Still at CL’s, Kyle describes his life as boring and complains about his Dad giving his job to his Mom as a wedding present. It’s not just awkward, it’s brutal. Every time Kyle tries to fix her mistakes, his Mom accuses him of undermining her. Yes, he’s thought about working elsewhere but it’s hard to walk away from his legacy. However, it might be refreshing to work somewhere where his talents are valued.
Nice to see you, Victor welcomes Audra into his home. He wishes he could have seen Tucker’s face. She describes it – he looked stunned, destroyed. Victor expects great things from Audra. She’s curious as to why he wants to remain anonymous. Is there something else you’re after with this acquisition?
Victor’s ‘so-called motivation’ is of no concern to Audra – kindly don’t ever second guess my intentions, he scolds. He wants to add someone to Glacade’s leadership team, Kyle. Is that a problem? No, she can find a division for him to run. Victor wants him to be her co-CEO.
Vikki calls to tell Claire that the kids are getting settled into their rooms. She’s sorry about Katie (who’s a good kid) It’ll get better. Don’t avoid being at the house – Katie just needs a bit of time to adjust. Claire’s on her way home – love you too. Both she and Kyle have enjoyed their conversation. After Claire leaves, Kyle’s summoned to the ranch by Victor.
Billy orders two glasses of Society’s finest champagne from the bartender – and he does mean their finest. We’re celebrating. Lily relays that Devon seemed intrigued (about splitting the companies?) He might not be as enthusiastic when he knows you’ve partnered with me, Billy suspects. Lily worries more about how Jill will react. She gave me her power – it’ll be my call, Billy’s unconcerned. Their champagne brought over, Lily and Billy are too busy toasting to ‘new beginnings’ to notice Devon scowling at them from the entrance.
After Devon leaves, Lily and Billy discuss when to announce their news. Devon might take it better than we expect, Lily tells her new partner.
Johnny asks his Mom not to be mad at Katie. She might be mad about a boy at school. She didn’t tell me about it, Vikki, of course, thinks of herself. They’re joking about phones being attached to walls (in Vikki’s day, because she’s so old) when Claire comes home to ask ‘what’s so funny?’. Hey Claire, Johnny greets her. Katie’s upstairs – don’t take anything personally. She can be a pain but it doesn’t last long.
Audra balks – she’s perfectly capable of running Glacade on her own. This isn’t a reflection on her business skills – and Victor isn’t making a suggestion – working with Kyle is non-negotiable. On cue, Kyle arrives. There’s nothing to be suspicious about, Victor has good news – don’t you agree, Audra?
Still at Society, Billy’s on videochat with Jill to announce fantastic news he thinks she’ll be happy about. Sounds like you’re trying to sell me on something, Jill’s wary – what is it?
Nate meets Devon at the office – what’s up? It sounded urgent. Devon just saw Lily and Billy having a cozy, celebratory lunch together. She could be moving ahead with the plan, Nate suggests. Devon got a different vibe. He’s questioning his instincts; maybe I got it wrong.
Invited to take a seat, Kyle pulls over a chair as opposed to sitting beside Audra on the couch. Off the record, Victor tells him that Audra’s in charge of Glacade and needs someone to run it with her. You said Jabot wasn’t challenging enough. Running Glacade with Audra will be challenging – are you interested?
When Billy announces that he’s undoing the merger, Jill protests. What if Lily came to work for our side? That will never happen. It just did – he and Lily will run Chancellor as equal partners. It will become Abbott Chancellor – your legacy is secure, he tells his Mom.
You think Lily’s reneging on her plan to trick Billy? Nate asks. Based on what he saw, Devon worries she’s bought into the idea of running the whole Chancellor empire with Billy. Or, she might have Billy on the hook and be reeling him in, Nate does indeed think Devon might be ‘paranoid’. Your sister knows what she’s doing. Since he’s going to Paris with Abby, Devon’s needs Nate to keep an eye on Billy. No need, Lily arrives to announce that she has Billy right where she wants him. Can you rethink your trip to Paris? she asks. Because this thing is going to explode.
My Thoughts: Are we expected to believe that Victor’s so mad at Jack for going to extreme lengths to help Nikki that he’s going to go to even more extreme lengths to extract revenge on Jack? There’s no need to pull Kyle and Diane into it. Or Tucker. Or Devon (who respects him so much he still calls him Mr Newman) If Abby’s pissed that her Abbott family keeps things from her, just wait til she finds out what her father’s up to. So much for Victor not wanting to jeopardize Nikki’s sobriety by her returning to work too soon. And so much for his lifelong dream that warms the cockles of his heart (his sons working together) And so much for ‘family first’, ‘this is business’ and not making business decisions based on emotion. He’s also pulling Adam away while his son’s in crisis. Lastly, why use Glacade, a ‘start up’ based in Europe to destroy Jabot when Newman Enterprises is already a ‘global conglomerate’ that has a cosmetics line (though it’s never mentioned)
Oh, add Mike and Cole to the list of people Victor’s using – can’t he take Jack down by himself? … Why does Lily need to pretend to partner up with Billy? Why not just separate the companies? There’s no need to burn the bridge between her and Billy/Jill (who she knows is sick) …. No kid Katie’s age refers to their schoolmates as ‘the kids at school’. Yes, I’m aware – they wouldn’t use ‘schoolmates’ either … Uh Billy – one drinks champagne from a champagne flute, not a glass. And how cheap is he? Two glasses of Society’s finest champagne? Why not a full bottle of Society’s most mediocre bubbly – which you can’t buy by the glass because it goes flat once opened. They call it ‘bubbly’ for a reason… A few days ago but this is still bugging me. How did Claire order champagne by phone at Society, without giving her credit card number? Good thing Tessa didn’t ask for it because Claire didn’t even notice that she’d left her wallet at Kyle’s.