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Not a bad week in Salem this last week. As usual, there were some clear down points in storylines but the highlights stood out strong. As with General Hospital, some parts of the stories felt a little rushed in favor of setting up for a big climax week next week but there were still lots of enjoyable moments in between. Let’s get into some of the highlights of last week’s Days of Our Lives!
The Third Wheel
Though Will Horton has been seemingly on a hate campaign against Paul Narita, his marriage’s third wheel, viewers have been wondering if this hatred has turned into a passionate obsession. This last week, Will proved that he just can’t let Paul go – even when the former baseball star had already moved back home to California.
Tensions are still running high at the Horton-Kiriakis home, so Sonny has been choosing to sleep in his office over at Club TBD. A surprise wakeup call comes his way in the form of best friend Chad Dimera, confused and a little upset that Sonny and Will are still in such a bad state with their marriage. Even though he’s probably the last person anyone wants relationship advice from, Chad explains that it all comes from a good place. Both Will and Sonny are his friends and he wants them to stick to those powerful vows from a year ago. Thanks to his friend, Sonny decides to go home to talk to his husband – this time without either of them shouting like they did earlier in that day. Marlena Evans compared her grandson to his mother Sami Brady which must have been a huge shock to his system. He’s in full accordance with Sonny, taking the blame off of Paul’s seductive ways and onto himself. He admits to being embarrassed about seeing a marriage counselor but agrees that it’d be best for their marriage.
This reconciliation is far too easy considering everything WilSon has gone through in the last few months. Sonny seems cautious but he accepts his husband’s words and they decide to work things out. Will had agreed with Sonny about not knowing who he’s become but as soon as Sonny gets up to leave, Will lets that side of him out again. His editor Zoe (I really hope they keep her around, she breathes such fire into her scenes!) had stopped by earlier to assign him with profiling Clyde Weston for his next article but Will said he’d only do it if he was sent every bit of feedback from his article on Paul. It was a weird stipulation but Zoe agreed to it, promising to send them along later. Just as she said, the files come through when Sonny’s cleaning up and Zoe wants to know if Will is planning a new article on Paul. Will doesn’t give a definite answer but it’s apparent he has something up his sleeve once again.
Later, Victor Kiriakis expresses his insecurity about couple’s therapy for Sonny and Will. To him, Will is already beyond saving – and it’s thanks to his DNA. Sonny fights with his great-uncle at first before he concedes; probably feeling that he’s given in too easily and says he’ll have to think more about it. It’s then that his father calls and apologizes for not being there when things are so rough. In turn, he offers Sonny a trip to Hong Kong to come stay with him to which Sonny accepts. When Will learns of his husband’s trip, he immediately blames Victor for it, expressing that to his grandmother Marlena on the phone. She’s on her way to San Francisco to try and help the situation with Paul, hoping Will will learn from this mess he’s gotten into.
I doubt that lesson will dawn on him quickly enough – and I hope it doesn’t either. I’ve honestly never enjoyed the character of Will Horton but lately – no matter how irritating he is – I’ve actually begun to feel for him. As a child, Will was nothing more than a prop for constant custody battles and relationship swaps with his parents, aunt and uncle. Then as a teen, he was still mostly scenery, only appearing when he had to be the good guy to Sami’s bad guy or judge her for it. Aging Will into a young adult didn’t immediately make him interesting too; neither did having him come out as gay. He’s always been pretty much a wishy-washy character. But as he falls into his anxieties and pushes boundaries to get what he wants, I can’t help but find him more entertaining than ever. Now he’s even growing more and more obsessed with Paul Narita! He must be off the charts in bed if Will can’t seem to shake him at all, there is definitely still a load of attraction in that obsession. Now with Sonny leaving town again and Paul most likely returning, I’d like to see more of Will and Paul getting closer. They’re definitely the hotter of the pairs for me. I can completely understand why some viewers cannot stand Will lately but there comes a point when a character needs – character. It’s high time for Will Horton to get some. Do you think Will’s new attitude is fitting? Or do you miss the old Will?
Vacation from Hell
This last week, Clint returns to Salem under Kristen Dimera’s orders to bring Theresa Donovan back to Italy with him. It takes all of twenty minutes to get her to agree (give or take a bogus lottery check and diamond bracelet) to go on the trip. Even when she’s desperate to redeem herself in the eyes of others, Theresa just cannot help but drool at the mention of riches. Though I can’t imagine what the daughter of a super spy and therapist could have possibly been without growing up, but something has twisted Theresa so violently that dollar signs can cause her to completely throw away her self-respect to fly off with a dangerous loser.
She’s falling right in line with Kristen’s devious plan to take her bone marrow and leave her for dead in the mountains of Italy. Brady Black and Theresa’s stolen baby Christopher is sick, so Kristen is once again in desperation mode which means she’s making big moves without thinking of the consequences. Dr. Mandrake has been attempting to warn her from the first announcement of her plan but it’s fallen upon deaf ears, all Kristen can see is finally getting rid of Theresa to save the baby. Before Christopher’s biological mom arrives in Italy, his father shows up at the Dimera castle to retrieve him. The two former lovers go into a discussion about forgiveness, Brady clearly using this as a means to butter up the romantically gullible cougar while Kristen buys every single word. To her, Brady finding her in the mountains of Italy only means that he wants to return to her heart. Her imaginary world is shot to pieces when Brady finally fesses up, demanding that Kristen return his child to him. The nurse that was set to assist Dr. Mandrake in Theresa’s surprise surgery had arrived sometime around then, only to be turned away by Kristen who was too occupied with Brady. While he accuses her, she plays innocent until Brady can take no more and storms off to search the castle.
It’s in this time that Melanie Jonas shows up after stowing away on the Titan jet. On her way to the Dimera castle, she bumps into the nurse Kristen sent away and uses that to trick Dr. Mandrake, then slips into the castle. Somehow she easily finds the baby’s room where Brady hadn’t been able to. This leads to a showdown when Kristen and Mandrake put two and two together, realizing that Melanie was in fact not the nurse they hired. Kristen does all she can, even going as far as to claim that the baby is Daniel Jonas’ from their one time hookup but no one buys it. Brady demands a DNA test but Kristen does one better – she pulls a gun on him.
Talk about entertainment! Even though the budget isn’t there to make the viewer really feel like this was a getaway, this trip to Italy was like a breath of fresh air. We needed a break from tiny Salem! Days used to do overseas adventures really well and as I said, though the budget isn’t there for the visuals, the writing for this part of the show delivered. There’s just something always exciting about a storyline involving a group of characters converging in some exotic location. My only gripe about this baby snatching storyline is that the resolution is coming much too quickly. I don’t want to say goodbye to Kristen already but from the promos released this weekend, we might have to say goodbye for good. Wait, who am I kidding? Doubt it! What did you think about Days’ Italian getaway?
Once again, these recaps are not always 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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