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

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Days of Our Lives has been nailing the Friday cliffhangers and this time, we got a number of them all at once as several lives hang in the balance. But are they enough to get viewers caring about storylines they’ve struggled to connect with? 

The Best Laid Plans…

So Clyde is now free and they used John and Steve’s planning plus Ava’s family resources to bust him out of prison. But he supposedly has an entire criminal enterprise underneath him, plus a corrupt cop lover (let’s not do that Clyde/Goldman make out session again, thanks) and who knows how many prison guards on his payroll. Why did he need any of their help for this? Nobody but Black Patch could break him out? Yeah, I don’t buy that. It’s too contrived in the same way as I’ve been complaining about Ava and Stefan not being able to deal with Clyde. Why not? Because plot.

I don’t know who had the worst idea, though — John and Steve thinking they could hold Clyde indefinitely until he coughed up Tripp, or Ava turning on them and thinking she could threaten to shoot him and he’d tell?

And I think the Wendy and Tripp stuff was sweet, but I still need more than sweet for them. There’s got to be more fire there — external or internal, I don’t know, but I need something. I guess they kind of gave up, though? Because whatever happened to conserving air instead of talking nonstop? I suppose when you’re at the end of your life, you take what comfort you can get and that includes talking of marriage and spending a life together. Days of Our Lives certainly pulled out all the stops to make us think they won’t make it, but if they do, maybe they’ll come out of it determined to live life to the fullest.

Touched By an Angel

Over on the Paulina side of things for the other big cliffhanger. Lani and Chanel were talking about their kids being too young/non-existent to remember their grandmother was beautiful and heartbreaking. Though that also hits close to home. My own dad’s goal has been to be around long enough for his grandchildren to remember him. But I’ve a feeling that’s something lots of people face, which is why it was so quietly effective.

As for Paulina herself, that bright light and the figure wasn’t just a lighting problem onset. We know from spoilers that an angel is visiting Paulina and Abe, but I don’t buy that they’re there to save her. Bringing someone back from the brink of death is one thing, but this angel would have to miraculously heal Paulina’s failing heart too. That’s a bit much. (I know it’s Days of Our Lives, but still.)

Instead, I’ve got a theory. Abe’s acknowledged that he still doesn’t remember most of Paulina and talks about her being the love of his life — which is true, seeing as how his life only extends to about nine months as far as his memory is concerned. What if the angel is there for him, not Paulina? She’s there to give him his memory back before he loses his wife. Otherwise, what’s been the point of holding on to this memory loss all this time unless there was a big, beautiful, emotional return?

The thing is, Paulina hasn’t necessarily been the love of Abe’s life. That, for many years, was Lexie. So what if she’s the angel, coming down to help her beloved husband and give him his life and his happy memories back before losing Paulina? If they got Renée Jones back for this, that would be downright amazing.

With that said, I don’t think Paulina’s dying. She needs a heart, but Wendy and Tripp are still in dire straits. Then there’s Clyde and Officer Goldman. John and Steve just got free, so I’ve a feeling they’ll pull off a last minute coup, taking the baddies down. And while I’m sure most of you want to see Clyde get his, if we’re being honest, Goldman is the most likely one to bite the dust and give Paulina a heart.

What’s In a Name?

We learned who Everett really is. Robert Everett Stein, with his mother’s maiden name of Lynch. I had some ideas about what that may mean, including the fact that Everett remembers his mother but not his father. And it very much plays into him having two personalities.

Now that Marlena’s started digging around in his mind, I have a feeling we’re going to meet the infamous Bobby Stein soon. Marlena got things started and we learned that Everett’s likely got a whole lot of problems flitting around upstairs, but next up is hypnosis. And if there’s anything we as devoted soap opera viewers know, it’s that once you break out the hypnosis, split personalities start rearing their heads real fast.

Or Stephanie and Chad getting close again could bring Bobby out. Everett certainly seemed a bit nonplussed to see them all friendly and close again. I still want him to have something to do with the drugs. Maybe once Clyde’s out of the way, the drug problem will keep going and everyone will realize there was more going on than they realized. But it may just be a pipe dream at this point.

Out of Control

The Holly/Nicole/EJ stuff is just driving me crazy at this point. It goes something like this:

Holly: “Tate didn’t give me the drugs.”

EJ: “But he could have, so we’re going to destroy his life.”

Holly: “But he didn’t!”

Nicole: “Maybe he did? Let’s go after him without any actual evidence just in case.”

Holly: “But—”

Nicole: “Shh, shh, you’re too weak to talk.”

Holly, just tell the truth and stop pretending you don’t remember. You kind of blew past that right when you first woke up and you could have had their sympathy more, but there’s still time. You can fess up before you completely destroy Tate’s life for your own teenage stupidity. They’ll forgive you, you’re still a kid yet. But you need to speak the hell up!

And Nicole brushing off Brady like that… Ugh. She should know him better than that. At least Sloan’s pulled into this now. I wish they could have done more with Justin, but Tate needs a lawyer who will be around and I’m guessing Wally Kurth was busy over on General Hospital. Ultimately, this could be just the opportunity Sloan needs to save her own skin. (Which you can read about here.)

Stray Thoughts…

• Hallelujah! We got back to the time capsule! With a bunch of excuses as to why it can’t be opened without the key. OK, fine. At least it was acknowledged.

• It’s very sweet of Konstantin back off while John and Steve are busy with other things. For real, though, he is the slowest moving villain I’ve ever seen.
• EJ took Stefan for everything. That would surely make daddy proud. My guess is his time as the DA is almost over and he’s heading back to DiMera. (Because God knows no one else has been running it…)