*Very* Sneaky! Young & Restless May Be Detonating a Horrific Blast From the Past Right Under Our Noses

Young & Restless loves to recycle a baddie from the past, whether distant or recent, and it turns out the soap may be doing just that in a current frontburner story… albeit in a very sneaky way.

We’re just going to go ahead and put it out there: If our strong hunch is correct, Patty’s associate, Laurence Markham, is actually the dastardly Martin Laurent. It would be a massive and super concerning twist, but the signs are all there. Let us explain…

Let’s start with the basics. The name Laurence is so close to Laurent that it almost has to be deliberate. It immediately brings the depraved evildoer to mind. Even more so because the character in question is a would-be psychiatrist who is said to be responsible for the supposed cure of a violent psychopath like Patty Williams. There’s nothing Martin loved better than an opportunity to prove he was better at shrinking than his late twin, Alan, after all.

But there’s more. Last week, Martin’s name was actually dropped in Sharon and Phyllis’ conversation. That’s more than a coincidence. It would seem to be another means of the writers not-so-subtly bringing the man who tortured our girls to mind right as the story with Diane being held captive kicked off.

The evidence kept piling up on Tuesday’s episode as Laurence kept telling Diane that she’d be moved to a clinic. As every viewer knows, it was a musty old abandoned psychiatric facility where Martin held Sharon and Phyllis captive throughout their ordeal. Coincidence? Again, we think not.

Finally, when Jack called the Abbotts together to inform them that Patty was moving into the mansion, Abby dropped her mother’s name more than once. Given that Ashley is the original connection to Alan and Martin Laurent, that only bolstered our theory.

Of course, the character formerly portrayed by Christopher Cousins is now being played by Jere Burns, but we’re sure that if Martin managed to escape or get himself released from custody, he’d want to change up his look moving forward. Particularly, if he planned to mess with the Abbotts again, as he certainly seems to be doing, in cahoots with Patty.

We’re stopping just shy of “calling it now,” but we definitely think we’re onto something, SOAPS readers. Do you think Laurence Markham is Martin Laurent? Let us know in the comments!