Young and the Restless exposes Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) in a ton of pain and he’s acting out. He’s even more angry than usual—more of a hothead than usual. He seems to be on the brink of a drug-fueled disaster, and Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) may be the only one who can save Nick.
We’re going to talk about how Victor Newman (Eric Braeden)’s son may be on the brink of spiraling down a dark path of drug addiction. If Jack saves his son, it would send Victor into a blind rage.
Nick Newman’s Painkiller Spiral and Volatile Behavior on Young and the Restless
So, this week, we’ve got Nick on a mission to put an end to Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) when he should be in the hospital still recovering from surgery for that broken leg. Nick is going through painkillers like crazy. He’s popping them like Tic Tacs.
When Noah Newman (Lucas Adams) asked if his dad was ranting and insisting that he was going to murder Matt, Noah wanted to know if that was Nick talking or the drugs talking. And that made him really mad at Noah. But then a moment later, Nick was swinging back in the other direction, apologizing and asking for more drugs.
He wanted Noah to call his doctor to get more meds. But Nick is not going to keep getting refills from his doctor, especially after skipping out of the hospital against medical advice. That means that he may turn to other sources for pain relief.
The Danger of Matt Clark’s Fentanyl in Genoa City on GH
And this week, it looks like Matt may be a source of more trouble coming to Nick’s life. So, after Victor took Matt away from Nick to go finish him off supposedly, we’ll see how that goes. We have got Nick spiraling into a crisis that I don’t think Victor sees coming.
Bottom line, Nick should still be in the hospital recovering and getting proper treatment and IV medication. And the way he’s snapping at Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) and their son Noah and then also at Sienna Bacall (Tamara Braun), you can see just how volatile Nick is—more so than usual.
I mean, we all know he can be a hothead and goes around punching, but the kind of agitation we’re seeing now is when you’re in extreme pain or when you need drugs because you are already falling into addiction and going without it is making you crazy.
Inheriting the Addiction Gene from Nikki Newman on Young and the Restless
Since his mom, Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott), has that addiction gene—you know, we’ve seen her struggle with alcohol and sobriety issues for years and years—it looks kind of like Nick may have inherited that gene and is going to be making risky choices to get the pain relief he needs, and he’s not going to realize the danger.
So, Nick yells at Sharon this week for wanting him to go back to the hospital. Everybody wants Nick to go back to the hospital because he’s clearly unwell, but he’s not thinking clearly and he’s plotting murder and then he’s lashing out at everybody that he cares about.
So, this week things take a turn when he is out of his prescription medication and he finds a little baggie of those fentanyl pills that Matt had given him, and they are still in his pocket. And since Nick broke his leg, I’ve been saying that I suspect he would wind up hooked on pain meds. And with that bag of fentanyl in his hand, it looks really bad.
Will Jack Abbott Save Nick Newman from Opioid Addiction on Y&R?
And of course, it makes sense because Y&R brought it up a whole lot that Matt was a fentanyl dealer. So, I figured it was going to come into play somehow in Genoa City and now it is. Even if Nick doesn’t take the fentanyl right now, I think he’s going to hang on to it. I think when he can’t deal with the pain in his leg, he can’t get more drugs from the doctor, and then he’s got withdrawal symptoms from opioids, he may go ahead and take some. Many addicts actually get hooked following an injury.
Some people that have never really had painkillers and then they have surgery or an injury and then they put them on painkillers and then bam, they’re hooked and then that’s it and it’s terrible. And with Nikki’s addict gene in his DNA, Nick’s got two strikes against him already because of the injury and because of the gene. And then that fentanyl in his pocket from Matt could be his third strike.
The Threat of a Secret Fentanyl Addiction on Young and the Restless
What’s worse is that with Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn) and Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) attacking Newman, we’ve got Nick’s parents distracted and Sharon’s worried about Matt, Noah, and also the Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes) crisis. Plus, with Sienna set to leave town, Noah’s going to be all worked up. He’s going to be needing his mom.
And that means Nick’s addiction issues, if they’re going this route, could actually fly under the radar for a little while. Plus, I think it could be drawn out for a little bit because if he is addicted, he’s going to try to keep Sharon and Victor and Nikki and Noah and everybody in the dark about his growing need for pain pills.
Nick may have a secret fentanyl addiction soon. What’s troubling though is that Sienna mentioned that a lot of people have ODed on Matt’s fentanyl. The problem is that Nick may be fully in the grips of addiction before his loved ones notice how bad it is. The pain is bad, the withdrawal is bad, and he decides to take the risk and pops a fentanyl.
Jack Abbott vs. Victor Newman: A Battle Over Nick Newman’s Recovery
There’s one person in particular that I think could really help Nikki’s son if he goes down this road. And that’s a good friend of hers, a perfect person to help Nick, but it would infuriate Victor. Obviously, he would fight against letting this person help. And we all know that person is Jack Abbott.
Given his own history, I can see him being the only one who could get through to Nick. Because if you remember, Jack was also addicted to prescription pain pills back in the day. He got himself clean, but it was a rough road. And he and Nikki both know what it’s like to struggle with addiction.
Meanwhile, Victor only addiction is to power and crushing his enemies. Plus, Jack the one who scared Nikki into going to rehab not that long ago. If you recall, Jack went to extremes. He called his old dealer and washed a bunch of pills down with booze to get Nikki’s attention, and it worked. She went to rehab. She’s back on the wagon.
Young and the Restless Spoilers: The Abbott and Newman Alliance
But Victor’s been mad about it ever since then. That’s what started this whole new ridiculous rivalry between Jack and Victor. But I could see Nikki turning to Jack to help Nick because of how he helped her and because of Jack’s own addiction journey.
This could be almost a redo of when he saved Nikki. And just like Victor tried to blame Jack and said he almost killed Nikki, while everybody else in the family says no, he saved her. You know, I bet Victor would turn it around on him. Even if Jack pulled Nick out of a dangerous addiction spiral, we know he would still try and blame Jack.
Young and the Restless: Victor Blasts Jack
Also this week, Victor walks into his living room and he sees Nikki in Jack’s arms and of course he’s going to lose it. Victor puts Jack on notice. I’m sure it’s about “keep your hands off my wife,” yada yada. And we know from 2026 spoilers that the Abbotts and Newmans are going to have to work together.
I think that Jack was just comforting Nikki about them being under attack by Cane’s AI. And I think that them having to work together is about fighting Cane, but it might also be about the Abbotts and the Newmans working together to help deal with Nick’s crisis because there is a lot of overlap where Nick is concerned between the two families.
Young and the Restless: Nikki Turns to Jack for Help
You know, Summer Newman (Allison Lanier) married into the Abbott family. Nick’s grandson Harrison Locke (Redding Munsell) is part of the Abbott family. There’s just a lot of overlap and I fully expect that if Nick is heading into an opioid addiction and Nikki realizes that her son is struggling, I absolutely think that she would turn to Jack and ask him to help.
And if Nick does spiral into addiction and Jack’s the one to pull Nick out of it, you know, instead of being grateful, I would fully expect for Victor to lose his mind all over again and hate Jack even more because that’s what he always does.
