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No place like home
Pictured: Deidre Hall, Drake Hogestyn; Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com |
Episode # 12658 U.S.Airdate 08/20/15
In a shocking turn of events, John Black and Marlena Evans got more than five minutes of screentime for the week when the new head writers debuted their material. No, it was not in insignificant scene or a group scene, but the longtime super couple spent most of their week together while sweetly trying to rekindle their romance. Elsewhere, Hope Brady and Aiden Jennings’ romantic night in was interrupted by a furious Clyde Weston assaulting the latter. Still, their night ended as sweetly as it had begun, enough to make one have a toothache if one was to ignore any suspicions.
Yes, Josh Griffith and Dena Higley officially kicked off their times as DAYS’ new head writers by giving all of us a heavy dosage of Jarlena. Did anyone complain? Not a soul, especially when the moments were done exceptionally well. We first see the two of them on Wednesday, both John and Marlena are running late for their romantic date but take a little time out to give and seek counsel from close friends beforehand; John with Rafe Hernandez and Marlena with Julie Olson. John urges Rafe to be reinstated at Salem PD before he heads off to meet Marlena who is deep in discussion with longtime friend, Julie, informing her that she and John are well on their way to reconciliation. They are now putting each other first.
Just before John’s arrival, Roman Brady phones Marlena, accidentally letting it slip that John is no longer a cop which has him soon forced to fess up that he’s rejoined the ISA. Finally, some sense is being made in the world! I don’t think there was an understanding fan in the DAYS’ fandom when John Black joined the Salem Police Department. This was a man who went on global espionage adventures, why in the world would he be content with just hitting the beat? The lovers quarrel a bit about lying and keeping secrets but the discussion is very open, very honest. Marlena does not want John to keep secrets from her and John wants to pursue this job opportunity, he feels it is part of who he is (exactly what fans have been saying for months!). Later, John vows that no secret or lie will come between them, the same way the Dimera family couldn’t and as if to prove that, he ignores a call from the ISA to kiss his Doc. Talk about swoon! The pair finally gets to their date at The Edge on a light note. They discuss their future, John admitting to wanting Marlena back even if it means giving up on the ISA for her. Since she’s not Sami, Marlena tells John he can’t do that for her as she’d much rather experience the hardships with him than go through life alone. The metaphor she used in the script at that moment was a lot prettier but I can’t recall it… Anyway, right on time, the music takes a slow turn and club has cleared out per John’s instructions to Rafe and he takes Marlena out onto the dance floor. No matter how slowly they move, I don’t think anyone will complain as long as we have Jarlena together where they belong.
Hope Brady and Aiden Jennings also had a wrench thrown into their romantic plans, this one named Clyde Weston. Unknowingly, Aiden has been followed by one of Clyde’s goons all week as the lawyer made secret moves to uncover information about the southerner with no charm. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike, Clyde seemingly tails Hope and Aiden to their love nest at the Salem Inn, waiting for the moment that Hope has to slip away to help care for her ailing ex-mother-in-law to break into the room to get at Aiden. A big brawl ensues where the two men taunt one another in between punches. Aiden apparently has gathered information on who Clyde “really is”, not caring whether he’ll have to spend jail time or not if he leaks it. Clyde obviously wants Aiden to keep his mouth shut and once again threatens his loved ones if he were to speak up. A shaken Aiden throws out his money, knocks a lamp over, all in an effort to make the attack look like a robbery gone wrong for when Hope returns. On her way back to the inn, she’d gotten smoothies and ran into her half-sister cum step-mother, Julie, in the square. Julie can’t believe how happy Hope has been; admitting she didn’t think it could happen for her again after Bo. They have a poignant discussion on trust, expressing the almost sanctity of it while Hope ensures that Aiden has all of hers, that there are no more secrets between them. Julie does question how Hope can know such a thing but doesn’t push the issue further – which I loved! For too long, they’d written (what little of her) Julie as a pop-up nag, pushing her way into everyone’s business with no regard, but now she pulls back and just expresses her happiness for Hope.
Pictured: Daniel Cosgrove, Kristian Alfonso; Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com | Episode # 12658 U.S.Airdate 08/20/15
Upon returning to the inn, Hope finds her lover bleeding and the room ruined but before she can call the cops, he stops her. Instead Hope asks Marlena and John to stop by, Marlena checks Aiden’s injuries but the lawyer adamantly turns down a hospital visit, he even orders them all to leave. John feels that something about the break-in is off but he goes to spend the rest of the night with Marlena. Hope and Aiden reiterate their feelings, with Hope once again putting all her trust into Aiden, so much trust that she invites him back to her home for the first time. Fans have been wondering why Aiden and Hope were still sneaking off to hotels if they were so in love, but the little that we do see of Hope’s house bring up budgetary concerns as the reason. Even so, it’s a nice touch to see the two of them profess their love without it feeling like they’re sneaking around behind their respectively deceased and absent former spouses. Later, Aiden heads outside the house to find Clyde waiting. Aiden promises Clyde that he’s done with him, that he won’t alert any authorities to what he’s come to know. He heads back inside after letting Clyde know he has more important things to do.
As you can tell from the length of this piece, I loved a lot about this week on DAYS! Getting to see old favorites finding their way back to one another was amazing as it all felt so genuine. The longer scene cuts that allowed for more dialogue, more character building felt right in place as well, nothing felt wasted. I absolutely loved John and Marlena this last week. And Julie too! It’s still incredible to me that somehow the show went in the direction of making Maggie Horton the matriarchal center of the show and not Julie, but I digress. I’m just so happy to see her again especially knowing she’s not going to pop up just on holidays now. With Hope and Aiden’s story, I definitely think we are going to like where it’s headed – if a lot of the fan theories pan out, which seems like they could. Some are theorizing that Aiden has had a hand in keeping Bo out of Salem and what with every character in Hope’s vicinity expressing how good of a guy Aiden is or Hope exclaiming her trust for him, it’s only a matter of time until he screws that up. That’s just classic soap knowledge. Either way, I’m glad to see these characters on the front burners. I really hope the new writing regime continues on this streak, what a great turnaround this has started to be!
This coming week on Days of Our Lives, Theresa makes moves to gain Brady’s sympathy again, Chad and Serena bond over drinks, Eric discovers a murder victim and Steve returns to Salem with teenage son Joey!
As always, feel free to comment down below or tweet me if there was something I missed this week that you can’t not talk about or if you agree or disagree with me on other points. Your input is what makes this all the most fun. See you next week!
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