Luck is for suckers

Our beloved characters have gone through various stages of luck since Adam's return to town. Was it a stroke of luck when Chelsea received her inheritance before her custody battle? Or was Phyllis correct when she claimed that everyone had to make their own luck? May the good luck (and the force) be with you in Two Scoops.

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. That's probably what many of our beloved characters are thinking these days, when, in some cases, things only seem to go from bad to worse. And it's funny how most of their troubles didn't start until Adam magically resurfaced in town. Just look at poor Kevin and Michael. Kevin already had his hands full with trying to keep Chloe out of the public eye to keep her safe and with their darling daughter. But once Adam got ahold of him, Kevin was scurrying around, scrambling to protect his family. Adam should have been ashamed of what he'd done to Kevin -- but, of course, he wasn't.

So, it took Kevin's older brother to put a stop to the torment. However, that only put Michael directly into Adam's crosshairs. But we know from the past that Michael is no slouch when it comes to manipulation (hey, he's not a legal eagle for nothing) and has done his own fair share of dirty dealings. Actually, Adam probably finds Michael a much more worthy opponent when it comes to a battle of the wits than Kevin ever was. Michael can go toe-to-toe in any mental challenge, and Adam had best beware. As easily as he pulled and jerked at Kevin's puppet strings, Adam could quickly become entangled in Michael's spiderweb if he's not careful. Their little skirmishes have already been fun to watch -- but just wait until there's a war.

Fortunately for Adam, his goals for Michael meshed with Michael's own, since Michael being the new District Attorney was mutually beneficial. It was just a teensy matter of twisting Christine's arm to retire early, which was child's play for Michael. Luckily, Christine was burned out, and Michael was ready to jump back in. If Adam was thinking ahead, though, being D.A. would give Michael even more power to fight against his adversary, who would happen to be Adam, by golly. Adam had better be careful what he wishes for.

Both Nick and Chelsea's worlds have been turned upside down since Adam's return, and they will need all the luck they can get to reverse the trend. Although Adam seemed to be getting the best of him, Nick declared that he was finished. But it sure didn't take long for Nick and Chelsea to turn to each other when the going got tough. It's almost like nothing had happened between them when she left him high and dry by running out on him and taking Connor with her. To Nick, that all seemed to be forgotten. I've always liked them as a couple, so I have no problems with it. Plus, it's understandable, since they have the same cause to fight for, which is the protection of their sons.

And it's always helpful to be armed with a ton of money when battling someone as diabolical as Adam, so it was rather perfect timing when Chelsea inherited a fortune of five million dollars from her dearly departed hubby, Calvin. That sounds pretty lucky to me. But Chelsea had some qualms about accepting the money, almost like there might be strings attached. And maybe there were, but I can't imagine what. Chelsea felt that accepting the money was wrong, especially since Connor was getting a trust, too. So, Chelsea had once had no qualms about stealing money from her friends but had trouble taking money that was freely given to her by her husband. Strange.

Phyllis was probably the only one in town who didn't believe in luck, only in creating her own destiny. (And she should know, since she's made so many bad decisions.) When Victoria wished her good luck after Phyllis sold her the company's assets, Red declared, "Luck is for suckers." Ah, yes, words to live by. However, Phyllis quickly learned that she wasn't the cat who swallowed the canary but was actually the canary, when Adam informed her that Summertime Inc. owned a hotel in Detroit that was about to be demolished, not the Grand Phoenix. Even if she managed to sell off Dark Horse and hand Jaboutique over to Jack, Red was really losing her touch to have missed Adam's shenanigans against her own company. I guess Phyllis wished she had some of that luck, after all.

By arranging to buy the assets from Dark Horse, Victoria sure has shown she's been completely on Nick's side, and who can blame her? Victoria would not only consider her brothers, but she would look more to what's best for Christian, and that sure wasn't Adam. The child's biological father has completely torn the youngster's world apart. That's not something a loving dad would do. Adam kept saying he was trying to make any transition as painless for the boy as possible, but if that were true, he wouldn't have wanted the transition to begin with. Victoria really was the one who was attempting to make things easier for Christian, but that was a very difficult undertaking. No matter how anyone looked at it, his life, as he knew it, was gone for good. Christian had run out of luck.

Yet, Phyllis didn't waste any time in taking the credit for selling Dark Horse's assets to Newman Enterprises to get them back into Nick's hands, even though Victoria had been the one to instigate the sale. But Nick just wanted to make "amends" with his daughter's mother, which happened to be the name that Victoria had given to her shell company. Nick only wanted to keep a few of the properties, though, so he would have the time to find himself. Immediately, I questioned if Nick meant that he desired to go back to being the kind of man who had once owned the Underground or to the guy who had pretended to be J.T. just to get back at his father. While being sneaky and underhanded may be his best way to beat Adam, Nick surely wouldn't want to lose his soul in the process.

But Nick must have enjoyed the real estate end of Dark Horse, because he wanted to resume his works in affordable housing for New Hope in order to make Christian proud. Nick wanted to return to being the decent guy, not the one who felt he had to retaliate against his dark, twisted brother. And Nick insisted that Neil continue to be a part of it all in spirit. Of course, Devon was touched by his gesture. Kudos to Nick for wanting to be the kind of father Christian really deserved. And Nick demanded that Sharon choose sides -- his or Adam's. However, Mariah may have been onto something when she asked if Sharon was addicted to Adam or to the drama of Adam. It was almost like being in love with love. Sharon may be drawn more to the excitement he stirs up than to the actual man.

So, it was all well and good until Adam found Victoria playing favorites with Nick that involved Christian's precious visiting time. It's typical that a Newman, even Victoria, would totally ignore a court order. As ill-advised as the order was, she really shouldn't be keeping Adam from Christian, especially since the visits were to be supervised. Her favoritism to Nick to keep Christian happy, healthy, and well-adjusted only stirred the pot with Adam, which had Nick vowing to destroy his younger brother. Oh, well, so much for being the decent guy. And Adam loved playing a challenging mind game as much as his dad did, so he welcomed it with open arms. This is going to get ugly.

It was so cute of Jack to tell Adam that Christian belonged with Nick when others had already tried and failed to get Adam to listen to reason. Silly Jack. But he's also wise, because he told Adam to consider a compromise with his brother for Christian's sake and said that Adam should get to know his son first. Seriously, no one, including the judge, even considered the boy's feelings. I mean, Christian was put in a place that was not his home. Although Michael had protected his brother, he sure hadn't been a good friend to Nick by deserting him in his time of need. However, Nick was foolish to try to win the court case on his own when Christian ended up having to pay the price.

I would be doing a happy dance for the breakup of Sharon and Rey if he was leaving town, but no such luck, since Paul reinstated Rey on the police force. (I could say to Rey, may the force be with you, but no.) Sharon and Rey's relationship was always shaky, since it had been based on deceit, even if he had only been deceiving himself. Yes, Rey had always blinded himself when it came to Sharon, and Adam was the one who finally opened his eyes. But Rey was probably right that Sharon was only using Rey to hide her feelings for Adam. And the fallout with Mia had taught Rey to head for the hills whenever something didn't look completely kosher, so he was zooming. Because, of course, Rey had been the innocent prey to Mia's black widow. Yeah, right. In his eyes, maybe.

Billy decided to do his own self-therapy by helping himself to Victoria's sleeping pills, which couldn't be good. I mean, the last time I checked, he didn't have a medical degree. Billy woke up in the Chancellor estate and found "stop Adam" written on the wall. His sleep driving was the red flag that finally caught Victoria's attention, and she decided Billy needed help. It was about time. Even though Billy realized he was angry that Adam was still alive and that Delia wasn't, he didn't seem ready to lose the visions of his precious daughter, no matter how bad the nightmares were. I will admit that I do enjoy Billy and Sharon's scenes together. The two self-declared damaged people understand each other, which makes them terrific friends.

Surprisingly, Billy took his "blinding, all-consuming rage" to a therapist, who echoed what I had thought. Billy was using his dreams to keep both Delia and his hatred toward Adam alive. Hey, maybe I should consider a career change -- but, no, that ship has sailed. Okay, Billy hated Adam for what he did to his adorable daughter, but he must also hate himself for the part he played in her death. Delia's doll seemed to act as his conscience -- like Jiminy Cricket to Pinocchio. Shoot, Billy will be in real trouble if the doll starts to sing and dance. Billy had deliberately left Delia alone in the car with her dog while Adam had unintentionally run over her, although he covered it up later. And Billy just couldn't forget. Man, that doll reminds me of the Talking Tina episode of The Twilight Zone. Freaky!

Victor and Nikki were relieved to hear that the protocol was officially working, even if a new element to the treatment might bring more severe side effects. Victor's already lost a step with his memory loss, but what good is it remembering if you aren't around to do so? He's also been toned down drastically, which was rather bad timing, since Nick could certainly use his father's cunning to fight against his brother. But who's to say that Victor would choose sides with Nick rather than Adam, anyway, especially since that hadn't always been the case in the past?

So, Victor was another one to jump on the bandwagon and cautioned Adam about working with Nick to find a way to be in Christian's life. And then "Pops" flashed his famous smirk. His smirk must be a Newman trait that Adam inherited, since Phyllis had wanted earlier to wipe it off his face. Victor later carried his mustachioed smirk all the way to Jabot to toy around with Jack but collapsed in the parking garage. Victor must have hated showing any sign of weakness at all to his biggest archenemy of all time. He was determined to fight his illness and win, and knowing Victor, he probably will. I would never bet against him.

So, Celeste, who had always been an uninvited guest in Lola's love nest with Kyle, moved out and zipped out of town, and all Lola could do was mope around. Lola blamed herself because she had gone through the worst time of her life without her mother, so she then had to go through the best time without her. This entire scenario has gone from one extreme to another and has left me totally confused. At one time, Celeste was calling all the shots, but once she couldn't have her way, she refused to have anything to do with the wedding? Lola didn't want her dad at the ceremony, so Celeste decided she couldn't attend, either? What?! Are we still living in the Stone Age?

It seems to me that Daddy-dearest didn't treat Celeste very well in the past, either. So, why can't Celeste just respect her daughter's wishes on her one big day and attend the wedding without papa in hand? And then, Abby blamed Mia for Celeste not being at Lola's wedding? Abby surely must be getting that from Rey. Poor Mia was being blamed for everything under the sun, it seemed. Come on. Celeste was a big girl who could make her own decisions, so if she opted out of watching her lovely daughter marry the love of her life, that's her loss, not Lola's.

Kyle has been so patient and understanding and was doing everything to give his love the wedding of her dreams. What a catch! He's certainly changed from his bad boy days in New York City, not to mention his remarkable wedding planner talent. But it's a good thing Kyle decided against the llamas at the ceremony. I hear they can be quite messy, and besides, Lola didn't want to be upstaged. I can't say that I blame her. As Lola pointed out, she and Kyle are opposites that, in this case, very much attract. "I take two steps forward. I take two steps back. We come together 'cause opposites attract." Hey, if it worked for Paula Abdul and her nameless co-singer, then it's all good. But something in Kyle's past may still creep up to stop the couple from singing in perfect harmony.

Billy gave a most appropriate and accurate description of Adam. When Sharon remarked that she was meeting a friend, he held his hand up in the air and asked, "A friend yay-high, chiseled jaw, carrying a pitchfork?" Yep, that sounds like Adam, all right.

Billy's explanation of how "Adam" was a part of the title "Madam," which was part of Delia's tea party name, Madam Cordelia, made sense of how the name had gotten on the walls along with "Daddy" on the furniture. But the word "Stop" could be the attempt in his dreams to try to stop a tragedy that could never be prevented.

Just as Mariah's romance with Tessa flourished with a million "likes" (as well as Tessa's video), Abby applied the brakes to hers with Nate, whom she had declared was "a keeper." However, Abby only wanted to keep her sexual encounters with Nate light and airy, as she flew out the door, almost as if on wings. If Nate's reaction was anything to go by, Abby's ideal relationship with him may just be a flight of fancy.

Elena really needs to work on her sad face, although her excited face wasn't too bad. But she's probably had more practice with her excited face after Devon was miraculously cured of his Hilary hauntings.

Summer finally forgave Phyllis, even as she wondered why her mother had to be so manipulative. Really, Summer needs to see and accept her mother for whom she truly is. And if that includes Red being a drama queen, so be it.

It looks like all Victor's kids were trying to take a chapter from his story, as they adopted different parts of his personality. Adam was becoming even more conniving and manipulative than before. Victoria followed Victor's lead of balancing both business and family. (Although, let's face it, Victor was never really very successful at that.) Abby heaped the problems in her life (and in Lola's life) onto someone else's (namely Mia's) shoulders. And Nick had, at one time, considered becoming more like his father to have a fighting chance against Adam in the custody battle. Nope, the apple doesn't fall far from the Newman tree at all.

Until next time, please stay tuned.Teddi

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