Too often on soap operas, we see a grieving character move on with their lives as their last romantic pairing becomes a distant memory. Not so with Daniel Romalotti, played by Michael Graziadei, on The Young and the Restless. Daniel has remained affected by the tragic and untimely death of his beloved Heather (Vail Bloom). For playing a man at emotional crossroads, Graziadei has earned TV Insider’s Daytime Performer of the Week.
We came upon Daniel at the beginning of last week with the guy almost being in a trance. He commented on the vibrant energy of his mother, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), who is psyched to be starting a new venture at Abbott Communications. While she was thrilled to be free from lawsuits and psychos, Daniel hasn’t felt so sure about moving on from his recent past.
Graziadei is a pro at injecting subtle humor into his performances as Daniel. It’s one of the many reasons he’s one of the show’s most watchable actors. Daniel quipped that it was nice to see his mother focused on something other than “hellfire and retribution,” but he was being humorous, in part, to downplay his sense of fear and uncertainty. While Phyllis believed that throwing herself into work was the answer to getting out of grief, Daniel wasn’t so sure that was a fit for him.
Daniel confessed to Billy (Jason Thompson) that he felt blocked both creatively and emotionally. He added he needed a new direction. Daniel’s silence spoke volumes as Phyllis enthusiastically tried to drag him into Abbott Communications.
His heart wasn’t in it, and he excused himself from the informal meeting. Later, Phyllis caught up with her son as he was trying to have a moment of solitude. Daniel opened up to his mother about thinking how his feelings would pass, but that hadn’t happened. He was struggling to put one foot in front of the other.
Previously, Daniel was choosing his words carefully and said very little probably because he was in public at the Genoa City Athletic Club. Once he was out in the fresh air and sharing private time with his mother, Graziadei made the choice to have Daniel start chattering away.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve been so focused on taking care of Lucy and I’ve been so focused on worrying about you that I just…I feel like, I don’t know, I’ve made all these excuses and all these reasons to not face what I’m feeling,” Daniel rattled off as he grew emotional and his eyes slightly watered.
“I just thought that time was going to fix this, you know?” he lamented. “It would make everything better, but it hasn’t. Instead, it’s just like opened up this abyss. Heather’s gone…all of our plans, our future is gone with her. I don’t know. I guess I just don’t really know what to do with that.”
Graziadei continued to play Daniel both being unsure about where he should go but also confident about where he didn’t need to go — and that was to work with Billy and his mother. He suggested that work would be good for his mother but that Abbott Communication wasn’t right for him.
“Let me figure out what my next chapter is,” Daniel told his mother. “Please.”
Next, Daniel came upon Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) at Crimson Lights. She offered to lend him a supportive ear and he opened up, letting her know that his life was at a dead stop. Sometimes it’s easier to share feelings with someone you don’t know all that well and that’s what Daniel did with Tessa. He told her about Heather being gone and how that’s affected him.
She offered him a cookie in the shape of a rabbit to cheer him up. “I doubt that a day old baked good in the shape of a cute little bunny is going to change my world,” Daniel sighed. After tasting the delicious treat, he quipped, “Maybe I’m wrong?”
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Tessa gently informed her pal that she wasn’t going to let him cover up his emotions with humor. “That’s what we do, though, right?” Daniel insightfully countered. “We hide behind jokes. We self-soothe with food and with liquor or we bury ourselves with work so we don’t have to actually deal with how absolutely miserable we are.”
Daniel said he wasn’t sure what his path forward was. Whether he knows it or not, he’s letting Tessa more and more into his life. That’s evident by how comfortable he feels not only talking to her about Heather, but also sharing just what she truly meant to him and what she brought to his life. Daniel added that he felt he couldn’t properly explain this to both Phyllis or Billy.
These scenes were a reminder that this is what soap operas do best: dramatic scenes with two characters sitting across from one another, sharing how they feel, and supporting one another.
The more Daniel opened up to Tessa, the more comfortable he felt revealing himself. When the tables turned, Tessa said she was hesitant to open up about her life. “Oh, OK, I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable talking about getting out of your comfort zone?” he quipped.
Graziadei’s ability to deliver lines like that with such simplicity and a slight touch of dry humor are a few reasons why he’s one of the most natural actors we see in daytime television.
Daniel’s on a journey (one that includes Tessa teaching him how to play the guitar). Hopefully, it’ll be one that takes a while. We look forward to watching that adventure of self-discovery unfold as Graziadei captivates us with performances that are poignant and insightful.
The Young and the Restless, Weekdays, CBS