The Days of Our Lives Return That’s Got Shades of a Classic, Game-Changing Reveal — Plus, We Now Know Who Kidnapped Susan!

The Days of Our Lives Return That’s Got Shades of a Classic, Game-Changing Reveal — Plus, We Now Know Who Kidnapped Susan!

We got more exits this week along with one unexpected return. Why is Victor’s random friend in Salem and just how much is he mixed up in Victor’s family after all? Plus, we’re about to find out who kidnapped Susan, and it’s a villain we all know well. But are all these twists enough to make up for what feels like a dearth of romance right now? 

Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts

Pairing Theresa and Alex together is kind of fascinating as both Robert Scott Wilson and Emily O’Brien were put in the same position with their characters. Except O’Brien has it doubly difficult as she was recast as a recast. For all my faults with Alex, I give props to Robert Scott Wilson for differentiating him so well from Ben. I can’t speak for others, but all I see when he’s on screen is Alex. (Though it was a bit murkier back when Ben made his brief return.)

I think they could be a fun couple if they had a real chance, but that’s not where this story’s going. Theresa’s using him, whether she changed the letter or not.

And along those lines — Do we trust Konstantin? Just showing up in Salem and getting an invite into the Kiriakis mansion is so random. There’s got to be something he knows about all of this. Maybe he’s not an old friend of Victor’s but an enemy. Remember Isabella’s adopted dad, Ernesto? He and Victor were friends and partners before they turned on each other.

What if Konstantin’s more mixed up with Victor’s secret child than we thought?

Here Comes Trouble

I’m so glad Chanel slammed on the moving in brakes, but I also get why Johnny jumped there so fast. She had far more time to process and move on from their divorce, while Johnny pretty much came out of a dissociative crisis (yeah, yeah, possession) to discover that he’d lost everything. He’s always struggled with what he lost.

I was mid eye-roll at Holly literally inserting herself into the middle of Chanel and Johnny, but then I remembered my jealous, immature teenage years and I snapped my eyes back in place fast… But damn, her response to Tate trying to hang out was harsh. It’s pretty clear they’re setting her up to be a mini Nicole, and I’m OK with that. We could use more troublemakers. Nicole’s mellowed out, Sloan’s racked by guilt over her misdeeds, Gwen’s gone, Theresa’s not sticking around and over on the guy front…

Xander and EJ would normally be the go-to troublemakers, but I think baby drama is going to be consuming more than plotting against people. And I don’t see us getting the Xander/Sarah fight I was hoping for. I mentioned it a bit last week, but I really enjoy how Xander and Sarah play off each other when they hate each other. I don’t need them to reunite, but Xander’s vitriol talking over his case with Sloan already started to evaporate the second he learned of Sarah divorcing Rex.

Look, Sarah’s reaction to finding out Susan is alive was, I feel, the most realistic reaction someone would have when running into a dead person. There was a dumbfounded loss of words, rather than “Oh my God! Welcome back — so exciting!!” Except I feel like it’s for the wrong reasons because Sarah was more dumbfounded that Xander wasn’t a killer.

They’ll be back together soon, I’m sure, which is fine — when they work, they’re cute together — but I’d have liked a new direction to stick for them.

Twists and Turns

We’re about to learn who had Susan kidnapped to begin with and it’s… a bit underwhelming. In their new issue, Soap Opera Digest has James Read returning as Clyde next week and making a power play over Ava now that he no longer has Susan to leverage against EJ. (Which… when was he doing that, exactly?) In any case, with the tease at the end of Friday’s episode of the prison uniform-clad arm reading the Ava/Susan news, there you go. Clyde was behind this.

I guess Susan’s weird behavior had nothing to do with knowing who did it, because why would she keep the news that it was Clyde from EJ? I was really hoping for a surprise twist, but it feels like Clyde and Orpheus are go-to villains right now. I know the Sami theory was a long shot, but that would have been fun.

With Belle on her way out, we’ve lost both of Marlena’s daughters, so even if the show couldn’t get Alison Sweeney back, maybe, we could have gotten a recast for Sami. I know Sweeney’s played the role since day one, but we won’t ever be getting her back full-time and it’s just too important a character to write off for good.

At one point, Belle was mourning her and Shawn’s problems and telling Philip about how she probably deserves it and Jan would certainly think so. Philip’s response that “Jan Spears is a jealous psychopath,” prompted her to ask, “What about my sister, Sami?” And I was so waiting for Philip to respond, “Sami Brady is a jealous psychopath.” Cue Sami walking in. If only…

With that said, they’d have to give her actual story, which is something they’ve hardly been doing with Belle, which is a big part of why Martha Madison decided it was time to move on. What I wasn’t expecting — but which makes sense — was Brandon Beemer’s exit and Shawn leaving town before her.

Pace Yourself

And now we’re back to what I mentioned last week — Days of Our Lives cleaning house. I really hope this slimming down that seems to be going on helps fix pacing issues. There are weeks I have a blast watching and weeks I’m more tepid. That’s going to happen with any show, but I’d love it if they were mixed together more. I mean, I completely forgot Abe and Paulina were doing that whole dating thing until this week! And that Abe still didn’t have his memory back.

After all that Nurse Whitley stuff for weeks on end, they just vanished. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that Abe’s memory loss wasn’t just a flash in the pan, but we’re not exactly seeing it pan out much. (Sorry!) The deputy mayor vanished as little more than a plot point to get Paulina into the mayor position, and we’ve hardly seen that, either.

But hey, Nicole and Abe were sweet together, and that’s something I find consistent with James Reynolds’ scenes with others. There’s such a human touch to Abe that the character beats really work well with virtually whomever he’s paired with in a scene.

Stray Thoughts…

• I love how Sloan was like “Let’s hire Melinda for our adoption, I’m not great with family law,” then signed on as Xander’s custody attorney.

• OK, maybe we’re not getting Dark Alex, just Maturing Alex? Or he’ll go that path after learning he’s not Victor’s son. That talk with Justin was very loving and understanding. Despite how much Brady laid into Alex about being just as backstabbing and devious as Victor.

• Something tickles me about the thought of there being a TV in the DiMera living room. It just doesn’t scream cozy Netflix and chill vibes to me.

• Can we get Kate and Marlena a storyline that doesn’t involve pub chats? I love Kate tearing down Sarah and Rex’s marriage, laying into Philip about Chloe and the absolute shade she’s lobbing at Rafe, but she’s still reacting to other people’s drama.