Checkmate, cellmate!
Victor Newman is a dead man if he doesn’t make friends behind bars and quickly.
The Young & The Restless Weekdays e.tv (*194) 09:00
Genoa City kingpin Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) blindsided the court when he took the stand in his own defence on Monday 5 December. The Newmans were convinced that his startling emotional plea about how he, as an orphan, did everything to protect his family would sway the jury. But Victor’s emotional speech falls on deaf ears on Wednesday 7 December after the jury finds him guilty of kidnapping and fraud. “He doesn’t think that he’s done anything wrong, so he’s furious,” says Eric. Given the opportunity to speak, Victor announces, “The verdict was ‘guilty’. I am guilty – of loving those who have betrayed me and testified against me.”
Unimpressed by his grandstanding, Judge Murray (James A Watson) sentences Victor to 10 years behind bars. And as he’s led off in chains, Victor sneers at his family, “You’re all dead to me.” Eric adds, “This just reinforces what Victor has always believed: he is alone.” But prison is no place for a man without allies. Victor immediately runs into trouble with his cellmate on Friday 9 December. And after their punch-up, he winds up in a cell with the Genoa City Devil himself: Ian Ward (Ray Wise). Victor certainly gets the point about how vulnerable his position is when he is stabbed in his sleep on Monday 12 December. But he has no time for lollygagging about in a hospital bed – Victor fights to return to his prison cell on Thursday 15 December, bent on taking revenge.
But Ian has a confession, “I only pretend to have power,” he admits to a sceptical Victor. “It serves me to have our fellow inmates believe that I’m responsible for you getting knifed. It’s self-preservation. I’m not all-powerful.” Ian proposes to Victor that they form an alliance to watch one another’s backs, warning him that “If we don’t both work together against the real power in this place, we’re gonna both be dead”. We’ll find out who really took a stab at getting rid of Victor on Tuesday 20 December. And let’s just say that they’d better watch their backs… Phyllis promises to help get Michael’s disbarment reversed, and Victoria warns Jack that something weird is going on between Billy and Phyllis. Victor is sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Shawn goes into labour after talking to Sharon about her decision to back out of having Cassie adopted, and Victoria slaps Billy at his PassKey press conference.
Sharon and Dylan track down the nurse who “delivered” Sully (but really stole baby Christian), and Dylan considers dropping his investigation, believing that it’s giving Sharon nightmares. Victoria decides to sue Jabot after drunk Billy kisses her, and Victor asks Adam to avenge him if he dies behind bars after he’s stabbed while sleeping. Shawn takes her baby, and Devon tells Hilary that he asked Neil to refuse her a seat on the Foundation’s board because he believed that she just wanted it to raise her social profile. Nick supports Victoria’s decision to sue Jabot over PassKey, Jack makes a deal with Nikki about her sobriety, and the prison warden tells Victor who stabbed him.