I love a whodunit. And we got the kickoff of a really delicious one on Friday! Stefan walked in to find Gabi holding a bloody knife and kneeling over what looked like a very dead Li. First, congratulations to Stabi. They finally earned their nickname! Second, congratulations to us. This is such a fun start to a storyline!

With all due respect to Remington Hoffman, Li is the perfect character to murder. He matters just enough to have high stakes, but he’s not a devastating loss to the canvas. (#RIPAdrienne #NeverForget)

My initial gut feeling is that Gabi clearly didn’t stab him. It’s not that Gabi is above using lethal force to defend herself. But she didn’t have any reason to be at his apartment. She had his shares now and could forget about him. Plus, his wound did not appear to be self-defense.

So, that leaves two possibilities — either someone wanted Li dead, or someone wanted Gabi framed. I think the latter is entirely more likely than the former.

1. Vivian — She doesn’t have qualms about murdering someone. And she’s got to be livid with Gabi for turning her in. Framing Gabi for murder would get revenge on her and get Gabi away from Viv’s baby boy.

2. Wendy — This theory assumes that Li is able to fake his own death, because I don’t think Wendy would murder her own brother. But she did say she was furious with Gabi.

3. Stefan — Turning on his Lady MacBeth to avenge his mother feels like a very Stefan thing to do. Plus, maybe the big reveal will be that he’s really always been in love with the Abigail-in-a-wig Gabi.

4. E.J. — He did say he’d get revenge on Gabi and Stefan. Considering this happened within the hour(s) he was supposedly in the secret room with Nicole, he probably didn’t do this himself. He also probably has a gift credit at 1-800-Assassin from the last time they didn’t fulfill his order in 30 minutes or less.

5. Clyde — Because nowaDAYS, it seems like it’s always Clyde. One of his henchmen could have mistaken Li for Tripp. As we know, good hit men are hard to come by.

In addition to Salem losing Li, Marlena lost almost all her dang mind with her supposed grown-up son. The level of restraint she showed trying to guide him, as both a mom and a therapist, to realize that he does not want to marry Sloan was admirable — as was Deidre Hall’s performance when Marlena was visibly trying not to vomit while performing their ceremony.

Look, Eric’s always been a relatively smart dude, but this is baffling. One, he admitted from his own face that he’d be with Nicole right now if he was the father of Nicole’s baby. Two, he didn’t flinch at all when Nicole said that once he and Sloan are married, their case on paper for adoption would look better. Finally, he reached Jon Snow levels of brooding/melancholy when he sat on that park bench and stared into space after learning that Nicole was getting married. Yet, he suited up and demanded to get married so fast that I’m not entirely ruling out a doppelgänger here.

For her part, Nicole really doesn’t seem to get it, either. She admitted she and E.J. probably wouldn’t be getting married if Eric was the baby’s father, but that’s where they are now. They claimed, “I’m happy if you’re happy,” and I don’t believe either of them. I think they want to mean the things they’re saying. But neither does. And again, I am in awe of the restraint Mar showed this week to not knock these two knuckleheads right together.

Loose Ends

Speaking of men who spoke their truths, both of Chad’s scenes with Kate and Nicole were delightful. I really appreciated how compassionately both women listened to him. And if he listened to himself, he would have heard himself say that he moved too fast with Stephanie and that he can’t see himself marrying anyone but Abigail. Chad, my guy, you don’t even need to buy a vowel. This puzzle is solved.

Li had a fast-forward plot stop just minutes before he died. Turns out, one of his former flames — one who could have been “the one” — was from a lower class than he. So, Papa Shin decided to offer this girl’s dad a job 2,000 miles away if she agreed to stop dating Li. Thus, Li becomes instantly and proactively furious with anyone who appears like they’re going to take away his girlfriend. Don’t think too hard about this one, folks. It only mattered for about half an episode.

Excellent use of Dr. Rolf here, who came back because he’s Team DiMera, no matter what. Stefan convinced Rolf that Stefano would be livid that a non-DiMera was holding DiMera Enterprise shares (he would), so Rolf agreed to help get Li off the voting board. That all checks out.

Our man Tate can’t seem to keep a secret. He’s blabbing all over town that Holly is into an older guy. And he’s picking the craziest people to tell. First, he tells Nicole — Holly’s mom. Then he tells Eric — the closest thing Holly has to a dad. Sheesh, man, use some common sense. You’re Theresa’s son, after all! I know you have some thinking skills!

Johnny overheard and brought this up to Holly. Holly is very slick and lied her way out of it masterfully. E.J. is the only other person that made sense for her to cough up, since she already said Nicole’s marriage would ruin her chances with her dream man. Her Mr. Darcy reference was a stroke of genius, as well. I’m so utterly impressed with Ashley Puzemis’ performance as Holly. This girl is on the right path.

We got the standard Halloween episode again this year. I hope there are folks out there who really enjoyed this. And I love it when soaps take breaks to celebrate holidays. But this tradition isn’t my favorite. I would rather see the holiday celebrated in context of the current storylines. Maybe if I was a fan of horror movies, I would have appreciated this year’s completely stand-alone episode. But this wasn’t for me. On the bright side, it took up a whole episode, meaning the Ava/Harris/Clyde nonsense was mercifully not shown this week. So, I’m counting that as a Halloween miracle.