When Josh Griffith, the head writer and executive producer of The Young and the Restless, decided to bring Cole (J. Eddie Peck) back into the fold after decades away from Genoa City, I found myself excited. I recalled seeing him on the show in my younger years spending the summers at my grandma’s house, and vintage characters always add a sense of intrigue for me. Especially, when I feel a main player on The Young and the Restless could benefit from their presence.
In the case of Cole, he was brought back at a time when Victoria (Amelia Heinle) was floundering in the romance department. The relationship between her and Nate (Sean Dominic) was crumbling, and it almost appeared as if the stars could align for her reunion with Billy (Jason Thompson). After all, Victoria and Billy are exes, several times over, and share kids together. They’re even friends.
But then the Jordan (Colleen Zenk) and Claire (Hayley Erin) drama kicked off, Cole and Victoria found out that Claire is their thought-to-be-dead daughter Eve and Victoria and Cole became instant co-parents. Naturally, Cole and Victoria took walks down memory lane and recalled their good times together. After a while, they started dating, which was incredibly endearing to watch as a fan. However, Victoria stressed she wanted to take things slow because of her recent string of bad relationships.
Fast forward to today, and #Vole are a couple, but still taking things slow. I’m talking almost at a snail’s pace. That’s a bit odd to say considering we are talking about the soaps here. The realm where soap opera rapid aging syndrome (SORAS) runs rampant and children can be aged from 10 to 20 in like three years. Where pairs date and get engaged in warp speed. Heck, I’d argue even Kyle (Michael Mealor) and Claire are further along in their romance, and they don’t have nearly the amount of history.
Having said all of that, I’m sad to say that I’m starting to lose interest in Victoria and Cole’s relationship. And to be fair, outside of the slow progression causing some of my sentiment, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that their lack of camera time is also to blame. Unlike Kyle and Claire, a #Vole sighting is not as common. In fact, outside of a family gathering like Abby’s (Melissa Ordway) wedding or the Newman Thanksgiving, viewers don’t get to see much of them by themselves.
While I applaud the overall writing of The Young and the Restless this year, I hope my interest in Victoria and Cole’s relationship is renewed by more camera time for the pair in one-on-one settings. I’d like to see them talk about moving in together or getting engaged. Heck, and if he’s in family settings, I’d appreciate seeing Cole interact more with Johnny (Paxton Mishkind) and Katie (Sienna Mercuri) so viewers know Cole has truly integrated himself into Victoria’s life.
As we turn the corner to 2025, I hope Victoria and Cole are seen a bit more in the new year, further along in their coupledom. At the very least, if Jordan or Ian winds up killing Cole as I've predicted, I would like to see Victoria more invested in the relationship before that happens. Could you imagine the emotional response we could possibly get from Victoria should this deadly scenario occur? We tremble to think she may go through quite the character transformation.
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.
