Too Good to Be True? Young & Restless’ Traci Is Headed for Heartbreak — or Much, *Much* Worse

Traci and Alan’s budding romance on Young & Restless has them both head over heels and giddy. The witty banter, the blushing, the hand-holding and hugs… it’s the stuff of dreams. Unfortunately, we fear that it’s all too good to be true, and that the picture-perfect Paris pairing is about to turn into a bonafide nightmare!

Traci just brought her new man home, if not to meet the family because he already knows them thanks to Ashley’s troubles, then to officially present him as her boyfriend. We all knew the Abbott men would be protective of their sweet older sister, after all, she’s the heart of the family. Well, we were not disappointed. Although Billy and Jack were welcoming and warm toward Alan, and thanked him for helping Ashley, they also peppered the man with questions regarding his intentions where Traci was concerned.

Meeting the moment, Alan charmed the pants off of everyone at the table. So, why can’t we just accept that Traci’s finally found love with the handsome psychologist and be happy for her?

Well, it all started back in Paris, when Traci announced she had to go to Los Angeles for a meeting about one of her books, which was being made into a movie. Alan’s response was, well… unexpected. The esteemed psychologist shrugged off a bunch of professional obligations to traipse around the globe with his gal. It should have been uber-romantic, but instead it raised a red flag… and for at least one Young & Restless fan, it raised four red flags:

Granted, we don’t know Alan all that well, but it didn’t feel very in character for him to brush off his committments. Nonetheless, we tried to put our doubts to the back of our mind and be happy for Traci. But when they arrived in Genoa City, Traci and Alan had no sooner walked through the door of the Abbott manse when something made the hair on the back of our necks stand up anew.

Looking around the living room, Alan told Traci he wanted to “take it all in”, which was a bizarre remark to make considering how many times he had been there before. Traci actually pointed it out. Alan found a way to cover, but for us, doubt was creeping back in.

Next, they trotted off to Society for lunch, which is where they met up with Billy and Jack. Alan was the picture of a besotted boyfriend throughout, and one could almost cast off those silly suspicions… until the end scene. When Billy asked how this would work going forward, Alan surprised everyone by announcing that once Ashley was done with her in-patient treatment he was happy to leave Paris in the rearview mirror, leave his practice and speaking engagements behind, and move to the United States to be with Traci!

This huge gesture of committment clearly impressed Traci, but also took her off guard. It’s a massive, life-changing move to make so early on in a relationship. Perhaps that’s why it came across, once again, like Alan wasn’t behaving very… Alan-like.

Combine that with the previous creeping doubts and it left viewers asking if this man might not be Alan at all, but instead his evil twin, Martin. Indeed, fans began to panic at this point:

Now, we know what you’re thinking… Martin died in the fall off of the balcony. There’s no way this could be the evil twin because we know what he and Alan were wearing when they took the fatal tumble during their fight. Alan was wearing a casual knit shirt in a bluish grey, and Martin was wearing a grey sweater over a button-up shirt. After the tragic fall it was definitely Alan who came back into the house in the casual shirt. There was simply no way there was time for Martin to recover from such a fall, and swap clothes with his dead twin in the time it took for Ashley to run down the stairs and outside!

The only problem? Young & Restless is a soap opera. On soap operas almost anything is possible. Including people coming back from the dead, and evil twins quickly seizing an opportunity to impersonate their dead brother in the moments following a deadly fall onto pavement. And that is why we think Traci is headed for heartbreak, and possibly much, much worse! Jump into the comments to discuss.