The Young and the Restless Performers of the Week: J Eddie Peck and Amelia Heinle

Victoria Newman has had many love interests over the years on The Young and the Restless, but we're fairly confident in saying that the love of her life is the late Cole Howard, her former husband. Amelia Heinle, who plays Victoria, and J. Eddie Peck, who played Cole, delivered heartfelt performances this past week when Cole died, cementing the couple's love story in the annals of Y&R history — and earning them the title of Soap Central's Y&R Performers of the Week.

J. Eddie Peck and Amelia Heinle, The Young and the Restless

Cole's death scenes were the no-frill variety in that soaps don't have budgets for hospital corridors, doctors, nurses, and other characters that a storyline like Cole's death would warrant. However, the most important factors -- acting, dialogue, and direction -- were all in place to tug at our heartstrings.

Peck and Heinle had only worked together on Y&R since late 2023, but they shared great chemistry. (The actors did share the screen on All My Children a little over 20 years ago when they played lovebirds Jake and Mia, so they were able to hit the ground running when Cole returned.)

Bonded by the return of their long-lost daughter Claire (Hayley Erin, who also broke out hearts in these deathbed scenes), Cole and Victoria reunited. Alas, their happiness was short-lived. Cole's illness and Legionnaire's disease diagnosis mostly took place off-camera, but we feared the end was near when Cole stoically said he'd made peace with his fate.

We've seen actors on soaps perform dying scenes with voices that are too faint to distinguish or ones that play to the balcony for fear of not being heard. Peck found the perfect balance by making sure we could hear Cole's heartfelt words to Claire while also not playing to the balcony. Peck did lessen the liveliness of Cole's voice a bit as Cole realized he was transitioning to the next plane.

Love story

"I would if I could," Cole told Claire about giving her more time with his life essence slipping away. After Claire became too emotional to remain in the room, the focus shifted to Cole and Vicki's love story, which was one of the show's most prominent ones in the early to mid-1990s.

"We got our second chance, Vick," Cole told the love of his life, his breath starting to become labored. "Most people don't even have a love like ours even once. Maybe in a book."

"This doesn't really feel like happily ever after to me," Vicki lamented. Then, Cole promised to be waiting and asked Vicki to take care of his daughter.

The look of love

Heinle reached deep into Vicki's love for Cole by putting his needs before her own. Vicki told Cole that she wouldn't ask him to stay because she knew that he couldn't, but she did ask him for one thing. The two kissed one last time as Cole slipped away.

Some actresses avoid "ugly crying" and insist on perfect hair and makeup in emotional scenes like these. Heinle wasn't afraid to let her hair down or go without lip gloss to display Vicki's grief.

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Kudos to Peck and Heinle for their powerful work in these heart-wrenching scenes. Cole may be gone, but neither he nor he and Vicki's love story will be forgotten any time soon.

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

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