As The Young and the Restless’ Victor has sought to destroy archenemy Jack once again, we’ve thought, and more than once, “Dude, c’mon, chillax.” All Jack did was risk his own sobriety in hopes of convincing his nemesis’ sometime wife Nikki to climb back on the wagon. That seems more like a reason for Victor to express gratitude than exact revenge. But Eric Braeden, who has played the Black Knight since 1980, sees it differently. In fact, he is able to see it from his iconic character’s perspective.

“Victor gets even with people, and he has not forgiven that night of debauchery between Jack and Nikki [in May],” he tells TV Insider. Night of debauchery? Come again. Yeah, though viewers know very well that all Jack and Nikki did was go on the bender to end all benders, Victor “thinks hanky panky went on, and Victor doesn’t forgive or forget that.”

Braeden himself loves the twist, as it allows him and longtime co-star Peter Bergman to go toe to once more as Victor weaponizes Jack’s own son against him. “They may be able to see for a moment here and there one another’s perspective,” Bergman told Soaps.com in 2022, “but generally speaking, ‘I don’t get that guy. And I don’t like what guys like that stand for.’ That’s what stands in their way, again and again.”