Salem’s Goodbye to Victor Is ‘So Raw and So Real’
When news of Victor’s death finally broke on Days of Our Lives last month, the show did a fantastic job of paying tribute to one of the show’s true titans with over a week of flashbacks and mourning. Somehow, the show even weaved that all in beautifully even as it honored Suzanne Rogers and Maggie’s 50th anniversary.
But that was just the start of the farewell, and this week we’re about to get the next step: Victor’s funeral. And this is the part that’s going to get really emotional for everyone on-screen and off.
Kyle Lowder played Brady back when he first came to town as a young adult, and in those years, he grew close to John Aniston. As Rex, Lowder may be attending Victor’s funeral, but he doesn’t have to get up and speak at it. And for that, the actor’s actually grateful.
“I don’t know how I would have been able to get through that,” he tells Soap Opera Digest in their recent issue. Because the characters may have been saying goodbye to Victor, but the actors were all there for Aniston. Lowder admits that after he shed his initial tears for Aniston, he thought he was done — until he got to Victor’s service.
“It was so raw and so real because it was like we were at John’s funeral,” he shares. “There was no acting here as far as I’m concerned.” The funeral, though, is just one part of saying goodbye to Victor. Because his loss leaves a huge void in the show, not just behind the scenes, but also on-screen.
“What John meant to the show is what Victor meant to the Kiriakis family,” Wally Kurth (Justin) tells Digest. “For him to not be there anymore, they all lost their footing. It will take a while to get back on track.”
When Aniston died, Paul Telfer (Xander) admits to Digest, “I was hoping the show would address it tastefully, but with a strong storyline befitting how fantastic John was, but also how important Victor was to the whole shape of the show. And,” he confirms, “they did.”
Losing Victor was bad enough. Add in Vivian’s return and whatever unpleasant surprise she has in store, the inevitable fight for Titan and the mystery of what Victor was up to when his plane went down, and we’ve got a feeling the tears will soon be leading to gasps. And really, there couldn’t be a better reaction to Victor than that, even in death.
