aria are if he is responsible for kidnapping them. We’ve suspected that this may be Ian’s last stand in Genoa City, so if he dies due to the gunshot wound without telling anyone about their whereabouts, the mother and daughter may be in trouble. They could be locked almost anywhere and in need of food, water and even medical assistance.
Show clues hint that Mariah’s (Camryn Grimes) world will be “rocked” during the week of January 27, so it’s entirely possible that the scenario of Ian dying and taking this secret with him plays out. She would be devasted and would need her loved ones to rally around and support her while tearing up all of town to look for her family.
We’ll just have to see how the rest of the Ian saga plays out, but it appears he’s on borrowed time.
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.
