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Days of Our Lives really seems to want to do well these days; it’s evident that effort is being put into the stories now. They may not be the best or groundbreaking by any means, but the pacing of each has begun to improve as well as characterization of every Salemite. Beginning with the siege a few months back, viewers really noticed a shift in their favorite faces’ personalities – a lot of them became themselves again! Compared to last year’s new show runners that gave us mystery and murder with out of studio shots, this time around there seems to be a heavier focus on getting the characters back into shape. I’d love for them to actually build personalities for the teens, but that’s another story for another time. As of right now, I’m happy to see some of our old favorites really begin to behave like themselves again. With the focus on characters now, I do hope that the stories don’t lose too much in comparison. There are some topical issues being raised by a few of the front burner stories that need to be beefed up the right way (Adrienne’s cancer diagnosis and Stefano’s right to die, which I will touch on as the story develops).
I chose the highlights of this last week because I feel like each story could affect the canvas in all around, reaching into many different lives in the town of Salem if done right by using already established connections. We’ve seen just a bit of the trickle down this last week but I will always hope for more until it’s given. Salem has a lot of deep rooted ties that are often forgotten, ignored or changed for no apparent reason so why not go the opposite route this time? Let’s get into some of the highlights from this last week in Salem, USA!
Week in Review for Days of Our Lives episodes airing December 5th – 9th.
Can’t Run, Can’t Hide
Adrienne is ready to know her diagnosis.
Easily one of the highlights of this week was Adrienne Johnson’s breast cancer diagnosis. Yes, there were massively important parts to this story left out showcasing its glaring holes but it did not make it any less touching. Judi Evans and Bryan Dattilo have played this story out expertly, perfectly illustrating why DAYS fans always ask for its vets to be front burner – or at least to not be ignored. Regardless of how much we didn’t see and how long the storyline was ignored, this last week gave us a bit of the heart this show has been missing for so long.
Last week after collapsing, Adrienne vanished from his room at Salem University Hospital. Test after test had been run but she didn’t need to hear the results to know what was ailing her, especially when the family history was there glaring her in the face. Jo Johnson, Adrienne’s mother, has been living with the disease for some time now but the fear that diagnosis brought on made Adrienne skip out on vital tests. Unfortunately that caught right up to her and it was revealed that she in fact did have breast cancer.
When I began to watch DAYS, religion played a huge part in the show and even though I wasn’t religious myself, it made sense for these Midwestern folk to be so god-fearing. The return of St. Luke’s played into this storyline so well as it was where we first saw Adrienne after her disappearance from the hospital. To Father Louis, she expressed her fears of not only what this disease will do to her but to everyone around her that she loves too. To put someone else’s wellbeing on par with your own especially in the face of something like cancer is so selfless, so noble. For too long Adrienne had just been a sounding board for Sonny Kiriakis while he tried to woo Will Horton over, this is really the first time I’m getting a real display of her personality in recent years and I applaud her. Eventually she figured out that she couldn’t run away from it forever and met with her family later in the day to hear the sad results. Just like she’d imagined, the news affected everyone around her in different ways.
Sonny finally came to the realization that he was too old and had too much time on his hands trying to smother his mother into getting back with his cheating father; Justin seemed to just be angry while Lucas experienced multiple levels of heartbreak. You felt bad for all of them, really because Adrienne was a woman they loved to pieces. I loved that even Kate Roberts softened up to Adrienne after the news. Instead of berating her son for dating the older woman, Kate offered a shoulder to cry on for Lucas who not only had been more or less left at the altar but now his fiancee was facing a potentially deadly illness. He needed his overprotective mama bear and she was there for that. Kate has really been surprising me lately – and for the better! Her actual personality has been coming out more and more lately, that selfishness we’ve all come to love and laugh at as well as that fierce protection of her kids. Seeing her finally accept Adrienne as Lucas’ love as well as bond with her over their shared cancer woes was a great touch to this story. Easily one of my favorite aspects to it. Now if only we could get Kate out of Eduardo Hernandez’s orbit… No thanks!
It has taken the writers a long time to get to this climax in the storyline. It doesn’t seem like that was a part of the plan, more like they actually forgot about telling the story and needed something to fill these transitional months with as Ryan Quan and Dena Higley took over. In that vein, I do hope that the storyline isn’t dropped again. As mentioned last week, this is a story that should be able to continue on for a while. The implications of Adrienne’s diagnosis have already begun to show across the canvas and if done right, should lead to further smaller stories to spring up from that root. Continue this as a responsible living with cancer storyline in 2016 and I believe it could be a big hit for DAYS.
Too Little, Too Late
Life essentially should be about moving forward, forgiving those who may have wronged you and growing for that, right? But I don’t know if I’d be able to get to a point where I could be in the same room with the man who played a role in my son’s death and poisoned my wife without choking him out. Deimos Kiriakis is a lucky man, so lucky that these people in Salem USA are used to having heinous acts committed on them making it easier for them to move on. If it were me, I’d have to be held back whenever that man entered the room!
Deimos makes a deal to keep Hope safe.
Unlike the women on DAYS, Deimos hasn’t had to make an apology tour throughout Salem even though he’s disgustingly in the wrong for a lot of things. Instead, people have been forgiving him left and right. This week though, he made an actual effort to seek amends but this time with Hope Brady. Because of him, Bo Brady was held captive for a number of years, allowing his cancer to fester without access to treatment of any kind. Deimos came to town and got a lot of stink for being rude to Victor Kiriakis but when it came to Bo, there wasn’t much repercussion for the role he played. This last week it was revealed that he pulled some strings to protect Hope during her time in prison (one that’s bound to be cut short), all for atonement for wrongly imprisoning her dead husband. But is it too little, too late? I’d say so. This feels beyond the level of standard forgiveness now.
Hope may have paired herself up with Hattie Adams, but not even her brash attitude seems to be able to keep Coco and Sheila away. They want to teach the disgraced cop a lesson, probably in revenge for all the cops they’ve dealt with in the past. This is still easily the most enjoyable part about Hope’s fall into murder and deceit – the other characters around her. There’s a really good sense of humor that DAYS always used to have being brought back to life thanks to Hattie, and I greatly appreciate it. Especially when we get storylines or scenes that feel like they drag on for days and days. Hattie is literally a breath of fresh air that I will certainly miss once Hope’s prison time is wrapped up. Her crush on Roman Brady? That will never not be hilarious to me! When she got so excited to hear that Commissioner Brady would personally look into her embezzlement case and took to primping herself as if he was already on his way! I almost died laughing. Deidre Hall clearly enjoyed bringing Hattie back to life, it really showed.
Meanwhile, Hope’s got the entire town of Salem behind her, investigating ways to get her out (Stefano Dimera may have wanted someone to murder him) while inside Deimos has paid off an inmate Chili (yas to TLC references because of T-Boz’s casting!) to watch Hope’s back. Upon her introduction, you’d think she was more into Hope than the money Deimos offered – or maybe even Julie Williams! She laid it on pretty thick for both of Doug Williams’ ladies this week – thick like chili… Ha!
On the outside, Victor Kiriakis learned that his brother was helping hope in prison by how else? Eavesdropping, of course! The two men connect over Bo with Deimos expressing his regret for doing what he did and Victor telling him it was okay, that Bo was set to die anyway… Um, isn’t that just awful? Doesn’t matter how much time Salem’s great hero had, he suffered for years in captivity thanks to a family member and it’s just okay? I wonder how Victor will react when he finds that Deimos has kidnapped his precious son, Phillip Kiriakis from right under his nose (thank you for doing so while he’s shirtless though!). The two may have not seen eye to eye recently, but that’s still his precious baby. Deimos is going around town trying to look like a good man while literally torturing another of his brother’s son for information on a womb and baby inside said womb that is not his! Can we please let these Salem women’s wombs alone?
If Ciara Brady’s character had been kept true, then I could have easily seen her being the one in the family to finally call Deimos out on his nastiness. This man is going around attempting to make amends while doing the same despicable action he’s apologizing for. During tea with grandpa Victor and niece Claire Brady, Ciara expressed her dissatisfaction about not finding out who was behind her father’s capture. Had she still had that life, spark and fire to her she would have ripped the entire Kiriakis clan a new one if she found out they knew Deimos was the culprit and kept it quiet. Instead she’s been moaning and groaning after the suddenly devious (and fun) Claire’s plans to spy on Dr. Valerie Grant for Theo Carver. Can DAYS fans please get #makeciarabradygreatagan trending? It’s become so painful at this point.
But how adorable was Victor being proud of his great-granddaughter Claire’s scheming? Show us more of that relationship, please! No more of this forced Deimos and Victor truce!
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!
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