Days of Our Lives’ Brady, and Viewers, Take a Much Needed Break From Kristen — Plus, Chad as the Next Xander?

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

This week was apparently Eli, Lani, and Chanel’s turn to take a break on Days of Our Lives. It’s too bad because I’d really like to see the Grants get a meaty storyline. Just not one that involves Chanel coming between the marrieds. Moving forward, it looks like Kristen is the next to go on extended leave, as she skipped town on Thursday, and it couldn’t be more welcomed. We did get a nice variety of stories overall though… so let’s get to it.

I Got It Wrong

In my original post here, I called out Days for messing up Jan’s flashback of killing Charlie. In fact, thanks to our readers calling me out, I got it wrong. We didn’t see Charlie open the door to Jan originally like I said he did, so him walking into his apartment to find Jan already there makes sense. I apologize for my error.

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Hot for Sister?

I’m not really sure what the point of Ben seeing his dead sister Jordan was. It was good to see Chrishell Stause and she looked fantastic, but, to echo some viewers, considering she was supposed to be Ben’s subconscious, why did he imagine her looking so sexy? Possible incestuous issues aside, I’m not sure it served much purpose other than to drive home that Ben doesn’t want to let go of Ciara. That’s been covered… in depth. Despite him being overly obsessive about his wife, I do appreciate that he’s not immediately moving on.

Wondering what it is in Ben’s psyche that he envisions his dead sis in a skin-tight, shoulder baring dress? #IdlePondering #DAYS

— Prevuze (@Prevuze) May 24, 2021

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Interrogation Room or Visitors’ Room?

Not only were Philip and Brady allowed to railroad Kristen without a lawyer or law enforcement official present, but Shawn didn’t even care when Philip told him Chloe was being held in the trunk of a car. Then, Kristen received a parade of visitors and was allowed to knock out Susan, swap clothes and leave the precinct. Classic Salem P.D.

Aside from that, Brady finally saw the light where Kristen is concerned and dumped her… and it’s about time. Eric Martsolf did make me feel bad for the big lug but Brady never should have stayed with her in the first place. Kristen has been written as too evil for it to make sense that he’d stay with her. Hopefully, this will lead to good stuff ahead for Brady, while everyone involved gets a much-needed break from Kristen’s desperate antics. You know she’s not gone for good though. The only question is, whose face will she be wearing when she returns?

@Stacy_Haiduk and @ericmartsolf are phenomenal in today’s show like wow 😭 #Bristen #days

— nettie❤Xarah *#BringbackLinsey* (@nettiehsfan) May 26, 2021

Their scenes were a master class!! @ericmartsolf and @Stacy_Haiduk are AMAZING!!! #bristen is fire 🔥!!! You could feel the angst and pain

— QueenOfDimeras (@queenofdimeras) May 27, 2021

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The Next Xander

Apparently being with Sarah not only did a number on Xander’s heart but his ability to scam people as well. While he’s been super entertaining (I could do without him being a hitman for hire though), he’s pretty terrible at blackmail. The best thing about it though is it has enabled Xander to make his rounds with much of Salem for short, sweet storylines. Next up is Jack, Gwen, and presumably Julie and Doug. I’d like to see this with Billy Flynn’s Chad next (minus the blackmail and murder attempts) because with Abigail gone, he’ll need something to do.

Chad got a good start by stopping in on John, Marlena and Brady to warn them about Kristen. Maybe he can next interact with Sami and Lucas when EJ comes home. Chad could also honor his promise to Kristen and help Brady with Rachel. I could definitely see some playdates with Rachel and her cousins Charlotte and Thomas in the future while Chad and Brady bond. After that, he can expand beyond the Black/Evans family and go head to head with Nicole or Philip in business, etc., etc.

Saw This Coming

As I speculated last week, it looks like Kate is playing on Jake’s guilt to keep him away from Gabi. Spoilers say Kate needs Dr. Snyder to keep her secret which, as she blurted out after he challenged her on her ‘blindness’, is that she remembers everything about walking in on Jake and Gabi. But, with Jake ready to end things with her, perhaps good old, blackmailing Dr. Snyder could help heal his patient in more ways than one…

These are just my thoughts on the week in Salem. What are yours? Let us know in the comments below and then get our daytime and primetime summer preview and predictions. Get your free daily soap-opera fix for Days of Our Lives — and all of the other daytime dramas — delivered straight to your email inbox by signing up for Soaps.com’s newsletter.