Adam Newman

Adam Newman
The Young and the Restless character
File:MichaelMuhney.jpg Michael Muhney as Adam Newman(2009)
Portrayed by	Various child actors (1995–1997, 2002) Chris Engen (2008–2009) Michael Muhney (2009–present)
Duration	1995–1997, 2002, 2008–present
First appearance	April 24, 1995 (birth)
Created by	William J. Bell
In-universe information Other names Adam Wilson Occupation Owner, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Oak Alley Partnership Member of Board of Directors of Newman Enterprises Former Co-Owner of the Newman Fund with Jack Abbott Former Bartender at Gloworm nightclub Former Co-Owner of the Newman Fund with Skye Lockhart Former Executive at Tucker McCall Unlimited Former Junior Vice-President at Newman Enterprises Former Executive at Newman Enterprises Former Wall Street stockbroker with Keller-Stuart Former Real estate agent Master's degree from Harvard Business School Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University Parents Victor Newman (father) Hope Wilson (mother, deceased) Siblings Victoria Newman Abbott (paternal half-sister) Nicholas Newman (paternal half-brother) Abby Newman (paternal half-sister) Spouse Sharon Newman (2009-10) Skye Lockhart (2010) Grandparents Albert Miller (paternal grandfather) Cora Miller (paternal grandmother) Aunts and uncles Matthew Miller (paternal uncle) Reinette Miller (paternal aunt, deceased) Nieces and nephews Cassie Newman (adoptive; deceased) Noah Newman Summer Newman Reed Hellstrom Faith Newman

Victor Adam Newman Jr. (formerly Victor Adam Wilson ), is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. He is the younger son of business tycoon Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and his ex-wife Hope Wilson (Signy Coleman), born onscreen in April 1995.

The character came to mainstream attention in May 2009 when portrayer Chris Engen quit the series prematurely, reportedly due to personal objections over his storyline. Within days of Engen's replacement by actor Michael Muhney in June 2009, heterosexual villain Adam engages in an off-screen sexual encounter with another male character. Engen defended his decision in a statement, and co-stars Eileen Davidson and Braeden noted in subsequent interviews that Engen had been unhappy with his character's storyline and villainous actions long before the gay plot twist had come up.

Casting

The character was first played by infant twins Celeste and Coryn Williams, then by Danielle and Sabrina Helper, followed by Spencer Klass, all in 1995. Hayden Tank played young Victor Jr. from December 1996 to August 1997 and made a guest appearance on June 26, 2002. Engen originated the adult role on February 21, 2008, and was nominated for a SoapCentral Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2009. On May 21, 2009, it was announced that Engen would be leaving the role, which would be recast with Muhney. Engen's last airdate was June 24, 2009, and Muhney debuted on June 25, 2009.

Controversy

When news broke of Engen's exit, it was reported that he had allegedly quit the series due to personal objections over an upcoming same-sex relationship between Adam and male character Rafe Torres (Yani Gellman). Engen became the subject of some criticism, including a post by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton who wrote "homophobe" on a photo of Engen.

On May 27, 2009, Maria Arena Bell, the co-head writer and co-executive producer for The Young and Restless, told TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco, "While I won’t comment on Chris’ decision, I will admit I was saddened that we had to recast because Engen was really [gelling] in the role. However, I have no doubt that Michael will make Adam his own." In a subsequent June 10, 2009 interview with Branco, Engen's co-star Davidson (who portrays Ashley Abbott) said of his exit, "Everybody has his or her own demons — and makes their own choices due to their creative process. I can’t judge his decision because it was a personal one." She also noted, "I can say I love working with [recast] Michael Muhney. He’s a terrific actor." In subsequent interviews, co-star Braeden stated his disappointment with Engen's departure. Braeden told Soap Opera Digest that he unsuccessfully attempted to convince Engen to stay. "He was somewhat disturbed by the fact that he was playing this evil character," Braeden stated. "I said, 'Listen, I remember Victor feeding rats to people.' I told him to embrace it because he had the most riveting storyline around, period." In Soaps In Depth, Braeden said, "I'm saddened by the fact that he left ... It was a hell of a role. Whatever personal reasons he has, you've got to respect that. But he was a very nice guy, very professional. We all liked working with him. We were shocked when he decided to leave, but that's his personal decision."

On May 26, 2009, Engen released a statement on his Myspace page where he denied accusations of homophobia as well as reports that he "stormed off set."

"I felt generally unhappy about my contribution to the show, and had greater and greater difficulty making any sense of the challenges they were asking me to face ... I was allowed ONE meeting with Maria Bell, and I called in sick ONCE in my 16 months on the show. In the end, I didn’t feel that decisions were being made in my best interests, personally or professionally...Ultimately, the producers were very understanding and amenable and I, in fact, worked until they told me they didn’t need me anymore."

—Engen, MySpace

Addressing the accusations of homophobia against Engen, Davidson told Michael Fairman of The Advocate, "He was having problems with the character long before this homosexual thing came up... I think it was a series of events with Adam killing Ashley’s baby that got to him much more than the gay thing...I believe Chris was having a hard time wrapping his head around where the character was coming from and where it was going."

Engen's last airdate was June 24, 2009, and Muhney appeared the following day. A day later on June 26, 2009, a storyline twist evolved in which heterosexual Adam seduces male lawyer Rafe to distract him from discovering Adam's criminal activities. Some fans were upset that Adam and Rafe's June 29, 2009, "sex scene" was implied rather than shown onscreen; Nelson Branco of TV Guide Canada made the point that "Filming a sex scene between a straight and gay man could come off as offensive. Firstly, Adam would have to appear uncomfortable in the situation which could anger gay right groups, etc." Muhney also approved of the choice not to show the sex scene. "For me, the way it was done was tasteful and it almost makes the audience wonder what exactly happened," he said in an interview with The Advocate. "You can create that in your head and try to interpret it by how the characters reacted afterwards."

Characterization and portrayal

The Young and the Restless creator William J. Bell created Adam (then known as Victor Newman, Jr.) in 1995 as part of a social issue storyline. The plot involved Hope Adams's decision to carry Victor's child to term despite the possibility that he could inherit his mother's blindness later in life. Adam departed the series in 1997 and returned in 2008, portrayed by Chris Engen. Adam's off-screen background was established to reflect his father's, with the character making his own way in the world by putting himself through college and beginning a career in finance. The first adult to play Adam, Engen told CBS Soaps In Depth, "Luckily, I'm not going to be compared to anyone else ... anything I do and anything I try to project, and [the] kind of ideas that I have to influence the character are okay." Engen stated his intent to portray Adam as a "rich, three-dimensional character" with ambitions, flaws, and the positive qualities of his mother Hope.

File:Chrisengenpromotional.png

Chris Engen as Adam (2008)

As the character's story progressed, he ultimately became "one of the most devious characters on daytime" as part of a gothic plot in which Adam secretly torments Victor's love interest, Ashley, to get revenge on his father. Since the story called for Adam to be blind with ambiguity surrounding whether or not the disability is fake, Engen said he was not sure how to portray the impairment. "I didn't want to nail it on the head completely with the blindness, because I wasn't sure if the blindness was real]," Engen said in an interview with CBS Soaps in Depth. "Signey (who played Hope, Adam's mother) won awards for her portrayal of retinitis pigmentosa, and I thought it would be a dishonor to that if I came too close to the mark." Engen said that in regards to his character he thought that Maria Arena Bell, co-executive producer Paul Rauch, and the writers "know what they're doing, and right now it would seem like Adam is instigating more ... drama." He worried about the character's actions leading to him becoming irredeemable, but also said he took it as a challenge for him to make what Adam does "interesting and human."

In May 2009, Engen departed the role in the middle of his contract because of his objections to the growing darkness in the character. Bell recast the role with Michael Muhney. In interviews, the actor said the darkness of the character did not make him hesitate to take on the role. He instead embraced the prospect of taking on such a character. Muhney said the plot point of seducing Rafe broadened Adam's horizons. "What it did was move a character who represents a person who lives in Genoa City and moved him outside of a box that you can neatly check off," he said. "'He is straight, he is this, or he is that,' and the fact that some lines are blurred makes him more real ... When they did that with this character, I loved the opportunity to play into a different realm which is usually not touched upon on television." Muhney described the character as a "puppeteer" with "survival instinct", but also someone with a conscience.

Storylines

Birth and Backstory

Hope Adams gives birth to Victor Adam Newman, Jr., in April 1995. Hope and Victor divorce that year and she later returns to Kansas in 1997, with Hope insisting that Victor stay out of his son's life. Hope later marries ex-fiancé Cliff Wilson. Victor has limited contact with this son over the next few years but Victor Jr. never knew Victor was his father, until June 26, 2002 when Victor made a visit to Hope who allowed him to spend time with an excited Victor Jr.

2008–10

In February 2008 Victor visits Hope, who is dying from pancreatic cancer. Their son, who is now known as "Vic," arrives and is shocked by his mother's dying admission that Victor is his father. A Harvard-educated Wall Street stockbroker, Vic thinks of Cliff as his father and is resentful that Victor would "abandon" his own child. However, Hope's dying wish is that her son get to know Victor. Soon accepting Victor's offer to return to Genoa City with him and work at Newman Enterprises, Victor Jr. – now going by "Adam Wilson" – insists that it is merely a career decision and keeps his distance from Victor. Adam receives a lukewarm reception from Victor's wary other children, Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Nicholas (Joshua Morrow), who resent him for their parents break-up when Victor had gone to Kansas. Adam's conflicts with Nicholas and Victoria strain each of their relationships with Victor. Adam and Victor's own relationship improves, in part due to Victor's girlfriend Sabrina Costelana's (Raya Meddine) urging, and Adam soon meets and becomes romantically involved with lawyer Heather Stevens (Vail Bloom). They keep the romance secret because Victor holds a grudge against Heather for previously attempting to prosecute him for murder, and Heather's father Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) disapproves because he fears Adam will hurt Heather the way Victor hurt Nikki.

Sabrina later dies in a car accident, and a distraught Victor leaves home to go to Mexico to find and confront the men responsible for her death. Victor disappears and is presumed drowned. Adam assumes his birth name: Victor Adam Newman, Jr., moves into the main house at the Newman ranch and soon asserts control over his father's company. The rest of the Newman family is powerless to stop him as he gets rid of Victor's personal belongings, fires Victoria and longtime employee Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John), and rehires Victor's long-time nemesis, Brad Carlton (Don Diamont). Nicholas and Victoria's hopes for a turnaround are dashed when Victor's will leaves most of the company and ranch to Adam, thanks to their difficulties with Victor before his death. Victor eventually turns up alive and returns to his ranch and is shocked by Adam's actions. Victor fires and disowns him, once again referring to his son as "Adam Wilson."

Seeking revenge, Adam plots with Victor's longtime enemy Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) to use a forged diary to frame Victor for murder. When Victor is exonerated, Jack subsequently frames his co-conspirator Adam for the plot, and Adam is arrested. Later in jail, Adam breaks down in front of Victor, saying that all he ever wanted has been to be Victor's son. Victor tells Adam to prove he is a Newman by being strong. Later, visiting Adam on the anniversary of Hope's death, Victor sees a positive change. During a jail house visit, ex-girlfriend Heather, Genoa City's prosecutor, notices that Adam's eyesight is beginning to fail; Victor is at first suspicious, but soon realizes that Adam's condition is real. Adam's mother Hope had also gone blind and the doctors warned the couple when Hope was pregnant, that the baby might inherit this blindness gene as well. When Adam is brutally beaten by another inmate, he tells his father that as Victor's son he is a target there. Victor finally agrees to get the charges dropped and have Adam freed if he agrees to certain terms. Released into Victor's custody and eventually reunited with Heather, Adam also befriends Victor's current girlfriend and ex-wife, Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson). By this time, Adam is one of the leading antagonists of the show.

In April 2009, a pregnant Ashley begins hearing a baby crying on the ranch, and begins finding objects seemingly left for her by Sabrina, who was pregnant at the time of her death. The housekeeper Estella Munoz (Anne Betancourt) is blamed and arrested, but a vengeful Adam is secretly the one gaslighting Ashley, injecting Botox into his eyes to simulate blindness before medical exams. Nicholas and Victoria's mother Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) voices her suspicions that Adam is involved, but Victor and Ashley dismiss her. Adam dresses up like the late Sabrina to frighten Ashley, who tumbles down the stairs, is knocked unconscious, and miscarries her baby. Adam attempts to cover up the incident by placing a knocked-out Ashley in her bed and burning her bloody nightgown. Ashley wakes up screaming, but Adam convinces her that she just had a bad dream. He then blackmails Dr. Charles Taylor into convincing Ashley that her baby is still alive. Victor becomes increasingly suspicious of Adam while he is living at the Newman ranch; subjected to a surprise eye exam at Victor's request, Adam is shocked to discover that even without his secret self-injections, he is now really losing his eyesight. When the doctor also notes that Adam has punctures in his eyes, a quick-thinking Adam "confesses" that he had been attacked by inmates with hypodermic needles and was too ashamed to speak up in jail. Estella's nephew Rafe Torres (Yani Gellman), Adam's friend and former court-appointed defense attorney, becomes suspicious of Adam. Rafe goes to Adam's room to investigate and nearly stumbles upon evidence of Adam's guilt; to distract Rafe, Adam seduces him. Getting dressed after an offscreen sexual encounter, Adam sends Rafe away, and the heterosexual Adam, disgusted by what has just happened with Rafe, summons Heather, and has sex with her as well. After Victor asks Rafe about Adam's prison attack with needles, a suspicious Rafe comes to see Adam on July 8, 2009. Though Adam intends to put a quick end to his "relationship" with Rafe, he immediately reverts to his seduction tactics to deflect Rafe's questions; Rafe initially resists, but gives in when Adam says, "I thought I found someone that I could be 'me' with." A shocked Nikki stumbles upon the men kissing, but leaves unseen. She later reveals what she saw to Victor and Nick, while Adam "breaks up" with Rafe, only to be confronted by his father moments later. On August 7, 2009, Heather sees a note left from Nikki, revealing that Adam is "gay." Heather confronts Adam about his relationship with Rafe, and despite Adam's denials she breaks up with him.

Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) is pregnant by Nicholas, her ex-husband and Adam's half-brother. Ashley still believes she is pregnant when she is really not. When Sharon goes into premature labor and Ashley believes that she is as well, Adam steals Sharon's baby and passes it off as Ashley's. Adam elopes with Sharon on December 28, 2009. Suspicions about Adam arise as his connection to Dr. Taylor is revealed. Nicholas and Jack, both previously married to Sharon, believe that Adam stole Sharon's baby and team up to find out the truth. Sharon breaks it off with Adam and begins to remember things that contradict what she has been told about her baby's death. As everyone confronts a captive Adam, Nicholas's wife Phyllis Newman (Michelle Stafford) finds a note left by the dying Dr. Taylor saying that Ashley had miscarried. The group realizes that Ashley's baby is really Sharon's missing daughter. Victor, Jack, many of the other Newmans and Abotts, Heather and Rafe used Sharon as bait to lure Adam to the Abott cabin in order to confront him of his crimes but Adam didn't talk, so they put the pieces together using trails of evidence Adam had left behind. Adam subsequently escapes and disappears on March 12, 2010. Adam does not get very far as he becomes unconscious after he falls into a nearby wooded ravine as Victor catches up with him giving him CPR before Adam is taken to the hospital where he regained consciousness and was handcuffed. In the next few days, Adam unsuccessfully tries to fake being unstable so he won't be found fit to stand trial, but he is found fit, and Heather announces that Adam will be jailed on April 2. However, in order to not go to jail, Adam gets a nurse to bring the insane Patty Williams, whom Adam blackmails as he confronts her about knowing her true identity, to the hospital. With Patty's assistance, a disguised Adam escapes police custody and the hospital and makes his way to the masquerade ball at the Genoa City Athletic Club.

Adam makes one final attempt to reconcile with Sharon and finally confesses about having taken her baby to give it to Ashley. A non-forgiving Sharon asks him to leave just as Nick arrives. Adam escapes the room by jumping out Sharon's room window then later calls Sharon to meet him in the Athletic Club basement, which Nick, Victor, Jack and several others go instead when they detect a gas leak, just before the building explodes. After the explosion, a burned body beyond recognition is found and is presumed to be Adam and later it was learned that the person was dead before the explosion. Days later on April 8, 2010, Detective Phillip Chancellor IV informs Sharon and the Newmans that the deceased corpse has been positively identified as Adam.

2010—

Adam faked his own death and is indeed alive and living at an undisclosed location. He apparently did this by using a man named Richard Hightower whom he gave a bone marrow transplant to give him his DNA. Since he looked like Adam and has some of his DNA, he is the real body that was discovered in the basement of the Athletic club. Adam has recently been shown taking up residence in Brazil with a female accomplice, later confirmed as his old Harvard girlfriend Skye Lockhart. The two have recently been plotting a huge con. Meanwhile Adam has vivid daydreams about Sharon in which she hopes to reunite with him, and confesses that Skye means nothing to him as it is Sharon he really loves. After Sharon arrives in Brazil with Victor, Adam reunites with Sharon. Skye loses her card game vs. Victor and Victor gets to bring Adam back to Genoa City with him. After some coercion (and with reluctance), Adam agrees to return to Genoa City with Victor and Sharon, who plan to take him to court so that he can testify on Nick's behalf. Shortly after arriving in Genoa City and being asked to testify, Adam suddenly has a mental breakdown and is dragged out of the courtroom. He ends up in the mental hospital where Patty currently resides. As it turns out, the breakdown is yet another ploy for Adam to avoid going back to court, and Victor and the others quickly see through his act. Adam hides in an air vent and whispers to Patty about her actions, much to the latter's terror. While Adam is torturing Patty, the psychiatrist's evaluation confirms that Adam is indeed fit to return to court. Afterward, Adam is sent to jail to join Nick, but is later released on bail via help from Skye, who blackmails him to marry her, which he does. Nonetheless, he continues to see Sharon, much to Nick's exasperation. Sharon tells Adam that she will never forgive him what he has done. Later on, Adam and Skye initiate the Newman fund, much to Nick's disbelief & anger.

Patty has a nightmare of the night Hightower was murdered and wakes up in a cold sweat whispering to herself that she didn't do it. Paul arrives to visit Patty and realizes that she is in distress over Hightower's murder. Paul calls Emily Petersen to come and help Patty try to figure things out. Jack, however, is not too pleased when Emily agrees to go to the hospital to help Patty. At the hospital, after talking to Patty without anything crazy happening, Emily tells Paul that it is clear that her confession is more questionable than ever and she is calling the D.A. Meanwhile, vVance assures both Adam and Skye that Adam will be a free man soon, but Jack warns them not to get ahead of themselves. Later Adam eavesdrops on Emily and Owen's conversation as Emily tells Owen that Patty's confession is no longer seems solid and that he should meet with her. Upstairs, Adam tells Skye that he needs to do something to make sure that Patty doesn't recant her confession. Meanwhile, Emily tells Jack that she is going to continue to treat Patty, causing Jack's concern to grow even more. Later, Adam tells Skye that while he goes to see Patty & thatshe is going to be his alibi. As they continue to argue over Patty, Emily realizes that Jack is asking her to choose between their relationship and helping Patty. At the hospital, Patty continues to write in her diary in crayon that she didn't kill anyone. Meanwhile, Adam works to break into the hospital to get to Patty again. Later, Jack tells Emily that if given the chance Patty will blow up their lives again. Meanwhile, Adam finds Patty's diary and tears out the pages that she wrote in saying she didn't kill anyone and then starts writing something of his own.

Emily finally sees how much Jack loves and fears for her and agrees to stop seeing Patty. Meanwhile, Patty wakes up to find Adam in her room. Adam tells her that he is the ghost of Richard Hightower, and that he looks like Adam because that is who she meant to kill the night of the ball. Adam tells Patty that he needs to take her down the rabbit hole after hearing her talk in her dreams, and Patty decides to trust him. She writes Paul a goodbye note, and she and Adam take off together. Later, Adam gives Patty a new identity and tells her that she is going to Canada to start her penance as a nun. He also tells her never to return to Genoa City.

Then on a rainy night, Sharon hears someone trying to get into the Abbott cabin, where she has gone to clear her mind & to get away from things for awhile. Scared, she pulls out a gun from one of the kitchen drawers & demands to know who it is or else she shoots. When the person doesn't answer, Sharon fires the gun. When the door opens, she is horrified to discover that Adam is the one she has shot. She goes to him, & he lets her know that he believes that she still loves him. Adam then passes out from the pain caused by the gunshot wound he sustained in his right upper arm, & a terrified Sharon cries with Adam in her arms & screams out for help.

Adam and Skye go to the opening of Gloworm, and while there an angry & jealous Skye makes it clear to Adam that she is Mrs. Newman now, not Sharon possibly setting the stage for another feud almost similar to the one Sharon had had with Nick's now estranged wife Phyllis. At the end of the show however, Adam and Sharon were kissing. Sharon is still repulsed by Adam knowing all of the horrible things he did & is still doing but does still have feelings for him.

In the August 10th episode, Adam is in court against everyone, and much to the others' shock and anger, gets off scot-free. He later sues everyone, revealing that he plans to make them suffer for what they did to him. When Adam brags to Victor at the Genoa City Athletic Club that he intends to make him pay for what happened at the cabin, Victor punches Adam & warns him that Adam's going to be the one who's going to pay for everything that he's done.

Adam, however, suffers a setback when he realizes that his wife Skye has turned on him & is now scheming with Victor to bring Adam down. Adam is also trying to win back Sharon, but Nick is determined to do whatever he can to protect Sharon & his family from Adam, who he knows is dangerous & could hurt Sharon if he really wanted to. When a terrible storm hits Genoa City in October 2010, Sharon & Faith get stuck in a barn. Adam comes to try & protect them, but when the beams of the barn start falling off due to the storm's powerful winds, Adam throws himself on Faith, who is laying on a bale of hay, in an attempt to protect her, causing Sharon to freak out in fear. They all survive, and Sharon tells Adam he's a hero & thanks him. When Adam tries to leave town on Halloween, Sharon stops him, which lets him know that she does still cares for him despite the hate she still feels towards him for all the bad he has done.

Sharon feels she needs some time alone with her thoughts, so she decides to take a short trip to New Orleans; but Adam has followed her there and Nick and Michael are trying to track her down and Phyllis had also gone there to focus on a new article for Restless Style. While there, Sharon was questioning which man she should be with, and when she ran into Adam they spent the day together and made love. Nick is in New Orleans searching for Sharon, and then he finds her embracing Adam so he dumps her while Adam is arrested for the "murder" of his wife, Skye. Sharon is now planning to help Adam get out of jail, while her life with Nick could truly be over for good. Sharon is losing support and friendship from the people that care about her the most, including Jack and her son Noah. She is also the central person in Phyllis' newest article in Restless Style. Later at Gloworm, Sharon pushes Phyllis in a chocolate fountain.

Adam and Sharon tell Phyllis that they can work together; Sharon and Adam can find evidence that Adam didn't kill Skye, and Phyllis can report it. Adam is later sent to jail. Sharon with some help of Adam's began to trace Skye beginning with Skye's perfume. Apparently, Skye used a rare perfume that was discontinued decades ago, but Skye orders it online. Sharon discovers that someone bought it in Hawaii recently. Believing Skye is there, Sharon leaves for Hawaii looking for Skye. However no one had seen her. At the same time Victor Newman is following Sharon to make sure she doesn't figure out the truth about Skye. Eventually, Sharon takes a hike near a volcano and she finds Skye. The two argue and Sharon takes a picture of her. Suddenly, Skye slips and falls into the volcano. Sharon tried to save her, but couldn't hold her up. Sharon also looses the camera with Skye's picture. Nearby, Victor sees what happened, but does nothing to help. Instead he runs over to Skye's hut and burns up every last trace of Skye.

When Sharon returns from Hawaii she sees Jack and Phyllis at the airport. Sharon explains the story to the two of them. Phyllis says she can't run that story in Restless Style, but Jack seemingly believes Sharon saying she wouldn't lie. At the jail, Sharon explains everything to Adam and says they will find someone who saw Skye. As Sharon and Adam seem to be hitting a dead end, Vance's law firm backs out of the lawsuit leaving Adam on his own. Later on, Jack decides to look into Sharon's claim of seeing Skye in Hawaii. Jack confronts Victor on Skye and says that he will go to Hawaii. Right afterwards, Jack left for Hawaii and tries to find out the truth about Skye. After some minor investigation, he finds a burned down hut with Skye's perfume there. Thanks to Vance, on January 14, 2011, Adam surprises Sharon by showing up at the GCAC & reveals to her that the charges against him have been dropped, much to Victor's dismay. Adam & Sharon then leave & go to her house together. Victor, on the other hand, vows to get revenge on his son. Sharon is arrested for Skye's murder, and is sentenced to Jail. He escapes town and leaves Adam thinking she is dead. She returns and the two later despise each other when Sharon's love affair with Sam (the man she was with over the months) was exposed. Sharon was set free. However, Adam and Sharon simply couldn't deny their feelings for each other and, despite Sharon's very brief marriage to Victor which ended after Victor was released from prison, the two reunite. Adam secretly confronts and taunts Patty Williams and takes her gun away from her but an enraged Patty throws a bottle of insecticide in Adam's face allowing her to take the gun and go to Jack Abbott's wedding where she shoots him. Adam is seen by the specialist that performed the surgery that gave him his sight back and by a second specialist that Victor, unknown to Adam, had flown in to review Adam's condition. Both specialists and the doctor confirmed that Adam is blind and the condition is irreversable. Victor told Sharon to take Adam to Hope's farm in Kansas, which Victor now owns after Adam sold it, to help him deal with his blindness. Although reluctant at first Adam agreed to go with Sharon to Kansas.

Reception

CBS Soaps In Depth reported that Engen gained fan support quickly after joining the cast as Adam, as did the character's romance with Heather. "I thank God for that aspect of my storyline," Engen said of the romance. "I really do feel that he genuinely loves her. Heather has been the only light in this world of darkness that the character has lived in since I started. She's probably responsible for me still being on the show." As the character took a dark turn, fans continued to root for him. "To think there was any likability left in the character baffles me!" Engen said. "I'm very grateful to the fans ... they've been so supportive." He said fans wanted Adam either redeemed or turned into a gray character. Davidson credited the characters likability with Engen's looks. "[H]e really nailed this character," she said. "Chris’ all-American looks add another layer to this story: he looks like he regrets being so evil, but he can’t help himself. When Chris informed me he was leaving, I told him he really accomplished something by being so likable playing this villain." TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco repeatedly praised Adam's storyline with Ashley and Victor and Engen as an actor. "The Haunting of Ashley is fast becoming one of my favorite all-time soap storylines ever," Branco said. "It's so 1970s. I have no doubt former Another World master scribe and Paul Rauch BFF/frenemy, Harding Lemay, is freaking if he’s watching this gothic, macabre and super-creepy mystery. Moreover, camp-ilicious Chris Engen (Adam) is stealing the story with his very bitchy, and sexy performance of a deranged son scorned." CBS Soaps In Depth also commended Adam's stories. The magazine named Engen a gold star for playing Adam as a gray character with "sardonic humor." Soap Opera Digest named the actor performer of the week for his work in his final scenes as Adam. The magazine said, the actor "gave a performance that elevated Adam from an average villain to a complex mastermind." The story of Adam causing Ashley's miscarriage was named editor's choice by the magazine.

Branco referred to Muhney "as the most-talked-about recast in Y&R history" and praised his performance as he debuted on the show. TV Guide Canada's Denette Wilford also complimented the actor's portrayal of Adam, saying, "Viewers aren't supposed to empathize with him, but his portrayer managed to make it happen – a testament to Muhney." AfterElton.com's Michael Jensen reported that viewers enjoyed the character as portrayed by Muhney. The actor said he received both positive and negative reviews from online fans.

External links

• "The Young and the Restless Cast: Victor Newman Jr./Adam Wilson". Soaps.com. Retrieved July 9, 2009.