Y&R Recap – Sep 5: Phyllis Sabotages Cane and Lily, Michael Plays Both Sides, and the Newmans Debate Ethics
On today’s Young and the Restless (September 5, 2025), Michael finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place as he weighs a new job offer. Victor outlines his plan to seize Cane’s powerful AI software, while Cane opens his heart to Lily, only for Phyllis to wreck the moment with her meddling.
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Crimson Lights
Michael calls his wife and leaves her a voicemail saying that he got a new job offer and can’t wait for her to come home.
Phyllis walks in and overhears Michael’s call. She asks who the lucky boss is.
Michael is happy she hasn’t lost her talent for eavesdropping.
Phyllis asks him to tell her about the job.
Michael won’t talk.
Phyllis says he’s pushing away all his friends… Did Victor ask him to come back?
Michael shakes his head. Nope!
Phyllis wonders if he’s joining a new firm or joining the D.A.’s office… It must be something big to pull him out of retirement! She knows who it is! It’s Cane!
Michael laughs and says it’s not Cane.
Phyllis knows it is… That’s who Michael must be working for! That’s the only thing big enough to tempt him! Why would Cane need two high-powered attorneys? Michael was a fixer for Victor, so he must be doing the same for Cane! She can’t believe he won’t tell “an old pal.”
Michael scoffs. She hasn’t spoken to him for months, and now she’s decided to come out of the woodwork? Given their relationship status, she’d be the last one he’d tell!
Phyllis says Michael betrayed her and her family by defending Sharon.
Michael can’t believe Phyllis is still hanging onto that. He thought she buried the hatchet where Sharon was concerned!
Phyllis says it was devastating to her family and it made her question their friendship. He was always someone she could count on before that!
Michael apologizes… He never meant to hurt her! She was a victim in that crazy time, and he should have been more sensitive to that. He misses their friendship and hopes they can rebuild it.
Phyllis says if he tells her who he’s working for, she’ll wipe the slate clean and they can start over again.
Michael thinks that Phyllis trying to get information from him in exchange for rebuilding their friendship is sad. He thinks she’ll turn on him.
Phyllis says that she’s Cane’s second-in-command. He sees her value, which is why he invited her to Nice in the first place! Michael can talk to her as a colleague!
Michael wonders if Cane would confirm everything that Phyllis said if he asked.
Phyllis says that Cane won’t confirm anything unless he was part of the team. Michael’s the best in the business, and Cane needs the best, so if Cane offered him a position, she’d highly recommend he take it!
Newman Enterprises
Adam, Victoria, and Nick meet Victor in his office and ask what’s happening… Are they going to war with Cane?
Victor says Cane’s company has developed some artificial intelligence that will enable them to hack any company they want and destabilize the finances of a company… That way, they’d be able to buy it for pennies on the dollar! They have to stop Cane Ashby in his tracks!
Victoria wonders how they’re going to stop Cane.
Victor says he’s figured it out already and taken care of things. He says that Cane’s father, Colin, swindled Madame de Lion out of her money and used it to start his own empire. He showed Cane the proof and told him he knew about the software, but Cane denied it all. He vows that Newman Enterprises is safe from Cane now, and so is Chancellor. He plans to force Cane to hand over his A.I. software to him!
Adam asks if he has proof that Cane was involved in the scam.
Victor says he has enough proof to make Cane squirm. They can paint a very bad picture of Cane in the news.
Victoria frowns and says that their last hit piece about Billy Abbott, who Victor hates, was “quite” effective.
Victor says Billy needed to be put in his place, but he doesn’t hate Cane… He’s just an obstacle to them! He questions whether Victoria is against taking Cane down.
Victoria says she isn’t… Cane brought the fight to them.
Adam thinks it’s pretty clear what the Newmans will gain from this… They’ll get the A.I. software and turn it into a goldmine!
Victoria asks what plans Victor has when he gets his hands on the software.
Victor laughs. He has many options once they have the software.
Nick hopes they won’t use the software unethically… They could use it to bankrupt companies!
Adam wonders why he’s worried about that. Cane was planning on using it for nefarious purposes, after all.
Nick says they’re Newmans. He doesn’t want them to use it unethically! He asks his dad how he’s going to use this “weapon.”
Before Victor can answer, there’s a knock at the door. It’s Michael, who says he has something to discuss with Victor.
Victor says he’ll give Michael fifteen minutes. He tells his children that the meeting is over.
Victoria protests; he hasn’t answered Nick’s question!
Victor says they’ll talk later.
Victoria sighs and leaves the room with Adam and Nick.
Nick pauses on the way out and tells Michael to be careful what he asks for. He leaves.
Victor asks Michael if he’s there to beg for his job back.
Michael shakes his head. He got a better offer from Cane Ashby, but he hasn’t decided whether to take the job yet.
Victor says he’s been expecting this… Why else would Cane invite Michael to Nice? Nothing gets past him! He asks why Michael is there… What does he really want?
Michael says he wanted to tell him before he heard it from someone else. He wanted to tell him face-to-face because of their long friendship. Doesn’t Victor miss their friendship?
Victor only wants to know whether Michael is going to work for Cane.
Michael says he hasn’t made up his mind. He has to talk it over with Lauren.
Victor figures that Cane made him an offer he can’t refuse… He should accept Cane’s generous offer! Michael looks at him in amazement, and Victor wonders whether Michael was expecting him to make a counter-offer.
Michael wasn’t expecting Victor to want him to work for his enemy.
Victor says Michael must be slipping if he doesn’t get why he wants him to work for Cane.
Michael gets it… Victor wants him to work for Cane, but in reality, Michael would be working for Victor so he could get his foot back in the door.
Victor nods… And that’s why Michael came there to talk to him! He wanted Victor to make him that offer!
Chancellor Park
Cane walks through the park and sees Lily there.
Lily stops him and says she watched the video that he sent to Mattie and Charlie, and it brought tears to her eyes.
Cane is surprised she watched it.
Lily says she had to watch the video several times, and she saw a flicker of the man she loved, which was why she cried.
Cane takes a seat and says he fooled himself by telling himself he was doing things for his children, but he forgot about being open and honest with them.
Lily hopes he can start to dig himself out. She says that he needs to be patient and wait for their children to come around; he hurt them, and he hurt her, too!
Cane says he hates that he did that, and he’s dropped his plans in Genoa City to fix things with his family.
Lily says the video was moving, and she’d love to believe that his priorities have changed, but it’ll take more than that video for her to trust him again.
Cane nods. He wasn’t looking for a quick fix.
Lily doesn’t believe that he abandoned his plans because his kids won’t talk to him. He lied to them for six years… How does she know that he’s not trying to con them again? She has a hard time believing he can change overnight!
Cane says he has changed, but she can’t see it.
Lily says it’s going to take a lot more truth and openness. She wants to know why he’s back in Genoa City and to tell her what his plans were… That’s the only way she’ll be able to trust him!
Phyllis walks into the park. “Is this a private party, or can anyone join?”
Cane asks her to leave… They’re trying to talk.
Phyllis says she’d like to talk to him about a couple of new developments regarding Arabesque.
Lily’s confused… They’re working together now?
Cane says they’re not working together… He made it very clear that their work arrangement was off.
Phyllis tries to correct him saying that he made it clear it was on hold.
Cane disagrees. It is off.
Lily shakes her head and says she’ll leave the two of them to discuss their “important business.”
Cane says there is no important business. Phyllis tries to interject, but Cane raises his voice and tells her to stop talking; he’s in the middle of an conversation with Lily!
Lily says they’re not in the middle of anything… She’s seen enough!
Cane asks her to stay; he’ll get rid of Phyllis!
Lily doesn’t want him to put any more spin on the situation. She has a meeting to get to! She leaves the park.
Cane asks Phyllis if she knows what she did. He was trying to have a private conversation!
Phyllis says that if Cane wanted a private conversation, he should have brought Lily to his train.
Cane scoffs. Phyllis would have shown up there, too!
Phyllis says it’s a public park, she didn’t know they were there at the park, fighting!
Cane growls and says they weren’t fighting until Phyllis got there and started talking about the work they’re supposedly doing together, when he’s made it very clear that they aren’t working together! He says that Lily thinks he was lying to her now.
Phyllis apologizes and says that should tell him something… Lily keeps shutting him down because she knows their relationship is over, unlike Cane. Rekindling romance with an ex doesn’t work because the sparks aren’t there anymore! She hates to see him put himself through this!
Cane snarls and tells Phyllis never to discuss his private life with him again. He stalks out of the park, furious.
Adam, Victoria, and Nick enter the office.
Victoria wonders if Victor will use the A.I. software the same way Cane was going to.
Adam waves off the issue.
Victoria says that if they use it to destroy people’s businesses, they won’t be thanking them.
Adam says the businesses they destroy would respect them… They’d wish that they’d thought of it first!
Nick smirks. Adam is sounding a lot like the old Adam!
Adam says the genie is already out of the bottle. If they think their competitors wouldn’t use it, they’re being naive! Besides, it’s not up to them… It’s up to Victor, but either way, they’ll have a head start!
Victoria shakes her head. She thinks it’s immoral, and Nick agrees… It’s illegal, too!
Adam shrugs. Only if they get caught!
Nick hopes Adam is joking.
Adam says he was… Sort of. They should wait to see how it develops before they decide what they’re going to do. Things can change, and the important thing is that Cane no longer has that weapon to use against them. If Cane doesn’t give up the technology, they’ll ruin him!
Victoria wonders what happens if they don’t get the A.I. from him. What if Cane tries to use it against them?
Nick agrees… Maybe Cane has already set the A.I. on Newman Enterprises… He’s clever enough to get out of any corner that Victor thinks he has him in!
Adam thinks Nick might be right and thinks that Nick befriending Cane might help them.
Nick says that he hasn’t made any inroads. Cane wasn’t warm and friendly when he reached out. He doubts Cane would share information with him anyhow.
Victoria thinks Nick could get that information from Phyllis… Cane might have hired her to plant the software in their network! He needs to become Phyllis’s best friend again!
Nick sighs.
Next Week on The Young and the Restless
Tessa can’t wait to see how proud Daniel’s father will be when he plays his song. Daniel thinks the song is beautiful… Like her!
Holden worries that Claire might look at him differently if she knew the truth about what happened between him and Audra in L.A.
Sally and Billy arrive at the restaurant, expecting their launch party, but the restaurant is empty except for Cane.
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