If you’ve read Friday’s recap, you know that chasing down leads in son Noah’s “accident” led Sharon to Sienna’s husband, Mitch, played by Emmy winner Roger Howarth. When she saw him, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Mitch… was Matt.

How, though? That’s a good question. Matt died almost a quarter of a century ago. Or did he?

 

 

Who Is Matt Clark?
Viewers were introduced to the character in 1994. At the time, Eddie Cibrian was playing the high-school senior who turned vengeful upon losing girlfriend Sharon to classmate Nick. First Matt raped Sharon, then he divulged to Nick that at 16, she had given up a baby. (Two, it turned out, since we eventually learned that Cassie had a sister, Mariah.)

 

 

Matt wasn’t done with his vendetta yet, either. After he was shot, he accused Nick of pulling the trigger and got him sentenced to 15 years in prison. When Matt’s subsequent girlfriend Amy came forward and admitted that she’d shot him for raping her, too, the scumbag went on the run.

 

 

Matt’s New Face, Same Bad Attitude
Four years after he got the hell out of Dodge, Matt returned with a plastic surgery-altered face with Rick Hearst (Ric, General Hospital) in the role. Going by the name Carter Mills, Matt got hired at Crimson Lights and killed time waiting to rape Sharon by drugging and raping Tricia.

 

 

On “margarita night” at Nick and Sharon’s, Matt arranged for Nick to run late enough for him to drug and rape Sharon. Luckily, Nick came home in the nick of time and assumed Sharon had just had a margarita too many.

Later, unstable Tricia caught Matt trying to rape Sharon and drove herself and “Carter” off a cliff with the intention of killing them both. Matt survived but barely. Seeing an opportunity to frame Nick for his murder, Matt pulled out his breathing tube and died by suicide. Or so we thought, anyway.

Following Matt’s demise, Sharon learned that she was pregnant and didn’t want to take a paternity test before giving birth; she was sure that the baby wasn’t the result of margarita night. Nick was ticked, knocked over a chair and left. Sharon ran after him, tripped on the chair and lost the baby (which did turn out to be Nick’s).

How Can Mitch Be Matt?
Twenty-five years after his last reign of terror, it would appear that Matt is back again, alive and well. He has another new face — Howarth’s — but since Sharon recognized him, apparently we’re not going to address the re-recast.

We could be looking at a loco redo of the storyline in which Bold & Beautiful murderess Sheila gave herself Phyllis’ face (though why anyone would give themselves Matt’s mug is a big ol’ question mark). Or perhaps its a twist on the “Lipstick Lauren” plot in which Sheila’s equally demented sister made herself over to resemble the crackpot’s favorite target.

Any way you slice it, though, it’s bad news for trauma queen Sharon, who seems to go from one kidnapping (by Cameron) to another (by Ian) to another (by Martin). Strange, though, that Young & Restless will reactivate pretty much any bad guy ever except for this monster.