Genoa City was home to twists and turns aplenty in 2025, as The Young and the Restless reintroduced Cane (Billy Flynn) and Matt Clark (Roger Howarth), Sharon (Sharon Case) survived multiple kidnappings, Mariah’s (Camryn Grimes) marriage to Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) imploded in the wake of her deep, dark secret, and Victor (Eric Braeden) and Jack (Peter Bergman) stayed at each other’s throats. Check out Soap Opera Digest‘s picks for the best and worst of what the year brought to Y&R.

Best Heroine: Sharon

It was another year of high-octane peril for Sharon Newman, who began the year getting chloroformed by psycho Jordan (Colleen Zenk) on New Year’s Eve, then being held captive in a sewer with no food or water while drugged with PCP. No sooner had she escaped that hostage crisis than she was kidnapped again, this time alongside her rival — and fellow Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) ex — Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford). They woke up in a locked room where their captor spoke to them through alarms, music, and a disguised voice while they pounded on walls and doors and screamed to be released. Both women almost died before being rescued from Alan’s psychotic presumed-dead twin brother, Martin (Christopher Cousins). Just as Sharon had settled back into her safe, calm Crimson Lights life, Mariah had a mysterious life crisis that necessitated her leaving her wife and family to check into a clinic and work through her problems alone without telling anyone what they were. (Sharon repeatedly reminded her daughter that she was a trained therapist and could help; no go.) Next up: Noah (Lucas Adams) was in a massive car wreck in LA and Nick and Sharon headed west searching for answers. Instead, they found Matt Clark, the man who had raped Sharon back in high school and later framed Nick for his murder. So not only was Matt not dead, he was out to harm their son. But instead of crumbling under the pressure of this stressful year (!), Sharon fought back at every turn. She escaped the sewer and the locked room, worked hard to be there for Mariah, and is now trying to keep Noah safe from their latest back-from-the-dead tormentor — and, as Matt Clark is now learning, Sharon’s battles have only made her stronger. If ever there was a soap character who took a licking and kept on ticking, it is this brave and venerable heroine.

Worst Story: Cane’s Reintroduction

Where to begin? The treading water for six months while all of Genoa City talked about Aristotle Dumas who we didn’t know or care about? Sorry, but the Newmans, Abbotts and Winters speculating about who Dumas might be just felt like an excuse for them to repeat conversations. Or how about the silo-ing of Cane’s reintroduction in Nice where he turned out to be the elusive Dumas and trapped our faves in a series of dangerous situations? It was very hard to believe that The Great Victor Newman couldn’t physically leave Cane’s compound, but Adam was able to break into it. Another demerit was Cane’s henchman killing legacy character Chance — the last to bear his adored step-grandmother Katherine Chancellor’s name — in such an afterthought-y, inconsequential way in Nice. Y&R got no dramatic payoff from Chance’s (Conner Floyd) death because they didn’t bring Nina or Jill back for a proper goodbye or hold a proper funeral. Other holes included a convoluted tale about how Victor had a letter proving Cane’s father Colin helped build his empire with money swindled from a rich old lady, Cane’s “groundbreaking” AI program getting stolen by Phyllis with basically one keystroke, and Cane sleeping with Phyllis despite his repeated (and repeated) insistence that he wants Lily (Christel Khalil) back. It was hard enough to accept an American recast who was 15 years younger than the Australian actor who previously played the role, but saddling the new Cane with this rocky ride and having him hurt so many A-listers made it harder. Given the illogic of revamping this character into someone we don’t recognize, we’d be hard-pressed to think of any way this story did work.

Best Rivalry: The Newmans vs. The Abbotts

This year saw the decades-old Jack vs. Victor feud spill over onto their families and it lit up every corner of Genoa City. In addition to the always percolating patriarchs going at it, the next generation sparred with them — and each other — as well. Victor planted a mole at Jabot — which Jack and Kyle (Michael Mealor) soon discovered, schemed with Audra (Zuleyka Silver) to bring Kyle down, forced Adam (Mark Grossman) to use Newman Media to go after Billy (Jason Thompson), and got his hands on Cane’s destructive AI program to possibly ruin Jabot. For his part, Jack counseled Kyle on how to battle The Mustache and funded Billy’s new business, Abbott Communications, to directly compete with Adam at Newman Media. (He wound up pulling his money out when Billy pulled a… Billy.) Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Diane (Susan Walters) sniped at each other regularly, with Diane’s nastiness almost interfering with Jack’s efforts to coax Nikki into secretly helping keep Victor’s AI program away from Jabot. But the hostility between Jack and Victor remains top of the list, with Victor still steamed about Jack’s 2024 method of getting Nikki to kick the bottle (joining her with pills and alcohol until she realized that way lay madness) and Jack angry that Victor is so relentlessly trying to bring down Jabot. It would be hard to top 1997 when Victor collapsed from a heart attack and Jack stepped over his body, but their families joining the fight has definitely upped the ante. Adam and Billy are positioned for good trouble, and Victor’s determination to ruin Jabot could cost him Nikki, if she sympathizes with Jack, and Claire (Hayley Erin), if she sides with Kyle. It’s quite an accomplishment to be able to mine the competitive hatred between these two warhorses so effectively all these years later; passing it on to their loved ones bodes well for a feisty future.

Worst Exit: Summer

The story was there for the taking, but Y&R didn’t even hint at a triangle when Claire Newman started dating her cousin Summer’s ex-husband Kyle Abbott. Summer’s antennae finally went up when Kyle shared that he and Claire were trying to get Victor’s approval to get more serious, and she fired off some good barbs about how her grandfather had no problem when she was married to Kyle. Summer’s inner Phyllis then came out as she manipulated Kyle into spending time with her and Harrison (which forced Kyle to cancel plans with Claire) and rubbed it in Claire’s face that Victor was Team Summer. But just when it looked like the show would take advantage of the Newman vs. Newman angle of the latest Newman/Abbott romance, Summer up and moved to Italy to search for a new creative director for Marchetti (is she still interviewing candidates?!), bringing an abrupt end to the three-year run of Allison Lanier in the role. It felt rushed and poorly planned — and it left giant holes in the canvas. With no strong obstacles for Claire and Kyle, she gravitated to newcomer Holden (Nathan Owens) and the duo broke up. Summer’s father Nick hasn’t mentioned his “super girl” in months, her brother Daniel is still grieving Heather, and her mother Phyllis is spiraling with only Daniel to confide in and/or bother. Most egregious is that Summer basically abandoned Harrison, which arguably makes her a bad mom. All in all, Summer’s swift departure wasn’t executed in a manner befitting a legacy character — nor does it make sense for her not to come home now that Jack has shut down Jabot (Marchetti’s parent company).

Y&R Comings and Goings: Is Summer Returning?

Best Couple: Jack and Diane

Diane Jenkins had an uphill climb when she returned to Genoa City in 2022 after faking her death and leaving Jack alone to raise Kyle. But Diane worked hard to regain the trust of her son and ex, and was rewarded in 2023 when she and Jack wed and Kyle forgave her. Since then, Jack and Diane have grown into one of Y&R’s most enduring pairs. They believably spar like real couples but always turn to each other for advice. When Jack debated whether he hurt Billy by questioning his decisions re: Abbott Communications, Diane reminded her husband of all the times he had actually saved his younger brother. Jack was also appreciative when Diane said all the right things to Traci (Beth Maitland) after her fiancé Alan turned out to be psycho Martin. The duo joined forces to face their troubles with Kyle, Claire, and Victor, talking things out and making decisions together. On the lighter side, they share the same glee engaging in snarky dust-ups with their enemies (with the lone exception being Nikki). But the biggest sign that Diane has earned her way back into Jack’s orbit was him trusting her enough to redecorate the Abbott Mansion. Jack was apprehensive, but wound up praising Diane’s success combining the old-world style of John Abbott’s home with the contemporary aesthetic needed for Kyle to comfortably raise Harrison there. Even Ashley (Eileen Davidson) liked the house, which is more than we can say for how she feels about Diane. There was a time when that would have bothered Jack, but 2025 proved that Diane is just as much of an Abbott as his siste

Worst Secret: Whatever Mariah Did

It’s hard to think of a worse way to treat a legacy character than by having them suddenly leave their loving wife and daughter because they “did something bad” but refuse to tell anyone what that was. In Mariah’s case, she destroyed her marriage to Tessa by talking in circles. She said this is the way it has to be, she doesn’t have the words to explain it, and it involves an older man at a bar she got drunk with and may or may not have suffocated with a pillow. Tessa pleaded for the truth about the bad thing, as did Sharon who urged her daughter to forgive herself for whatever she did. Mariah screamed “Enough!” and retreated further into the psyche ward/nervous hospital/ wherever she is. The problems are myriad. Mariah is on a storytelling island, barely mentioned unless she’s ordering Sharon or Tessa to leave her alone. Tessa has gravitated to Daniel for more than guitar lessons, unraveling the only gay couple on Y&R, one of the few in all of daytime, as well as one of the show’s only popular duos. A woman staring into space is not a story. Hopefully there’s a payoff coming for this misguided detour…. but it’s going to take a soap opera miracle to make this mess all worth it.

Most Missed Opportunity: Hiring Roger Howarth as Matt Clark

It was one of the casting coups of the year when Y&R landed Roger Howarth, a multi-soap A-lister who wrapped his 11-year run on GH back in 2023, for a role on the show. Unfortunately, the role he was saddled with was that of super-villain Matt Clark, who died an extremely definitive on-screen death in 2001 when played by Rick Hearst — a fact the show barely bothered to explain away. (Preposterous returns from the dead work on DAYS; they don’t work nearly so well on Y&R.) On the heels of Sharon’s ordeal with Cameron, nobody was clamoring to see another violent villain from her past resurface, and the nature of the character all but guarantees that Howarth can’t stick around for the long haul. That is an undeniable shame, given that his wheelhouse — the sexy, mischievous, pot-stirring bad boy — could have filled a clear void in the Genoa City landscape. We can’t think of an actor better primed to have been brought in as a romantic interest for a powerhouse Y&R female with a lagging love life such as Sharon or Victoria (Amelia Heinle) or Phyllis (Howarth and Michelle Stafford were gold together on GH as Franco and Nina). To see his talent squandered in a going-nowhere role, however splashy, has been a major letdown. Does Matt have a single, morally complicated twin brother, by any chance?!

Best Wedding: Danny and Christine

Y&R treated viewers to an old-school soap opera wedding with the lead-up and celebration of Christine “Cricket” Blair (Lauralee Bell) and Danny Romalotti’s (Michael Damian) long-awaited second union. They played all the beats, starting with Danny’s heartfelt proposal at Society, where each dish represented a moment from their colorful past. (A guitar pick! A Hawaiian lei! An etiquette book! If you know, you know.) For her wedding dress, fans were given the chance to vote by choosing from three fetching selections on Instagram. The bachelor/bachelorette parties were planned for separate rooms at the GCAC, which made it easy for them both to be crashed by Danny’s jealous ex Phyllis, who made the requisite scene(s). A power outage brought the men and women together in the main dining room where they toasted the upcoming nuptials — which did not disappoint. Cricket’s bestie Nina (Tricia Cast) and Danny’s sister Gina (Patty Weaver) returned, Phyllis stuck her nose into the preparations, and a welcome note from Chris’s ex-husband Paul (Doug Davidson) arrived wishing them a lifetime of happiness. Danny’s son Daniel (Michael Graziadei) walked a tearful Christine down the aisle and the vows came off without a hitch as officiant Michael Baldwin (Christian J. LeBlanc) pronounced the “destiny couple” husband and wife. Phyllis also made an appearance at the reception (cue the rolled eyes and clenched fists), but by then she had calmed down. She raised a glass to the newlyweds and said she’d never seen Danny happier. No one had ever seen him more surprised, either — especially when Phyllis left them alone on their honeymoon (not an octopus in sight!). It’s sentimental arcs like this that keep fans tuning in to love and to cherish their soaps.