By 
Next Door Nightmare
Wyatt’s secret is revealed.
One would expect a roommate, a childhood best friend and a trusted confidante to always have one’s back but in a surprise twist, Ciara Brady had none of that. Viewers figured that much like with every other story, Higley would go the predictable route and have this new perfect love interest be a set up by her growingly diabolical niece Claire Brady. But nope! Theo Carver looped in one of his buddies Wyatt to string along Ciara so she’d keep out of his business. Yup, it’s as awful as it sounds.
Keeping in theme, the men on this show somehow always seem to know what’s best for the women. Even the ones who are supposed to be the good ones like Theo. I think it was a year ago that I was rooting for Theo and Ciara to get together but now I’m happy he’s with Claire and so unhappy they’re turning him into a misogynistic jerk like the rest of Salems males. Maybe I am reaching a bit because so far, this has all been innocent. But I think it’s important to mention, like man fans and bloggers have, that Ciara is a victim of rape. Like many rape victims, the perpetrator was someone they knew and in this instance was her step brother. Ciara has been closed off for a while and while I don’t expect Higley to give the story emotional depth, we could say it was because of her sexual assault and now she’s finally opening up to this guy who happens to like everything she likes and it’s not real. Think of how devastating that will be when she finds out about this betrayal.
Now that Theo sees how well Ciara is taking to this new Wyatt, he’s feeling jealous. Sorry, too little too late. I enjoyed seeing him go to Uncle Chad Dimera for some support, but much like his relative, this was a mess of his own doing that he had to wriggle out of… on his own.
Theo was really the only teen who had a personality. They formed him well using his autism as a guide and he was Theo, this behavior doesn’t feel very Theo like. It’s really something the new Claire would do but we can’t even blame their relationship for this because she’s never tried to change him or mold him – much. I don’t think it’s her influence. I think it’s yet another plot driven storyline that makes little sense for the people involved. I’m not rooting for Theo, Claire may be right in her suspicions but God can she be a pain and Ciara? She’s never been herself since being SORASed and her actress can’t even handle who Ciara’s become, so there’s no investment there either.
My biggest take away from this is that there is yet another major waste of actors and characters. Scott Shilstone impressed during Hope Brady’s dream sequence as a grown up Zach Brady, he was solid; he can emote well, handsome and seems to take his scenes seriously. I was excited to hear that he’d be back again even as yet another new nameless character but that excitement tanked when I heard he’d be paired with Ciara. I would have liked to see him up against a stronger player – which DAYS doesn’t necessarily have in that set of characters anyway – because all he does is outshine the girl he’s meant to be romancing. Maybe if he’d come back as a different, slightly older character it would have worked so then he could be out of the teen orbit. He could have worked well as either one of Sonny Kiriakis’ older brothers or Andrew Donovan. Instead he’s putting up posters about Earth Day with Ciara who should be caring more about world domination instead of preservation, honestly.
This show needed an injection of youth but the way they’re being written now feels more like they’re ready for retirement than college.
Find Your Groove
Gabi and Eli share a kiss.
I feel like I’ve talked at lengths about the ongoing Chad and Abigail Dimera drama with Gabi Hernandez and… I am tired. I’m being honest, this story has grown to be extremely exhausting! I’ve mentioned how much potential there was with the characters’ rich histories and the actors’ high capabilities, I’ve mentioned different routes this story could have taken to be more engaging and yet every time something new happens, it does nothing to help the story along. Abigail may have “left” Chad but we’re still stuck in the same stalemate we were in during the first few kidnappings.
There was this glimmer of hope though, early on in the week when Abigail stood firm against Chad trying to woo her back with razzle dazzle. Albeit with some silly stuff like comparing Chad to Stefano Dimera, Abigail asserted her power and said she wanted to make it on her own! It wouldn’t be fair to her as someone working on rebuilding her self-worth and self-love to stay with a man who had feelings for another. That was probably the most honest part about this entire storyline, it just sucked that it was also thrown in between more propping for Gabi. Did Kate Roberts write some of these scenes or what?
I don’t mind my favorite couple being shaken, rattled and stirred but give it some purpose please. Abigail making moves to find her own is amazing, it’s a refreshing move that I never expected to come at all. Putting aside the annoying bit where Abigail thought her life would be a bed of roses like in romance novels (seriously, what? Since when was that Abigail?), I want to see her surge ahead to find herself for the sake of her mental health. That should still be the focal point of this story, not whether or not Chad loves Gabi more. But I digress.
Speaking of Gabi, this last week she and Eli Grant grew closer – and it actually felt like it wasn’t rushed? At first, I was worried they’d be flying all the way to the altar by this summer but there’s a good energy between them now as they talk things out. There’s honesty too which we don’t often see in the beginning… or middle and end of any soap relationship. I like that even though he knows Gabi is caught up in some messiness right now, he wants to still be there and support her, to help her move on with her life. I also like that Gabi is doing her best to be open too because we all know that she can very easily get caught up on something and never let it go. I really just worry for Eli though; I hope Gabi doesn’t hurt him emotionally or even physically like many other Horton men of days gone by.
I’m excited to see where this new chapter of this goes – if the writing takes a more human and character driven route, rather than plot driven. This was really the only story that I felt made actual and sort of important movement, while others continued to be stagnant or redundant. But again, we’ll just have to see as we move closer and closer to the big writing shift of the summer.
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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