The Days of Our Lives Twist We Didn’t See Coming — Plus, What Really *Can’t* Happen Next and Why

If there’s one thing we love above all else, it’s when a soap opera manages to truly catch us off guard. You know… the moments that cause your jaw to drop and have you involuntarily gasping in surprise. Which is exactly what happened as the April 24th episode of Days of Our Lives concluded.

To be honest, the episode was Days at both its very best and worst. We got the campiness of Thomas Banks (played, for those not in the know, by the immeasurably talented Eileen Davidson). We got Roman, John and Marlena — all of whom have been declared dead on multiple occasions — somehow being surprised to hear that Bo wasn’t as dead as formerly believed. And we got a slew of Bo and Hope flashbacks building up to a literal cliffhanger.

Oh, and we got some of the worst special effects this side of Plan 9 From Outer Space.

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The set-up for the final moment was classic Days, with Hope begging her beloved Bo to recall their epic love story. He, however, insisted that he couldn’t be “the man I need to be” with her in this world. It was a battle of good vs. evil, with both sides residing within our hero’s torn heart.

“You can stand there with that gun pointed at me, with your finger on the trigger, telling yourself you’ll be better off without me,” wept Hope. “But you will never, ever believe it.”

Why? “I’m your Fancy Face, Bo!” And with that, the damn broke as Bo’s memories came flooding back. Bo and Hope on their yacht, making love in New Orleans, skating at the pond and welcoming their first child. Bo and Hope in love and danger, coming together time and time again. It was the kind of sequence that only a soap opera, with their never-ending stories unfolding over decades, can possibly provide.

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If there was a problem with the flashbacks, it was that many were from a time when soaps in general — and Days in particular — did lavish, on-location shoots. This only served to highlight just how incredibly cheap the effects being used in the cliffside scenes really were. Given the gorgeous dialogue and beautiful flashbacks, the soap would have been better off staging the entire sequence on a set. Instead, the effects became a distraction and, inevitably, the thing many viewers couldn’t help but focus upon.

Ultimately, Hope’s entreaties worked as Bo lowered the gun slightly, uttering, “Fancy Face?” But at that same moment, a shot rang out. When Bo fell to the ground, we saw that Shawn — with Steve standing by his side — had shot his own father in order to protect Hope!

As the screen faded to black, viewers were left to ask, “Is that it? Is that really how Bo and Hope’s story ends, with him once again dying just when they were set to be reunited?”

But of course, that’s not the end of the story. And it’s highly unlikely that the next beat will find Hope yet again mourning her true love. In fact, that’s the one thing Days absolutely, positively can not do. Why? Two reasons.

For one thing, there’s simply no way that headwriter Ron Carlivati and his staff would be so cruel as to put Bo and Hope on a collision course only to have it end in so tragic a manner. Even when the pair was forced to separate at the end of Beyond Salem: Chapter Two — which saw them reunite in heaven only to be parted when he opted to send her back to Earth — we were given hope that eventually, they would reunite. The currently unfolding story was, in fact, born out of that hope.

Everyone who thinks Bo’s dead, raise your hands. ….just as I thought – nobody. Another pointless “twist” in this convoluted plot! #Days https://t.co/hVNwe1nnOR

— Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum (@karengurie8) April 24, 2023

But more importantly… it would be ludicrous. Yes, ludicrous. Death has become so meaningless in Salem that the supposed passing of Marlena, Kate and Kayla had little to no impact on those left behind. Characters routinely joke about the fact that nobody ever stays dead in Salem. Even if we were told that Bo had died on the cliff, would any viewer actually believe it?

Truth be told, it would create fantastic drama were Shawn forced to deal with the fact that he killed his own father just as Bo and Hope were about to reunite. But it’s safe to say that fans, already displeased by how this storyline has played out, would revolt were things to go that way.

Instead, it seems likely that Bo will survive, with he and Hope reuniting and exiting in order for her to help him recuperate in some far-from-Salem (read: off-screen) location. Should that prove true, the rest of us will simply have to be content with the thought of the supercouple getting a much-deserved happily-ever-after… at least until the next time Kristian Alfonso and Peter Reckell agree to return for a visit.

If all those flashbacks has you wanting to relive , you’re in luck, because the gallery below does just that!