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Days of our Lives was not kidding around this week. Though last week was technically seen as the anniversary week, the high drama and suspense did not slow down this week either. Actors have constantly been assuring fans that all of the good stuff doesn’t end with the lead in and fallout of the 50th anniversary, and we’re beginning to see that now. Some of have criticized DAYS for going “too dark” but personally, the show has always thrived when based in dark humor with a good helping of murder and mystery. And it seems I’m not the only one thinking so as DAYS just hit a 20 month ratings high! If they’re not doing something right, then what’s the explanation for the important growth. DAYS just continues to outdo itself week after week, and I can say that I now have faith in the show that it’ll continue as so.
Now onto the highlights from Salem, USA this last week!
Week in Review for Days of Our Lives episodes airing November 9th – 13th, 2015.
Holding Out for a Hero
I know, that line is reserved for Bo and Hope Brady for thousands of DAYS fans but Abigail Devereaux is in desperate need of a hero herself. Though she did pretty well on her own. This has to have been the most resourceful that we’ve ever seen Abigail be and I can say that not only did I love the camp of it all, I was impressed too! She actually tried to break out with chopsticks – chopsticks!
Cut from two very smart cookies, Abigail made use of every tactic in the book to try and gain freedom again. Ben Weston seems to be spiraling more into the abyss by the day, still rationalizing keeping his pregnant fiancée captive in a cabin in the woods somehow. Though I do think Abigail is a little stupid for not noticing a few of the telltale signs beforehand (namely him stalking her every move through an app on her cell phone), it’s pretty clear that she understands just how wrong she was and is doing whatever she can to make sure she and the baby are safe from Ben. It’s almost like her pregnancy hormones helped to make her adrenaline jump. First, Abigail attempted the tried and true sympathy method. She put on a show about how sorry she was for Ben having to keep quiet about his murderous secret all alone while doing her best to pump info out of him, to understand why he’d go so far as to even kill his own friend and her cousin. Her playing along with him somehow gets Ben hot and bothered, so in an even creepier turn he decides it’s time for him to “make love” to his fiancée.
Photo Credit: © JPI Studios
The scene is extremely uncomfortable to watch as Abigail’s consent to all of it at first seems dubious, then very nonconsensual when we see her reaching for a fireplace poker to try and take him out in the heat of the moment. If sympathy doesn’t work, then turning on the seduction surely would but only if she’d been able to move fast enough. I wish she’d been able to at least knock him over the head once or twice.
Ben catches Abigail and ties her to a chair, leaving her with an odd meal of donuts and Chinese food so he can go to retrieve items from their apartment back in Salem. It’s there that Ben runs into Chad Dimera who’s been released as Aiden Jennings was posthumously charged as the Necktie Killer. Of course, he’s there for Abigail but Ben lies saying that they moved out of town. Though he may be an excellent killer to get away with all of these crimes, Ben is certainly not a good liar as Chad only further presses the issue. The usage of flashbacks has been heavy with the new writing regime but I can’t say that I mind, especially when they harken back to the days of James E. Reilly when a good percentage of DAYS was shown in hazy flashbacks; Chad has one of those when Ben threatens to call the cops, remembering the lost time when Ben fractured his skull for knowing his murderous truth. It’s not enough to fully jog Chad’s memory and he goes along with Ben.
Meanwhile, in the woods Abigail is doing her damndest to break free from handcuffs with wooden chopsticks. Though not at all thought out, one has to admire Abigail’s drive for freedom from her unstable fiancé. This time Abigail is interrupted by painful cramps instead of Ben barging in though he does return soon with news of his run in with Chad. What I love was how hopeful Abigail looked in that moment, maybe thinking that the man she truly loved had thought to tail Ben and that maybe he was on his way to save her. No such luck. But we do get a taste of Chabby when Ben forces Abigail to call Chad to tell him to keep away. The lovers communicate in code unbeknownst to Ben leading Chad to discover that Abigail is in danger. Kate Mansi and Billy Flynn’s chemistry is no joke even when they’re not on the same screen, sharing the same scene. I think every Chabby fan (which at this point is every DAYS fan) held their collective breaths as the young couple managed to outsmart a dangerous man together – with the power of their love! Well, their wits but the Chabby love is much too strong. Now on high alert, Chad has set out to be the hero that Abigail needs while she finds herself even more trapped as her baby decides it’s time to be born.
Although there is a lot of action on screen, the writers also seem to pay attention to a lot of subtleties as well as touching deeper on relationships. Rafe Hernandez isn’t necessarily a part of the twisted love triangle that Ben, Chad and Abby have become but his minor inclusions this week via Chad have been some of my favorite scenes. Just from dialogue to gestures, the two seem to sync up incredibly well no matter what. Rafe turned down helping Chad find Abigail but I do think he’ll come through for him in the end. The Dimeras have crossed Rafe a number of time so his apprehension is understandable but when it’s right, it’s right. How long can one deny Chad Dimera? Even Billy Flynn has acknowledged the chemistry between Rafe and Chad sparking up screens across America. There’s no denying that the two would make a great odd couple of bros… Or they could help each other get through their current lonely period. No one would mind either one of those scenarios!
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