The verdict is in. Noah is guilty of hit and run.

But as we learned this week on The Young and the Restless, if Victor and Nikki had shown a little bit of faith in Judge Moxley for both Noah's trial and Adam's, they may have discovered there was no need to play dirty to get the results they wanted.

Unfortunately, that's the life of a Newman. You always play dirty first and clean up the mess instead of taking the chance something won't go your way.

What an incredibly awful way to live. Noah's reward for wanting to be as different from his family as possible was a light sentence. And understanding verdict.

Jack is having second thoughts about launching Passkey this week, and if I were him, I'd be having second thoughts, as well, but for much different reasons. 

For as business savvy as all of these people are supposed to be, didn't anybody do their due diligence to see if Natalie signed paperwork that would give Victor the ammunition to sue her for taking her product elsewhere? It's a fairly easy thing to do.

When Victor was screaming and shouting in his office about firing her, Victor didn't seem in the least bit concerned about her taking Passkey somewhere else because he had no faith she was going to deliver. Victor isn't that smart, despite all of his loud protestations to the contrary.

Half the time it seems like he just set up shop two days ago. The same goes for them all. Anybody who wouldn't have bound Natalie to a vow of secrecy about the product was already making a terrible mistake for the amount of money they've thrown at her.

Could you believe the first thing she did when she learned Passkey might be shuttered was to go and tell Luca? Natalie just never shuts up. She talks to anyone and everyone and that's going to be what comes back to bite everyone.

And was anyone else kind of embarrassed that Victoria went to Victor to deal with the department heads at Newman? I've run a company before (Yes! This has not always been my life.), and here's how she handles them. "Those of you who prefer to stand beside the former CEO who is in prison, please step forward. You're fired. Will those who report directly to him please step forward? I and my team will be meeting with all of you within the next couple of days to choose successors."

It's business and there isn't room for misplaced loyalty to a loser like Victor. If they're not willing to step up, then they get the hell out. And if Victoria isn't willing to step up to the plate, then Luca should swoop in and steal Newman right out from under her nose.

Victoria really had no idea what to do but stand around with tears in her eyes. Billy would have been there for her, but she refused. Business had gotten in their way.

God forbid, in GC, business comes before love, and Phyllis almost let her Passkey drive a wedge between her and Jack. For business! Billy used his own life with Victoria as a cautionary tale to remind her she doesn't have to do that and Jack and Phyl reunited for some sexy time (it's been a while!).

Adam really took the job with the hedge fund (Justin Hartley is filming a pilot...a comedy, unfortunately) and although for now he's splitting time between Chicago and Genoa City, that means Chelsea is ramping up Chelsea 2.0 again. She hired Sharon and almost Sage.

Sharon got worried about the idea of leaving Sully at home. Dylan wants to support her in anything she does and we saw our first sexy scene between Shylan to prove how much in love they are. Except the scene paled in comparison to the ones we had between Shick when they were reunited last year.

Sharon and Dylan have more of a family vibe than the "I could eat you alive" vibe that came with the Sharon and Nick scenes, and that's likely because the latter couple had decades to perfect their union and they're just more comfortable. Honestly? I miss them.

Sharon seems to be going a little buggy. She's starting to dream about her pregnancy at the nuthouse, and that likely means she'll need the job at Chelsea 2.0 just as much as Sage will need it if things fall through with Shawn.

Have you noticed how weird Sage is with Shawn? The way she pulls on her hair on both sides of her head and bends down to talk with her, calling her sweetie? Yuck. It's scary, and Shawn seems to be pushing Sage's buttons just to see what kind of reaction she gets from her. 

There's no way we know the whole story about Shawn yet, but Sage isn't doing anyone any favors by playing her own role as half whacked out of her mind. She's getting scary.

Faith asking questions about the baby's and Shawn's futures was a perfect reason why you do not invite the mother of your future baby into your home unless you have already discussed that future. 

Yet when Shawn continued the discussion (sort of) with Nick over coffee, she didn't have the same look on her face of feel the need to egg him on in anyway. And she came thisclose to telling him Sage was weirding her out. Then Sage walked in.

That's not going to end well.

I found Summer annoying before. Now she's unbearable. Championing every jackass in town isn't going to win her any popularity contests, and all she does in stick up for the most hated men. My only wish for her is that she falls for Luca and is dealt a very bad hand. For some reason, seeing her suffer seems fun. Sorry.

Finally, did anybody else think that seeing Cane and Lily together with their family working out their issues was almost jarring? It's been so long since there has been any focus on them, they looked like travelers passing through Genoa City, stopping in for a cup of hot chocolate.

Considering there are not many characters on the canvas as it is, that doesn't really say a lot about how well the showrunners juggle the storylines of those we do have. At the very least, they should be in B stories or C storied, and intermingling so we are never without people on set. 

It seems like a real shame there aren't more lively sets anymore. 

You're turn! What did you think about Noah's happy ending? Are you ready for the end of Passkey, too? What other stories are you ready to shut down? Drop me a line.

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.