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Days of Our Lives had a short week due to the holiday and for that, I am actually thankful. Characters that once had clear motives, intent and personalities are behaving drastically different which makes the show not so fun to watch. Something has really got to change with DAYS and it has to be fast, strong and consistent. As a faithful fan, I always have hope for a turnaround but the near future still looks as bleak as this last week. Here are some of the highlights for last week. I did my best to not rant but I also did my best to be fair but critical of my favorite show. Let’s check it out!
Week in Review for Days of Our Lives episodes airing May 31st – June 2nd.
Johnson Family Values
Just where have those values gone? Every single member of the Johnson family was miserable this last week and they really only have themselves to blame for it all. Son Joey Johnson just can’t seem to shake himself free of Jade’s bad influence, Steve Johnson can’t seem to understand that he shouldn’t keep his son’s mother out of the loop even when she openly tells him to keep her informed and Kayla Brady can’t seem decide if she wants a relationship and with whom. All in all, the three of them have fallen prey to DAYS’ latest round of character assassinations and it’s not pretty.
When Joey first came back to Salem as a newly aged up teen, he was moody and acting out but over the next few months that began to change. The writers had been going for a clear mix of early Steve and early JJ Devereaux that just did not work in part due to James Lastovic’s green delivery. Joey the rebel was painful to watch but watching him stick up for his cousin after her rape, come to terms with being used by Ava Vitalli and ultimately killing her, he became a much softer young man; also by that time, Lastovic was visibly much more at ease in the role. Paige Searcy’s Jade has only further brought Lastovic’s Joey to life; the two of them have great chemistry together no matter how clunky their story might be.
This last week, they only narrowly escaped being caught by Joey’s father and took refuge in an abandoned shack. Instead of playing it cool, Jade got all worked up and basically forced Joey into breaking the law for her – again – by stealing from a closed shop. For some reason this girl thinks that signs of affection entail building a criminal record not the usual like flowers, chocolates and dinner dates. Though definitely the most interesting young character on DAYS in a while, Jade’s motivation to live in the moment and act out feels extremely contrived and artificial. There’s no reasoning behind why she behaves this way nor has the show given any hints or added any mystery to her backstory that could even tease the viewers. All we see is Jade berating Joey every few seconds because he can’t keep up with how “cool” she thinks she is. It’s draining. I’ve come to like the two characters and the story of their running away definitely is not the worst, but it’s far from the best.
Steve managed to track his son done with his expert sleuthing skills, coming together ultimately in a tearful reunion that has Joey admitting he wants to go back home. And badly. I love to see Steve going all out for Joey, even having taken a murder charge for him but him consciously not including Kayla in all of this just does not sit well with me. Steve and Kayla have had many issues in their many decades together but a lot of it tended to boil down to communication – the loss of, the interruption, the infrequency of communication – so he naturally does not communicate with her. In usual soap hero fashion, Steve believes that by not telling Kayla about Joey getting caught up with a shady desert gang, he’s protecting her when it really only worsens every situation. Restless, Kayla discharged herself from the hospital to travel cross country with Dr. Fynn “Clingy” Thompson by her side in search of those answers Steve’s been holding out on. Naturally the car breaks down halfway there; they rent out a motel room which leads to the former colleagues who really had no hint of flirtation until a few weeks ago to kiss. Yeah. Now I don’t hate Fynn and he seems to genuinely care about Kayla but in no way can I root for them to be together. It just doesn’t fit in my head and I’m not even a Steve and Kayla fan.
Kayla has been unable to make up her mind about keeping Steve in her life for months now, even after nearly making it to the altar again. It’s confusing that the family is so disjointed when it’s obvious that they really just want to be together. The writers are not having it for some reason; instead they’re doing the utmost to keep them apart and unrecognizable to the audience who loved them.
Who’s That Lady?
Seriously, who is that lady with the snazzy blue streak in her hair? It can’t be Kate Roberts, legendary maneater, business tycoon and mama bear, right? We’re supposed to believe that it is Kate who has been desperately clutching to Deimos Kiriakis, the man she claims to love and want to marry after only knowing him and of him for maybe four months now. Not even when Kate was married to Deimos’ older brother, Victor, did she know of his existence but now it seems that he’s her entire world. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
There really isn’t much to say that I didn’t say last week as not much has happened in the triangle surrounding Kate, Deimos and Nicole Walker since then either. For some reason, Kate can’t seem to let go of the man who clearly is not as into her as she is which the real Kate would never stand for. She might try once to convince him only to kick him to the curb but to continue to hang onto him with so much desperation is not her truth. I had been saying the same about Nicole too as she seemed to be falling for Deimos’ charm but this last week she laid that to rest, confiding in human sounding board Dario Hernandez that she was still very much scheming against Deimos.
With the way Nicole’s been written in recent years, I don’t think her natural scheming ways will hold up very long. She’ll soon fall in love, get woozy, make a mistake and apologize for it for months. Then there’s Kate who set up an elaborate night of seduction for her quickie fiancé who cheated on her not even a day prior. Once again, one of the strongest women in Salem has lost her self-respect and identity trying to prove herself to a man she barely knows. Why does this message keep having to be sent out and why is Kate always the vessel?
As usual, if I missed something you really wanted to talk about or something you felt was important, let’s start a discussion. Comment below, tweet me and let’s chat.
For a look at what’s ahead, check out our Days Of Our Lives Spoilers.
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