For a brief moment, it almost appeared as though Jack and Victor might actually work together on Young and Restless to defeat a common enemy when the threat of Cane’s dangerous AI program reared its ugly head. However, that alliance was clearly not meant to be, as both men were never really seriously considering actually joining forces. “There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes backstabbing going on in this particular one,” Peter Bergman tells Soap Opera Digest of the current storyline. “Does Jack maybe have in the back of his mind that, ‘If I got my hands on this thing, well… I’m not sure I share it with Victor, but Victor would probably use the same plan with me?’”
A Hate/Hate Relationship
While it seemed as though the longstanding rivalry between the two titans of industry might finally become a thing of the past, one fateful night renewed the animosity between Jack and Victor in a big way last year. Observes Bergman, “One of the things that came of that storyline with Nikki in a hotel room, drunk, popping pills, and all that business is Victor has a renewed hatred — gut-wrenching hatred — for Jack now.”
Although Jack put his own sobriety at risk in order to help inspire fellow addict Nikki to get back on the wagon herself, Victor doesn’t exactly appreciate his sacrifice. “He spent an evening alone with Victor’s wife in a drunken stupor, taking pills, drinking that could have killed Nikki, and Jack only made things worse,” the actor explains. “Put his wife’s life in jeopardy. There is no forgiving that.
“So, as much as it might be nice for these two guys to say, ‘Hey, let’s put down our swords for a minute,’” he continues, “Jack is almost as insincere as Victor is in all of this. Because Jack knows that [for] this man, this is pure, virile hate.”
Back to Square One
So, while Victor is currently plotting to use the AI program to destroy Jack and steal the family business away from the Abbotts, Bergman is actually thrilled that Jack and Victor have a real reason for their hatred for each other again after all these decades of endless back-and-forth battle.
“For many years, this rivalry, you know, what is it they have against each other?” he muses. “It’s gone on so long, people thought, ‘When are they gonna go fishing together and make a pact?’ No. Not anymore. Not a chance. They’ve always been oil and water, but something happened that changed everything.
“I’m glad we have a renewed reason,” Bergman declares of the iconic rivalry. “And Victor’s response to all of this was going after Jack’s son, so Jack has the same level of hatred for that man as Victor has for him. Go after my kid? Oh, man!”
The Never-Ending Story: Victor (Eric Braeden, l.) and Jack have been enemies for decades, and that’s not changing anytime soon!John Paschal/JPI
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