How shocking. (NOT!)
Predictably, Kristen offered the antidote to the poison in exchange for Brady dumping Chloe.
There was one added wrinkle: Kristen wanted Brady to reconcile with her. Still, did anyone not see this one coming?
The Kristen angle of this whole mess is probably the least compelling part of the story. As soon as Kristen began cultivating the orchid, it was obvious what she would do with it. Rolf figured it out, too, and wasted his breath confronting her.
Kristen: My motives are not your concern. Did you question my father like this?
Rolf: I always trusted Stefano’s judgment.
Kristen: Then trust mine.
Rolf: Stefano would not approve of you endangering Marlena’s life.
Kristen: You’re forgetting your place, Rolf!
Rolf: My place is to protect Stefano’s legacy.
Kristen called Brady over to make her offer, where he seemed more resistant to breaking up with Chloe than giving Kristen shared custody of their daughter. What was up with that?
Brady knows that Kristen is a monster and that it’s in Rachel’s best interest never to see her mother again, yet he is perfectly happy to use her as a bargaining chip — but not so much his relationship with Chloe. His priorities are misplaced, to say the least.
His threat to trap Kristen in a loveless marriage, compelling as that idea sounds, is also empty. Kristen knows it, and so do viewers.
The rest of this story is incredibly predictable. Brady will enter a sham marriage with Kristen to give Marlena the antidote, then fall hard for her while everyone who loves him tries to talk some sense into her. How often have we seen this before, both with these two and other couples?
Brady should have gone directly to the police with this. They had already searched Rolf’s lab for the orchid; they could easily get a second warrant to search Kristen’s residence, especially since she had a photo of herself with the orchid.
That would have been too logical a solution for Days of Our Lives, but can we at least have some explanation of why Brady didn’t do that instead of quickly giving in?
Of course, if hotheaded John smashes the vial, the whole thing will be useless. I wouldn’t be surprised if Days of Our Lives tries to add extra drama by making him lose three-quarters of the serum so that there’s only enough for one person to be cured.
Kristen quickly got that serum to the police station, making me wonder if she would have done so regardless of Brady’s answer. Too bad he didn’t have the guts to call her bluff.
John’s fears aren’t entirely unfounded. Orpheus wants to play mind games; it wouldn’t be beyond him to send a fake serum to cause additional trouble. At the very least, the lab should test that serum before it’s given to anybody.
And Jada, next time, give it to a doctor, not a half-out-of-his-mind relative of a seriously ill person.
Days of Our Lives has gotten some good drama out of the women’s condition.
Everyone rallied around Marlena, while Tripp and Joey came to see Kayla, and Kate and Roman had an impromptu deathbed wedding.
It’s hard to say which is the most emotional, though Kayla looks the most worn down of the three. Her appearance and her difficulty breathing and eating hit me hard. Her scenes with Tripp and Joey seemed like real scenes of people surrounding a dying relative.
I loved how the guys both tried to encourage Kayla. Thankfully, there was no major drama over them having been kept in the dark until it was almost too late.
It wasn’t fully realistic that someone as sick as Kayla would feel like eating, but that didn’t matter. Tripp brought her her favorite pizza; it was an emotional scene in addition to being a role reversal of when she and Steve brought him pizza after he was brought back to life in the hospital.
Tripp has a lot of potential storylines if he sticks around, especially with EJ having recently kicked Ava to the curb and Allie and Chanel hooking up with Alex. Hopefully, he’ll interact with other characters and not just sit in the hospital watching Kayla die.
We know from Days of Our Lives fall spoilers that Kayla will go to heaven, at least briefly, but it will likely be something like when Abe “died” and Lexie sent him back to Earth. Still, it’ll be a heartbreaking time for Kayla’s family once this happens.
Tripp is the most likely to believe that Kayla’s story is not over — after all, he came back from the dead not that long ago — but that won’t make those scenes any less emotional when they arrive.
Meanwhile, Roman’s wedding with Kate was one of the most bittersweet moments Days of Our Lives has had in recent years. Their original romance was destroyed when the Salem Stalker made Kate think Roman was dead; they’re finally back together, but Kate may be dying.
After almost a decade behind the bar, my knees aren’t what they used to be. If you don’t answer my question soon, I may not be able to get up.
Roman
Roman’s proposal would have been purely cute under better circumstances. It was understandable why Kate didn’t see a point at first. She had days to live at the most and didn’t want to make Roman a widower, plus she couldn’t enjoy married life while deathly ill.
Still, their impromptu wedding was beautiful. I loved the flashbacks, especially the ones from two decades ago, and it was a nice touch that Roman’s sons officiated and witnessed it.
It wouldn’t have been realistic for Lucas to be allowed out of prison to attend, so Days of Our Lives did the next best thing and had him call Kate and learn that she was getting married.
It’s more disappointing that Sami didn’t come to Salem to support her dying mother. I suppose staying away is somewhat in character for Sami, who is self-centered more often than not, but it still would have been nice for her to make an appearance.
Marlena and Eric mentioned that Sami had “a situation” with Sydney. This is unlikely a throwaway line, especially since it was said twice. Could Sydney be headed to Salem, with or without her mother, to cause trouble?
Sydney always had a special relationship with Nicole, so Nicole trying to help her would be a better story than this ridiculous Eric/Jada/Nicole/Rafe dilemma.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with Nicole wanting to comfort an old friend when his mother is dying — other than Nicole’s unresolved feelings for Eric, which all of Salem made sure to re-install when Nicole had moved on and was happily married to Rafe.
Eric should be able to have more than one person be there for him instead of Nicole and Jada jockeying to be the only one to support him. And Nicole’s desire to help should not be a big deal.
If only this were written properly, Eric and Nicole could have a real friendship that Rafe and Jada would have to learn to deal with. Instead, having compassion is a prelude to cheating. Ugh.
Across town, will Wendy Shin help Johnny forget his doomed crush on Ava?
Johnny was right to stand up to EJ.
His father is a controlling ass who cares more about interfering with Ava’s life than anything else. He only wants to be CEO and will do anything to get there — and he’ll have to do it without Johnny’s help.
EJ shouldn’t assume he has the votes before the meeting. There are too many variables. Johnny could decide to vote against him… and so could Stefan. After all, EJ already revealed a plan to cut Stefan out and run Dimera himself.
Plus, Wendy and Johnny could find out and expose Li as the snake he is before the meeting.
Wendy and Johnny have made a good team so far, and all the signs are there that they will fall hard for each other eventually. They’ve already become frenemies, and their chemistry is off the charts.
Wendy was a firecracker in Beyond Salem 2. I’m so glad she’s come to Salem! She’s intelligent, determined, and won’t accept being pushed aside because of her gender or anything else.
I’m looking forward to what she and Johnny get up to! And with Tripp and Joey back in town, this could get very interesting.
Those two were competing for Wendy’s affection, and she turned them both down; if she goes for their cousin, they may have something to say about it.
Paulina’s response to Sloan’s threats was also refreshing. Finally, we have a strong woman who doesn’t give in to blackmail immediately.
Paulina should have gone to Abe, though. She can trust him to keep his mouth shut about whatever Chanel did that got her into trouble and use his position to help neutralize Sloan. Paulina also should hire a lawyer for Chanel so that she can find a way out of this that doesn’t involve paying off some sleaze to keep quiet.
That said, Paulina’s scenes with Chanel were among the strongest of the week.
Sloan: I just want to know how we’re proceeding with that settlement offer.
Paulina: Settlement offer. Right. Apparently this is what we’re calling blackmail these days.
Chanel: This is what you do for a living? You represent clients who want to make bank by extorting people and they’re too afraid to show their faces? You really are scum.
Paulina isn’t about to let anyone mess with her daughter. I’m glad Chanel didn’t allow her to drop out of the governor’s race; that was probably what Sloan’s client wanted!
Can we please find out what Chanel did sooner rather than later? Right now, it feels like Chanel and Paulina are talking in front of us about something we’re not supposed to know. Rude!
Speaking of rude, Alex had no business showing up at Stephanie’s house to yell at her. Whether or not it’s fair for her to date Chad after turning Alex down partially because of their work relationship, who she dates is her business, not his.
Besides, why is he all worked up about this minutes after having a threesome with Allie and Chanel?
Thank goodness Chad put him in his place, though it was disappointing that Stephanie defended Alex after the fact.
Lots of viewers were offended by the threesome, but there was no reason to be.
The sex scene went on too long but barely showed anything. It was no worse than any other sex scene on Days of Our Lives.
The bigger issue is that Allie and Chanel did this for the wrong reason. Allie’s motivation didn’t even make sense. She was afraid she’d lose Chanel to a man; how did bringing one into their bed help anything?
And Chanel didn’t seem completely on board with it. This looked like a recipe for disaster. I predict Allie will get more jealous if Chanel spends time with Alex, and Chanel will think Allie has feelings for Alex herself.
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts.
If you’re hungry for more Days chat, check out the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.
Days of Our Lives streams on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekdays at 6 AM EST / 3 AM PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.