Credit: CBS screenshot, Howard Wise/JPI

In what is typically a month with extra soapy offerings, Young & Restless has managed to drop even further into the doldrums, featuring a mind-numbing selection of stories we couldn’t care less about. Vanilla characters/couples, endless job offers, over-long conversations surrounding businesses and characters that don’t even exist on the actual canvas… the list goes on. She’s a hot mess, folks! On the bright side, here’s a look at some potential drama coming up.

On His Last Legs

Poor ol’ Cole has got to go. It’s not like we didn’t see it coming. He’s been replaced in his own daughter’s life by Victor, who sent him out of town on business and proceeded to replace him as her father figure in this cringey Romeo & Juliet plot the writers have cooked up. Victor’s logic regarding the Newmans and Abbotts makes no sense given he has years of history with Ashley, Kyle married Summer, and Victoria married Billy, and that’s just one of the reasons it feels ridiculous.

As for Cole’s romance with Victoria, it was back-burnered five minutes after their first kiss. It’s time for someone new to come along and light her fire… after she grieves Cole, of course.

Twisty Reveal

I’m not sure there’s a twist big enough that would make the weeks and months we’ve spent listening to characters drone on about Aristotle Dumas worth it in the end, but the one I have in mind might come close.

Everybody on this show: “Aristotle Dumas! Aristotle Dumas! Aristotle Dumas! Dumas this! Dumas that! Dumas! Dumas! Dumas!

Amanda’s coming back to Genoa City, and we know Mishael Morgan’s teased a connection to a high-powered person. But what if she is the high-powered person? What if Amanda is Dumas? That would explain a) Why Dumas is interested in helping Billy get Chancellor back. She and Billy were close, and she and Jill were not fans of each other, so she would have hated her selling him out to Victor, and b) Why Dumas has an interest in Winters Inc. Perhaps she’s planning a takeover of Devon’s company to pay him back for cheating on her.

It would be ingenious of Amanda to hide behind an alias that suggests Dumas is a man to throw off anyone snooping. But best of all, it would rock everyone involved, drive story moving forward, and put a woman in a position to be powerful and clever enough to compete with Victor. How would she have soared to such lofty heights so quickly? Her family, as we know, was wealthy. If her mother died and left her a fortune, she could easily have become a real estate tycoon.

Of course, it’s far more likely that Dumas will turn out to be the character played by Billy Flynn, who is coming over from Days of Our Lives, but, hey, a girl can dream. Either way, the reveal has to be dead ahead as we can’t go on like this much longer… it’s probably planned as an end of May zinger.

Mariah’s Secret

I’m still put out that Mariah did whatever she did off screen, but hopeful, nonetheless, that we’ll get some decent drama out of it. The preview suggests that all could be revealed next week, which might then propel Tessa into Daniel’s bed as part of the May Sweeps wrap-up.

The opinions expressed are my own. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this week’s Young & Restless in the comments.

Mom’s the word… In honor of Mother’s Day, take a look at soap stars and their moms in the photo gallery below.