The Young and the Restless viewers saw how Adam had his heart ripped out when he not only lost his daughter, Ava, but also as her mother, Sally turned on him for the way he handled the life-and-death decision. For the way he’s played Adam’s overwhelming grief, Soap Hub Performer of the Week honors for Y&R is presented to Mark Grossman.
Mark Grossman: Y&R Performer of the Week
This week, the extent of Adam’s grief was getting a lot of notice. First, in a shocking move for Adam, Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), who has barely ever shown him a moment of kindness or understanding, did just that as she told him she knew about this kind of grief. Adam realized what she was trying to do, but in Grossman’s skilled hands, we could see he was in no place emotionally to handle her overture.
In pure Adam style, he also couldn’t handle the same outreach from his father. Instead, Adam wanted to show Victor (Eric Braeden) that he was ready to move forward, full steam ahead with McCall Unlimited — in fact, he had a goal firmly in place — acquire Newman Media, the company he helped build. This was not welcomed news by the founder of Newman Enterprises. Victor could see a war was brewing between his son and his daughter and he didn’t want that. But there was no reasoning with Adam.
What was obvious to anyone was how much Sally’s (Courtney Hope) rejection of Adam, and her unwillingness to grieve the loss of their daughter together, has caused him to spiral. Despite her rejection and Nick’s (Joshua Morrow) reiteration of her request that Adam leave her alone, he took one last chance — and wrote a letter, hoping to reach her.
He said he was there for her until noon if she wanted to talk. As he waited, Audra (Zulelyka Silver) kept him company and the two verbally sparred. But when she rubbed salt in the wound that the woman he was waiting for wasn’t coming, you could see a light in Adam flick off, as Grossman showed his formidable character turns on a dime to issue a threat — don’t underestimate him. He was coming after her and Newman Media.
That is the beauty of Mark Grossman and his take on Victor’s youngest son — he can break your heart one minute and the next remind you how lethal Adam Newman can be when life deals him an undeserving blow. It’s an incredible combination that continues to win him the love of the audience as they can’t help but root for Adam to find his way back on top.