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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Y&R: Ricky's Dead and Paul Did It

On The Young & The Restless Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) killed his son Ricky (Peter Porte). Within this entry, I summarize the story and share my thoughts so far on this current plot.

Ricky came to Genoa City helping Avery (Jessica Collins) and then ended up on the opposite side of the courtroom of his half-sister Heather (then Eden Riegel now Jennifer Landon). To make Avery win the case which would free Sharon (Sharon Case), he took a photograph of Heather with her former fiance Adam (Michael Muhney). The picture wasn't needed to win the trial, but Phyllis stole it and then released it on the Restless Style website. Heather left town in disgrace after being fired due to the photo. Ricky didn't use it, and that was the only kindness he ever showed his sister.

Of course, what happened with Ricky and Heather alarmed Paul as they are both his children. Ricky got involved with his Aunt Patty (Stacy Haiduk) who was insane and tried to help her. He got all the information about the evil things Adam had done. Ricky tried to get this to Phyllis to run in Restless Style for a price, and she said no due to her past history with Jack (Peter Bergman) and that it was his aunt.

Paul's arguing with Ricky got stronger due to Ricky sneaking in to see Patty in the hospital and then later releasing the story on a website. Later the story was posted in Restless Style, without crediting Ricky.

As a character Ricky had a lot of reasons to resent his father and Phyllis. Ricky decided to go after Phyllis and helped Daisy (Yvonne Zima). Paul tried his best to be impartial about Ricky, but started to worry about his son. Paul investigated his son's life before he came to Genoa City and found out about Ricky having a dead girlfriend. It was later revealed that Ricky's girlfriend committed suicide, but some of her friends didn't believe it. Eventually a guy named Craig Hunt was going to come with information, but his car crashed and he died before that can happened.

Ricky's actions against Phyllis had to do with bugging Restless Style and then later putting a bug in Phyllis' computer. He met Danny (Michael Damian) and tried to grill the rock star for information on his former wife. He also spoke with Dr. Tim Reid and found out some of her issues. He was able to get Tim's file on Phyllis from all those years ago.

Ricky was able to piece together Phyllis's crime of running over Paul back in 1994. (I plan on writing more about that story in another entry.) He and Daisy discussed this news. Daisy blackmailed Phyllis so she could continue to see her daughter. Ricky while having kissed Daisy once, seemed more interested in Eden (Jessica Heap). She eventually felt he was too strange for her and ended it.

Paul tried to apologize to Ricky after overreacting about a gift he gave his sister after she returned to Genoa City. Paul ran to Heather's home and they found out it was really a music box. (Of course in soaps a musical box has been fatal, 80s Guiding Light, but I digress.)

Later, Paul tried to give Ricky the benefit of the doubt, and apologized for not being a father to his son. This was sad, as at this point we knew that Ricky was a killer. Ricky was holding Eden hostage after she realized what he did. Ricky helped Daisy get lost by killing her. That said since we didn't see a body, this could change. Ricky admitted everything about his murders.

When Ricky tried to kill Eden once and for all, Paul shot at Ricky's arm to get him to drop the knife. Unfortunately the force of the bullet sent him backwards out the window and he tumbled to his death. Eden has no memory of what happened so Paul is accused of murder. He is being held without bail and was arrested at the cemetery right after the funeral. Heather who is back at the DA's office isn't allowed to be involved in the investigation for obvious reasons. Nina (Tricia Cast) and Christine (Lauralee Bell) want to help him. Ronan (Jeff Branson) and District Attorney Michael (Christian LeBlanc) don't want to believe that Paul is guilty, but their hands are tied with their jobs.

I've liked this story for what it was even if it is the typical bad seed. Paul wasn't written as a loving father to Ricky so at least that history wasn't stretched. Hopefully Eden will get her memory back soon, so Paul can start to deal with his feelings. The guilt has dual layers as along with the horror of killing his own son, he's come to the realization that if perhaps he had been a more attentive father none of this would have happened. Doug Davidson's performances as Paul have been great. It has been fun to see a character that had been ignored for too long have an intense plot.

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