Days of Our Lives’ Philip Turned Up Alive and Continued Being the Worst, While MarDevil’s Powers Confounded — Plus, Sending Out the Search Party on a Few Characters
December 13 - 17
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
A lot happened this week in Salem — and in alternate universe Salem. Some good, some bad, and some downright confusing. Let’s get right to the week in Days of Our Lives, shall we?
Showing His Hand?
Sami’s intense need to get back with EJ is curious. He treated her poorly while he was recuperating and then like trash when he found out she slept with Lucas. Why does she even want to be with him? But also, should we start to seriously suspect Lucas in her kidnapping? He was acting a little cagey when Allie questioned him about going to the cops after he rescued Sami. So, maybe the rescuer is the culprit?
I don’t love the possibility that Lucas could have kept Sami in captivity for three months so he could, what… make her love him over EJ? But if he does go a little bad, and loses Sami for good, and Ava goes even badder, after seeing Rafe and Nicole kissing, my assertion from last week, that those two could end up out in the cold together, could start to have more validity.
Wait till it comes out that Lucas (potentially) kidnapped Sami. Kate is gonna be like “Do I have any normal children”
I’d take a vacation if I were her.#Days
— 𝓁𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓇𝒾𝒶 (@lumaria) December 17, 2021
So Lucas is likely the one who had Sami kidnapped.
Convenient that the guard got away.#Days #DOOL
— Bonnie (@greenurlifenow) December 16, 2021
The Secret’s Out
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Finally! Everybody knows Marlena is really the devil now, but the reactions are kinda blasé. I take that back, John is appropriately terrified for Doc, and Ciara is so scared of the devil coming for her baby, she locked her apartment door. Which seemed fruitless at first, but if Belle can clobber the devil over the head, thereby knocking them out, then maybe a locked door is a bigger obstacle than we thought.
I still don’t understand why the devil needed to keep their presence a secret though. They’re the devil. Can’t they overpower and manipulate anyone or anything they want? Maybe not, as MarDevil had to overpower Kayla to get her keycard to enter Jan’s room. But wait, didn’t MarDevil put a touchless stranglehold on Ben and John? We really should stop trying to make this make sense.
I was happy to see Ciara leave Ben behind when he wanted to skip her doctor appointment to stay with a frightened “Marlena.” I love a happy and in love couple, but “Cin” is a little too much sometimes, so any conflict is welcomed. Even if Ciara does understand his need to protect “Marlena” from an “abusive” John, can we at least get an, “I told you so” from her?
What could have been interesting is if there was a good versus evil battle between Ben and Ciara with MarDevil and Gabriel whispering in their ears, respectively. Alas, Gabriel dropped in for a blink and you missed it visit.
He’s Aliiiive!
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The scenes with Kate and Victor grappling over whether or not to declare their son dead was surprisingly moving. They’re two characters who are often very over the top, so it was a nice reminder that they can be very sympathetic characters. But it was all for naught, as unsurprisingly, Philip turned up very much alive. But also, is it that easy to declare someone dead? And does it really change the case against Brady all that much if there’s still no body?
But that wasn’t the most unbelievable part. It was that Philip knocked Brady out and injected him with booze right out in the open. Plus, he charged all those shots to Brady’s card at Brady’s Pub. An establishment where both he and Brady are regulars. All Belle had to do was question the staff member who served Philip, and not Brady, all those shots to learn the truth. I do have to wonder, though, if Kate’s seemingly severe concern over her son’s actions will result in a brain tumor rearing its tropey head.
Continued Frustration
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As felder7219 commented under last week’s Soapbox, there are too many storylines to pay proper attention to them all: “They either have one (MarDevil) that dominates for days while everything else is on hold, or they skip around with just a scene here and there for some characters.”
That proved true again this week as the Lani/Paulina/Abe story continued to be ignored, and Chad and Abby remain nowhere to be found. And what about the movie? Is it even being made anymore? When will Johnny learn about all the havoc the devil’s wreaked as everyone warned him about? Also, How is Doug’s recovery coming along? And will Jack ever speak to Gwen again?
There are so many threads that have gotten lost in the mix, it’s hard to stay invested.
A Very Salem Christmas
My Soaps.com colleague, Curtis Harding gave his own (mostly) positive
review of Days’ Christmas movie, but I wanted to add my own two cents about it, which is that it is a super good time. I mean, sure, there are major relationship leaps taken and storyline beats skipped, but if you don’t think too hard about it, it’s just plain fun. My only real complaint is that it was tough to digest Gabi getting paired with alt Nick. Considering their abusive past, she should stay far away from him in every timeline.
That said, Zach Tinker’s energy as Sonny is infectious, and the drag show redux and striptease was great fun. The kinder, gentler EJ and Sami are a couple I could get behind, while it was nice to visit a bitchier Nicole. A smarmy Brady is one of my favorite Bradys, and the running joke of Paulina calling Leo “Mary” made me chuckle every time. To top it all off, John asking, “Doesn’t this place have a roof,” when it snowed in Horton Square was in-joke perfection.
That’s all I got this time around. As always these are just my thoughts on the week in Salem. What are yours? Tell us below and then get ready for Christmas with our photo gallery of soaps’ holidays past below.
