Deconstructing DOOL: Outlandish Storylines a Concern for Viewers

October 15 – 19

Friday, October 19th, 2018

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

The pacing near the end of the week was ridiculously fast and though the episodes were exciting, there was too much jam-packed into the week that it left some fans unfulfilled, and like last week’s discussion in Deconstructing DOOL, thinking Salemites have a time machine. Most fans seem to want Stefan out as our resident “villain,” and Xander to be always shirtless utilized as our main villain. Everyone wants to see less of the obsessive females on our show such as Sami who ignores her children in favour of chasing a ghost, Gabi who is engrossed with taking Abigail and Stefan down instead of focusing on her life and kid, Claire who is so jealous of Ciara that she wants Tripp who just isn’t into her and even Stefan who isn’t female, but is fixated on a nonexistent person. While I admit that I am consistently entertained, and I love the show now more than I have in years, I hear fans’ concerns and I worry that character assassination (not evolution) and outlandish plot driven storylines will cause even more fans to stop watching, which will harm the future of the show…In the end, don’t we watch to root for someone other than the bad guys?

The slow build for Cin fabulous or dragging?

Soaps.com readers were polled and out of close to 4 thousand fans, 68% preferred Ciara with Ben while 28% wanted Ciara with Tripp. There’s been a lot of dissonance between the opposing fanbases, some arrogantly believing their opinion is somehow “better” than someone else’s. It’s cringey. There’s room for everyone’s opinion. That said, while Cin fans swooned over Ciara’s dream about Ben almost kissing her, and some argued that the slow build is treading heavily into the dragging on territory, Tiara fans were enjoying Ciara and Tripp’s intimate and playful food fight and sex-fest. The writing for Tripp and Ciara stepped up after that first dreadful love-making scene. They’re more comfortable with each other but some still don’t see their chemistry. I’m still wondering if Tripp set Ben up. Or was it Claire? Maybe Hope is right, and Ben set himself up in order to blame her, though many find that theory stupid. I still have some doubt that Ben’s sincere. Part of me wants Cin together and the other part thinks it’d be delicious to learn that he’s been duping us all along. That doesn’t bode well for a supercouple in the making but knowing that Ron C isn’t known for writing love stories, it means I can’t invest. I am let down again by Hope who is on a witch hunt with Ben again, instead of setting her emotions aside and trying to find the real arsonist. I hope they get on with it already. It’s been going on since July.

More: Kyle Lowder interview on his exciting new storyline

Brilliantly executed but how?

Gabi drugged Abby again and put her in a Gabby outfit and faked being attacked by Gabby. Pure brilliance. Horrible yet brilliant. As Ollivander stated in Harry Potter, “He Who Must Not Be Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great.” But peculiarly, more and more I don’t care what becomes of Chad or Abby since they’re both leaving the show and the characters don’t make me feel much of anything anymore. It’s been difficult for fans to suspend disbelief enough to accept that Gabi is strong enough to lift Abby into her car, drive her over to Casa DiMera without being seen, and somehow unlock the DiMera door and leave Abigail on the sofa. Are there no cameras at either house to follow the occupants’ whereabouts? Isn’t Gabi concerned that someone will notice that Abigail’s fingerprints aren’t on the serving tray or the upturned furniture? That Abigail could get a blood test to find if there are drugs in her system?

Highlights of the week: Gabi hitting herself in the head with the serving tray, and being offended that Chad didn’t believe her lies of Abby’s relapse and that Kate called her a liar. Hilarious. Also, Stefan’s gleeful reaction to hearing that Chad found a Gabby wig in Abigail’s room. It was the first time I’ve ever seen this character fully awake. One of our readers, Laurel Hagen, says, “All I could think of is a salivating, lip smacking Little Red Riding Hood type of wolf. Tyler did a wonderful job holding back bursting with joy at Gabby’s return while coming across as a total letch.”

Ericole and Xicole

Once again, Nicole has chemistry with every character she’s paired with. It’s uncanny. It’s been fun watching her toy with Xander. I thought it was funny that Eric found that confession tape five seconds after entering Xander’s warehouse and that Xander knocked him out before he could do anything with it. Then once Nicole got a hold of it, she didn’t immediately delete it. Instead, she roamed the halls and found locked rooms marked with the initials V.A. (Vivian Alamain), W.R. (Dr. Wilhelm Rolf), A.D. (Andre DiMera or Anjelica Deveraux?), A.V. (Ava Vitali?), and S.D. (Stefano DiMera). Cool cliffhanger!