Days of Our Lives Just Showed Us How to Turn Flagging Stories Into Must See TV — Even As It Teased a Number of Exits! But Who’s Actually Leaving?

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI, Peacock screenshot

If you’ve been away from Days of Our Lives for a while, it’s safe to say, now is the time to give it another shot. The writers are back, the storylines are getting wrapped up fast, and everything is happening now — from an epic non-wedding, to Gabi’s imminent release and Jude’s paternity truth. This week was the most fun I’ve had in ages. 

Daytime at Its Best

I have been waiting all week to talk about that wedding — and for all the right reasons! Seriously. I was not excited about it at all when the temp writers were planning it. And I was not excited about the plan to push Konstantin to embezzle and confront him. I just wanted it to be over. But Monday’s episode made me want to stand up and slow clap. If headwriter Ron Carlivati sees this somehow: Bravo. That episode almost turned the entire saga around. (Sorry, but there was a lot of Konstantin stretching believability to turn around.)

From Konstatin’s confession to murdering Victor, to Alex’s hilariously cheerful grin as Maggie turned the tables on Kon (I can’t say what’s in Suzanne Rogers’ head, but what she said about Maggie being duped for as long as she was, makes me think she was annoyed with her obliviousness too) and even the confrontation outside, I was invested. For a wedding no one wanted, that was fantastic. And I kept seeing folks posting about how much they enjoyed it too, so I know I’m not alone here.

Over in the Soaps.com Message Boards, folks were saying how they couldn’t wait for Monday’s episode, they couldn’t wait to get home to watch it, they were riveted the entire episode. That kind of excitement can’t be understated.

Plus, using Xander to kill Konstantin was phenomenally perfect. Not just from the standpoint that he’s actually Victor’s son getting revenge, but also his personality. Xander was the only Kiriakis there who is a coldblooded killer. I loved how he just strode in, snatched the gun from Brady and was like “Screw this. He hurt everyone I care about (no, not you, Theresa), I’m done.”

Everyone throwing him under the bus afterwards was really slimy, but hey, I expect no less. That’s going to play into the conflict when he learns he’s Victor’s son: “Can’t boot me out of the family now, can you?” I’m glad they wrapped that up fast, though, and didn’t press charges. I think the fans would’ve revolted if Xander got in trouble for offing their hated Konstantin.

A Frew Creaky Wheels

I was a bit iffy about the faux-Victor, though. I think less may have been more. His voice (a number of folks suggested it sounded like Stephen Nichols) was great at first, but like with all imitations, the more you see, the less authentic they seem. But yeah, they needed something to make this all make sense with Kon’s conflicting stories about why they were enemies, but he expected something in the will, etc etc.

And as for The Pawn, I appreciate the added suspense, but come on, folks: Destroy the stupid card already! Does Marlena for some reason need it for the deprogramming? Enough! And I’ll hand it to the show for that red herring about John leaving. He’s not (the show confirmed it with us), and I didn’t think he’d be gone gone out of nowhere, but they did make it seem like he might be off our screens for a bit. Actually, the show spent a lot of time this week making us think that about characters!

A DiMera a Dozen

By the end of the week, though, we’d pivoted back to the DiMeras, which was less exciting at first, but then things got interesting. Kristen becoming the new CEO was a bit out of nowhere, but oh, EJ’s going to blow his lid. It was set up well with him smirking to Abe that he’ll be permanent CEO soon.

And it seemed a bit drastic that suddenly now, after six months of doing nothing to get Gabi out, Stefan suddenly decides it’s time for a jailbreak — but I think that was mainly due to the interim writing stretching it out.

Because I also loved that the set up from back when Sloan messed up switching DNA tests paid off after… eight months? I don’t think it would have been that long without the strike, but the way it played out, from Stefan deciding to go on the run, to Kristen offering her getaway swag (because of course she has it), to him grabbing the wrong envelope and seeing EJ isn’t Jude’s dad was kind of brilliant.

As long as the payoff is clever and worth it, I’m OK with waiting for one. I guess that’s kind of how the Konstantin thing ended, albeit unintentionally thanks to the writers returning.

Goodbye and Hello?

There’s no way Stefan is going anywhere now that he knows this. We know from spoilers next week that he’ll be confronting EJ, rather than skip town, so I have a feeling he’s going to twist EJ’s arm now to get help with Gabi. EJ thinks he’s in the clear enough that he’s cheerfully helping Eric divorce an absentee Sloan.

Speaking of people I don’t think are going anywhere: Johnny and Chanel. I don’t know why, but something feels off about this exit. They’re making too big a deal out of it when others get shuffled off with barely a mention. There’s got to be another shoe that drops that makes them stay.

The pregnancy may have been the strike material, but surely they wouldn’t write them out just to avoid it?

Elsewhere, Chad and Julie are about to hit the road looking for Abigail — just as AnnaLynne McCord begins airing! Coincidence? Never. Though I’m not expecting easy answers, especially where Clyde’s involved. We talked with McCord (You can read the first part of what she had to say in the link at the top of the page!) and as she says, he’s got his hands in this story and from what she told us when we talked to her, things aren’t going to be cut and dry or obvious at first. But I think that’s something mostly for next week’s Soapbox.

Stray Thoughts…

• Who’s going to move into Sloan’s apartment now that Eric abandoned it? My money’s on Gabi and Stefan. No sense in leaving a good set abandoned!
• Well, I’ll be… The prom wasn’t canceled! It just got pushed back! It’s happening next week.

• With the addition of Dr. Mark Greene, suddenly the Greenes have gone from just some friends to an entirely new family. Any bets the parents are tied to someone in town already?
• Are they going to actually redeem Leo into a viable long-term character now and not just a snarky caricature? That seems to be what sessions with Marlena do. I actually had fun watching them — especially that smile plastered on Marlena’s face as she didn’t miss a beat to say, “Don’t call me, Doc.”
• I love that Xander referred to Theresa as “collateral damage.” May those two never stop hating each other. Actually, I can only see that hate deepening soon…
• The writers are playing with it yet, but all that stuff about internet memes and trolls making fun of radioactive “glowing” Paulina seems very much an acknowledgement of how viewers reacted to it.
• Jada’s attitude towards Bobby has pivoted hard. She’s totally sympathetic now and looks back fondly on their time together. Guess the returning writers didn’t want him to be a total creep.