The Young and the Restless: The Worst Storylines of 2025 – Fans FALL over These Total Flops!

The Young and the Restless he gave us a few horror stories this year. We’re going to talk about Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn) and Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and the sudden death and other terrible news. We will enter the worst of 2025 before we enter 2026, hopefully better.

The Young and the Restless: The Mystery of Aristotle Dumas

Let’s get straight to it. The first serious story of 2025 was Aristotle Dumas and the return of Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn) in a repeat. Now, I will say this, I love Billy Flynn. He’s a great actor and eye candy, but a great writer is scary. And Josh Griffith doesn’t do this recap justice. The text is inconsistent; it’s all over. He doesn’t seem to know where he’s going, and that’s probably because Josh Griffith has his head up on his bum.

First of all, there was a very drawn-out composition to reveal the mysterious Aristotle Dumas. It was then revealed that he was the husband of Lily Winters (Christel Khalil), the father of her twins. And then there was Cane stalking Genoa City’s powerhouses at his residence in France, which we haven’t seen, by the way, I’m sure for budgetary reasons. Since Cane’s return from Genoa City, we’ve seen Josh Griffith’s writing for him get worse. It is flexible. He stirs, he stirs, he stays, he is ready. It’s just crazy.

Cane Can’t Make Sense of the Young and the Restless

At first, Cane wanted to take over all the companies in Genoa City, and Amanda Sinclair (Mishael Morgan) was the main conspirator, and suddenly, without a word, he just evaporated. We haven’t seen him back yet. Then Cane was going to work with Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson), but Cane then kicked Billy to the curb. He then decided to team up with Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) to take over Genoa City. This is just bipolar behavior.

Then, Cane decided to play nice to get Lily to take him back. So, Phyllis stole his AI and gave it to Victor. One day Cane is chasing Lily, the next day he’s in bed with Phyllis. I feel for Billy Flynn. He will not be happy that this character who came to play with him was written badly and the fans did not embrace him. It’s not about him as a player; it’s about bad writing. It’s a complete waste of his talent and one bad plot after another.

Sudden Death in France: Damian Kane and Chancellors Pointless Exit on Y&R

That leads us to the second worst plan for 2025, and almost two deaths in France. First up is Damian Kane (Jermaine Rivers). Why even introduce him? He gave him all this information about being the brother of Nate Hastings (Sean Dominic) just to kill him. They had Nathan Owens introduced as Damian and then Jermaine Rivers as the real Damian. He was Lily’s love interest, too Y&R he had Damian chasing after Lily, playing hard to find.

They loved each other well, and eventually started to heat up and legalize things in France. Then Y&R he killed him instantly. It would have been much better to keep Damian around as competition for Cane. In addition, they brought in the main actress, Valarie Pettiford, as Damian’s mother and she died of cancer, but they kept her alive and killed her son. It was a strange and pointless write-up.

This leads to the second death in France which was as bad as the plot to get rich, and that was the exit of Conner Floyd as Chancellor (Conner Floyd). His character writing was terrible, and he didn’t get much screen time. So Conner Floyd got to work Days of Our Liveswhich is the basement of all soap operas. I mean it’s fun, don’t get me wrong.

I watch it every day, but it’s low budget and bare bones in comparison The Young and the Restlesswhich is the best soap. But that’s how bad the writing is. The opportunity did not have good news. He was completely underutilized. So, with the actor Conner Floyd going, they decided, “hey, why don’t you kill off the legacy,” which is a bad idea, and they didn’t have to do it that way. Even worse, we didn’t even get Chance’s funeral on screen. It was disrespectful.

IY&R’s Mishandling of Mariah Copeland and Tessa Porter’s Storyline

Next in the list of worst episodes is Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes) and her stories. The Young and the Restless you only pollute gay couples who have it on their foreheads. If it bothers you that there are gays in the spa, I don’t know what to say. Every soap has a gay couple now. They were a working, happy couple. And I think it’s good to give them obstacles and roadblocks because soaps mess up soapy couples.

That’s what they do. But that’s how they do it. Why not throw another woman into the mix? Why did you put Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) in there? It’s because there aren’t enough single women to go around. That’s what I think. But Tessa Porter (Cait Fairbanks) is gay. Always stay. We haven’t seen another boyfriend yet, and pairing her with a boy is problematic for many fans for that reason.

Many fans like Daniel and Tessa together, but it wasn’t easy for them to take a happy gay couple and tear them apart due to Mariah’s mental health concerns and pair Tessa with a man. Mariah is cute, but she doesn’t get enough screen time. We probably don’t have any episodes with Camryn Grimes. They need to bring him back, or if he doesn’t want to work regularly, they can play the role again.

Maybe let him show up and Mariah will finally fight for Tessa and their marriage. But for now, it looks like he’s gone and Tessa feels like their marriage is over. But if this was real life, he would be dating another woman, not a man. He was clearly gay. His friendship with Daniel, I get it, is understandable, but the rest, not so much. But if they can’t always bring Camryn Grimes back, Tessa and Mariah may be doomed.

The Toxic Triangle: Kyle, Audra, and Victor’s Messy Plot

Our next sinister plot for 2025 is Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) and Audra Charles (Zuleyka Silver). From the booty call, the lovers want to destroy each other. And of course Kyle was in love with Claire Grace Newman (Hayley Erin), herself, let’s not forget, a serial killer. Audra makes that icky deal with Victor to seduce Kyle. And I’m sorry, if you get paid to sleep with a man, that’s a whore. So, Victor was taking Audra out. It was awkward, but at the same time, it was soap.

That’s not really my problem with plot lines. The worst part was that it was clear that Kyle was still hot for Audra and enjoying the attention. Kyle climbs over Audra with a towel in the train car, and Kyle never comes completely clean with Claire about how far things went between them. Now, Kyle and Claire plan to run Audra out of town, and that makes her the target of their wrath. In my opinion, Kyle is no better than Audra.

And Claire was restored to being an innocent person who didn’t have to face the consequences of trying to kill her entire family. I’m actually fine if Josh Griffith writes Audra and Kyle together. That is believable. I think that would be soapy and interesting. But trying to make Audra a villain when Claire is actually dangerous and Kyle is a dog and a nepo baby doesn’t write well for me.

Victor Newman’s Year of Villainy: Hateful, Scornful, and Consequences for the Young and the Restless.

Our fifth and final bad story for 2025 is more than anything Victor has done this year. Josh Griffith writes Victor as hateful and hateful, worse than he has been in a long time. And the mustache runs away from everything, no matter how bad it is. There are no results. Paying Audra to seduce Kyle and break Claire’s heart was terrible. Victor hates Kyle because he is the son of Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman). Victor’s current revenge on Jack is ridiculous.

Victor continues to loose and all that. Everyone in the family, including Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott), knows that Jack saved Nikki and put her in rehab, and thanks Jack for it. I think Victor’s biggest problem is that Jack risked his life to help Nikki when Victor didn’t try to help him. Claire drove Nikki out of the car with a vodka IV, and Victor refused to send Nikki to rehab, kept the house full of booze, and drank in front of her while she struggled. He is still drinking in front of her.

2025 was the year for Victor to hate and the rest of Newman’s people did that while they hated. I hope it’s different and Nikki ties the knot with Victor and leaves him unless he stops what he’s doing. I’m also excited for Phyllis to find the AI ​​and turn it on Victor. Honestly, I think two out of three CBS soaps have the worst writers. Brad Bell in The Bold, Josh Griffith in The Young and the Restless. Both could learn a thing or two or nine from it Beyond the Gates lead author Michelle Val Jean. It’s a soap that’s best written if you’re not looking. I highly recommend.