Daytime Emmy-winning Roger Howarth is such a talented, charismatic actor that we knew The Young and the Restless‘ Matt Clark had to be redeemed. We knew when Howarth was cast as the scum of the earth, Matt Clark, that it would prove challenging.
Key Highlights
- Matt is starting to remember what he’s done and is horrified
- Howarth’s character, Matt Clark, has already started the process of redemption
- The Newman family is conflicted over Matt’s sudden shift in character
- Sharon, who has been the most affected by Matt, doesn’t know what to believe
Head Writer, Josh Griffith, Had the Idea to Wipe Matt Clark’s Memory Clean to Give Him a Shot at True Redemption
After all, a character as despicable as Matt can’t last very long on a soap. In a shockingly satisfying amnesia twist, head writer Josh Griffith has wisely chosen to redeem the character.
Griffith admitted that as soon as he got Howarth onto the canvas, he had been trying to come up with ways to justify keeping his character around.
So, the opportunity presented itself when Sienna Bacall (Tamara Braun) attempted to kill Matt by hitting him over the head with a rock. However, Matt survived. The catch? All his memories were suddenly gone, and he had no idea who he was.
Griffith recently spoke to Soap Opera Digest and dared to ask,
“How can we reinvent him in a way that he can still be potentially threatening and a potential danger to the people around him, but redeem him from the horrible, horrible things that he’s done in the past?”
The scribe admitted,
“This is kind of a way of recreating and reinventing the character.” Someone’s memories wiped clean, or amnesia, is a very common soap trope for characters who are being set on the path toward redemption, which is what Griffith decided to do to continue working with Howarth.
Truthfully, Howarth won us over from the start, despite his villainous persona. He’s such a wonderful actor and has such a great sense of humor that we were hoping Griffith would find some way to keep him around.
Not to mention, Howarth is the master when it comes to redeeming unredeemable characters. His past roles include his first soap gig playing rapist Todd Manning on One Life to Live and serial killer Franco Baldwin on General Hospital.
These characters all had one thing in common: They would never have been fan-favorites if they were played by anyone other than Roger Howarth.
Howarth is Adept at Redeeming Unredeemable Characters
Howarth’s character’s redemption has already started. Matt saved Nick Newman’s (Joshua Morrow) life when he took swift action when Nick overdosed on Fentanyl.
Matt managed to change the way the Newman family looked at him. Of course, that also left them deeply conflicted over this Matt situation.
Griffith said that Matt’s whole attitude is,
“I don’t remember what I’ve done to you, and if it was as bad as you say, I’m sorry.’ That’s got to affect the way they look at him. It’s going to be difficult for them to get past what they know of him from the past, but it has to affect them.”
The Newmans feel grateful to Matt for saving Nick, but what happened between Matt and Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) back when they were in high school is a whole other ballgame.
Long-time Y&R fans know that Matt raped Sharon back then. Right now, Sharon doesn’t know what to believe about this suddenly timid, well-meaning individual who just saved her ex-hubby.
Despite his amnesia, his memories will return; what’s different about him is that he’s truly sorry for what he’s done and shocked by his own past.
Of course, if Matt can be genuinely apologetic, he can definitely be redeemed. We can’t wait to see what Roger Howarth does with this version of Matt Clark because whatever happens, we are entertained and riveted by Howarth’s impressive A+ performance.
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