Days of Our Lives Review for the Week of 8-21-23:

Sarah’s plan to hide in Chicago blew up in her face when Victor died.

She hadn’t counted on a family tragedy bringing her back to Salem before her baby was born, nor did she think she would immediately run into Xander.

But that’s precisely what happened, and she spent most of Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-21-23 lying about who the father of her baby is.

Sarah’s been down this road before and really ought to know better.

Have you thought about how you’re going to have to lie to your child about who its father is? And if the truth comes out someday, this could all blow up in your face.

Maggie

She wrote off Maggie’s concerns as expressions of grief and insisted that she couldn’t comfort her mother by giving Xander a reason to bond over the baby. But that wasn’t the point, and Sarah knew it.

If only people in Salem understood that you can co-parent without living together, life would be a lot easier for them.

Sarah could work out a custody arrangement where her only contact with Xander is at dropoff and pickup times, and Nicole could stay with EJ without anyone keeping it secret that Eric is the baby’s father.

But no, Sarah, like everyone else, thinks co-parenting is such a strong bond that her child shouldn’t know who their father is.

Of course, it’s also only in Salem that the mother would be worried because the father is walking around free after committing a kidnapping that resulted in someone’s murder.

Still, Sarah’s worries don’t seem justified. Yes, Xander has a dark side and can be violent toward others. But he’s never indicated that he’d be violent toward his child.

And wasn’t he tender and loving toward baby Mackenzie Rachel when he and Sarah cared for her?

If anyone’s instability threatens the child’s welfare, it’s Sarah’s; she’s the one who ran off to parts unknown when she learned the babies had been switched instead of giving the child to Kristen like she was supposed to.

That would be understandable if Sarah feared that it would be traumatic for the child if Xander ended up in and out of jail. Her fear of big, bad Xander becoming abusive toward her and the baby seems out of place.

To be clear, Days of Our Lives seems to have issues with how turning over a new leaf is supposed to work. Some people forgive their lovers far too quickly for serious crimes (Hi, Chanel and Talia!).

At the same time, others become town pariahs for seemingly meaningless crimes (like when Aiden was driven out of town for a lie that didn’t make any difference to anyone.)

Still, others are eternally apologizing. Eric and Nicole rightly broke up because Eric constantly berates Nicole for her latest sin and never seems to have any empathy for her.

Xander and Sarah are heading in that direction. Sarah hates what Xander did, with good reason. She shouldn’t have to stay with a man so easily swayed by money that he’ll commit violent crimes against innocent people.

But let’s be honest about it: she’s not scared Xander will hurt her or the baby. She wants to do what the court failed to do and punish him for his behavior by denying him his child.

That said, Maggie’s reaction was a bit much. She genuinely likes Xander, but the fangirling has to stop. If Sarah doesn’t want to be with him, marry him, or have his baby, Maggie needs to accept it.

Xander halfway believed Sarah’s lie, but the truth will come out sooner or later, and then what?

Chloe’s reaction to the news was equally ridiculous.

Chloe: I haven’t changed my mind about our engagement. But maybe you want to change yours about marrying me.
Xander: What? Why?
Chloe: Because Sarah’s pregnant.

Sarah’s pregnancy doesn’t affect Xander and Chloe’s relationship. Again, co-parenting without living together is a thing.

If Xander knew the baby was his, he and Chloe would have to have a conversation about how to handle the situation. But that shouldn’t be a foreign concept to Chloe, who shared custody of Parker with Daniel for years.

Of course, the secret will blow up in everyone’s faces, with Sarah set to marry Rex and Xander engaged to Chloe.

The only question is how it will happen. Will there be another double wedding disaster, or will the big reveal be before anyone gets married?

While Sarah was debating what to do, Sloan and Eric received heartbreaking (for them) news.

It’s hard to drum up any more sympathy for Sloan than the detached sadness you’d have for a stranger.

She’s rightfully annoyed with Melinda blackmailing her, but it’s not like Sloan has ever been above doing the same thing herself.

Her introduction to Salem involved trying to extort Paulina for money in exchange for Chanel’s continued freedom; only after the plan failed did she cry that justice wasn’t done in her mother’s death.

She also only conceived the baby to ensure Eric didn’t leave her for Nicole and for extra measure, messed with DNA results twice to stop Eric from knowing he is that baby’s father.

And now she’s not only keeping that secret but she and Eric are exaggerating what Kayla said. She never said Sloan shouldn’t get pregnant again or couldn’t carry to term. She said medication could increase the chances of a successful and safe pregnancy.

Do the writers think we’ll forget what happened the day before? Or do they believe Sloan’ll be more sympathetic if she has this tale of woe about being unable to carry children?

It might simply be an oversight based on the needs of the plot, but whatever the cause, these kinds of inconsistencies don’t work.

Fan groups for classic TV sitcoms are filled with fans complaining about inconsistencies; it’s far worse when it happens during a daily drama meant to be a continuing story.

Strangely, Sloan’s miscarriage symptoms were the same ones that led Nicole to discover she was pregnant in the first place.

The parallel is overly obvious. But will Nicole have any sympathy for Sloan beyond sending condolences via Eric?

She certainly wasn’t in the mood for Melinda bothering her.

Melinda: I hope you and EJ have a long and happy marriage.
Nicole: No, you don’t. You want everyone to be as miserable as you are.

Nicole’s snarkiness was vintage Nicole. Usually, Melinda can hold her own in the sarcasm department, but this time, she was so anxious to ensure Nicole didn’t learn Sloan’s secret that she hurried away!

It seems this baby drama will destroy EJ and Nicole’s relationship; I’m shocked by how disappointed I am.

EJ and Nicole were never my dream couple. Nicole did the same thing to EJ with the last baby that Sarah is doing to Xander, but with more reason — EJ had become violent toward her. That didn’t seem like a match that deserved another chance.

But this time, Nicole’s brought out a softer side of EJ, and she seems to be able to get through to him when he wants to do stupid and destructive things, at least sometimes.

Nicole: If your mother was here, she’d be quoting some Bible verse at you.
EJ: Vengeance is mine, saith the L-rd?
Nicole: Not that one. Something about turning the other cheek.
EJ: Well, she’s not here, and I’m not in the mood for doing so.
Nicole: Okay, well if that doesn’t convince you, may I remind you that we’re getting married, and that vengeance is unattractive and a distraction from planning our wedding?
EJ: I can multitask. I don’t see any reason why I can’t plan a wedding while also getting revenge on a murderous psychopath.

There’s a refreshing honesty and friendship between them now that it would be a shame to flush down the toilet for yet another round of Nicole letting Eric torment her.

But they’re together now, so I’m trying to be grateful for that.

Will Nicole get through to EJ about Ava, though? His claims that she’s a clear and imminent danger to his family were ridiculous. Ava’s locked up in a mental hospital, where she’s only a danger to other patients that she mistakes for her enemies.

I was also glad that Nicole pointed out that Ava was NOT faking mental illness.

Days of Our Lives has a poor track record regarding mental health issues. It’s bad enough that Ava’s violence was blamed entirely on her mental health condition without suggesting that someone would fake a severe disorder to get out of trouble.

Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders don’t work the way they are depicted on this series; most people have either auditory or visual hallucinations, making the type Ava has extremely rare, and most people with these disorders are more likely to become the victim of violence than its perpetrator.

In short, EJ’s anger at Ava’s mental illness being used as an excuse was justified, but his context was wrong because Ava did have this unrealistic mental illness that consisted of a hallucination telling her to kidnap and kill people.

EJ doesn’t need to seek revenge on her. Walking away is the best option, but that’s not his style.

This time, Ava imagined Susan whispering in her ear that she’d never be free of her until she stopped lying. What was that about?

The hallucination was based on catching a glimpse of a patient with similar hair and glasses to Susan, so at least it’s partially reality-based. Also, who is this woman?

It seemed like an enormous coincidence that someone who looked enough like Susan to cause problems for Ava was suddenly hanging around, and Midge was condescending about Ava’s hallucinations. Could she have been planted by someone to cause trouble?

Ava’s illness is bringing her and Harris closer together, though he seems more like her therapist than a fellow patient.

Will his support of her eventually put him in EJ’s crosshairs?

Elsewhere, the Leo/Dimitri/Gwen mess got even sillier. Dimitri tried to have sex with Leo in the two minutes that Gwen was downstairs buying ice cream, and then Kristen called, so Dimitri told Gwen they had to go home now.

I really hope Gwen is playing Dimitri because it’s impossible to believe she is stupid enough to take any of this nonsense at face value.

While the Johnny/Chanel/Talia love triangle is so redundant it’s putting me to sleep, this one is stupid. The sooner Dimitri is found out, the better; let’s all move on already!

And what was with that barrister from Alamainia?

This is not the 19th century; he could use a phone, email, Zoom call, or other technology n to talk to him directly and ensure he wasn’t wasting a trip.

The guy also was confused about why Kristen used a cover story even though moments before he told her no one but Dimitri was supposed to know about the codicil.

This Dimitri nonsense is doing my head in! What about you, Days of Our Lives fanatics?

Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts. And don’t forget to check out the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion on Sunday.

Days of Our Lives streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekday mornings at 6/5c.

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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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