Hats off to the DAYS writing team! They're doing an absolutely splendid job of weaving together storylines. While I'd love a status check on Eli or maybe a check-in on Johnny, for the most part, this week found delightful intersections for some of our loose ends.
Maggie and Sarah are off to Florida to get treatment at Unscramble Your Brains Medical Center. Sarah will be staying in the Abigail DiMera Ward, so she's going to be just fine. However, here's my hot take -- is she really worse off as child-Sarah? She recognizes Maggie as her mother. She seems relatively happy when not served broccoli. And as far as I know, five-year-old Sarah isn't a slightly homicidal crazy woman in love with her brother. So, you know. There's that.
This is all to say that the pitchforks out for Anna are a little extreme. Maggie's anger makes sense. But I'm not on board with Tony, and don't even get me started on Rafe. Not only should he be a whole lot nicer to Carrie's mom, but Rafe kinda owes Anna for that time he left her in a coma on DiMera Island to fend for herself. Not a good look on you, Raferino.
Before Sarah left, we got two wonderfully touching scenes. First, Xander went to see her and was a very bad version of Clarence the Angel. He told Sarah that Eric does marry her -- but he performs the ceremony when she marries his brother, Rex. Sarah doesn't know about Rex yet because, well, that spaceship has not landed yet.
Huge kudos to Paul Telfer in this scene. Nested in the ridiculata of Sarah's Betty Boop voice was Xander's heart breaking. It came through in such a palpable fashion. He knows she doesn't remember him, yet he knows she needs to get better. He had to let her go because he's putting her health before his own happiness.
That led to the Sarah/Xander closure scene -- only, it was between Maggie and Xander. Maggie gave Xander her blessing to marry Gwen, and in a way, Sarah's permission. I don't think Xander would have gone through with it (though Gwen would have pushed -- we'll get to her later) without Maggie reassuring him that Sarah would want Xander to be happy. I loved Maggie saying she'd miss having Xander for a son-in-law and Xander promising to always be there for Maggie. Hugs, you two!
No hugs for Gwen. Ugh. If I cared at all about her, I'd point out that pushing someone to marry you because their first choice isn't available is not the best way to start a relationship. But I can't stand Gwen, so I hope she gets all the heartbreak that's coming her way. She's right back to where she started. She drugged Abigail. Now, she drugged Sarah. She. Has. Not. Changed.You know what else? I really hope the show stops pushing for that and just leaves her as a scheming schemer who schemes. When Leo and Gwen sat down for drinks together, it was like the whole world made sense again. I adore this pair. Is it crazy that they'll just whip up a double wedding? Of course, it is. But I love this so much, I'll play along. Furthermore, I like Gwen and Leo in this space -- they're both a little naughty, careless, and reckless. But neither of them is actively vindictive.
Well, I guess not in that moment. Shocker of all shockers, it looks like Leo doesn't really love Craig and is scheming with someone possibly named Jackie. I say possibly, because I don't know if Leo is dumb enough to say the name of his co-conspirator out loud. And while I love that they're tying in the main mystery part of Beyond Salem, Chad and Sonny don't exactly equal a brain trust. The two of them taking the Titan jet off to find a drag queen feels exactly like the kind of trap Leo would set to make the two of them look foolish. They're the coyote to Leo's roadrunner, for sure.
That leaves Abigail behind to put the pieces together. That phone call from Ava is bound to help. Ava is royally ticked to be arrested, and she's ready to talk. Ava was horrified at what Gwen did, and she should be. The show hinted at it but missed a bit of a ground ball in the Ava/Gwen scene by not having Ava remind everyone that she spent half of her life drugged -- under the control of someone else. Hearing Gwen drugged Sarah hits way too close to home for Ava.
I'm shocked something went wrong at a gender reveal party. Those go over so well in real life. According to the devil, the Cin-a-bun is a boy. Congratulations? I don't know. This whole thing felt underwhelming. Also, why would Julie automatically assume there was blood in the cake? The immediate thought would have been something went wrong with the filling, but it's still a dessert product.
Hey, Victor! Hey! Welcome back! I don't remember things being this bad between Sonny and Victor when Sonny left for Arizona. This antagonistic relationship seems a little off, but it plays for good drama. I love Zach Tinker getting to share scenes with John Aniston.
Leo lamenting that Chloe doesn't like him was exhausting. I appreciate Craig standing up for both Nancy and Chloe. Considering it's clear Leo is using Craig as part of a scheme, Craig will need his family soon. I'm sure Leo isn't thrilled to be served with a prenup.
Craig and Nancy had a beautiful scene where Craig assured Nancy that everything they had was real. I'm sure Craig wants to believe that. And I'm sure he's reconciled his treatment of Nancy that way. But it wasn't what Nancy thought it was, and she's got to grieve that loss. Her, "I'm trying!" was lovely. I was worried for a second that Craig would ask her to stand up for him. Inviting her to the wedding is better but still not grand form out of Craig.
In other truth bombs we needed to hear, Jack asked Xander if he was marrying Gwen for the right reasons. You guys, if Jack "Run Away from My Problems" Deveraux is suggesting that someone else is taking an irrational action, you know it's problematic. Just like Craig, I'm sure Xander has convinced himself that he does love Gwen. But this is not going to end well. I'm mostly concerned about Jack and Xander's best mate status.
I'm trying hard but finding it difficult to care about Rafe or Nicole anymore. Nicole had a nightmare that Ava wanted to kill her because Nicole is a helpless hair-twirler who needs a big man to take care of her now. Rafe is furious with Ava because he's a petty man who can't see the big picture. Aside from losing a few nights' sleep in jail, Rafe got everything out of this he wanted. He got Nicole, walked right back to his high-powered job (no questions asked), and has a sister who doesn't even rub it in his face that she can do his job better than him -- in heels and a bodycon dress, no less.
Ava and Jake have tons of meet-cutes and this pair could be a lot of fun. But something feels a little too easy about it. Ron's storylines have a lot of fake-outs before settling in. I do love Jake standing up for Ava. I cheered when all Nicole could do was stand there looking stunned when Jake retorted, "Didn't Rafe go behind her back first and cheat on her...with you?" But something makes me wonder if Jake and Ava are really end game here. Especially when...
HOT
Do my eyes deceive me or was that a non-collared Eric Brady working behind the bar at the Brady Pub?! Welcome back, Greg Vaughan. I have so many questions. Is he still a priest? When did he come back? Does this mean Nicole will need to find a new place to live? Could the former padre technically be living with the Allie Devil now? How fast will Nicole drop Rafe if Ava and Eric hit it off? Can someone please get Sami back in town? This is great stuff!
NOT:
Belle's "Heeyyy, daddy-o" line was funny. Unfortunately, the direction of this storyline is not. Belle saying Shawn was selfish and destructive for keeping the details of his rape from her is ludicrous. Belle is justifiably scared/exhausted/triggered (pick your emotion) with all things Jan. However, Shawn is the victim here. Belle is not. Furthermore, it's never a good look when a woman weeps that her man won't turn his back on his child. That's what stand-up dudes are supposed to do, Tink. Again, Belle is justifiably upset. But trying to sell us that she has the right to be mad at anyone but Jan (okay, and Satan) is nonsense. Keep talking truths to her, John. See if you can exorcize this demon, please!
LINE OF THE WEEK:
Abigail (to Leo): "Oh, contraire, cookie. I'm the matron of honor."
I absolutely loved Abigail having Leo's number this week. Marci Miller and Greg Rikaart are fantastic sparring partners.
Exchange of the week:
Sonny: "I asked Will for some advice, and he said, get this..."
Chad: "Start with Google."
Sonny: "Wait, how'd you know?"
Chad: "I'm also married to a superstar reporter."
Billy Flynn and Zack Tinker have great chemistry. Watching this scene really made me thankful for the DAYS writers. The Sonny/Chad friendship started back when both were played by different actors. It would have been easy to let that element go with recasts and different storylines. But the writing teams kept this friendship in place. It's one of the gems of DAYS -- a DiMera heir and a Kiriakis heir who genuinely care about each other.
I guess Leo will be quick to have Craig resign, since Gwen switched the antidotes on Craig's watch. You know, because Leo cares so much about how the hospital is run. Then again, maybe this is what makes Leo divorce Craig and get everything because Craig was a conspirator in a crime.
Zach Tinker and Brandon Beemer could be voice twins.
Anyone notice that Chanel and Paulina dressed like the walls in Paulina's penthouse? They were all in lovely shades of plum.
Shawn telling Julie and Doug what Jan did to him was worth it, only for the opportunity to hear Doug say, "preggers."
Did Maggie bring Sarah adult coloring books?
For real, Tony. Anna used to carry around your ashes with you everywhere she went. You don't see why she'd do everything to make up for lost time with you?
So, the whole plot point about the hospital being sued because MarDevil treated patients is just gone? Kayla's out of a job and Marlena keeps hers?
I laughed when, upon seeing Abigail hug Gwen, Chad asked, "You know that's Gwen, right?"
I don't want to question Maggie too much, but if your options are:
A) take your daughter to a licensed medical facility with a proven record of success
OR
B) trust a serum a mad scientist whipped up for you while he was in prison,
why were we even entertaining option B?
Belle and Shawn have made it decades, and neither of them has had a child with someone else. That's saying something!
Wow. Allie Devil was absolutely gorgeous. That hair, makeup, dress -- it was all fantastic.
I worry about baby Henry. Though at least he has Oracular Baby Holly to protect him. Whew.
I'll see you back here in two weeks!
Laurisa
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