Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (3), Peacock screenshot, Paramount/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

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We got quite a bit of action on this week’s Days of Our Lives as Abigail’s home with a twist, Fiona’s done the unthinkable and Gabi shattered her happy marriage. But is the show sacrificing characters for the sake of drama? Maybe, but it could still be worth it if done right! So let’s see how the show’s handling things…

Close to Home

I know Sarah’s paralysis is likely a throwback to Maggie’s when she first appeared on the show, but doing that to Linsey Godfrey is rough. For those who don’t know, back in 2015, Godfrey was struck by a car, which broke both her ankles and shin bones. While she wasn’t paralyzed, she was unable to walk for some time, so this story has got to hit uncomfortably close to home. I’m guessing this is part of what she and Paul Telfer shared about the difficult storyline coming up. While Godfrey did make a full recovery, I can’t imagine being asked to relive something like that as Sarah.

And yes, Xander’s mother paralyzing his wife the night of their wedding and framing his nephew for the hit and run is packed with drama. Heck, just typing that out is. We’re definitely going to get some amazing performances out of this. Maggie already tugged at my heartstrings when she blamed herself for losing the Horton cabin keys.

But the show has already hamstrung a character we were eager to meet and, what’s more, like. We’ve been waiting ages to meet Fiona, and while we expected her appearance to be messy and emotional, how in the world do you come back from something like this? How could Xander ever trust or forgive her? How could we?

That’s a sin Days frustratingly commits over and over again. The show introduces characters and makes us hate them almost from the start, then later tries to convince us we should like them. I don’t expect Fiona to be a permanent part of the canvas, but I have a feeling by the end of this story, we — and the characters on the canvas — are supposed to forgive her.

Whether Days of Our Lives pulls it off or not, is the question.

Don’t Count Her Out Yet

Color me pleasantly surprised, but I’m liking the way AnnaLynne McCord is playing MaybeAbigail and enjoying this mystery. Yeah, she could be faking the whole thing, but her reaction to everything from pulling back from Jack’s hug to panic at the thought of being introduced to children she doesn’t know makes sense.

And I enjoyed the Abigail, Chad and Stefan scenes on Friday, from Stefan’s reaction to the bizarre “resurrection” to the two brothers rehashing the Abigail/Gabby stuff.

Her call today makes it seem like she’s faking it all, but that does not mean she’s not Abigail. If she actually was in an accident that gave her amnesia and required plastic surgery, she could just think she’s faking being Abigail. You know, like the Uncle Fester Twist in The Addams Family movie. Spoiler Alert! (Just in case someone comes at me for spoiling a movie over thirty years old.) We think Fester’s a fake who’s trying to steal the family fortune the entire film, only to learn he’s the real deal with amnesia, tricked into tricking them.

And honestly, I wouldn’t hate that for Abigail.

On the other hand, if she’s not Abigail, and the DNA test results weren’t changed, that means she’s another of Jack’s daughters. A lost twin of Abigail? A lost twin of Gwen? I saw someone mention she could be Gwen with plastic surgery and amnesia — which would have been one heck of a twist. But she answered the phone the other week when Leo called and told him to go to hell. That was after Jack and Chad were already searching for the woman in the video.

Just Call Her ‘The Cleaner’

I’m starting to think Connie’s being used to tidy up the canvas and wipe out characters Days of Our Lives wants to get rid of. Because, as much as I hate to say it, I’m starting to worry Melinda’s time could be up. And that would be such a waste. She’s always been a promising character who never quite gets the chance to shine. Every time it seems like she’s about to get story she can run with, the show pulls back. I thought maybe she’d be given more screen time working with Gabi, Ava and Kristen, but it seems like she was just brought into DiMera to put her in conflict with Connie.

Also this week, we got another anticlimactic reveal. Lori mentioned last week how Connie waited about thirty seconds to go from promising to find the perfect moment to drop the Ava/Stefan reveal to actually doing it. Then Gabi did the same thing this week. Come on, this is the woman who blew EJ’s life up at a press conference! The best she can do with Stefan and Ava is confront them during lunch at The Bistro? Eh.

Stray Thoughts…

• Brady, buddy, just be a monk at this point. You just cannot help but hook up with women who do the maximum amount of damage to you.

• Did anyone else catch Chad’s head shake and grunt when Abigail noted Stefan O. was named after “the big guy?” (He wasn’t, he named himself that.) Thank you for that laugh, Billy Flynn.
• Gabi talking about how important Gabi Chic is to Kristen’s return to DiMera just makes me wonder all the more what the heck that company does.
• EJ’s still MIA. We do get to see him next week interact with Abigail, but man, the nonexistent post-baby stuff has been a huge letdown with him. Please figure out a direction with him soon.
• Also, Rafe is still in a coma and offscreen. Is the show trying to save money somehow by writing characters out for weeks and months at a time? John, Steve, Rafe…

• Yes, Cady McClain is back as Jennifer and yes, Melissa Reeves will be back as her in the fall when the show says farewell to Doug. Just roll with it.
• Body and Soul had some shenanigans this week. Talk amongst yourselves about them if you want.