Y&R: NEW THREAT IN THE J.T. SAGA
■ Though Nikki, Victoria, Sharon and Phyllis try to stay calm during Rey’s investigation into J.T.’S disappearance, they’re about to be confronted by another complication. “We always wanted to do this story almost in real time,” explains Executive Producer/head Writer Mal Young. “We didn’t want this to be, ‘They murdered J.T., they buried him, then a week later, his body is found and they get arrested.’ That felt too simplistic and too unreal. The reality is that most covered-up murders take a long time to be resolved. The truth is always more bizarre than fiction, isn’t it, because the guilty murderer makes mistakes, then the police find out something and they arrest the wrong people and I think that’s fascinating. So this is designed as a big arc story, which takes lots of twists and turns, and this is now the beginning of the next big twist and turn.”
Which is Victoria receiving an anonymous letter that states, “I know what you did and I’m going to make you pay.” Victoria hides the mysterious missive but Nikki soon takes note of her daughter’s nervous behavior. “Victoria is trying to handle this on her own in order to protect her mom from further stress,” Young notes. “However, she eventually shows Nikki the letter and now they’re both shaken up, especially when Nikki later receives a letter identical to the one Victoria got. We will see a different side to Victoria in the way she handles all of this.”
By the following day, Sharon and Phyllis find the same threat in their mail, so all four of the co-conspirators have been been put on notice. “Something has happened that they didn’t expect to cause the letters to be sent,” says Young. “There will be some big developments in the story now because Rey is determined to get this case solved and the women are starting to argue amongst themselves, so we’re showing that it’s far from over for them. This hasn’t been easy on any of them. So far, Phyllis has been the aggressive one and running this show, but now it’s time for Nikki and Victoria to think that this is their responsibility and they will take action. This whole ordeal has toughened up Victoria. People will be pleasantly surprised to see how she and Nikki will react this time. However, they’re all going to fight this in a very surprising way.”
“This is now the beginning of the next big twist and turn.”