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This last week on Days of Our Lives was – dare I say it – very enjoyable! Though I (obviously) still had to fast forward through the elephant statue hoopla, the rest of the stories were actually moving faster than a snail’s pace and were pretty entertaining. I do hope that some of these storylines are not completely dropped when the new writing regime’s material begins to air in two months and our screens are flooded with old faces. Don’t neglect some of the actually good groundwork that was lain before! Let’s dig into some highlights from Salem second week of June!
Turning a New Paige
From the very beginning, we all knew Eve Donovan’s daughter as Beige, never Paige; there was just a clear lack of respect for the character from viewers due to her lack of personality. All it took was the revelation of her mother and ex-boyfriend’s bed hopping for her to come out of that bland shell and for viewers to begin embracing the character bit by bit. The new and improved Paige could have gone the cartoonish, embarrassingly comical way but this last week, Paige Larson’s negativity felt warranted and authentic.
Viewers didn’t get the chance to see Paige until later in the week but even with the time that’d passed since her birthday, Paige’s wounds were still festering. When she came upon her mother venting about her hatred of Jennifer Horton to her Aunt Theresa Donovan, Paige very easily sidestepped one half (her mother) of the self-involved sisters as if she weren’t even there, choosing only to interact with Theresa. The promising student wanted her things out of her mother’s apartment but was in need of a proxy considering what Eve did to her. Paige asked for her aunt’s help moving as well as spilled her lusty secret all while ignoring Eve standing two feet away from her. Yes, it was a childish move that we’ve all been guilty of pulling out on the playground, but the look of distress on Eve’s face while she tried to reach out was priceless. I do feel bad for the former chanteuse who has very few in her corner but at the end of the day, she made her bed and now’s come the time to lie in it – and without JJ Devereaux for once.
Paige coolly rejects JJ when he tries to come to her rescue.
The perpetrators of this mess seem to think that a betrayal that size warrants a quick forgiveness from Paige. Both Eve and JJ spent a good portion of their week on screen either groveling to Paige or groveling to other people who they thought might help them with Paige. In the end, they rightfully got no assistance as everyone else in town seems to understand that there’s really no going back from such a scandal. JJ got a face full of reality when he went to beg Daniel Jonas for help on winning Paige back. In a surprise move, Daniel sided with logic and told JJ that there was no hope for the former lovebirds and that he had to move on. JJ understood that he had to let Paige go for a good five or ten minutes before he sprang into action at Club TBD, warding off a middle age creep who wanted to spend time with his ex-girlfriend. For just a few seconds, Paige let JJ think that she really appreciated his Prince Charming act, thanking him for saving her from hooking up with someone “as old as her father”. Talk about a swift knife to the heart! JJ had again begun to feel hopeful that Paige would find her way back into his arms when she thanked him, and then just like that she alluded to his embarrassing misdeeds and left. JJ is now probably thinking that his life with Paige is now completely over but little does he know (and Eve as well), that Paige has a plan for them. In a moment of vulnerability that she wouldn’t dare show in public anymore, a crying Paige vowed to hurt Eve and JJ as badly as they’d hurt her.
I loved everything Paige related this week! The fact that anyone can say that now is still baffling to me but I’m beginning to accept it. I’ve begun to finally move on from the shock of Paige maybe becoming an interesting character. Sadly, it still might be premature to hoot and holler for all things Paige Larson considering how awful the show has been with handling long term consequences that could potentially make a character a lot less one dimensional. I want to be on Paige’s side. I want to watch her suffer with these feelings. I want to watch her make some bad decisions; anything to finally make her a fleshed out character.
One of my favorite Paige moments from this week was actually not from a time where she acted out of spite. Oddly enough, I truly enjoyed her little chat with Daniel Jonas where she admitted to being done with love after being betrayed so majorly. The standout point was when Paige discovered that Daniel had known all along too, but instead of lumping him into a pile with the others in need of blaming, Paige reasoned that it wasn’t his business to tell. My hope is that Daniel takes that as positive reinforcement and begins to stop dipping his nose into everyone’s business to guilt them into doing “the right thing” by revealing whatever dark truth he may come across. No one is guiltier of this in Salem than Dr. Jonas and with the cool, detached kind of way that Paige mentioned it will take away the sting. Anyway, what do you think about the brand new Paige? Do you think her revenge plans will go as planned as the new writers come in?
Chad’s Garden Tool
Poor Abigail Devereaux always seems to find herself trapped in these messy love triangles! Every year since her reintroduction to DAYS viewers, Abigail has either been coming in between couples or been stuck in the middle of two suitors. The cycle began to repeat itself again this year when Chad Dimera returned to Salem. I’m the first one to voice my dissatisfaction with Abigail’s character – to me, there’s so much potential there that writers never bothered to touch upon. Could majorly deep-rooted daddy issues have fueled her lust for Austin Roberts and EJ Dimera? Why do her insecure actions go against the confident image she plays up? There are so many places Abigail could go but instead she’s back in another love triangle. Not to say it isn’t enjoyable watching a supercouple for the new generation being reworked and reborn, Chabigail has been nothing short of exciting since its new beginning. With this last week’s literal down and dirty romp in the garden, things only seem to be going up for this couple.
Clyde Weston has proven himself to be everything but the dumb hillbilly Salemites once had painted him. Call it man’s intuition, but Clyde has sensed something going down between Abby and Chad for a long time now and his son, Ben Weston shut him down each time. Even this last week, Ben was sure that Abigail was only being distant with him because of JJ’s issues and that she was only seeing Chad because of his sister’s unfortunate demise. Chad and Abigail have probably brought up their sibling issues once or twice recently, most of their time together was spent making out or breaking down their obvious feelings for one another; exactly that was happening over in the Dimera gardens as Ben assured his father of his girlfriend’s loyalty. Chad has been breaking down Abigail’s walls bit by bit, trying to remind her of how good of a connection they share and how great things will be if they give it another go. The ever indecisive Abby immediately says no to the idea only to give in moments later, rushing back to jump Chad’s bones on the garden lawn chair, the garden itself then soon his bed.
Abigail freaks out when she wakes up in Chad’s bed and realizes what she’s done.
Though I may have complained before about the abundance of cheating going on Salem as of late, I’m always ready to dole out a pass if the love scene is hot enough – and Abby and Chad literally set screens on fire this time around. No one could ignore the passion and chemistry, only Abigail is still trying to fight it out of loyalty to the other man she’s been dating. Even after a night of such passion, Abigail still wants to deny herself the chance for real love. Chad put the ball in her court and told her that any next move will be up to her. Later on when Chad overhears Abigail telling Ben she loves him over the phone, maybe taking this as her making the next move, his heart breaks. He’d just finished meeting with Stefano Dimera in the mansion; the every crafty overlord of a father had found out that Abigail was back in Chad’s good graces and wanted to celebrate. Chad figures that he’s only happy because this means his secret plan has been locked in while Stefano only wants to assure his son that he’s trying to be a good father. Yeah, right. These two factors send Chad’s mindset in a new direction. Clearly he wants Abigail to himself but if she’s not willing to move on from Ben and if his father wants her in his clutches for some mysterious reason, Chad opts to push her away instead. Maybe for her own safety. He regards her coldly, even going so far as to call her a slut until she slaps him and storms off wondering what happened to the love he felt for her the night before. It’s still there and will always be there as evidenced from the way Chad crumples into himself thinking of what he’d just done. Thankfully Chabigail is a super couple and all of us viewers know they’ll work out in the end… Right?
With Clyde pressuring Ben to propose to Abigail to keep her locked down and away from Chad, the tension in this story is sure to reach a high point very soon. He’d already asked her to move in with him in a hasty way, I can’t imagine Ben not following daddy’s advice and trying to rush into a marriage either. Clyde doesn’t always get to Ben immediately but he has a way of working into his boy’s head, planting slow-growing seeds of doubt and worry. We also saw Ben install a spy app on Abigail’s phone, one that’ll surely get her caught in the near future. With Abigail’s history of awful decisions, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that she will be exposed but the important part will be the end result. Ben does not seem to be the forgiving type when Chad Dimera is involved and as his suspicions rise, probably so will his rage and considering his history of violence… Someone is sure to get physically hurt with this revelation. But as to who, it might be is up in the air. Ben is volatile to a point that he doesn’t even realize it so I think both Abigail and Chad need to find cover and soon! Do you think Ben might actually snap after he learns of Abigail’s cheating? Will Abigail even still want Chad after what he said to her? Let me know your thoughts on what might be DAYS’ most entertaining love triangle in a while.
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!
Photos courtesy of NBC.
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