When the Kyle/Claire romance was introduced on Young & Restless, it was touted as a Romeo & Juliet story, in which the war between

their families would threaten to tear them apart… but that hasn’t proven to be true at all. Instead, their split is solely owned by our so-called

“Romeo”, whose shady behavior was the only true reason for Claire’s disillusionment, despite her grandfather’s machinations.

 

 

Kyle’s actions have gone from bad to borderline criminal, with no signs of him learning from his mistakes any time soon. Which leaves us with the question: What are we supposed to be rooting for here?

 

 

We keep being told that Holden’s a “player” despite seeing zero evidence to support this (Young & Restless has an issue with the concept of “show don’t tell”). In fact, he’s only ever had eyes for one woman since he hit town — Audra — until he fell for Claire, with whom he developed a friendship first.

 

 

Unlike Kyle, Holden is able to read a room and has offered to back off numerous times. Claire’s ex-boyfriend, meanwhile, has ignored all of her requests for space, even after she outright dumped him. Now, Kyle’s gone full stalker, even parking himself in her hotel in Los Angeles after she explicitly asked him to leave, and despite his son suffering from nightmares back home.

Indeed, he used said son’s nightmare to try and guilt Claire into coming home with him… which is just plain icky. When Claire accused Kyle of controlling behavior, she wasn’t wrong. But judging by how she softened toward her ex near the end of the scenes, Young & Restless would have us believe that stalking and harassment is endearing… in the year 2025.

It sends a terrible message to suggest that ignoring boundaries is somehow “romantic” and a sign of genuine caring and we fear the writers have set themselves up for failure if a swoony Kyle/Claire reunion is what they’re envisioning.

At this point, even if Kyle runs to Claire’s rescue when Holden’s world in L.A. turns dark, it won’t, and shouldn’t be, enough to erase or excuse his actions. He’s given us the “ick” for good reason and that’s difficult to come back from, especially in a pairing that wasn’t wildly popular to begin with considering many fans were annoyed by the writing for both characters.Additionally, the side of Claire we’ve seen lately is decidedly more entertaining and interesting. Fans are intrigued by Claire’s connection to Holden in a way they never were with Kyle, so it would be doubly disappointing to see a reunion come anytime soon.