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After what I felt was a good week of drama last week on Days of our Lives, this week didn’t keep much of the same momentum. All in all, it was a pretty okay week, nothing too exciting or riveting but there were definite highlights to storylines that should be mentioned! Let’s do a quick rundown of the happenings in Salem, USA last week!
Days of our Lives Recap | Episodes Airing October 20-24, 2014
Jordan’s mystery finally begins to unravel
For more than a year now, Days viewers were subjected to guessing just who Jordan Ridgeway might be. It feels like forever since Kate discovered her multiple state ID cards and aliases when only recently we discovered she was born Tammy Sue in the Ozarks and had been on the run from her step-father for years. By the time her story began to fall into place, it was already too late for a lot of viewers. On top of this, actress Chrishell Strause announce that she’d be leaving Days of Our Lives soon, so unless the storyline really picks itself up, there goes another wasted character. It’s sad because Jordan had a lot of potential in the beginning and when she recently broke it off with Rafe, there was another spark there for her character but most of it has already fallen through.
Hanging again with really her only friend in Salem, Jordan tells Abigail that she wasn’t sure she’d ever get over Rafe Hernandez but, with Chad Dimera wooing her, the future seems a lot brighter. Abigail, in her typical Jennifer Horton Jr. way, warns Jordan that Chad is a lot more complicated than Rafe. Was that a friendly warning or a jealous warning? Most signs point to the latter as Abigail is used to have multiple guys fighting over taking her virginity and whatnot. Later, after getting into another fight with Ben about Clyde’s influence over him, Jordan confronts her smarmy step-father on what he’s doing. She can see his schemes as exactly that, nothing but an insincere way to get Ben onto his side and against her.
Things get heated when Jordan threatens to expose what kind of man Clyde truly is which he parries with a threat of his own, this time shockingly stating that Jordan killed her (and Ben’s) mother and that he’ll tell Ben if she doesn’t cooperate. No matter how much Jordan denies killing her mother on purpose, Clyde isn’t hearing it. He refuses to back down as he verbally slams her for driving that car that left his wife dead. While he claims he’s been protecting her secret for all these years, Jordan says that he blackmailed her into doing things she did not want to do which was a reason for her taking her brother and fleeing. There’s apparently a torrid history between these family members of alcohol and physical abuse. Jordan said she had tried to talk her mother into getting away from Clyde though it’s unclear if she didn’t want to or just couldn’t. Clyde admitting to his mistakes, claims that she took his son and fled before he could show them how he was changing. He tells her if she insisted on trying to keep Ben away then he’d have to expose her for the killer she is. This shatters Jordan who can’t bring herself to leave Salem Park (where a man was just murdered! Get out of there!) though luckily Chad shows up as a shoulder to cry on.
Ben the ticking time bomb
There’s really something wrong with Ben and I can sort of get into it, that is if this is where the writers are headed with his character. Over the past few weeks there have been subtle hints (and also not so subtle hints) at what’s hiding under the surface of the usually placid brother to Tammy Sue. Ben who lives in a rented room in a house has recently been itching to step his life up but the money just isn’t there like he needs it to be. It’s understandable that he gets more and more swayed whenever his father comes around, sweet talking him about money this and money that, because he has nothing in a place that he actually wants to try and settle down.
Clyde tries to pull Ben’s strings this week by offering to pay for his college tuition while his son uses up his savings to buy a nice apartment. Though Ben is initially worried, his father telling him that he’ll cover whatever expense quickly becomes more tantalizing than he’d originally thought. Jordan meets with Ben later on at Club TBD where she’s upset to find out about Clyde’s offer to her little brother. She’s worried that he might be falling under his charm. After asking if he really plans to forgive him in turn for money, all Ben offers is that he needs a break. All that Pa hating can really wear someone out, Jordan has to understand that!
Once his sister leaves, his girlfriend Abigail Deveraux shows up wondering if the two had just fought over her going on a date with Chad Dimera. Of course Ben doesn’t know this and, just like a Horton, Abigail has to spill the secrets at the worst times! Looking for answers, Ben comes upon Jordan and Chad in the park but instead of a lovely scene, he finds his sister crying. Blaming Chad without doing much thinking (like always), he attacks until Abigail helps to pull them apart. Ben has no idea that his sister is crying over the bomb Clyde has hanging over her head, one involving the death of their own mother. Completely in the dark, Ben asks his sister what’s really wrong all while Clyde watches on…
I hope to see the character of Ben go somewhere dark. Maybe not super villain status like they’re trying to buff up Clyde as, but just as a bad guy. We’ve seen Abigail try to force her way into relationships with older men twice now but I think it’d be interesting to see her in an abusive relationship. From the way he speaks to her, holds her and even barges into her home when clearly she’s not in the mood for visitors, Ben seems to have a very possessive side to him just waiting to come out.
The Donovan Sisters
Someone get them a sitcom! I know, they’re supposed to be the bad girls in town but they’re also great comedic relief both when they’re trying to be funny and when they’re not. Who would have thought a secret agent of justice’s daughters would turn out to be so amoral?
Eve’s week was pretty rocky though it started off well for her. With the help of Eric Brady, she got new headshots done in preparation for her big singing comeback. The unlikely pair bonded over their love for their chosen (or in Eric’s case, second choice) professions. Even with an always ill-timed appearance of Maggie Horton with nothing but sly things to say about Eve when her back is turned, their conversation continues on just fine. Even in between Eve’s blatant flirting with her step-cousin, she praises her perfect daughter for whom she’s trying to be a role model. Role models these days sure do a lot of interesting things like hiring teen prostitutes to roofie and stage sexy photos with their daughter’s boyfriend… or is that just Eve?
At first, Eve’s intentions made a lot of sense because JJ really was a bad seed but now that Paige neutered him from day one, there’s really no need to keep sabotaging their relationship. And unfortunately, now that Paige wants JJ to be wild (in the sheets), he’s literally running away from fear of being like his father. From how many times Eve brings up Jack Deveraux, it’s apparent that Eve is just projecting her issues with the late reporter onto his son which only makes JJ’s predicament worse.
Now all of her schemes have come back to bite her. Jill, the teenage hooker mentioned earlier, shows back up in Salem with a sob story on how her cousin kicked her out for still turning tricks and if Eve doesn’t give her more money then she’s revealing everything about their scheme. Eve’s clearly had enough of unwanted visitors. Kristen Dimera had showed up earlier too digging for information on Theresa(Eve wouldn’t budge an inch so Kristen bugged her apartment when her back was turned). So when Jill threatens her, Eve lets her have it. Stating that she had absolutely nothing to do with the drugs involved, Eve gives Jill her $500 and warns her to not play with her again. Unfortunately, Jill can’t get out of town fast enough for Eve. Her one time date Rory spots her wandering around town which sets off a chase including both JJ and Paige as well, wanting answers from the obviously shifty girl on what exactly happened on the night those pictures came out. With nowhere else to go, Jill hides out at Eve’s house where she’s narrowly missed by Paige. When JJ stops by later, he catches Eve with a box of incriminating contents. My guess is the extra copies of his scandalous topless photos.
Theresa is dealing with her own issues too though on a much higher level on the criminal scale. Though she did a horrible job of hiding it, only three people have caught onto what Theresa did to John the night of her quickie wedding. John, Kristen and Daniel are all gunning for Theresa but the poor girl really has no idea. She’s far too stressed out with trying to keep Brady in her corner with sex in case things do fly off the handle for her.
Kristen is hot on her trail and Theresa finds this out, hearing from both Eve and Anne Milbauer that Kristen has been sneaking around questioning them (or in Anne’s case, buttering her up with compliments she so loves). Theresa is very sure that Kristen has nothing on her. With John Black awake and focusing his revenge efforts on Kristen first, Theresa feels like she’s in the clear. Little does she know, Kristen has bugged not only Eve’s apartment but Anne’s bag.
Theresa goes to see Eve for more information on Kristen’s visit while Kristen listens in through the bug. The sisters get this close to almost incriminating Theresa by stating the crime but just when Kristen thinks she has them, nothing specific is said. It’s not until later in the day, after much running around, that Theresa finally shoots herself in the foot. Meeting up with Anne Millbauer will always get you into trouble and Theresa does just that when she spills to her friend that she hit John over the head with the poker. An ecstatic Kristen is on the other end of the recording device she planted on Anne, cheering for Theresa’s oncoming downfall. But will all go as planned?
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