Innocence has never looked more guilty

The bar, the hotel, and Newman Enterprises. Is it any wonder that Connor has trouble being a ''normal'' kid? Billy was using a dive bar as an excuse to stay away from Victoria, who herself has always been obsessed over the family company. Are Abby, Chance, and Phyllis' lives too entangled in the hotel? Everywhere you look innocence is being swallowed up by guilt in Two Scoops.

As much of a brat as he has been, Connor's one interesting young dude -- and it's no wonder that he's such a monster. He has Adam and Chelsea as set-no-rules parents and Victor for his always-in-control-over-the-entire-world-all-the-time grandfather. Connor's destiny was never to be a normal, made-of-snips-and-snails-and-puppy-dog-tails little boy. And he sure has proven to be anything but the average kid. When most young lads are playing video games or watching TV (I have pretty much given up on the idea that kids still play outside), Connor's fun has revolved completely around reuniting his mommy and daddy. The only thing slightly normal about Connor has been for him to want a pet, and honestly, I still somewhat fear for that poor kitten's life. The cat had just better keep his claws sharpened at all times.

Does Adam throw his television away after each use and then buy a new one when he needs to watch something? Maybe that's the reason Connor seems to have no interest in watching it -- it was thrown away or given to charity. We can only guess that when he's at school, Connor keeps to himself while the other children run around and play together. Does he even know any nursery rhymes or fairy tales? Sure, things have changed, and children don't seem to be as innocent as what they were several decades ago. If Connor didn't know any nursery rhymes, it was just as well, especially if you look at the wording of some of them. Come on...rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub. I'm blushing just thinking about that. It ends with them going out to sea, but I'm not sure I even know what that means.

And some cartoons are kind of violent, even in the past. It's amazing that anyone has ever turned out "normal." Popeye and Brutus (or Bluto or whatever) liked to throw some mean punches in their day, Yosemite Sam was forever shooting things (mostly himself), and that rascally coyote was always trying to blow up or drop an anvil on that speedy little roadrunner. Meep, meep indeed! Actually, Connor was much safer at the Grand Phoenix, since the blows that are delivered in soap operas tend to be much more cartoonish than the ones thrown in cartoons. When a soap character throws a punch, the viewers can usually see that it misses by a mile. We surely don't want them to get hurt, but still, the fight could at least look realistic. I mean, that punch Kyle threw at Theo recently was pretty hysterical. I guess if the soap characters had as much of a chance of getting hurt as our friends and fiends on cartoons, though, the brawls could really be brutal.

Connor probably should worry more about other factors messing with the chance of him having a stable life. (I would say Chelsea should worry, but let's face it, she just lets her son do whatever he wants.) For instance, the obsession the Newmans have over the family business could be a huge red flag waving away his sanity. Or that so many adults spend way too much time at a hotel. Or that other of our prestigious citizens frequent the bar much too often. Yes, I'm looking at you, Billy and Amanda, but you are not the only ones. Shoot, a new video game should be created that would score points for how much trouble the players can get into by hanging around in a bar or at a hotel. And even that would be more innocent than the reality that constantly takes place in Genoa City.

But life goes on, and Adam and Chelsea dared getting Connor a new babysitter so they could go on a date. And since having a sitter worked well with Connor's plan, she should be safe enough. However, if Nick were to cause any more grief for Chelsea, all bets would be off on whether he'd be in danger from her son. Nick cautioned Chelsea, as he feared Adam would break her heart again, which only made Chelsea ready to flee to Paris with Adam and son. But she might want to check in with Phyllis and maybe even join forces with her to discover just what kind of devil's deal Adam made with Chance in Las Vegas. It must be pretty good, since they both have been so secretive about it. From the hints we've received, there's a female involved. But who?

Phyllis wanted to know that, also, so she was determined to make Chance's personal life intriguing and entertaining. Abby (a.k.a. the enemy of fun) may be underestimating Phyllis if she was waiting for Phyllis to prove to be a disaster on her date with Chance. I don't know. If I were interested in a guy, I sure wouldn't put the ball in her court to possibly score the winning point, if you catch my drift. No, Abby should be playing offense, not defense, especially against a spitfire like Phyllis. Even if Phyllis' ultimate goal was to discover what went on between Chance and Adam in Las Vegas, I'm sure she wouldn't mind having a little fun while she was at it. So, if Abby thought that Phyllis was a snake who would only eat herself, that red-headed reptile had some vicious fangs.

Even if Sharon feared that Nick was going overboard with his concern over her health, it was sweet for him to care, especially when so many exes wouldn't. Nick and Mariah both tried to find a way to help Sharon without becoming a burden, which was so thoughtful. Sharon was truly lucky to have them by her side. Sharon wanted to take back control and to be in control of her battle with cancer at a time when she felt everything was so out of control -- and who could blame her? I don't know if she accomplished her goal by going out in public only to be confronted by Phyllis, though. Sharon should have come back with some snippy and snappy responses to her, because telling Phyllis she was wearing a "knockout dress" only made her suspicious.

Known for being complex, Phyllis insisted that she did not have the ulterior motive of learning about the dealings in Las Vegas during her date with Chance. Then, the second Summer called, Phyllis dashed off to meet with her daughter, but not before she gave him a hot, passionate kiss goodbye. Their date was more of a game for Phyllis, who seemed to be playing hot and cold to entice Chance, and it might have worked. Phyllis has never had any problems snaring her prey...only in hanging onto them. Being a man, Chance couldn't help but be intrigued. But shortly afterwards, he kissed Abby as his choice. I guess not all men like their women hot and spicy. Go figure.

Phyllis was crazy to suddenly leave Chance, which was her "signal" that she only cared about what happened in Las Vegas. Summer's "emergency" wasn't that big of a deal. Actually, it was the same old, same old about Kyle. But after figuring out that Sharon had a health issue, Phyllis seemed to lose interest in Abby's "boy scout" and threw in the towel. Phyllis even got a little teary-eyed about the more important things in the world. Oh, my gosh, don't tell me that she actually cares about Sharon. Or maybe Phyllis just thought her life would be rather dull without her squabbles with Sharon. They've certainly had their share of skirmishes throughout the years, especially over Nick. Phyllis liked to win against all odds, so she'd probably miss battling it out with her favorite sparring partner.

However, Sharon wasn't going anywhere if she could help it, and she started her chemo drugs right away. It's good that she explained everything to Faith as she was going through the process. Sharon may be overdoing it on staying strong, but I can see that she felt she needed to keep a brave face so her kids wouldn't get scared. If Sharon could see their fear, it would probably increase her own. And I can understand why she didn't want anyone, including Phyllis, to know. She just wanted everyone to treat her as they usually would, so she could retain some sense of normalcy in her life. Sharon's world had been rocked to the core, and she needed some rationality to get through it all. She's fortunate that she has a loving boyfriend -- and a loving ex-husband -- at her side through it all.

Billy sure wasn't going to solve any problems he had with the supposed love of his life by continuously running to an outsider at his oasis. Amanda must have gotten bored with listening to the same stuff over and over, because she finally pulled the plug on it all. She told Billy that he needed to face whatever what chasing him, rather than running away from it. Amanda should have told him that ages ago instead of giving him pathetic advice about something she knew nothing about. It was like Amanda's only goal had been to keep her bar buddy coming back to her. But even if there were no more meetings between them in the future, it appeared to be too late, since a mysterious someone took pictures of the two of them at the bar.

But the mysterious photographer was a private investigator hired by Victor. Of course. And Victor knew everything. It was about time Victor got riled up again. He's been on the back burner for far too long. He wanted Victoria to kick "the juvenile delinquent" punk to the curb, and she should. Even Victoria saw that Billy was more upset about losing his bar buddy than by any trouble going on between them, and she let him move out. Billy didn't want to feel shame, but he should over how much he's hurt her. Billy was an addict, and his new drug of choice was playing with fire. He denied it, but that's an addict for you. I guess love doesn't always conquer all.

To punish himself, Billy immediately got into a fight at his home away from home, the bar, after he tried to push his way into the poker game. And, of course, Amanda arrived to save the day and to take him to his suite, but she left shortly afterwards. Billy was lost and alone with no one to judge him and left with no guilt hovering over him. But Billy was the only one judging himself. Victoria had just been trying to help him, which was what she thought he wanted. She was innocent of trying to heap the guilt onto Billy's shoulders. But, hey, he was doing a fine job of that, all on his own.

I've grown so weary of Billy making excuses to do whatever he wants, no matter how much he continued to hurt the one he kept claiming to love. And somehow, Victoria has always ended up being the one to blame in his eyes. Seriously, Billy obviously needed a pair of glasses. He was a fool if he thought Victoria would come around to his way of thinking, because they've always been able to work things out in the past. Back then, he had always made an effort to compromise, so they could work it out. It was just easier for Billy to be with Amanda, who didn't judge him, but why should she? Billy was not her boyfriend. If he was, you can bet that Amanda would be singing a different tune -- and it sure wouldn't be "happy days are here again." It'd be more like "you're no good."

While Billy had trouble tearing himself away from the bar and from his new analyst, Amanda, at least Nick had found the time to spend with Victoria. She really needed to quit beating herself up for something she couldn't control. Nick was right in that Victoria couldn't allow herself to be dragged down with Billy. He was the one in the wrong, not Victoria. If there was a problem between the two of them, Billy should be talking to her, not complaining to Amanda. It was outrageous that Billy would share his feelings with someone who wasn't even a part of the equation, and Victoria would be embarrassed if she knew just how much he talked to Amanda about them in such intimate detail. The last time I looked, Amanda didn't have a degree in psychology.

Mariah sure seemed to be creating a problem that didn't really exist (yet), when she whined to Abby about Tanner being with Tessa. But come one, what did she expect? Mariah knew all along that they were going to be together during the tour. Oh, well, this is a soap, after all. Maybe that's why she immediately jumped to panic mode. She, like all of us, know that nothing ever happens for no reason on a soap. A sneeze? It must be an incurable disease.

It looked like Mariah was in danger of no longer being the "fun, whoop-whoop person" once her former sidekick from the Matchbox bar entered the scene. Lindsay lost no time in encouraging Mariah to love with an open hand and to live her life, just as Tessa was. Hey, what are friends for?

Summer was crazy if she couldn't see that Kyle was jumping back and forth from Lola to her. Even Phyllis warned her about not being Kyle's second choice. Kyle was jealous of Theo's attention to Lola, but he saw nothing wrong with spending the majority of his time with Summer -- both at and outside of work. Okay, why are all these men flying to other women about the problems in their marriage (or non-marriage, in a certain case)? Kyle kept being an easy target for Theo, who just pointed out the closeness between Kyle and Summer to Lola. And even if Theo really wanted Lola for himself, he still seemed to truly care about her and didn't want to cause her any pain. Theo was proving to be more of a gentleman than Kyle was, especially when it came to Lola.

Summer had a point that Kyle just held onto his grudge against Theo to keep the drama in his life. Kyle felt he could keep balancing the love he felt for both Lola and Summer, but one would eventually end up wanting more, and Summer let him know with her lips that she still wanted him. No, blaming Theo for all his problems would not make them go away. Kyle had to give all his focus and love to Lola, or he was in grave danger of losing her -- and he would only have himself to blame. At least he tried to talk to Lola when he got back from San Francisco, but it didn't bode well for Kyle at all when Theo learned something had happened between him and Summer on the trip. But how long before he learns exactly what? And then how long will it take for Lola to find out, also?

When Abby stated to Chance that if not Chance, Phyllis would want something else Abby had, she was a little presumptuous in thinking that she already had Chance. I was surprised he didn't correct her, since it's still very early in their relationship. Have Abby and Chance even used the "L" word to each other yet?

Who'd ever think that Billy and Theo would have the same problem -- wanting to talk to someone without being judged. Well, that's what Billy thought, anyway. However, Theo probably had the more legitimate problem.

When Billy went to his dive bar, he saw the strangest sight. That had to be the quietest poker game in the history of gambling. The three men sat straight up, stiff as boards, in their chairs, as each one continuously picked up and put down cards. No one spoke, no one drank, no one ate...and I'm not even going to mention the weird hat the middle guy was wearing. (Yeah, I know they are in Wisconsin, but still...) They sure had the poker faces going on, though. No change in expression or even in the rhythm of playing their cards. It was just bizarre to watch.

Until next time, please stay tuned.Teddi

What are your thoughts on ? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.