Will Phyllis Summers’ Third Degree Over Matt Clark Drive Y&R’s Nick Newman Back To The Pills?

NICK NEWMAN IS HOLDING PILLS AND ONE DANGEROUS SECRET

TL;DR: Y&R’s Nick Newman admitted he kept pills stolen from Joe to test his sobriety, and with Phyllis Summers pushing for the truth about Matt Clark, that secret could be what finally pushes him to swallow them. Follow all the Young and the Restless spoilers for his next move.

Stolen Pills Make A Terrible Sobriety Test

Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) showed up at Crimson Lights to referee a Jabot photoshoot feud between his mother and Sharon Newman (Sharon Case), and ended up holding something far scarier than a lipstick. Once his mother stormed off, Sharon asked whether he has been working his steps, and Nick admitted he’s struggling. Work had been going better, but a visit with Marie Kirkland (Jade Harlow) the day before was hard. Then he pulled out a handful of pill bags.

He took them from Joe, the dealer he went after in October, and kept them on purpose to test his sobriety. Sharon’s response was the only sensible one: did he pass? The scene ended before he answered, and that cliffhanger is doing all the work.

A sobriety test that can be failed by swallowing the evidence is no test at all, and Nick knows that better than anyone in town. His fentanyl addiction came out in May, he flatlined, and he lived because Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) and an amnesiac Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) got to him in time. Rehab came in July, a relapse inside rehab in August, and Marie’s overdose in September. Whatever Nick Newman is doing with those pill bags, he is no stranger to what they can do.

The Matt secret is the part that should worry everyone. Nick told Phyllis that Matt checked himself into a clinic and wanted no visitors, then told Sharon he sent Matt to a clinic out of state and made him promise never to be in touch, because it is best if they don’t know. Sharon called the clinics and hospitals and found no Matt at any of them. She admitted she feared Nick took matters into his own hands, and Phyllis asked straight out whether she thought he had killed him. Sharon refused to believe it. Neither of them has been able to drop it.

Got a wild theory about how any of this shakes out? Email us at amber@soapoperamagazine.com, we want to hear it!

Phyllis Is Not Going To Let This Go

Sharon is already worried about Nick’s sobriety on Wednesday, and by Thursday Phyllis is giving him the third degree about where Matt really is. That is a lot of pressure to pile on a man carrying stolen pills, and the show knows it.

Here is the cruel part: the secret and the pills are the same problem. Secrets keep people sick, and for Nick, that sickness is drugs. He has told Phyllis she can’t help Matt and told Sharon he will never say, so every question is a doorhe has to keep shut, and he has been leaning against it alone. Add a woman who admits she’s terrified of being pulled back in, whose hurt over Matt leaving was real, and one pointed question at the wrong moment could be enough.

Three Choices, Only One Of Them Safe

Nick has three obvious options with those pills. He can flush them, hand them to Sharon, or swallow them. The first two are what a man in recovery does when he’s honest and has support, and the favor he says he came to ask on the What’s Next video may even be Sharon taking them off his hands. The third is the one the confrontation with Phyllis could force. If Nick Newman swallows even one, it will be because the secret about Matt got too heavy and the bags that were supposed to prove he was strong became the thing he reached for.

That would write the next scenes for the writers: another overdose, another ambulance, another stint in rehab, and a secret about Matt dragged into the light in a hospital hallway, where Sharon and Phyllis finally get their answer from a man who can’t dodge the question. After nearly dying once already, that is a heartbreaking sequel.

Then again, maybe the pills stay in the bag and the test is exactly what he says it is. Genoa City should hope so.

Which storyline has you the most obsessed? Drop it in the comments below, we’re dying to talk about this!

Who Is Standing Next To Him When The Questions Start?

Phyllis wants answers, Sharon wants him safe, and Nick Newman wants the whole thing buried, which is exactly why this storyline has us holding our breath.

Sound off on our Facebook page and tell us what you think he does with those pills.