A certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required when watching any soap opera. The lives of soap characters are supposed to be more sensational than the lives of average viewers, but this year, CBS’s long-running daytime drama The Young and the Restless has taken it to the extreme with major storylines involving character look-alikes and impostors, fake deaths, and a fake haunting – all of which seem too unrealistic to believe.
Katherine Comes Back from the Dead
One of the year’s front burner storylines has been Katherine Chancellor reclaiming her life after her supposed death last year. Katherine had secretly been driving with her look-alike Marge Cotrooke when her car was in an accident. Katherine survived, but was thrown from the vehicle and happened to be found on a riverbank by Patrick Murphy, a friend of Marge, who naturally assumed that Katherine was Marge. The real Marge was found dead by Katherine’s friend Nikki Newman and daughter Jill Abbott, who naturally assumed that Marge was Katherine. Katherine lived for weeks as Marge, and despite the fact that “Marge” no longer had her characteristic accent after the accident and was suddenly wearing Katherine’s expensive ring, no one suspected that “Marge” was not herself.
When Katherine’s memory finally came back, she returned to the Chancellor Estate, only to be arrested when Jill accused her of being Marge, an impostor who wanted to steal the Chancellor fortune. Meanwhile, a series of DNA tests disproved that Katherine was really herself until a new test was done using DNA from Katherine’s son, Brock, rather than from Jill. This test came back positive, proving that Katherine was really herself and that Jill was not Katherine’s daughter. It was a shocking revelation, but the story of Katherine reclaiming her life lasted unrealistically long since her true identity could have proven numerous ways that were never addressed on the show, such as by authenticating Katherine’s signature, or checking fingerprints and dental records. Also, the fact that Katherine, an 80 year-old woman, survived an automobile accident, a kidnapping, and a bomb explosion in the past few months is incredibly unrealistic.
Adam Gaslights Ashley
Another one of the most controversial – and unrealistic – storylines currently playing out on Y&R is Adam Wilson’s gaslighting of Ashley Abbott. In an effort to seek revenge against his father Victor Newman and his enemy Jack Abbott, who are Ashley’s boyfriend and brother respectively, Adam is trying to make Ashley believe she’s being haunted by the ghost of Victor’s deceased wife.
By periodically injecting botox into his eyes, Adam has fooled everyone into believing that he is blind so that he can stay in house arrest at Victor’s ranch (rather than being in prison), and so he appears incapable of orchestrating Ashley’s hauntings. Meanwhile, he has secretly installed surveillance cameras at the ranch so that he can spy on Ashley and Victor, and has lost enough weight to slip out of the ankle monitor that keeps him under house arrest.
It seems highly unlikely that Adam would be able to pull off this plan perfectly without getting caught (and that Ashley is conveniently alone when all of the hauntings occur), especially on a fully-staffed ranch that is supposed to have security personnel present at all times. Furthermore, considering that Victor’s son-in-law J.T. is head of security for Newman Enterprises, it is mindboggling that Victor has never suggested that cameras of his own be installed in the ranch in order to catch the perpetrator of the schemes against Ashley.
Is Philip III Alive? Who is Cane?
Lastly, Y&R is in the midst of another storyline that, based on numerous retcons, may prove to be the most unrealistic yet. Twenty years ago, Philip Chancellor III died in a car accident. Two years ago, Katherine suddenly remembered that, while drunk, she had switched newborn baby Philip and another baby boy. It turned out that the “real Philip” was Cane Ashby, who grew up in Australia with his Uncle Langley after his adoptive mother died. This revelation never made sense, however, since Philip was married with a son when he died twenty years ago, and Cane is currently 33 years old, which would have made him only 13 when Philip died, clearly too young to be married with a child.
To further complicate matters, earlier this month, it was revealed that Uncle Langley is in fact portrayed by Thom Bierdz, the same actor who portrayed Philip Chancellor III twenty years ago. Thus, it appears that Philip somehow has been living as Langley for the past twenty years. Also, Cane and Philip/Langley are supposed to be the same age since they were switched at birth with one another, so it is unclear how Philip/Langley supposedly raised Cane since birth. It will be interesting to see how the writers account for the numerous unrealistic plot holes and revisions surrounding this story as the mystery further unfolds over the summer.
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