I’ve gotta think Bill Bell would be bummed by what The Young and the Restless is doing. The show caught lightning in a bottle with the unexpected pairing of Daniel and Tessa, and rather than pursue the romance, it’s having him “nobly” step aside in hopes that she’ll reunite with her estranged wife, Mariah. Why?
Back In the Day, It Would’ve Gone Very Differently
Were the soap’s late, great co-creator still in charge, I have zero doubt that he would’ve moved full-steam ahead with Daniel and Tessa — and not only that but taken advantage of the opportunity to enlighten as well as entertain. How many viewers have been sitting there thinking, “How can she even be with him when she’s a lesbian?”
Bell would have had no trouble crafting scenes in which Tessa explained that maybe it turns out that she’s bi after all… that when she fell for Mariah, she fell so hard, she didn’t even look at anyone else, male or female… not until her wife abandoned her, and she noticed that oh! Her feelings for Daniel went beyond friendship.
Talk About a Missed Opportunity
Some people don’t discover that they are LGBTQ+ till much later in life, so why couldn’t Tessa keep learning about herself as well? It could’ve been a lovely, modern story — and a welcome break from the constant merry-go-round of CEOs. And while it was playing out, we could’ve watched Mariah build herself back up — not to reclaim her family but because she’s doing the work and realizes she has worth, all on her own. She was led down a bad road, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t find her way to a better one.
Then maybe we could’ve had a real Mariah/Tessa/Daniel triangle in which Tessa is torn between the man she loves and the unstoppable force that her former wife has become. Instead, it would appear that Young & Restless is going to re-pair Tessa with Mariah, at which point they’ll probably fade once again onto the backburner until something else goes wrong with Aria. Sad.
