Days of Our Lives’ Endgame Has Begun — Plus, Is Sloan Being Set On a Collision Course With Her *True* Soulmate?
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (2), Peacock screenshot (3)
This is it. The beginning of the end of Days of Our Lives’ Bo and Hope saga. Has it been worth it? Will it be worth it? We’ll find out soon enough but right now, it’s not looking promising — despite a glimmer of excitement. Meanwhile, the show seems to be setting some potentially amazing couples, but how many of them actually have a chance?
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Reunited and It Feels So…
Color me surprised, but Friday’s episode actually played pretty well for me. Splitting Kayla was a smart move storywise as it made for a pretty darn good swirl of anticipation as Stephanie and Chad honed in on her, Andrew pried the truth out of Megan and Harris tipped off Hope. It was all a bit forced — suddenly sending Kayla off just in time for Steph and Chad to find her, Harris’s vague “go to Victor’s house” without even giving Hope so much as a “be careful” — but it worked for me.
“Don’t mind me, ladies. I’m just having a heart attack from fright.”
Credit: Peacock screenshot
If only the entire story had been structured as well as Friday. We’re almost at the end and there needs to be a pretty big payoff coming for this to seem all that impactful. When Kristen was dangling Bo’s return to Brady, she put it better than Days of Our Lives did: “This news is so explosive. And it’s going to change everybody’s lives.”
Er, is it?
Bo will be back, yes, but he and Hope are leaving. Assuming Kate is alive (she’s just vanished, and no one has talked about how they know she’s dead or anything about a body which is absurdly weird), about the only crime Megan will have committed was kidnapping and brainwashing. Sure, lots of attempted murders are in there, but again we’ve got a Big Bad who doesn’t end up doing all that much damage. She revived Bo and cured Kate, Kayla and Marlena back after Orpheus poisoned them. Diabolical!
Oh, and Harris is sticking around for a while doing… who knows what. What’s been the point of all of it?
Strange Bedfellows
Look, I know Xander left Chloe to a potentially horrible fate with a drug lord, but at the end of the day, Days of Our Lives has pivoted Xander away from a villain and asked the audience to accept him as a charming rogue and forget the fact that though we never really saw him slaughter people, he was for much of his life, not just a criminal but a murderer.
“Chloe! I’ve been shot through the heart! And you’re to blame!”
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
And for most folks, they’ve embraced that. So I don’t think asking us to accept Chloe befriending him is a stretch. Xander already hooked up with Nicole after the slew of horrible, traumatizing things he did to her. And I like Chloe and Xander’s vibe when they’re together — even if they do veer directly into romance. Chloe’s more interesting with Xander than anyone else she’s been with in ages.
Plus, their banter is fun. Like how Chloe telling Xander that his lung won’t deflate if he pulls the dart out was met with, “What do you know? Did they teach you that in opera school?!” Oh, and I loved his scream as she hit him with a dart. For that alone, this odd pairing is worth it for me!
Show, Don’t Tell
So, Li and Gabi are over… until they aren’t. Him letting her go was overdue and a moment of growth (or defeat) and all, but as much as I cringed at Gabi asking for his DiMera shares on her way out, Li’s smile spoke volumes. He said no, but that power-hungry side of Gabi still seems to endear itself to him, even when turned on him. So I don’t think they’re over for good — despite how clearly happy Gabi and Stefan are to finally be together again.
But the thing with this whole story this week was that we got two speeches explaining motives. They made sense, don’t get me wrong, but if we need an explanation spelled out, I feel like something’s gone wrong. Take Trask. Her helping Stefan came out of left field, her infatuation with him that we all forgot about until now notwithstanding.
But as Stefan explained to Gabi, there were elements of revenge against EJ, mixed with her infatuation and the fact that she expected a favor in return. It all made a decent amount of sense, but if the show had to lay out her motives, then it missed a chance on making this seem more natural rather than leaving us wondering where it came from. And the same with Li.
His laying out to Gabi how he was groomed from childhood to be ruthless and powerful and treat love like a hostile takeover was alright… but it would have been more effective if we’d seen that more reflected through his interaction with his dad, rather than an explanation. We got hints of it, but the show could have shown us that messed up relationship better.
No, Thanks
Speaking of messed up relationships, here we go with “Ericole” again. Does anybody want that anymore? I like Eric and Sloan together. It’s absurdly refreshing to have a character like her on the canvas, speaking her mind and not playing games. Catching him in bed with Nicole wasn’t a jealous relationship-ender or even an “I don’t know how we can move on from this” that is so common on soap operas. Sloan was annoyed and definitely hurt, but it was still something she could roll her eyes at and shrug off in the end because it was just sex. We know that it wasn’t just sex, but that’s how Sloan’s able to view it — while making her realize she wants more with Eric.
“Let’s drink to Eric and Nicole never getting together again! And if they do, let’s drink until we forget it.”
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
EJ and Nicole, on the other hand, have been losing their luster a bit. I liked the sweetness in the beginning, but as Nicole herself put it, “I just feel more like a co-conspirator than a love interest.” Cheers to being the voice of the audience! But EJ isn’t Sloan and when he finds out what Nicole’s hiding, it’s just a matter of how angry he’ll be.
Actually, I wonder how he and Sloan would be together once “Ericole” ruin things… Because as much as Sloan can shrug at a drug-filled sex romp, I don’t see her taking kindly to Eric’s soon-to-be ramped up obsession. I could very much see those two hooking up to rub it in Eric and Nicole’s noses when they inevitably can’t keep their hands off each other. EJ’s petty and Sloan happily tried throwing Eric under the bus when he first betrayed her trust.
Oh! They could be the unscrupulous lawyer power couple! Just imagine how much damage Sloan could do if she ended up at DiMera. I take it back. Sloan, ditch Eric, he’s dull.
Stray Thoughts…
• Um… I don’t think mayors can just invalidate court orders, Paulina. Actually, maybe someone should tell Abe that.
“Watch it, Sloan! Abe does anything I tell him… no matter how illegal it is!”
Credit: Peacock screenshot
• Still no motive for Talia. But I don’t think she’s as clever as she thinks she is. “Oops, I forgot to turn on the cameras” is a pretty lame excuse and I feel like those will start piling up.
• It’s impressive how folks have numbers memorized on this show. Like Megan calling Harris from prison. How many numbers do any of us remember anymore these days? I know my home number growing up and… that’s it.
• Anna, you give terrible advice. But you and Tony really are perfect for each other.
• Did we really need Thomas Banks? Getting Eileen Davidson back is fun, but putting him in anywhere just ups the ridiculous quotient of a story to absurd levels. And that’s not something the Bo Kiriakis’ Youth Tonic of the Ages story needs.
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