Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI, Peacock screenshot (2)

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Last week, I mentioned how Days of Our Lives was kind of a roller coaster — exciting episodes followed by snooze worthy ones. This week, I hate to say it, but it felt more like a flume ride. You go up a little bit, but really, it’s mostly downhill. But there were some bright spots, so let’s get to it…

Body Count

I realized I wasn’t alone in struggling this week when Leo dropped that tidbit to Chad about Xander getting the acting bug for Body and Soul. My thought was: A few episodes were kind of rough lately… Did I fall asleep somewhere this week and miss that happening?! Then I saw a message board topic that asked the same thing. So, nope! It was just a random Leo fact dropped out of nowhere.

And on that matter, I’ve avoided talking about Body and Soul, but it’s time. I enjoyed it back when it was first introduced because it was a fun, inconsequential, soap caricature from what I thought was the ‘80s (but was shockingly current) that Abe was watching while a prisoner. But if they’re going to bring it into the show proper, it needs to be better than this. I’m so sorry I ever said anything about making it a spin off. Maybe if it was done as a standalone thing like Soap, back in the day, it could be fun.

But incorporating it in like this, it’s like they’re throwing every behind-the-scenes, eye-rolling, lazy caricature of soaps at it. They’re hiring Hattie who can’t act worth a damn, but looks the way they want her to. And what was that line of Abe’s about how Hattie’s motivation is that her character is “upset because she’s not the town’s top diva anymore?” What does that mean? That’s not how soap operas work! They have actual plots!

And Marlena’s utter obliviousness was bizarre. “Body and Soul? What’s that?” Even people who don’t watch soaps aren’t clueless to them existing. Trust me, as a millennial who’s written about them for over a decade and a half, I have never run into anyone who, after telling them what I do for a living, doesn’t recognize a single soap opera show name. And I’m talking about younger folks. The generations above me are even more familiar.

Then there’s hiring Johnny. That’s fine, we saw that coming and he needs a job, but calling him an “experienced” director? How much experience does he have? Oh, you mean that Marlena possession movie that never got made?

I’m sorry, I’m trying not to rant, but I’m suddenly afraid we’re going to be locked into this for months since it’s all shot already and each time it’s on… I need an aspirin. Hopefully, at least, the actors have fun with it. That could be a bright spot if they just let go and enjoy the absurdity.

So Long, Farewell

As for something a bit meatier that Abe got to do this week: How did we feel about Nicole and Eric’s exit? It felt kind of rushed to me, which is weird, because we, and the folks at Days, all knew it was coming. The flashbacks were cute, but there still could have been more, seeing as how we likely are saying goodbye to these two together forever. Though that doesn’t necessarily mean Greg Vaughan’s Eric. We know he’ll be back, though I doubt it’ll be long term for now.

Marlena’s speech was beautiful, and I’ve got a feeling there were real emotions on set, but the farewell party still seemed like it could have been grander. Sigh. With everything going on behind the scenes, there’s just no part of me that feels good about any of this.

Holly, though, is now officially Maggie’s problem. I’m kind of curious to see how she handles things. Lord knows Brady isn’t going to be father of the year in the coming weeks…

Murder One… and Two

This week certainly wasn’t all a drag. Everett and Bobby’s deaths were a genuine surprise which, in this day and age, is impressive. Maybe I wasn’t expecting it because if they died, we’d never know what the point of them ever was. I was hoping the returning writers would wrap up the DID story before sending “Beverett” off, but I guess they just decided to can it without any explanation. That happens with writing changes, whether intentional or due to strikes.

But I’m still not even sure why Everett was brought in in the first place. I don’t think the split personalities was the original plan, so what was it? Was he always meant to die? Was he just to break up Stephanie and Chad to make room for Abigail’s return? Because I don’t think Abigail was even planned to come back when Blake Berris was hired.

I guess we’ll never know. But I will say Abigail Klein and Elia Cantu were great as Stephanie and Jada handled their respective exes’ deaths in their own ways. Jada held it together and went into work mode to get to the bottom of things, even while letting her own heartbreak break through now and then. And Stephanie broke down after saying goodbye to Everett, who surfaced just in time to be the victim of Bobby’s machinations, which, in and of itself is pretty heartbreaking when you think about it. Man, her crying hit me.

This storyline lost a lot of folks, but even if the ending was out of left field and just left unresolved questions, I felt Thursday’s performances were great all around.

Budding Serial Killer

As for Connie, my bet is on Gabi taking her down. (Which I wrote about here.) I don’t see the cops doing it, or even the Jada/Stephanie team up. The 9-1-1 call they found on Everett’s phone could have meant a number of things, including that Bobby had second thoughts and wanted to live. So I’m glad they didn’t use it to just jump to, “Oh, this means he was murdered!” With that said, landing on the, “Everett surfaced and didn’t want to die” theory was probably the most heartbreaking take.

But what should tip them off is that Bobby went to see Jada and didn’t seem to know what was going on when he started feeling sick. And I’ve got a feeling that Leo will come into play here and mention he heard Everett in his room when he was, in fact, with Jada. (Wheeling a body through the town square was absurd, but I still chuckled at Connie cheerfully waving bye-bye to Bobby as his body was carted past her.)

Find Her!

When the new writers take over, please, I am begging you, pace things better. Chad and Julie found the video with the back of AnnaLynne McCord’s head back in mid June. If the story had been constantly moving since then, I’d be OK with the fact that they hadn’t tracked her down yet, but it hasn’t. It was just dropped for ages, then had updates doled out here and there.

But now they are hot on the heels of Mystery Woman and all our questions will be answered soon! Maybe. Who wants to bet they don’t find AnnaLynne McCord in that room? It seemed too easy, albeit also drawn out too long. But she’s got to be showing up soon. I keep thinking they’re back to it and she’ll be on our screens every time they pick this thread up, and then it doesn’t happen. And whether or not McCord’s actually a still-alive Abigail is another matter. Just please, give us something soon.

Stray Thoughts…

• We didn’t get a lot of Xander/Sarah/Fiona stuff this week, but I’m suddenly a lot less trusting of Ms. Cook and her institutionalized claims. She just lied to Xander’s face about being sober and going to meetings, minutes after a bender with Brady and telling him how much she hates meetings.

• Connie’s got a lot sharper wit than I think people realize. Her cheerfully telling Bobby, “Everett really owes you for keeping him locked up in that mental dungeon of yours,” was such a dig.
• Is Theresa gone now? Paul said Andrew’s “wrapping things up” with her, and it seems par for the course for the show to just vanish her off to prison. It seems like Gwen should be returning soon.
• Marlena and Kayla don’t have time to be on Body and Soul, but they can drop everything at a moment’s notice and go to a farewell party. Sure.
• Nicole and Eric giggling about committing adultery was… kind of weird. I get it, their marriages to horrible people are over and I don’t judge them one bit, but it still felt weird.
• John disappearing is not where I expected his Greece sojourn to go, but still, we’ve been assured he’s not gone!