Young and the Restless: Jack Saves Nick – Victor Furious & Out for Blood!

Young and the Restless delivers Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) at rock bottom. He is deep into addiction, and by the end of this week, his whole family finally knows he is struggling, but they might not be the ones to save him.

It could be Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) who is the biggest help. We’re gonna talk about Victor Newman‘s (Eric Braeden) enraged reaction if Jack is the one to help Nick get clean and back on track.

Nick Collapses From Tainted Drugs on Young and the Restless

All right, so this week we saw Nick and Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) as they were driving over to the abandoned gas station where Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) had trapped Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) and Noah Newman and left them to die. So driving over there, Adam saw that Nick was struggling with withdrawal symptoms and told him, “Go ahead, get your fix. Do what you need to do.”

That way, you know, in Adam’s mind, Nick could be functional and they could get through this ordeal without putting everyone at risk. And then Adam promised his brother that once they got home, they’d get Nick all sorted out, get him into rehab, and get him cleaned up.

Nick Overdoses on Y&R

So, although he was ashamed after Adam told him to go ahead, Nick popped some fentanyl. Because he was in withdrawal. But when they got to the gas station to save Noah and Sharon, that’s when we saw Nick collapse. Because Matt’s dealer had included a baggie of tainted drugs.

So, hot on the heels of Nick’s collapse, a vengeful Matt blew the abandoned garage sky-high. However, Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan) had called Victor and he sent his security team rushing out to Vegas and they were able to get Noah and Sharon and Adam and Nick out of there just in time before it all went boom.

The Newmans Learn About Nick’s Addiction on Young and the Restless

And it looks like soon the Newmans are going to be back to Genoa City and Nick is finally going to tell his dad Victor what has been going on. So, the whole family is soon going to know that Nick has fallen into this fentanyl addiction with a little cocaine on the side. And it all started, of course, with the car crash with Matt that broke Nick’s leg and required surgery.

Now, I think that Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) is going to be especially concerned about Nick’s spiral into addiction. Because she’s been there. She’s done that. You know, Nikki had her own alcohol relapse not that long ago. Because of what Claire Newman (Hayley Erin) and her aunt Jordan Howard (Colleen Zenl) did to her. So, I expect that Nikki is going to want Nick to go to rehab ASAP to get the help he needs.

Nick Pushes Back on Y&R

However, I doubt it’s going to be that easy, no matter what Nikki says. Because already Nick wants to make sure that the threat of Matt is over and done before he’ll even consider it. And although Sienna Bacall (Tamara Braun) claims that she killed Matt, I mean 100% that’s a lie. There’s no way. I’m also curious to see if Victor will encourage Nick to go to rehab or if Victor will let Nick slide.

Because if you remember, Victor didn’t seem to want Nikki to go to rehab when she first fell off the wagon after the vodka IV like he should have done. And he even left bottles of booze sitting around the house. So, at the same time, I could see stubborn ass Nick thinking that he can fight his addiction alone without rehab and without professional help.

Jack Abbott Could Be the One to Help Nick on Young and the Restless

Now, I expect Nikki to push Nick to get real help and she may call on her good friend Jack Abbott to help convince Nick what a hard road it is and that rehab is the best course of action. I mean, honestly, Jack is the perfect person to help Nick. Because Jack also had a pill addiction.

And it was a very similar situation. If you guys remember, there’s actually several parallels between Nick’s addiction story and Jack’s addiction story back in the day. So, if you’ve been watching Young and the Restless a while, you may remember it was in 2012. Crazy Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk) who is back now, at the time, she shot Jack and he had surgery to remove the bullet and then after that Jack was able to walk again but he was in extreme pain and they were giving him pain pills for relief.

Jack’s Opioid Addiction on Y&R

So, after surviving Patty’s bullet things turned dark. Because Jack got hooked on opioids and he started acting really out of character. Sounds familiar, right? And of course, the Abbotts were worried. At that time, Jack was married to Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford), and she and Adam had confronted Jack.

He tried to quit on his own. He went cold turkey. It didn’t work. And then he was back to popping pills. So, Phyllis and Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John) along with Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) and Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) staged an intervention, but instead of listening, Jack fired all of them for calling out his druggy behavior, and that included Adam who was working for him at the time.

And so next, Jack decided to go detox at the Abbott cabin and Phyllis stayed with him throughout his terrible withdrawal. After that, Neil became Jack’s sponsor and he was finally able to get and stay clean. The only time Jack has gone back to pills that I can remember was when he intentionally sacrificed his sobriety and popped some pills to scare Nikki into going to rehab. That was on what Victor calls the night of debauchery in 2024. Now, thankfully, Jack didn’t relapse and he got Nikki to go to rehab.

Victor Would Be Furious If Jack Helps Nick

But Victor’s been so angry ever since. Because Jack saved Nikki when not only did Victor not save Nikki, but he actually made things harder by keeping booze around and constantly exposing her to the substance she was addicted to. So, I kind of expect Nick’s addiction journey to go the same route as Jack’s for the same reasons. I honestly think Nick’s going to fight every step of the way, insisting he can handle it on his own.

Adam wants him to get help. So do others. But Nick is so stubborn. He’s so thickheaded. And I’m sure Nikki is going to open up to Jack about it. Because they’re good friends. They’re spending time together while their marriages are broken. And in fact, Nikki might ask Jack to please talk to Nick, share his own addiction journey, try and get through to him.

Young and the Restless: Victor Blows Up

And even though Jack knows helping Nick would make Victor even more psycho, I do expect that Jack will do the right thing and try to help Nick regardless. So, I think Jack may be able to get through to Nick. Because they’ve gone through almost the exact same thing. And if Jack helps Nick, I mean, that could actually finally destroy Victor and Nikki’s marriage. Because she would be really grateful to Jack. And Victor would be even more vengeful. I think he’d be furious if Jack is the reason that Nick gets clean.

Now, you’d think Victor would want Nick off of drugs no matter how it happens, but at the same time, Victor’s ego won’t allow for Jack to do any good. So, I could see Nikki being so appalled at Victor that she just walks away for good. Well, at least for right now. And from there, Nikki might get even closer to Jack. So, I think Adam and Chelsea and Sharon are all going to be grateful to Jack if he is the one to help Nick. And that’s an if. But if it works out that way, it would absolutely enrage Victor.

Meanwhile, Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle), I would expect to be petty and terrible as usual and excuse her daddy’s horrible behavior and say that Nick would have gotten better anyway. We’ll see. But I am really hoping that Jack is involved in Nick’s addiction storyline. Because it makes perfect sense because the stories are nearly parallel.