The Young and the Restless Commentary: Occam’s razor in Genoa City

Dear readers, are you familiar with the concept of Occam’s Razor? It’s a philosophical theory that basically means the simplest explanation is usually right. An example in this theory is two trees falling down. One explanation is a storm wind came along and blew down the trees. Another explanation is that a meteorite hit one tree from outer space, and then that tree fell and knocked down the second tree. (Source: Wikipedia)

An unlikely suspect

The storm explanation is the simplest and most reasonable. The second explanation is possible but not plausible.
How does this tie into The Young and the Restless? Heather is dead. Sharon was fighting with Heather for days leading up to the murder. Sharon was WITH Heather the night that she died. Sharon has been off her meds, and her whole family has been panicked because she has been so erratic and has admitted to hearing voices. (Ghost Cameron) Sharon blames the entire Romalotti family for her troubles and sorrows. Heather ends up dead.

Meanwhile, Daniel was NOT home at the time of the murder. He was at the movies — a public place — with Lucy and presumably other witnesses at the time of the murder. Daniel went to Chance when someone said they had Sharon’s phone, and they waited together for someone who had yet to arrive. Of course, that’s when Sharon snuck into Daniel’s place and planted the evidence.

Phyllis should be on the GCPD because she put all of these pieces together and come up with the correct solution. An unhinged Sharon killed Heather and is trying to frame Daniel. However, the GCPD has zeroed in on Daniel and is not taking Phyllis’ opinion seriously.

A Chance return

I am glad that Chance is back in the GCPD. I hated him in the office, just like I preferred Nate as a doctor. I don’t know why the Y&R writers think people can only thrive in the boardroom. That’s probably why they got rid of Lola: she just wanted to cook and had no interest in corporate raiding.

But I digress. Chance says he is just following the evidence. Still, there IS evidence of Sharon causing a ruckus in multiple places, including the hospital after Lucy and Faith were in a car accident. There should be many witnesses who saw Sharon threaten the Romalotti family. But that evidence is being ignored. I just watched a special on people who have been wrongly convicted, and that is almost always the case; the police decided who did it, built a case against that person, and disregarded or threw out evidence that didn’t fit their narrative.

Will Sharon get caught before Daniel goes to prison? Maybe they will sentence Daniel to Victor’s wine cellar jail and a steady diet of Brussels sprouts.

In the meantime, Sharon’s enablers, Nick, Faith, and Mariah, will coddle her, hug her, and tell her that they are on her side and believe her while she is planning now to also murder Phyllis to shut her up.

The highs and lows of bipolar disorder

I had a dear friend who had bipolar disorder. When he was on his meds, he was the loveliest person you could ever meet, kind, generous to a fault, and gentle as a lamb. Off his meds, he was irritable, angry, got road rage, became combative, got into fist fights, etc. When I saw him, I could instantly tell which version of him I was dealing with.

The people who say, “Sharon would never do such a thing!” should really be saying, “If Sharon were on her meds, she would never do such a thing.” Because of her meds, they have no idea what she might do. The best portrayal of bipolar disorder I have ever seen is Anne Hathaway in Amazon Prime Video’s show Modern Love. Season 1, Episode 3, “Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am.” was brilliant. It showed the highs and lows of a person dealing with this. You can check out a short clip below.

Turning a blind eye

Sharon’s friends and family are lying to themselves if they don’t understand what she is capable of when she’s not medicated. She is in a spiral and desperately needs help, which she can’t get as long as everyone around her is in denial.

I assume it will take us into November sweeps before anyone discovers Sharon murdered Heather. But what happens next? Will Sharon be sent to prison or to a mental health facility? Will she be like Heather Webber on GH and just get away with murder due to a technicality?

Unforgiven

Personally, I can’t forgive Sharon for this one. Sharon is a mental health professional, and she should have immediately recognized the signs that she was in a bad mental state as soon as Ghost Cameron started being her confidant and asked for help. I can’t imagine how this will play out, leaving Sharon in the leading lady category. We can forgive our heroines when they kill people who are threatening them. We cannot forgive our heroines for killing an innocent mom, wife, and lawyer.

I keep saying this and will continue to say it until it changes — we need some more female head writers and showrunners because I am weary of Y&R making every woman mentally ill and unstable. My god, how much do these men hate women? Who hurt you?

But the men of Genoa City are always tough as nails (and raging egomaniacs).

Victor’s plot

Victor Newman is deep into his plan of stealing Abbott Chancellor from Billy and screwing over Lily. Billy thinks he can outsmart and outmaneuver Victor and that his way is the only way forward. Adam can’t decide whether he wants to win back Sally or Chelsea, but neither one wants him. Kyle is working for Victor to screw over Jack and Diane, but now that his parents’ marriage is imploding, he might be rethinking his plan. Nate is trying to get Devon to hire Audra because he liked working with Victoria and having sex all day at work, and I think he wants the same setup with Audra. The only man I sympathize with in Genoa City is Smilin’ Jack Abbott because Peter Bergman has captured my heart for years, and I always find myself rooting for Team Jack.

Enemies joining forces

One thing that intrigues me right now is this. For the first time in Genoa City history, two arch-rivals, Phyllis and Cricket, are on the same side. These two women who despise one another must work together to save Daniel, and I absolutely love that twist. Did you see Phyllis’ face when Christine said she was there to represent Daniel? Honestly, I don’t understand how that can be possible. Isn’t Christine the D.A.? Did she quit when she went on tour with Danny or just take a leave of absence? How can she defend Daniel when her office is prosecuting him? I am interested to see how this all plays out.

Is a real truce possible for Phyllis and Christine? Probably not, but I bet if Cricket gets Daniel off the hook and prosecutes Sharon, Phyllis won’t try to run her over with her car for a while.

What will happen tomorrow, dear readers?

Will Jack and Phyllis commiserate about their sorrows and fall back in love? Will Kyle double-cross Victor’s double-cross of Billy now that he’s feeling sorry for his dad? Will Claire ever decide whether to be a joyful nanny or a cutthroat corporate overlord for a living? Will Diane team up with Victor to spite Jack? Will Audra and Lily become pals now that they’ve both been done wrong by the same mustachioed fellow? Will Sally and Billy become “Silly”? Will Ashley return in time for Abby’s wedding with a Southern accent? Will the mysterious wedding venue make us all cry? (I already know, and it already made me tear up.) Will more of our readers find us here in this new location and fill our hearts with holiday glee?

If you want to check out everything that Tamilu has written in her “Greetings From the Road” series of columns, visit her Author Page.