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Photo Credit: NBC.com
Pans of the Week – I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself
Lani Price has to be the most confused and lost character I’ve seen on DAYS in a while. This last week, Lani only further shown herself to be as thin of a character as we’d all thought. You may have forgotten that Lani just showed up in Salem calling Abe Carver her father and with little to no explanation on her back story, was welcomed into the fold as a legitimate family member. No questions asked!
Has anyone in town ever wondered who she was? Have the writers ever taken time to wonder who Lani was either? From Kayla Johnson, the sole female detective in town learned she was pregnant, thus explaining her recent dizzy spells. Personally, I found it so wild that Lani is already showing pregnancy symptoms after one bout of unprotected sex on Christmas Eve but science says it’s possible, so we do have to go with science. Science would also tell me that after so many other misunderstandings, Lani is not a very smart girl. Sal Stowers has proven herself in the past of being capable of handling material during her tenure on Hulu’s All My Children but on DAYS, she’s had scraps to work with. And it shows. Lani has made bad decisions time and time again but the viewers are left wondering why each time!
During Theo Carver’s shooting saga, Lani was more keen on trying to get her father to forgive her boyfriend. Now after discovering her pregnancy with what has to be Eli Grant’s baby, she has caved into herself even more, reducing herself to a withering shell of tears. I was happy to see that she was thinking clearly about her options considering it is her body to do as she pleases, but honesty should have been her first option to keep from letting this lie fester. When JJ Deveraux overheard Lani mention the pregnancy, immediately he was over the moon at the prospect of being a father.
Realistically, JJ should have been a bit more cautious. He’d just quit his job as a cop (finally) and was about to set out on a journey of self-discovery and hopefully mental health improvement but very quickly his mind turned to babies. Goes to show that it isn’t only female characters who can be susceptible to baby rabies in soap operas. His joy really took me out of the scenes, even more so than Lani falling into it with him. I truly hope that Lani is smart enough to know she won’t be able to pass off a black baby as JJ’s, even if the birth father is technically half white. She’ll have a few days a best before the child’s skin pigment settles and reveals the truth so she needs to make the smart move and own up to hers and Eli’s mistake now.
But in classic “Who’s The Daddy?” soap trope, Lani continued to play along like nothing wrong. Outside of crying and lying, I truly hope Stowers is able to grow in her role. Lani needs motivation, backstory and personality which she has been lacking for the near three years she’s been on our screens. At this point, it’s embarrassing. Give us more – or don’t give us any at all!
Not Ready to Make Nice
After weeks of hooting and hollering, Ciara Alice Brady folded like a napkin when Rafe Hernandez confronted her about his affair. Not only should his admission have incensed Ciara even more, she should have never jumped to cover his neck by lying to her mother about what she knew. This action makes absolutely no sense for so many different reasons, namely the fact that she has notably expressed her distrust in men after being raped by her step-brother and feeling abandoned by losing her father.
Technically, Rafe did not cheat on Hope Brady and I do appreciate the fact that for once, Ciara took the time to listen to someone explain their problem instead of constantly lashing out until they have to hush up. But it is just such an unbelievable turn of events that Ciara would simply turn the subject over when Hope questioned what her daughter’s big deal was. Was she still mad that her mom wouldn’t let her ride Bo Brady’s motorcycle? For a mother-daughter duo that was once so close, no matter the pain it might cause, Ciara would and should have had her mother’s best interest at heart. Perpetuating a lie is not the way to go!
Rafe just standing aside also doesn’t fit into who he is as character. Obviously, this secret won’t stay a secret for long and this undoubtedly, must be the beginning of the end of Rope but the end needs to come so much sooner.
Also, if Ciara can forgive her cheating father figure then why can’t she forgive her niece. It’s not like Claire Brady forced Theo Carver to love her, he just didn’t love Ciara anymore.
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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