By 
There really wasn’t much to see on this week’s Days of Our Lives, which unfortunately leaves me with very little to talk about. It was yet another week of filler, giving viewers a lot of unimportant and, hopefully by autumn, forgotten scenes. Let’s catch up on some of the lukewarm happenings in Salem, USA from this last week!
Fear and Self-Loathing in Salem
It wasn’t until this week that I truly began to understand what other soap bloggers and fans across the internet were all saying about Abigail Devereaux. I guess I didn’t notice it when the pregnancy scare first began, but the way the story is written is very much classic soap – but not in a good way. It’s 2015, there should be no reason why a healthy, young adult woman should be beating herself up over an unwanted pregnancy. The entire week, Abigail has been jumpy and nervous, running around town in a cold sweat hoping that no one but her family figures out that she’s pregnant and waiting on paternity test results. It’d be understandable for there to be an initial disappointment, but to have a character harboring these kind of self-hating emotions for the long term just doesn’t feel realistic. Not to mention, I refuse to believe that a young lady who not only faked an affair with a married man but went on to have an affair with another, would not even consider an abortion. She wants desperately for her pregnancy to be a secret, wishes it hadn’t come to that point and yet as soon as the option is brought up she smacks it to the ground. Some may disagree with having that choice but not all. Soap operas should not be shying away from the hot button issue in this day and age, not when they basically paved the way for abortions to be freely spoken of back in the 70s. To some it may not be right option, but it’s an option!
If anything, this accidental pregnancy storyline should have taken the more poignant route to open a discussion on sexual health and safety in general. The thing Abigail should really be upset about is not using protection and not just for fear of pregnancy, but also for the myriad of diseases that lie in wait for the unsuspecting. Abigail waiting for STD results in the mail would be much more riveting television than her waiting on a paternity test. As soap fans, it’s most likely we’ve been in this game for a very long time and in that span of time, we’ve surely seen this paternity scare story a thousand different times. There are ways to bring out the spirit of classic soap operas without feeling outdated. It makes me upset that DAYS is still having an issue with that.
After speaking with longtime soap writer and New York Times bestselling author, Alina Adams, it really put a lot into perspective. We highlight The Bold & The Beautiful because lately they have been succeeding with telling classic soap opera storylines, but making them fresh and relevant for 2015. Everyone’s seen the woman in a relationship with a secret before but we’ve never seen said woman portrayed as an African-American transgender woman. Changes like those make a story pop. With all the young budding talent on DAYS at the moment, there’s no reason why those characters should be written like their great-grandparents were back when the show first began. But now that good ole Clyde Weston has snooped and found out about Abigail’s predicament, there is sure to be much more slut-shaming coming down the line. Most likely from everyone including Abigail herself. Let’s hope the new writers decided to take this story in a different direction come September.
Secret Agent Boy
I am still very much on the fence about JJ Devereaux going undercover as a drug dealer. I love the fact that JJ’s snooping around might inevitably lead to Clyde Weston’s downfall. It’s a bit of a shame that not even the combined might of Stefano Dimera and Victor Kiriakis was able to dethrone Clyde, but a college freshman with bad taste in women just might. But is that my main issue with the storyline? Not at all.
Paige issues a stern warning about JJ.
It’s no doubt to anyone who watches DAYS that Casey Moss is an incredible talent. From the first day he came on board with rebel JJ holding nothing back against family and family friends alike, fans knew there was something there. I’ve talked about it before but when he got together with Paige Larson, JJ lost that initial spark, waddling around town like a newly neutered puppy. That was a huge loss and for a very long time, I did not care for the character of JJ Devereaux.
Thankfully he’s moved past Paige – well, at least there’s no more of his incessant groveling and borderline stalking anymore. Both young adults are now living separate lives to the best of their abilities while still running into one another every day. Obviously, JJ only accepted this undercover work to get closer to the young drug dealer in town that Paige is drawn to for some reason. Keep your enemies closer, right? Once again, it’s become a “Paige is too pure and perfect, we have to protect her at all costs” story line and that’s completely unfair to the character of JJ. I feel like this informant gig would have been a much better redeemer for his character, turning him from the immature troublemaker into a hero. In my opinion, Casey Moss has the chops to pull off JJ in a young hero role. When was the last time DAYS even had a young male character to root for? The 90s? Recently, writers desperately tried to do it with Daniel Jonas but viewers all across the board opposed him as a hero after he slept through families and tossed women around. “No thanks,” said everyone.
Paige and JJ’s romance could have been much more dynamic, more exciting if this was the way it all began rather than them spearing piles of trash in Horton Town Square. Imagine a rebellious JJ unwillingly working with the cops to blow open a drug empire, saving the girl who accidentally got in too deep and falling in love. If it had happened and was written right, Paige and JJ could have become a convincing Bo and Hope Brady of 21st century. Instead… Instead we have whatever they are right now. I just wish DAYS would stop thinking they can redeem then completely rehaul their morally gray characters by making them fall in love with Mary Sue’s. In saying all of that, I am interested to see if this path does lead JJ to somewhere other than Paige like maybe to a career as a police officer.
Here’s a look at what’s ahead this week on Days of our Lives.
Comments