Daytime TV Performers of the Week: ‘Y&R’s Tamara Braun & Roger Howarth Shine as Train Wreck Exes Sienna and Matt

The next time Sienna Bacall and Matt Clark of The Young and the Restless are in Las Vegas, they need to head to the casinos. Why? She knows how to bluff and he knows how to call one as evidenced by Sienna’s impassioned offer to run away with Matt if he had let the Newmans live and Matt being able to see right through it, of course.

TV Insider’s bestowing Performer of the Week honors on Tamara Braun, who plays Sienna, and Roger Howarth, who plays Matt, for making us sit on the edge of our seats as Sienna tried to get Matt not to hit that detonator button on his phone.

It was as if Sienna drew on Braun’s acting ability as she slid into Matt’s front seat, attempting to convince him to let the Newmans live. Howarth is expert at playing a conniver like Matt, who’s expert at letting those around him hang themselves with their own words before he goes in for the kill. The two actors played a compelling game of cat and mouse so believably that we actually thought Sienna was serious when she offered to go with Matt and start over if he let the Newmans go.

Howarth’s Matt strung his ex along, showing rare vulnerability. We started to wonder if Matt was going to be moved enough by Sienna that he’d do the right thing for once in his life. Or maybe Matt was just lulling his former wife into the possibility of giving her what she wanted. Then, he could yank it out from under her at the last minute. Matt tends to get his jollies that way.

Sienna offered to share with Matt the money that Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) took from him and go away with him. They could start all over again.

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“You quit me,” Matt replied. “You gave up on us. Don’t let the car door hit you.”

“You’re pissed and you’re going big,” Sienna shot back, speaking to him as if she knows him better than anyone else in the world. She probably does. “The Newmans did you wrong, and so you’re going to pay them back hard.”

“It’s like you know me,” Matt deadpanned.

This wasn’t looking good. Sienna probably wasn’t making headway, but Howarth played Matt as someone who never quite fully tips his hand until he absolutely has to.

“Yeah, I do know you,” Sienna continued, trying to break through all those hurt walls Matt has up around him.

Matt wondered what he’d get in return if he let the Newmans live.

“Me,” Sienna stated, hoping that would be enough. “I will forgive you everything.”

And while there’s much to forgive, Howarth tapped into his ability to deadpan by having Matt reply sardonically, “You’re going to ‘forgive me’ for cheating on me.” (The man’s evil but had a point on that one.)

Rather than meet his sarcasm with sarcasm, Braun had Sienna keep her eye on the prize: saving the Newmans.

“We can try again,” Sienna implored. “We can get back what we had.”

“ I think you’re just saying this because you want to save your boytoy,” Matt dryly delivered, referring to Sienna’s adulterous affair with young Noah.

“Do you remember when we fell in love, how it was in the beginning,” Sienna said, ignoring her ex’s dig. “You were so charming and such a romantic. How could I not fall in love with you? We didn’t just make plans; we made them happen. We were a hell of a team.”

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“Until we weren’t,” Matt lamented.

Lying can be more effective when liars add truth to their statements. So, we thought Sienna truly was going to run off with Nick when she told him that the Newmans were “suffocating” and that Matt was the only person who has ever truly known who she is.

“Please say it’s not too late,” Sienna begged.

This is Matt Clark that we’re talking about here so, of course, it was too late.

Matt pressed the detonator, blowing up the gas station. (Fortunately, Sienna delayed Matt long enough for the Newmans to escape.)

The gas station blew up, but the true sparks were inside Matt’s car as Sienna passionately begged him to do the right thing.

Casting Daytime Emmy-winners Braun and Howarth in the roles of Sienna and Matt has resulted in a rich adventure tale for Y&R, one that has been filled with dramatic and heartfelt moments as we saw from the two actors in these scenes. Bravo!

The Young and the Restless, Weekdays, CBS