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Days of Our Lives this last week was once again steady! By no means was it fully captivating considering there was still too much time devoted to an elephant statue, Daniel Jonas unjustly receiving love from Nicole Walker and Jordan Ridgeway in general, but there were some standouts worthy of applause and not the fast forward button. Thankfully it’s not all bad lately as there’s been good use of veterans, old soap tropes and romance but with the first quarter of the 50th Anniversary year nearly over and with no big storylines in sight, I’m not sure how much longer we can keep optimistic. The new head writers couldn’t come to Salem, USA’s rescue any quicker! Let’s check out what went down last week there!
Cougar Town
There’s potential for Salem, USA to get this nickname if JJ Devereaux and his older lover Eve Donovan continue their sexfest. At first things were only contained to the latter’s apartment, but this past week they finally branched out to getting it on in a hotel room with the door open! I do doubt that getting caught by Jennifer Horton will keep them away from each other for long, but God did it make for good drama for her to find out this way! The fallout was as sweet as the viewers were hoping for and thankfully, Jennifer was entirely sour for once!
The week before this one, Jennifer was spending her time snooping around as usual instead of working at the hospital (it’s clear she wants to get back on the beat as a reporter! Writers, get her out of this stuffy job ASAP!), targeting a suspicious Eve with her honed skills. There was obviously something weird going on that involved her nemesis, her son, his ex-girlfriend and his friend from boarding school. Jennifer was positive that JJ had no romantic feelings for Roxanne Trenton so she followed up with her parents in case there was something she missed. Her suspicions were right and they phoned their daughter which lit a fire under Roxanne, she was starting to second guess her involvement in JJ’s scheme as she’s not so good when it comes to her parents turning the heat on her. JJ almost has her in agreement to plan again by offering up his body to her when Eve bursts into Roxanne’s hotel room, again spouting nonsense about defending her daughter against JJ. Roxanne has had enough of this crazy lady stalking her and storms out of the hotel leaving JJ to accuse his ex-girlfriend’s mother of jealousy. Eve laughs it off however but he sees right through her. He says he knows what she really wants and takes off his shirt in an open invitation, one that Eve can’t help but to accept.
Unfortunately for the two of them, Jennifer arrives at the hotel in her budget friendly slinky ISA agent ensemble with hopes to talk to Roxanne about her son but what she finds is enough to make her blood boil. Like a big cat herself, Jennifer pounces into action after coming upon her son tangled up with her half-naked enemy. So contrary to the homemaker and sometimes career woman Jennifer we’ve become so used to seeing, the feisty heroine from Days gone by shows up and shows out all over the hotel room. There’s some strangulation, attempted suffocation and soap opera slap that’s been dying to happen and it’s all done with Jennifer clad in black wearing a high ponytail. No more Lilly Pulitzer for her! It was so refreshing and exciting to actually root for Jennifer again! Even though she doesn’t fight so much for herself anymore, watching her throw down for the sake of her family was still in the vein of the maternal Jennifer of today. It sort of made me wish we could have seen Jennifer do the same thing to Sami Brady-Dimera when she was hounding her daughter last year.
A confused Jennifer snatches her son away from the scene, basically yelling and hitting him all the way back to the Horton homestead. In her eyes, she thinks it was just a vengeful one way street, that Eve seduced her son just to get back at her. JJ explains that their affair began when they were both at their lowest, that just like Eve he feels undeserving of love and that’s how it all began. Even though she’s furious, Jennifer attempts to console her son who is clearly going through a lot, explaining that his feelings of guilt is what makes him far from a bad person. An anxious Eve has since met up with her daughter, at first fearful that Jenn had spilled the beans but she’s grateful to find out that Paige is as clueless as ever. She warns her daughter that Jennifer is mad with both her and JJ, that they should leave town as soon as possible because Jennifer is dangerous. As if anyone would believe that! Paige almost overhears everything after a still volatile Jennifer arrives at the square to threaten Eve with revealing the secret to her daughter, claiming she has the former singer at her mercy now. Jennifer wants the other mother’s help in getting their children back together but Eve’s not having it – probably because she still wants JJ for herself. When Paige wants to know what’s going on, they throw a few vague words around before dispersing but not before Jennifer lets Eve know how much of a horrible mother she is. In reality, it doesn’t seem like Jennifer wants Paige to know the truth at all because we soon see her stressing over the reality when she sees JJ again. But deep down, we all know how much fun she’ll have dangling the dirty truth in front of Eve for a while. All I can hope is that after this fallout, we’re not going to be subjected to more contrived teen lovey-dovey Paige and JJ, but that just like Jennifer, Paige’s crazy switch flips on and she goes wild. How do you think Paige will handle knowing the truth about JJ and Eve?
Chim Chim Che-Romance
Bonding over chimney sweeping on paper sounds like the biggest drag, but this last week watching Adrienne Kiriakis and Lucas Horton get ever closer while doing some manual labor felt a lot more honest and interesting than almost every romance on Days at the moment. Maybe it’s because they’re both show veterans but the first scenes with Adrienne coming upon a hard at work Lucas felt like a good throwback to when the last remaining NBC soap opera actually had its characters do more about town than hang out. A year ago, Ken Corday did an interview admitting that he no longer believes in the supercouple and that’s exactly why Days is so behind the other soap operas in recent years. Look at any other soap’s fan and you’ll see someone with a strong affinity for a main couple, it’s the ever changing romance that keeps these viewers tuning in. Until recently, I never thought we’d see romance on this show ever again but with each and every Lucas and Adrienne interaction, I find myself recalling tingling feelings of Days’ romances gone by.
Lucas immediately wants to apologize for the kiss from before especially now that Justin’s back but Adrienne feels unsure about whether or not he’s really back or not. Covered in soot from Alice’s fireplace, the two in-laws share yet another bonding moment before pushing it aside again. Even though she feels that her husband Justin has emotionally checked out of their marriage, Adrienne is nothing if not determined to make things work out and if that means ignoring her connection with Lucas, then she’ll have to. He thinks it’s probably for the best if they stop spending time with one another and they part on that low note. It doesn’t take long for Lucas to contact Adrienne again; he apologizes for that but wants to know why Sonny left as soon as he discharged from the hospital as Will won’t tell him. It becomes clear to an eavesdropping Justin that Adrienne is on the phone with Lucas but when he confronts her about it, Adrienne is nothing if not chilly. Justin just wants to talk but Adrienne thinks he’ll find his conference call with Elsa back in Dubai much more important. Thinking he’ll find Adrienne there, Justin later turns up at Will’s place to find Lucas who is just as chilly to him which has Justin openly wondering if Adrienne’s attitude toward him is from Lucas.
This is a story that needs to be on the front burner! Not only are the veterans actually being utilized but they’re being used in a believable, entertaining way. No one ever suspected Lucas and Adrienne could possibly become something but their bonding over the last few months as in-laws, then friends and now potential lovers has been a nice surprise. Adrienne and Justin may have been a supercouple in the past but now, there’s a viable threat to that status in the form of an illegitimate Horton son! Some longtime fans might have an issue with the breakup of such a historical couple but think about it this way: Would you rather have Adrienne, Justin and Lucas make bi-weekly pop up appearances to cheer on their sons? Or would you like some drama? I’ll pick drama every day.
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!
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