Say Goodbye, Cole Howard: The Young and the Restless Two Scoops for the week of June 30, 2025

The Young and the Restless had us crying this week with Cole's death. His passing brought to mind the Dusty Springfield song, “Learn to Say Goodbye," which was written specifically for the 1972 TV movie Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole, starring Susan Hayward.

The Young and the Restless: When I close my eyes

Appropriately, the ill-fated Cole shared his final scenes with Victoria, the love of his life. Their daughter Claire, who must feel cheated as she was only reunited with her father a few years ago, was in too much pain to watch her father pass away. No one blames you, Claire. We all handle grief differently.

Viewers, who first met Cole in 1993 as the man who possibly was Victor’s long-lost son, never forgot Cole after he left the canvas in 1999 to teach in Oxford. He drove romance on the show for years while being tied romantically to Vicki, Nikki, Nina, and Ashley.

There's a part of you that's a part of me

Y&R deserves big credit for inviting Peck to reprise Cole to tell the story that baby Eve, Cole and Vicki’s daughter, hadn’t died back in 1998. There would have been a glaring hole in the story if Claire’s dad had been off-camera. Vicki never had to say: “Oh, Claire’s getting acquainted with Cole, who is out of town." That's because he was in town where he belonged. Y&R viewers rightfully would have screamed, "Cole needs to be here!"

He appeared sporadically since his return. Earlier this year, he’d gone on a trip across the world to check out offices for Newman Publishing. Presumably, that’s where he contracted Legionnaires' disease.

The only life I ever knew

We truly didn’t think Cole was going to die because we were erring on the side of hope. However, once we heard the haunting, sad version of the Y&R theme play (as a similar rendition once played for poor, dead Cassie), we feared the worst was about to happen.

Perhaps we held out hope that Cole was going to be okay because we kept getting reports of “he’s about the same,” and he was off-camera. How sick can that be? We never saw just how bad his condition was. He spent some time being sick on the sofa in the tack house, and there were references that he was in his hotel suite at the Genoa City Athletic Club. Most of Cole’s updates were revealed when Cole was off-camera. Newer viewers would have liked to have seen more of Cole on-screen so that his passing would have had a greater impact. More episodes of Cole and Victoria finding their way back to one another would have been a joy to watch and would have made his death all the more devastating.

If Cole was so close to dying, why would he be transported from a hospital in Chicago back to Genoa City? Why not stay in Chicago, where he was already receiving medical care? Will there be a funeral? Will Nina return for it? Will Vicki's family make it back from France in time? We're left with so many questions.

A sad reality of soaps today is that there just aren’t as many sets as viewers, and the shows, we’re sure, would like there to be. There’s also a dearth of day player doctors, nurses, interns, orderlies, volunteers, and family members of other patients.

I can't stop reminiscing

Cole and Vicki shared one final kiss before he died. That had us reaching for tissues to wipe our eyes and going to the Internet to see if Legionnaires' disease can be transmitted by kissing. Seriously, Cole's death was a tearjerker -- the likes of which we haven't seen on Y&R in quite some time. Bravo to everyone involved!

It’s too bad Cole and Vicki didn’t get a deathbed marriage the way Devon and Hilary had. “Cole was my husband,” Vicki could have said for the rest of her life. Or at least until the next time she gets married. We’re guessing that might be Nate. The show reminded us of the couple’s short-lived romance.

Cole has now gone to that great Genoa City in the sky. He’s together now with Cassie, Katherine Chancellor, Rex, Neil, Hilary, Liz Foster, and many more beloved favorites. RIP, Cole.

Seems like old times

Chelsea Lawson was a firecracker from the minute she hit town on Y&R. Lately, we’ve seen her return to her savvy, con artist ways. First, she tried to trick Victor into backing off of Billy by letting him know the identity of Aristotle Dumas. Alas, Victor shot her down. (When is that man not two steps ahead of everyone?) But even Victor was bemused by Chelsea’s attempt.

More recently, we saw Chelsea see right through Holden Novak’s ploy to befriend her. There are movers and shakers, spies, and frenemies around every corner in Genoa City. It’s nice to see Chelsea get a read on folks and file away bits and pieces of information she perceives.

We also saw Chelsea’s “Spidey sense” kick into gear when she ran into Cane at Crimson Lights. It didn’t take her long to realize there was more to Cane’s presence than met the eye.

Mother's sense

Nobody else can talk sense into you like your mom can. That’s why the scenes between Diane and Kyle likely hit a nerve with many viewers. Kyle’s tall, good-looking, and confident. While he’s to be admired, his mother knows he’s potentially in over his head with Audra.

Diane had kept an open mind about the trip to Dumas’s estate, but then she laid down the law with her son. Kyle tried to point out to his mom that she thought the competition between a fragrance from Jabot and one from Vibrante, Audra’s company, was a good idea.

“No,” Diane corrected her son. “I accepted that it had merit.” She went on to call it silly as Vibrante was not only a brand-new company, but it didn’t make sense for established Jabot to be associated with a novice outfit.

Kyle pushed back, as sons tend to do, which prompted Diane to push back even harder, as moms tend to do when they have their children’s best interests at heart.

It’s a good thing that Cane has bought the Genoa City Athletic Club. It’s likely the only way he’s ever going to be in the same room with folks again when they’re eating. The man is a terrible host, as evidenced by his interactions with his guests. First, he keeps them waiting. Then, they're led to believe there's no way out, but Cane certainly had no problem leaving the grounds. He flies thousands of miles to Genoa City so he can grab coffee with Holden and instruct him on what he wants him to do.

Con air ball

Holden needs to work on his sleuth skills if he wants to keep his job with Cane. Con artist Chelsea saw right through his transparent act (as Drucilla famously once said)! If he’s going to try to make inroads with the people Cane has instructed him to befriend, he’s going to have to learn how to lie better.

Forget media and fashion – Chelsea would make an excellent attorney. She sized up Holden in no time and told him she knew more about him than he did about her. The confident con artist called Holden a liar to his face so sweetly that we couldn’t help but chuckle. Don’t try to con a con, Holden.

We’ve observed for quite some time that Y&R has a formula for many of its shows. We see about 3 sets of couples at different eateries – Society, Crimson Lights, the Jazz Lounge, or the Genoa City Athletic Club. Towards the end of the show, one person from one of the couples will run into another pair to advance the plot. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Recently, though, Y&R has been surprising us with some unexpected pop-ups! Both Phyllis and Chelsea made appearances very, very late into an episode. So don’t tune out if you haven’t seen your favorite. He or she may pop up just yet!

Plans revealed

Cane finally admitted his plan to Phyllis in front of Amanda. He doesn't want Chancellor Industries or Jabot or even Newman Enterprises. He wants them all. Welp. Good luck! We're not taking Phyllis at her word that she'd throw her beloved Nick under a bus if Cane asked her to do so. But maybe Cane is hoping that Phyllis will run and tell the Genoa City power players what he's up to. Maybe he's sitting on a bigger scheme than the one he's shared with ambitious Phyllis?

Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus