Nick Newman’s nursing a bad leg with a mix of potent pills, whilst fixating on the bad news blast from the past, Matt Clark. The combination, as one might guess, is a disastrous combination, particularly as a potentially deadly confrontation looms on Young & Restless.

Joshua Morrow went in-depth about what effect Nick’s growing addictions might have on his dealings with Matt in a recent chat with Soap Opera Digest, during which he predicted that if Matt were to follow through on his implied threats to hurt Noah, the protective pop may take a “real bad turn to the dark side.”

Indeed, Matt presents a danger to Nick’s entire family, and with his rage being dialed up to an 11/10 thanks to the developing drug addiction, Clark can use that to his advantage.

Nick, as we all know, takes a fists first, headstrong approach at the best of times, and the villain is well aware of that fact. Morrow pointed out, “Matt can always manipulate Nick in that way, knowing that Nick is going to do things that maybe aren’t very well thought out.”

The twist is that should Matt provoke Nick whilst he’s in a drug (or withdrawal) induced rage, the Newman might end up crossing a line that he wouldn’t under normal circumstances… such as murder.

Indeed, Morrow teased of Nick’s situation going forward, “Matt Clark is just making him see red and making him do crazy things and react in uncharacteristic ways.”

Fortunately for the Newman, the writers have penned Nick a handy-dandy way to avoid prison should the worst happen. Read about it here.