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‘Days of our Lives’ Week in Review: Basic Black Creates New Story Opportunity

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Casey Moss, James Read "Days of our Lives" Set NBC Studios Burbank 03/31/15 © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com 310-657-9661 Episode # 12667 U.S.Airdate 09/02/15

The Triumvirate

Pictured: Jen Lilley (Theresa), Suzanne Rogers (Maggie) on the "Days of our Lives" set. Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Pictured: Jen Lilley (Theresa), Suzanne Rogers (Maggie) on the “Days of our Lives” set. Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

It began with the resurrection of the true Kate Roberts, now Nicole Walker and surprisingly, Theresa Donovan are following suit. For too long our leading ladies were only involved in stories surrounding unsavory men and their attempts to keep them near. Under the pen of new head writers Josh Griffith and Dena Higley, female characters seemed to be regaining their strength and independence. On top of over the top storylines, my favorite thing about DAYS was always its strong female presence. The women of Salem could be but weren’t necessarily always damsels in distress like on other soaps, they could kick corporate or literal butt without chipping a nail. Along with romance and mystery, that was a factor DAYS was lacking under the last writing regime.

Some viewers have complained that a lot of the old stories have wrapped up too quickly and too neatly and that the new direction is a bit plot driven – even so, it’s been enjoyable. Initially, I didn’t agree too much with that point of view until Theresa Donovan had a dream and Maggie Kiriakis wanted to help her with it. Basically, the story is that John is looking to sell Basic Black as he no longer has time to personally work there; this move has ignited several in Salem including Theresa. It was a bit heavy handed for her to suddenly want to be a fashion designer, to have all of these aspirations that we’d never heard of for years. But here’s why I feel it worked: Theresa, though one of my favorite characters, has never had much depth to her. She came on as a schemer and has been a schemer ever since. We knew she didn’t like her family much but never got a concrete reason why and we knew she had to have some kind of hope for the future other than gold-digging, but again, not much of an explanation as to why. The plot-driven part that I found too odd was Maggie agreeing to help Theresa in her bid to win the company, sure she’s always done volunteer work and helped out women in need, but Theresa only recently ran her granddaughter out of town. Maggie is a tough cookie; I can’t see her getting over that so quickly. Either way, it’s great to see a young woman aspire for more in her life, especially now that she’s a mother and the return of our Aunt Maggie isn’t so bad either.

Kate (Lauren Koslow) took back control and broke things off with Clyde (James Read). Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com.

Kate (Lauren Koslow) took back control and broke things off with Clyde (James Read). Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com.

Nicole and Kate both came to their senses this last week, leaving behind the men that were holding them back; Kate did so permanently while Nicole simply got the chance to live and breathe her own air for once. Daniel Jonas was but a supporting character to Nicole this week which made DAYS fans far and wide rejoice. He was there by her side when she quit Titan TV and even decided to invest in Nicole’s bid on Basic Black. That along with a hefty divorce settlement, recent legal winnings and later some more help from Brady Black, Nicole has her sights on bigger things as well. This is a woman who went from underage porn star to editor-in-chief right down to a church secretary. It makes absolute sense for Nicole to want more from life. She deserves a good career as much as she deserves a good story that doesn’t involve her ruining her character for a man who could care less. Kate came to that same realization when she dumped Clyde Weston. He wanted to be the center of Kate’s world and Kate was not having any of it. She’d mentioned something along the lines of needing an exciting change earlier, and not too long after leaving her lover, she too overheard that Basic Black was on the market.

This storyline pitting together three of DAYS’ most exciting, dynamic women is sure to be a blast to watch. Though this last week just showed the setup, we’re unsure as to whether they’ll be battling head to head or be forced to work together. Either way, I cannot wait to see more. Basic Black was an integral part of the show ten or so years ago, nearly everyone worked there in some capacity and now that the company is having a comeback, it just seems so silly that it had faded into the background at all.

This coming week on Days of Our Lives, Aiden’s stunning secret is revealed, Julie, Maggie and Caroline look back, the serial killer strikes again, and Eve is left devastated after receiving horrible news!

As usual, if I missed something you really wanted to talk about or if I missed something important in my recap, let’s start a discussion! Comment below, tweet me and let’s chat!

Coryon Gray
Coryon Gray joined TV Source Magazine as a staff writer in October 2014. Prior to TV Source Magazine, he's written for and moderated Asian entertainment blogs and forums. On top of writing duties, Coryon is also a panelist for the TV Source Podcast, Soap Countdown Podcast and Our Take Media.

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