By 
Eric the Unmoving
Alright, alright. The angst with Eric and Nicole was cute initially, it felt believable due to the understandable tension there, and there was history. But now? The Eric and Nicole story has hit an all-new confusing and most infuriating low. In recent years, Nicole Walker has gone from the town’s vivacious tramp to pleading for leftovers. She’s been cast aside by almost everyone who claimed to love and/or once care for her; and her one-true love Eric is one of the latest.
It makes sense that Eric was upset with Nicole for destroying information that would have vindicated him in the eyes of the church last year. He trusted her with his heart and by concealing that evidence, it showed that her level of trust in him wasn’t the same. Months have passed now and Eric has stood firm in his hate for the woman he says he once loved, repeating numerous times that he would not forgive her, yet we’re supposed to believe that he can forgive the woman who drugged, raped and humiliated him in front of everyone? Even with my love for everything Kristen Blake-DiMera, what she did to Eric was horrifying and no miracle drug given to my step-father (and former home-wrecker) would change that. Especially not after just one year.
This storyline makes me not want to root for Eric and Nicole anymore; in fact, it makes me want to knock some sense into Nicole so she can move on with her life. Nicole was able to settle some of the issues she had with EJ before he died. After years of back and forth, watching the former lovers be civil and kind felt right, it felt natural.
At this point, I can’t see Nicole and Eric reconciling in any natural way, so I’ll need for her to move on with someone who actually cares for her. After everything that’s happened in her life, Nicole deserves true love without her usual manipulations and especially without a man’s stipulations. Just don’t move on with Daniel Jonas…
Princess Ciara Brady
A part of me cannot wait for Ciara Brady to be SORASed and wreak havoc throughout Salem, but the bigger part of me wants Lauren Boles to stick around as long as possible in the role. Keep Terrell Ransom Jr. as Theo too, their scenes together are always so cute!
She is such a little star, standing out in scenes even when they’re populated by longtime favorites. This week was no different for her. After skipping out on a school field trip (after crashing the bus herself, most likely), Ciara managed to overhear Hope planning a date with Aiden Jennings. After bullying his son, seeing her mother get into it on numerous occasions with Aiden and most of all, missing her father Bo, it makes sense that Ciara did not want this date to go down. Just before she was able to hit supernova on the two lovebirds, Hope’s half-sister/stepmother Julie Olson Williams came out of the bushes to help calm her down – and get a needed updated from Hope.
Aiden took Ciara back to the square where they managed to talk things out though Ciara feels like the grownups would never take her opinion on the issue into consideration. While Hope is filling Julie in on the Aiden she’s come to like, Ciara heard from Aiden that he liked her, he liked her mom and did not want to replace Bo in their lives. The two return to the park just as Hope finished letting Julie know that she’d like for Aiden to open up more, that there’s so much more she’d like to know but wants to respect his privacy. Ciara then happily gave her blessing for the two to begin dating as long as it was under her watch. Hopefully this will lead to the happy ending Julie said she wished for Hope. These were some of my favorite scenes this week. I think Hope and Aiden are a slow-burn, angsty couple done well, though I do think they need a bit more a jolting kind of hurdle to climb over instead of spilled soup on first dates, I’m enjoying their interactions. They have something there, for sure!
Paige…
This is all the subtitle that Paige gets – at least for now. Paige has polarized Days of our Lives viewers since her first day on screen – you either don’t care for her or don’t mind her – but I’ve yet to come across an actual fan of hers. Even with two notorious bad girls for her mother and aunt, Paige has been nothing but exemplary at everything she’s done, practically reaching sainthood in her few short months in Salem. Sometimes I feel that DAYS writes its “good” characters just a little too self-righteously “good”. If the character is a cardboard cut-out, that’s how the actor is going to come across on-screen.
I think True O’Brien has already shown signs of getting better on the show; it’s just that Paige needs to catch up a bit. This week makes me feel like maybe, just maybe we’ll be getting to see some personality. Paige’s outbursts used to play as very immature and childish, but seeing her stand up to Mary-Beth (who I think might be in love with Paige) about birth control got me very intrigued, especially when she threatened to leave her mouthy BFF behind if she judges her decisions on boys again. But that was not the only surprise that Paige had up her sleeve, oh no! After being rebuked by boyfriend JJ Deveraux again, a randy Paige actually snuck into Tom and Alice Horton’s house to surprise JJ in bed! Where was this girl before? Those scenes are flashes of what I hope begins to play out for the character. She doesn’t have to become a bad girl like the other women in her family, but she needs to develop some kind of spunk in order to fit in with her family.
What did you all think worked well on Days of our Lives this week? What didn’t work? And even more importantly… what are your theories surrounding EJ’s death? There’s a lot to talk about so feel free to let it all out in the comments or tweet me! I want to hear your feedback, it’ll help me greatly!
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To each its own, it is as YOU see it not as we see it, don’t talk for others, it is obnoxious.
Ali Sweeney played/plays a very emotional character so maybe the character Sami ‘overact’ but Ali just plays the part. And yep she had been snubbed by the so called ‘soap community’ for decades now..she should have been nominated or even won for the death row story yet nada..they are hopeless and biased.
And yep Nicole was a tramp for a long long time..since again interacting with Eric, she seems to be less slutty..She will be with Daniel very soon..she has been with almost all the town..even Roman (Eric’s father…ick).
As for Lucas, well it is clear you are a lumi fan..Luca was never Sami’s soulmate, he always wanted her older sister over her..he was her frienemy, her arch-enemy, her friend but ‘soulmate’ nah..Ej was it. That is all.
Great recap, one correction: Nicole was never a “tramp”. But I agree that she needs to move on from Eric (and God no, not with Daniel Jonas, hate him). Maybe with Brady? They were good together.
Ali Sweeney does have a tendency to overact, so the soap community is just calling it like we see it. She definitely did good work during EJ’s death and the following grief scenes, no doubt, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that she needs to dial it down most days.