In the US on Tuesday, November 25, 2014, "The Young and the Restless" aired a special Nick Newman (Josh Morrow) episode. Below are my thoughts and a quick summary.
Nick was alone chopping wood and remembering what happened recently between him and Sharon (Sharon Case). He talked to a stray dog, who he thought was a bear. Nick realizes he could use the company, so he invites the dog into the hunter's cabin. Nick finds some alcohol, which he thinks went bad, but he was already drunk so he had some anyway. He compared it to paint thinner. He thinks the dog is a guy, because of the confused look on the dog's face. Nick thinks women are always the problem.
Nick continues talking to the dog, and mentions wood. (If I didn't know better, this would be a sexual comment. Of course, if this was the 90s, he'd want to sing "log"...) Nick says everyone says he's funny. All of his mistakes come down to women.
Nick walks in and sees his first girlfriend Amy (Julianne Morris), who used to play Greta on Days, but she hasn't acted for years. Amy dated Nick once he returned from boarding school. Amy loved Nick, though he only just liked her. There was a clip from the 90s here. They slept together, and Grace (Jennifer Gareis) came into snark about them. Nick remembered sleeping with Grace. Sharon then showed up after Nick said that perhaps he slept with Sharon to prove it to Victor.
Nick took a moment outside again with the door. Then Nick came in and saw Phyllis (Gina Tognoni) playing video games. Phyllis wondered what Nick was doing with Amy and Grace. She wonders if love is like a circle. Avery (Jessica Collins) comes in and he admits that he loved her. Phyllis' affair with Ronan was mentioned. Nick admits that he's still mad over what happened even if they are polite with him. At this point, Avery goes into legal mode, and starts listing Nick's crimes. The other women look on and we had a flashback to Amy and Nick's break up, which she never got completely over all those years ago. They created a new wedding flashback for Nick and Phyllis and another one with their break up about Sharon. He says he can't regret certain things because otherwise he wouldn't have Summer or Faith. Amy asks if Nick ever was faithful to anyone. Nick says that people fall in love with others. Sharon hasn't been around, but she's the next witness.
Nick is shown again drinking by himself. Sharon tells him it is beautiful outside. There is a flashback to their first wedding from the 90s. They meant their vows, and he says that even at the beginning she didn't believe him like with Cassie and Matt Clark. Nick mentions Diego and Brad. Nick felt like he was always being tested and he's tired of it. He can't fix or heal her, and that he shouldn't have even tried. All it did was devastated his kid. He needs to try and keep his distance, as he can't forgive her or any woman ever again. His mother Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) then appears.
Nikki says that Nicholas will only drink whiskey and not feel anything else. She does a "I told you so"...she says she didn't want to be right, but she was. There was another 90s flashback with Nikki and Nick. Nikki reminds her that he had a lot of love in his life. Another flashback is shown with Avery and Nick, another with new one with Phyllis and Nick. Nick says all of his relationships have failed, and then Nick is with his girls in a new sequence. Mariah joins them and starts arguing with Summer about love. Mariah feels that love isn't real, and Faith gets upset. The women come up to him and tell him that he shouldn't give up on it. Mariah tells Nick to own his truth. Nick can't take it anymore and says he's done. He wakes up and the room is spinning. Nick decides to go bring the dog home and gets stuck in a bear trap.
I liked seeing the flashbacks as they explained the relationships if someone wasn't aware of them. Of course, other than Amy everyone else should have been familiar to viewers as Grace recently appeared in present time. A newer viewer may not know who Brad or Diego were, but that isn't too big of a deal. Having to fake flashbacks since Phyllis was recast so recently was understandable, though I wouldn't have had a problem with "real scenes". Amy being part of the story was appreciated as she has been pretty much forgotten by everyone. A part of me wishes that Summer would have met her, just to get her reaction. I did like that Nick said that he wouldn't want a guy to do to Summer what he did to Amy. From watching this, I guess we're supposed to believe that Nick and Sharon should be, could be and would be together if things were different. Nick doesn't believe he is as perfect as he says he is to the outside world. I also liked that in Nick's mind Mariah is his daughter, regardless of everything else that has happened.
I liked the episode, but I don't think it has much appeal to people who aren't emotionally invested in that part of the canvas or care about show history. Unlike some other fantasy episodes, this one didn't really give Nick an epiphany, have amazingly long monologues that could be used as Emmy bait or have a lot of humor. If people have the time and are interested though they should check it out, as it is nice to see the occasional departure from the normal soap opera episode.
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