Who else is thrilled that Kate, Kayla, and Marlena made it back to Earth?
They’re trapped in glass pods the evil Megan Hathaway set up, so they’re not out of danger. And from the looks of it, this new storyline is equally unbelievable.
Still, Days of Our Lives during the week of 2-20-23 featured the end of the ladies’ stint in the afterlife, and nothing can be as goofy as that story was. Hopefully not, anyway.
The final week of the afterlife story involved a battle between Jake and Nick for the women’s fates. Fortunately, the fight was one of words; the writers kept supernatural magic to a minimum.
It didn’t make sense that no one was in the afterlife except the women and the two beings representing good and evil. But at least the women finally got chairs, food, and time in Heaven rather than Hell or Purgatory!
Still, there was more than enough silliness to go around.
Nick had free time to play a violent video game in which he destroyed angels while still being able to magically jam Kate’s message to Roman — which Paulina had to relay to him because Roman stepped out. Kate wasn’t sure how long she’d be allowed to remain in contact.
Paulina: No offense, little urn, but since you’re not holding up your end of the conversation…
Kate’s voice: Roman?
Paulina: Kate? Um, Roman stepped out for a moment. Can I take a message?
Jackee Harry had her usual superb comic timing, but this setup was beyond goofy!
There was only one serious aspect: somehow, the battle for the women’s futures ended up being a vehicle to redeem Nick somewhat! Jake reminded him of Julie’s unconditional love, inspiring Nick to let the women go — and afterward, Nick even expressed concern for what they might be waking up to.
That was an interesting development.
It’s about time someone addressed the trauma at the root of Nick’s villainy, though his being raped in prison doesn’t excuse his attempt to do the same to Gabi and torment her so badly afterward that she felt killing him was the only way out.
Nick: I’m not all bad after all. Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to maintain.
Jake: Your secret’s safe with me.
Nick: You were a worthy opponent. I look forward to locking horns with you again.
Jake: I don’t have any horns, but maybe we’ll lock wings.
Jake was wrong about one thing: Julie wouldn’t turn on Nick if she made it to Heaven and discovered he was working for the Devil. His attempt to steal her soul would probably result in her trying to save his!
While unconditional love is a beautiful thing, Julie’s is more like blind devotion to someone who’s proven time and time again that he lives to hurt people.
It would be fun for Julie and Doug to debate in the afterlife whether Julie should be suspicious of Nick’s motives, but let’s not give the writers any ideas. One silly afterlife story is enough!
What’s going to happen now? Megan has her father’s evil laugh; Days of Our Lives has finally found the next generation’s Stefano, although Andre Dimera was equally evil and imposing and would have made a fine new villain.
If Stefano were alive, he would have saved his “Queen of the Night” for his own evil purposes, but would he have bothered with the other two? And what is Megan’s endgame?
At the end of Beyond Salem 2, Megan had Bo in a similar cryogenic chamber. She’s always been obsessed with him like her father was obsessed with Marlena, but what does this apparent kidnapping of nearly-dead women have to do with her goal of resurrecting Bo to be her lover?
Over-the-top evil plans, especially those involving sci-fi elements, are a Dimera staple.
Stefano had Rolf put a chip in Vivian’s brain that allowed him to control her with a remote, preserved EJ with the resurrection drug after his last brush with death, and did all sorts of other fantastical things to further his goals.
Megan appears to be following in his footsteps but with far murkier motivations. Hopefully, as this storyline progresses, it’ll make sense and not be more otherworldly goofiness for its own sake.
We had some of that with Rolf’s latest attempt to deprogram Stefan. Since he didn’t have any equipment, but Eric and Brady insisted he complete the job, Rolf got a waffle iron, hand mixer, and Crock Pot from the Brady Pub kitchen — what the hell is he going to do with all that stuff?
I don’t blame Stefan for his desperate attempts to stop Rolf. God only knows what will happen to his brain after it’s exposed to Rolf’s Macgayvered version of an anti-brainwashing machine.
The best part of this storyline is that Eric and Sloan are finally through. I wish Eric had seen her for what she was when she insisted on tormenting Chanel. As a fellow sexual assault survivor, Eric should have been disgusted by THAT.
Still, better late than never, and Eric was right that Sloan had a conflict of interest and that purposely keeping her client in jail to help her other client stay out of it was unethical.
Their fight leaves Eric available for Nicole to run back to right after sleeping with EJ. Ugh.
I can’t with these two. They claim to be done forever, only to abandon their partners the second they realize the other one is single.
This teenage behavior on the part of 40-somethings isn’t cute or endearing. Stop it already!
It’s especially annoying because EJ and Nicole have a compelling storyline and don’t need Eric as a distraction.
Nicole: Do you think Stefan could be using drugs?
EJ: Or, he could be drugging me.
I’m not a fan of EJ/Nicole romantically, especially after EJ’s abuse of Nicole a decade ago. But the two of them teaming up against Stefan could be fun.
These two are working together to defeat a common enemy instead of fighting with each other, stabbing each other in the back (literally or figuratively!), or cheating on each other.
That’s what’s missing in most DAYS romances. In the 1980s and 1990s, super couples fought against the bad guys together instead of constantly breaking up or letting interlopers ruin their relationships.
Instead of one love triangle after another, how about more teamwork? No one in Salem can make up their damn minds about who to be with, and it’s annoying. Love triangles are a fine soap trope, but not when they’re the entire show!
It’s also aggravating when one member of a triangle resorts to evil to try to hold onto their partner. I didn’t like Li brainwashing Stefan to keep Stefan and Gabi apart; why on Earth should anyone support Brady doing the same thing?
Brady doesn’t care about anything other than interfering with Stefan and Chloe, so Chloe will be free to reconcile with him. It’s incredibly selfish, and I’m glad Stefan called him out on it.
Brady: You may think I’m the villain now, but by the end you’ll think I’m the hero.
Stefan: Hero? You? You’re a selfish son of a bitch who will stop at nothing to get me out of Chloe’s life.
Not only is this the same thing Li did, but it also is the same thing Brady did the last time Chloe was with Stefan. She didn’t appreciate him stalking her to “protect” her from Stefan, and she won’t appreciate this, either.
Grey/amoral Brady is not entertaining. This is the same asshole who blackmailed Nicole into leaving town. Brady may be part Kiriakis, but his character doesn’t work as a villain, especially not when it’s written as if he’s the hero.
I don’t like Stefan for the same reason Steve doesn’t: he’s a sleazy, amoral rapist. But that doesn’t mean Brady’s sci-fi-assisted stalking of Chloe is a good thing, either.
Meanwhile, what the hell is wrong with Gabi? She’s stronger than this; she shouldn’t have given into Li’s manipulations to get Dimera stock.
Gabi: I know how much these shares are worth and how important money is to you. So what’s the catch?
Li: There is one small thing.
Gabi: You are unbelievable! First you say this is a present for Valentine’s Day and then you say there’s a catch. I knew it! So what’s this one small thing?
Li: Stay married to me.
This “reconciliation” and marriage of convenience only make sense if Gabi plans to double-cross Li.
She has no reason to stay married, live together, and risk falling for Li again. He already signed over the stocks, so why does she have to do anything he says?
It may be a moot point now that Rafe’s arrested Li. But will Gabi come to his rescue or let him rot in jail? And why didn’t she tell Wendy the truth about why she and Li reconciled?
This seems like a setup for an extra obstacle once Stefan is completely deprogrammed (assuming that whatever Rolf is doing with that kitchen equipment works.) But it’s not clear how that’ll work with Li in jail.
Li’s father came to town mainly to yell at his idiot son. I don’t blame Wendy for being annoyed.
Her father told her he had no one trustworthy in the company anymore as if she was nobody. How rude! She may be an IT expert instead of an executive, but in some ways, that’s an even more powerful ally to have.
I wish Wendy and Gabi would forget Dimera Enterprises and open a competing business. THAT would be a compelling story!
Wendy’s personal life is about to get messy again. She listened to Gabi and gave Johnny a second chance. But now that Allie is gone and Chanel is single, will Johnny pull an Eric and dump Wendy for Chanel?
Or will he and Chanel do the “just friends” thing for a while longer while fighting attraction for each other?
Johnny always asks Wendy to keep secrets for him, which she does at a high personal cost. She hates lying and always ends up with divided loyalties.
The least he could do is be loyal to her rather than allow his feelings for Chanel to interfere with his new relationship.
Gabi also needs to stop playing matchmaker—a big fat NO to Rafe and Jada becoming a couple.
I’m still bitter that Rafe/Nicole imploded for a five-minute Nicole/Eric reunion. We don’t need Rafe to date Eric’s ex; that’s just rubbing salt in the wound!
Rafe’s attitude toward Eric was annoying and unprofessional, too. He and Eric were on the same side. They both wanted Rolf to sign that statement. Yet Rafe did everything he could to interfere with Eric’s plan out of spite because Eric slept with Nicole.
Eric: Ms. Petersen hired me as her paralegal.
Rafe: And what are your qualifications?
Eric: As a priest, you require a broad skillset.
Rafe: Like celibacy. You’ve failed at that.
This is who is running Salem PD these days? Rafe’s biases, hotheadedness, and generally unprofessional behavior are doubly inappropriate when he’s supposed to be the police commissioner!
As for Allie, she can’t leave town fast enough for me. It’s sad; I loved her when she first arrived in Salem. But lately, she’s embodied all of Sami’s worst qualities without any virtues to balance her out.
She is bitter, petty, insecure, and selfish. Her snarky comments have been unnecessarily mean and border on bullying, and she’s not even a good schemer.
She was jealous of Johnny’s relationship with Chanel, yet sought to break up Johnny and Wendy. What sense did that make?
And would she have bothered telling Chanel she was leaving town if Chanel hadn’t happened to show up while Allie was packing?
Allie and Chanel’s goodbye scenes were sweet, but this was no great love. Chanel is too mature for Allie, who needs to hurry up and get gone so that Chanel can move on.
What did you think, Days of Our Lives fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your favorite storylines and what you could do without.
For even more Days of Our Lives chat, check back on Sunday for the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.
Days of Our Lives streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekdays at 6 AM EST / 3 AM PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
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