Hey there, DAYS fans! We had a very special edition column last week to allow time for all the Emmy coverage. So, the two weeks worth of the original DAYS writers' materials got us nice and settled into some new storylines. While most of them are good, there were a couple of aggressive pivots into retcon territory that we'll all just have to get through together.
Luckily, we started with one that we all desperately wanted to see changed -- Salem is officially rid of Konnie.
It's fairly common knowledge that most soap weddings end in disaster. So, imagine our sincere and utter delight going into the Maggie/Konnie nuptials. It was one of those rare moments when we were all cheering from the same side of the stadium. Maggie finally got her chance to confront Konnie, on behalf of all of us, for his utter disrespect and time vampirism. Yes. Get him, Maggie!!
I adored how Justin, Xander, and Brady all stood behind Maggie. I even appreciated Alex stepping in to defend her when Konnie tried to mouth off. Bonnie and Sarah were lovely, making Maggie such a priority. It was rewarding all around!
And no offense intended to the Grand Red Dame, but it was comforting to hear Maggie admit that she was a total dope and should have listened to other people. And by "other people," I mean literally anyone she'd talked to over the past few months. Gah! We forgive you, Mags!
Theresa, however...I don't know what's in store for that one. What kind of bozo walks closer to a dangerous man to offer him a bottle of water? If I didn't know better, I'd swear she did it on purpose. Her constant "Who? What? An accomplice?!" bit got to the point of humorously overdone.
But the action sequence that followed was worth it! Konnie opened gunfire in the room, hitting Steve with one of the bullets. This left John to take care of Steve by applying pressure and general insults about getting older. Just add that to the pile of adorable things I've seen between these two.
Alex takes no gun or backup to chase after a man who just admitted to murder and opened fire on a room of people. Good move, Alex. He catches up with Theresa and Konnie, and it begins a soaptastically silly standoff. Alex isn't exactly bringing a stash of wits to this confrontation, either, so I was relieved when Brady showed up with a gun. I don't think Konnie would have shot Theresa because then he'd have no way of escaping. But the brain trust of Brady and Alex can't put that together, nor does either really have the guts to do much dirty work.
Enter Xander Cook soon-to-be Kiriakis. I jumped off my couch and cheered when he showed up and grabbed the gun. There's no love lost between Theresa and Xander, so I don't think he really cared if Theresa was frightened. But when Konnie ended up on top of Theresa, choking her on the ground, yes, that seemed like the time to shoot.
Before he died, Konnie left three confessions, and I'm quite sure all are true.
He admitted to tampering with Victor's plane.
He told Alex that Victor isn't his father.
He told all the K-men there's still an enemy in their midst.
Everyone seems to realize that someone had to help kidnap Victoria. But considering Victoria is fine and everyone else seems to be settling into their new normal, something else is going to need to motivate this confession. I'm guessing Xander's mom arriving in Salem for his wedding might just do the trick.
Loose Ends
Don't look now, but the Greene family is expanding! Dr. Mark Greene made a...um...memorable entrance. He joins Tate's friend Aaron and bakery fan Felicity. With two kids still in high school, it's reasonable to assume that their parental figures are in Salem, too. Though maybe they've always lived in west Salem near Mama Hernandez. Anyway, I'm glad that Kayla and Sarah have some more help at the hospital now.
Clyde swears that Abigail is alive and that there's a safe deposit box in Chicago to prove it. This sounds utterly ridiculous, but I get why Chad would want to at least go check it out. He can't leave that stone unturned. So, he and Julie are heading to the Windy City. I actually think Julie might be the perfect road trip partner. She's very well traveled. You know she'd be up for singing along in the car. And I have a feeling she packs a fantastic snack bag.
And now, let's rank of the remaining retcons:
(Double nope) One of the best things the interim writers did was give E.J. some nuance and showed that he truly can put someone before himself. The tenderness with which he treated Nicole after he found she'd kidnapped Jude was a true highlight. So, I'm very, very nervous to back him into the mustache-twirling villain role. But that's where he seems to be heading. The fact that he joked about how large his bill was going to be to help Eric divorce Sloan did not sit right. Nor did the hard right turn they had to do with Chanel where she's suddenly furious with E.J. for going after Paulina. And while he absolutely has a point that Paulina should lose her job for endangering people, forming a secret hate group that can anonymously bully people is, well, gross.
(Nope) Are we flirting with the Pawn again? If so, can we not? I was so relieved when it was revealed that John was faking the whole thing, thanks to help from Marlena. While I'd have loved to see this on-screen, this is the right use of their characters at this point. For now, someone hand me that card, and I'll take it to the nearest paper shredder.
(Too soon to tell) It was downright jarring when Jada admitted that she'll always have warm feelings about Bobby. Not only is that vastly different than every single thing she's ever said about Bobby, but we've seen Bobby. That dude is a total creeper! This storyline still has Elia Cantu and Blake Berris in it, so there's always hope. But this change was out of left field.
(Sure, fine) The DiMera board met in secret -- because of course they did -- and decided that Kristen would be a great CEO. I'd love to see the PowerPoint presentation that was so impressive that they'd forget about how her longest stint of employment was when she managed Kristen's Home for the Undead in Memphis. Still, I'm good with this magical change. Hopefully this will give Kristen some other storyline besides hissing about how much she loves Brady.
(Potentially good) Leo had an epiphany and went right to Marlena to start getting help on becoming a better person. I guess he did this because walking across the set, carrying a poster board reading, "Viewers need to think I'm not a creep!" was a little too obvious. As bananas as this pacing was, I'll roll with this one, too. Gregg Rikaart is a fantastic talent and has thus far been wasted on a character that just isn't all the way baked. And this actually is how people change in the real world. They identify a problem, get the help they need, and work to be better. And I'm not saying that I want Leo to be a saint. But a gay dude version of the current Nicole Walker wouldn't be terrible.
HOT:
(Yes, please!) Lucas is home, and his sentence is commuted! I'd be thrilled to see him back in Salem. I loved his interaction with Ava while they were on the Clyde hunt. And since the dangling secret left out there has to do with his niece, I'd say Lucas has a good reason to hang around Salem a little longer.
NOT:
The John Aniston double and voice impersonation kind of bummed me out. I don't like that we got this asterisk addition to Victor's appearance on-screen. Worse, I don't think it was necessary. Konnie could have been on the phone and recounted that whole conversation one way.
LINE OF THE WEEK
Xander: "I'm all you had! These two were trying to prove who could be more useless!"
Let me just say, the scene where Jada questioned Xander about the shooting might have been one of the low-key funniest scenes DAYS has ever done. Both Brady and Alex were being absolute brats about the whole situation. Victor would have knocked their little heads together for being such twits. I loved Xander's complete exhaustion with their stance that they "had it covered." He had numerous great sarcastic lines, which were all appropriate for a situation in which he clearly made the right move.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Bonnie's necklaces looked way too much like snakes.
Why would you ruin a double fudge brownie by putting nuts in it?
Cary Christopher is insanely well cast as Billy Flynn's son.
I'm having a hard time believing Johnny and Chanel are truly leaving Salem.
Steve's going to need to invest in yellow roses stock for the amount of flowers he's going to need to dish out next. He's starting to share that common DNA with his brother, Jack, where these men make decisions and then don't let their wives in on them. That's never great!
Marlena's quick retort of "Don't call me doc" was hilarious and so well delivered.
What person walks up to a random table and asks to drink a stranger's water? Furthermore, what DOCTOR walks up to a random table and asks to drink a stranger's water? Did COVID-19 teach us nothing about infection prevention? Ewwwwwww.
I guess Belle isn't available to help Eric with his divorce?
This was from the week before, but I don't actually hate Kristen and Alex as friends in their Bad Guy Club kind of way.
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