There was a period of time on DAYS when I thought it was in Lauren Koslow's contract that she could only act with Alison Sweeney or Bryan Dattilo. Likewise, Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn were the only ones on set for their scenes, save for the days Martha Madison, Brandon Beemer, and Jay Kenneth Johnson needed custody of the set.
But now, our favorite Salemites are really getting to act as an ensemble cast! Oh, what a tangled web we weave, indeed. Ron's very adept at writing umbrella storylines, which I quite prefer over characters staying in their personal storyline silos. It gives me a chance to see characters I've never particularly championed in a whole new light.
For example, DAYS has finally found a respectable use for Ciara. She's got Ben now. And I'm getting aboard the Cin train faster than you can say, "Tripp who?" I mean, sure, Ben's a serial killer. But he cooks dinner and does laundry. He's a find!
There's a simmering chemistry between Victoria Konefal and Robert Scott Wilson. If these two play their cards right, they could end up with the spitfire vs. brooding thing that made Nicole and Eric so great opposite each other.
I'm interested in his recovery. Is he allowed to be angry? Being angry about a rape is a legitimate thing to be mad about. But, it's still a bit unsettling to see Ben get mad and chop things up.
It looked very much like medication plays a big role in Ben's sanity. Something tells me those meds will wear off right about the time Rope finds the cabin, leaving Ciara as the only witness to Ben's good side. I'm absolutely looking forward to this beauty fighting for her beast!
Speaking of gals who have a right to their grudges, Gabi finally got out of prison, her kid hates her, and shockingly, she's not shoulder shrugging this whole thing off. She's out for revenge. I can't blame her. I get annoyed when the car in front of me doesn't move at a stoplight. I can't imagine her annoyance with being kept in jail for murders (yup, plural) that she did not commit.
Like Tony last week, I'm sitting in the front row for her to take down Stefan. Camila Banus and Tyler Christopher are fun to watch spar. Stefan's controlling mechanisms are very similar to Nick Fallon -- more cerebral than outright violent -- so I'm looking forward to Gabi getting another shot (ha! No pun intended!) at dealing with such a master manipulator. This isn't the weak little girl Nick took advantage of.
As for Abs, I'm all for Gabi yelling at Abigail, even holding a grudge. But I draw the line at using Abigail's unborn baby to blackmail Abigail into anything. And I worry that's where we're heading. Gabi did everything but heckle and exclaim, "I'll get you, my pretty!" at Abigail.
Having said that, I feel for Gabi. Convincing a toddler to change their mind is the hardest task in the world. My kid recently swore off red peppers, and nothing on God's green earth is going to combat that!
Sorry, enough of my problems. Abigail is pregnant with Stefan's kid. At least, I think she is. That sets us up for the best future state of DAYS. An Alamain/DiMera/Deveraux baby has some serious villain potential. That is...if there's actually DiMera blood in the mix. The thought did cross my mind that this DNA test could lead to proving that Stefan's actually not a DiMera, which seems to be the only thing that can stop him these days.
Yup, the whole Leo/Sonny/Chad/Kate/Stefan/Kayla/Steve situation is coming up Stefan. That part kind of stinks. But, other than that, I really like this storyline. It involves a good number of characters, giving a B or even B and C storyline to some of our best. It's good stuff!
The blame itself? That really comes back on Kate. She shouldn't have gone after Sonny in the first place. This was personal against Sonny. It wasn't Victor or Brady or Eve. It was Sonny -- good, decent, daddy to her great granddaughter, Sonny. Chad was rightly outraged when he found out what Kate did. I wish he had told Sonny, but I appreciate the tough spot he was in, as well.
He legitimately loves Kate, too. I'm not sure he could have protected both of them, and at the end of the day, Kate needs him more. Sonny has Titan. Kate has no one. (Not that that's ever held her back before!)
LOOSE ENDS:
Dr. Rolf's neon green potion will come with at least one side effect. Repeated use will cause Will to break tons of promises to Paul. Oof. This thing is like a slow car wreck. Considering the other option is to watch Paul's heart implode (again), I'm ready to attend these Sonny/Leo nuptials. Leo is a total sleaze, but man, I can't help but enjoy Greg Rikaart and Freddie Smith together.
Theresa and Brady are both wrong to use Tate as a revenge tool. Have they learned nothing from Lumi? Ugh, you guys. This never works out well!
Also not working out is Eve. She's still on my list for her "wah-wah" attitude toward her own sister being raped repeatedly. But for her to look over Brady's shoulder and smirk over Tate's custody battle is obnoxious -- and I say that as an Eve fan and one who pretty much lives for Kassie DePaiva! I cheered when J.J. told off both Brady and Eve. Those two are setting up camp atop Mt. Superior. I do not like it.
Plus, Theresa is right about one thing here. They need a formal custody agreement. I think something more along the lines of 50/50 is more appropriate, but it does need to be in place. Brady did take Tate on an international run from the police, so Eve can have a seat when talking about how he's father of the year.
I despise what Chase did to Ciara. I think she has every reason to be angry or hurt or any other emotion she needs to summon up to get through this. However, I'm not a fan of Ciara making Claire her punching bag. Claire stood up for her with Chase and Wyatt. Claire didn't make Ciara dump Tripp. And Claire spends about ten thousand percent more of her time talking/worrying about Ciara's feelings than Ciara does at all about Claire.
Cool. Kayla's going to let something owned by a DiMera be implanted into a family member. What could go wrong? Practically nothing, I tell you! This has "good idea" written all over it. I wonder if the DiMera eye in Steve will be able to communication with the DiMera chip in Joey.
Wait, I've got this all wrong. Maybe Steve's bionic DiMera eye will soon allow him to control John's memories, thus ensuring John never does anything this stupid again. That has to be it!
HOT:
This is a little preemptive, but if it does turn out that Ben needs medication to stay "sane," it will be a pure stroke of genius on the writers' part. That would mean we get a believable way for Robert Scott Wilson to play crazy Ben as well as introspective, recovering Ben. Yes and yes! Brilliant!
NOT:
I can't talk about the Elani baby storyline. I wanted to watch that storyline like I wanted to swallow tacks. In fact, for the first time in my Scooping career, I fast-forwarded through scenes during a week I had to write -- landing nicely on a Neulasta commercial. That's correct, a commercial for a medication for actual people with actual cancer was more pleasant to watch than this gratuitously painful and unnecessary storyline.
LINE OF THE WEEK:
Gabi (to Stefan, upon learning he speaks Spanish): "Good. I have a whole list of names that I'd like to call you!"
I agree, more than one language is necessary to come up with the correct amount of adjectives to describe this putz. Can we get Paul to yell at him in Japanese, too?
Exchange of the Week:
Gabi: "At least I knew who the father was."
Abigail: "Yeah...that's a kind of important thing to know."
Marci Miller's comedic timing was pretty great on that line.
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
Kayla's going to need to install a side door in her office for all the women with paternity secrets.
Yo, Benny Boy. Someone did lay a finger on your sister. Clyde outright raped her. Just ask her.
When Abigail said, "No big deal, you've done this before" I immediately thought "Yup, like when you thought you might be pregnant with E.J.'s kid...or Ben's..." I'm starting to sense a pattern with the writing for Dear Abby.
Chad was exactly right when it came to Ben and Stefan. At least Ben had an excuse.
It's a good thing Steve can't see because Kayla is a terrible liar.
Glad to hear Mr. Shin is still around and as lovely as ever.
I'm a sucker for montages. Thursday's episode made me happy.
Do we call fans of Ciara and Ben "Cinners"? As in, "saints and Cinners"?
These lines gave me life this week:
Theresa: "Shut up, Eve! No one asked you."
J.J.: "You know, Eve. We've all done things that we're not proud of."
In a world where partners swap all the time, Kayla's never truly loved anyone else since the day she took her (first) vows with Steve. Even the years he spent missing with amnesia, Kayla never got involved with anyone else. There was that minute foray into online dating, but we never saw anything come of that. It's because she's always been there for Steve. Look up "ride or die chick." It's Kayla.
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