The Young and the Restless character Nate Hastings likely does suspect that Victoria knows something about his cousin Lily’s whereabouts. But he directed his concerns more towards Lily’s ex, Cane, in today’s episode. Sean Dominic delivered strongly in these powerful scenes, reminding us that he’s one of Y&R’s most talented and, at times, underused leading men.
The Young and the Restless, Sean Dominic as Nate Hastings
Y&R has nicely set the stage for a Nate and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) romance. The two rekindled their friendship last year, and slowly, we’ve seen them growing closer again. Before Victoria jetted off to Italy to see Summer, she and Nate chatted at Crimson Lights. He asked her to have dinner with him when she returned.
That meal might come with a serving of conflict if Nate learns that Vicki knew about her father, Victor’s (Eric), plan to keep Lily (Christel Khalil) as his willing guest to leverage Cane (Billy Flynn).
But Cane’s not the only person who cares about Lily. As her cousin, Nate is deeply concerned. Nate heard Cane accuse Vicki of being aware of Victor’s role in Lily’s whereabouts, but she feigned innocence. We got the impression that Nate didn’t fully believe Vicki, but he cares about her too much to put her on the spot. Plus, he knows that Victor is the man behind it all.
After Vicki left, Dominic tapped into Nate’s strength by quietly but very firmly holding Cane responsible for his actions. Last summer at his villa in Nice, France, Cane was indirectly responsible for the deaths of three men — Damian Kane (Jermaine Rivers), Chance Chancellor (Conner Floyd), and Carter (Vincent Stalba).
The Cane mutiny
Cane stated that he never meant for anyone to die. He was cleared by French authorities, but the trio of deaths has weighed on him ever since. Nate wasn’t in Nice when all this went down, but he’s well-aware that had Cane not tried to keep everyone a captive guest on his estate, then all three men might still be alive.
“Good. Good. You’re finally looking in the mirror,” Nate firmly, but calmly informed his former cousin-in-law.
“I hope this is a massive wakeup call for you,” Nate added, holding eye contact with Cane. “All the lives that you have impacted, all the lives that have been lost because of you.”
Cane said that he’d live with the guilt of that for the rest of his life, and he asked Nate to believe that.
“I want to,” Nate replied. “But here we are. More lives in the balance. On you. Again.”
Dominic delivered that last speech exceptionally well, breaking up the sentence, giving the words their maximum impact in the process.
The question remains — will Nate and Vicki have a future if and when he finds out that she knew about Victor’s plan with Lily and Cane’s children, Charlie and Mattie? Let’s hope so. Y&R has a strong, leading man in Dominic, and he’s primed to be half of a soap opera supercouple.
Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus.
Edited by Michael Maloney