OK, “deserve” may be a bit harsh but it is hard to summon up much empathy for Summer Newman after she learned her Young and the Restless husband, Kyle, was cheating on her with Audra. She seems to have conveniently forgotten the part she played in the breakdown of her seemingly perfect marriage.
Summer Newman: Thoughtless and Driven
Summer (Allison Lanier) confronted Kyle (Michael Mealor) on Wednesday and said some drivel about how she viewed betrayal as a “conscious” choice. Does she not recall her “conscious” choice a few weeks back to let her husband’s mother, Diane (Susan Walters), suffer in jail when she knew her mother, whom Diane was accused of killing, was actually alive?
Does she not recall her own brother Daniel (Michael Graziadei) asking her how she expected her marriage to survive if she continued to keep this fact from her own husband? She made the conscious choice to hide her mother’s return from the dead. She chose to let Diane stew in prison, worried she’d never be able to prove her innocence. She had tunnel vision and only cared about protecting Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), Kyle, and his mother be damned.
She can blame her mother for ruining her marriage all she wants, but we viewers know the truth. Summer did this. She made a choice, and who’s to say, if faced with the same, Kyle wouldn’t have done the exact thing she did. Who can fault her for choosing her mother over her husband? But own it, Summer. You know exactly what you did. So you gambled on Kyle’s forgiving heart, but you guessed wrong.
Should Kyle have quickly jumped into bed with another woman? Not the most mature or adult decision of his life, but he is Jack’s (Peter Bergman) son, so it’s not a huge surprise. Neither Kyle nor Summer has indulged in the most mature behavior of their lives, but that’s part of the fun. But not for one second should Summer think she isn’t getting a bit of Karmic payback for so easily dismissing the effect her choices might have on her husband and her marriage.