Days of Our Lives Recap: Eve and JJ accept their attraction, Will channels Sami

Days of Our Lives is in good shape again! Can they keep it up? We can only hope so after they had a dismal few weeks in the ratings. The stories seem to be moving again and at a clear pace. There are still really only two strong tales on the front burner now, but if they’re given enough visibility on our screens, this could turn out to be an exciting few months until the head writer changeover in the summer. There’s nothing like a gay love triangle and a naughty age-inappropriate affair to get the ball rolling again in Salem! Let’s check it out!

Eve’s got it bad

And do we blame her? Is there anyone out there who really blames Eve Donovan – sorry, Larson – for getting hooked on all that is JJ Devereaux? The only real gripe about this latest development is that it should have happened much sooner! For months now, most of us have been quietly cheering for Eve to snatch away her daughter Paige’s boyfriend, JJ, so when it did happen it was a pleasant little surprise. Unfortunately instead of focusing on the steaming hot charisma that this May-December couple has, the focus fell on the flat character of Paige and her attempts to win back her boyfriend and for some that killed the excitement of the story. This week felt somewhat like a revival, even more so as a clear setting up of a big reveal coming straight for the bed buddies.

It was just last week that JJ told his ex-girlfriend’s mother that they needed to stop fighting their feelings for one another; it was obvious they couldn’t stop having sex with each other so why pretend to hate it? Hearing that must have flipped the acceptance switch in Eve’s head because very easily she went from berating JJ at every turn to pretty openly soliciting him for more bedroom play. Poor Jennifer Horton made the mistake of barging into Eve’s home after that theoretical switch was turned on. As usual, Jennifer was going off about something that was nowhere near her own business, attacking Eve for her parental decisions toward Paige as if they were co-parenting that poor, boring girl. Eve had been getting sloshed on wine as usual so anything Jennifer shouted was rolling right off of her but watching her enemy freak out was clearly getting her excited for she teased, prodded and nearly let slip that she was hitting the sheets with Jennifer’s son on the regular. To be honest, it would have been fun for all of us too to see Jennifer shoot through the roof but in soap land, it’s only really satisfying when the character gets to see all of the debauchery for themselves. Days of our Lives is playing their cards just right because later in the day after another heated run in with Eve, Jennifer snatches her longtime rival’s house keys from her. This will only spell trouble later down the line and hopefully some legal trouble for Jennifer too? She and Abigail need to realize they can’t just walk into someone’s house all the time whether they have the key or not!

The next time we get to see Eve again is after JJ makes the rounds with his new “girlfriend” Roxanne Trenton, who is actually an old friend from his boarding school days that he’s using to keep Paige off his trail. When JJ introduces his old flame to his new, it goes off without a hitch, leaving a dejected Paige to finally drift out of his orbit to focus on something as mundane as she is. The crushed velvet dress she wore all week, maybe? But I digress! JJ’s plan with Roxanne feels fool proof until Eve catches sight of them and under the guise of a protective mother bear she scares away Roxanne to have JJ all by herself. Even though Eve claims that her off the wall ranting is because of how JJ and Roxanne hurt Paige, to anyone watching, it’s pretty clear that her actions are soaked in her own jealousy. Eve probably felt that after months, she was finally in the clear; Paige was completely done with him, JJ had given in to their sexual attraction to one another. It should be easy but then she sees another much younger girl on his arm and all alarms go blaring. To get her to calm down, JJ and Eve make plans to “talk” later at her apartment but little do they know is that they’re bound to have a third party joining them. With the story moving away from Paige’s efforts to get the truth out of JJ and instead on the budding attraction between her mother and ex-boyfriend, the story really does feel alive again. Even Jennifer playing the meddling snoop in the middle of all of it is enough of classic soap opera to keep me satisfied. Hopefully then Jenn finally plays dirty after discovering the affair, watching her whimper and moan through crises has gotten old now, she needs her bite back! Maybe a loaded gun could help?

These guys ain’t loyal

The gays in Days were a hundred kinds of messy this week! From Will Horton to Sonny Kiriakis to Paul Narita, every one of them seemed to really only have their own interests at heart. In Sonny’s case, that’s understandable, two people in his life betrayed him in the worst way so the only trustworthy person he has in his corner at the moment is himself. But Will and Paul? Out of order!

So in actuality, Paul was not that badly behaved this week as he was a week ago when he confessed to the entire town that he slept with Will. Grandmother included. This week, we got to see a gentler side to Paul when his mother Tori shows up in Salem to his surprise. Now that his surgery is over and the article is out, she’s more than ready to pluck him right out of town to take him home but Paul is adamant about staying. In his head, Paul is probably thinking it’d be a good decision to stay in town to somehow make amends for sleeping with the husband of the love of his life, but to anyone with common sense it’ll probably do nothing but send more shockwaves through town. But that’s what we want, so we’ll let him stay, even if I don’t think that the ex-pitcher’s intentions are 100% genuine. I could very easily see him working this apologetic route toward getting back into Sonny’s wounded heart. Paul has been a great new character played by an even greater actor, and he’s totally been a big asset to the show since joining but that doesn’t make Paul a great guy. He’s definitely got some tricks under his sleeves and his calling and apologizing to Will, seeking counsel from Marlena and maybe his mother soon too doesn’t seem to be real to me. I doubt his plans will go so smoothly though, not when his mother is breaking glasses upon seeing Marlena Evans and peeking around every corner in fear. Just what – or whom is she hiding from?

Will was nowhere near Paul’s level of messiness, in fact he surpassed it and then some this week! In the classic form of his mother, Sami Brady, Will somehow talked himself into thinking that shaking off even part of the blame of his cheating scandal was an excusable option. After taking the warranted verbal beatdown from Sonny for breaking their marriage vows, Will had the audacity to turn around and accuse Sonny of simply marrying him because Paul turned him down in the past. Though I must say, I was someone who did not like Sonny’s pursuit of a still in the closet Will way back when, but there was no way Sonny went after Will to try and lock in marriage again, just like he couldn’t have known about the convoluted situation they found themselves in now. Just like his mother always was, Will was desperate and when desperate, they both tend to pull out every and any excuse with hopes that one will stick. Sonny wasn’t having any of that though and as he should, turned the conversation back onto Will’s betrayal and cover up which were the real issues. When he sees that his attempts to blame didn’t work, Will has to beckpedal, begging for his husband’s forgiveness but Sonny ushers him out the door with his firmness.

With all of this playing out recently, almost everywhere one looked there was criticism for Guy Wilson’s portrayal of Will, some felt that Will’s showing of remorse was strongly lacking on screen and some viewers were even angry with the soiling of the WilSon legacy, as if unable to separate both character and actor. This is just a small sidebar, I usually try not to touch too much on the actors’ acting but I do feel like this should be addressed as it’d be a good talking point. I do not have a problem with the NuWill, I didn’t from the beginning and I still don’t. Yes, this week I do think there was a jarring lack of connection to the scene material; I’ve yet to find anything wrong with the connection between the new WilSon. I don’t think Will’s previous actor could have done any better with these scenes because let’s face it, half of his time on the show he was beyond checked out, it would have been worse. Just please let go of all the comparisons and let nuWill live! He deserves a little more credit than he’s been receiving from some of the Days fans.

Once again, these recaps are not blow for blow recaps and contain a lot of my own feelings toward the storylines this week. Use my points to kick off a conversation. Comment here or tweet me if you agree or disagree with me, I want to know what the readers have to say. Your input is what makes this all the most fun! See you next week!