Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (2), Peacock screenshot (2), Paramount/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

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I was onboard with the stories through a lot of February. The Sweeps were sweeping right along. But something shifted recently. The actors are giving it their all, but Days of Our Lives this week was full of some frustrating twists and too much treading water on stories.

Four Miracles and No Funeral

I’ve got a lot to say about that angelic miracle twist… and it’s not good. I was willing to go along with having a Lexie Angel, even if it wasn’t Renée Jones, figuring that her returning to give Abe’s memories back before Paulina died would be fine. She was a huge part of his life and would want to help him if she could, so great.

“Fix her heart with the power of my love? What in heaven’s name are you talking about?!”

But magically fixing Paulina’s heart? I know, I know, Lexie encouraged Abe to do that with his love or something, but tomato, tomahto. I’m sure there’s some metaphor in there about Paulina’s heart being made whole again when Abe’s memories and love were made whole, but what a copout. I was even willing to forgive it when he brought Paulina back from flatlining, figuring it was like doctors reviving her to give her more time until she got a new heart.

But no. She’s healthy and perfect now. The show blew right past any storyline dealing with very real women’s heart issues or Black women’s heart issues. Paulina got her surgery, her heart was failing, she went down fast, then was miraculously healed. The end. Oh, and Lani and Eli are moving away for real now. Fine. But it didn’t have to happen. This kind of deus ex machina twist is usually only needed when writers back themselves into a corner. But they didn’t. The show could have given Paulina more time or killed someone and given her a heart!

I know, Days of Our Lives dips into the supernatural more than other shows, but by doing this, they just made clear that storylines and consequences don’t matter if they can just pull out a magical fix whenever they want. I suppose we kind of knew that with Dr. Rolf’s assembly line of reviving characters, but this takes it to a new level. I said early on in the Writers’ Strike material that it was a mixed bag. Well, I’ve been enjoying it too much, I guess, because we’re getting back to the mixed part of things.

That’s the look of a man who remembers his “wedding” but is determined to play dumb.

Credit: Peacock screenshot

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At least they did give Wendy some agency in their rescue with her ASL. I know some fans were wondering about her hand movements when they first saw the video and you were right! But then Rafe went and found them without the hand movements and I feel like that kind of made Wendy’s role… pointless. The two rescuer groups arrived at the same time. I guess it allowed them to split up and revive both Tripp and Wendy, but still.

Greek Tragedy Car Crash

Everett, Stephanie, Jada — all were utterly MIA this week. We got a glimpse of the Horton drama, thanks to Eli catching up with Grandma Julie. And The Pawn stuff continues to be doled out ever so slowly. We get it, Konstantin, you’re going to get your revenge. How about stop telling everyone that and actually do it. You have the card. You can turn John into The Pawn whenever you want — just do something!!

“Are you saying… you’re my dad?? Oh, wait, we aren’t doing that revision this time?”

Credit: Peacock screenshot

More: Is Steve irredeemable now?

So Konstantin wasn’t just a restauranteur, he was/is Greek mob? A rival to Victor’s territory. That’s a huge shift from what they claimed when he first showed up. As is Steve’s tale about John’s days working for Victor. Retcons happen, but a lot of times, they fit into the missing pieces of the past. We finally got a full explanation of what happened, and it just flat out rewrote what actually happened on the show back when Steve found a bandaged John and tried selling him to Victor.

And never mind my theory about Maggie playing Konstantin. She wouldn’t have had that heart-to-heart with Julie. She’s fallen for him — and Julie wasn’t helping. “If you choose to be with Konstantin, whomever, there’s no shame in that!” Yes there is!! There is lots of shame if it’s with Kon the Con! I’m going to have to just chalk Maggie’s obliviousness up to grief and being targeted when she’s vulnerable. It’s the only way I can rationalize her not kicking him to the curb.

Insert heavy sigh here.

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

And now, according to spoilers, Konstantin’s finally going to remember he and Theresa were trying to get money. But I’m not counting on that to wrap up.

Lemony Snicket and the Dastardly DiMeras

I think I figured out what’s happening with Tate and Holly. They’re doing A Series of Unfortunate Events. The books (and movie and TV show) are an exercise in the frustration of adults ignoring what kids are trying to tell them about what’s going on and blithely being unable to shield them from the “unfortunate” horrors constantly befalling them. And, a lot of times, it leads to death. Except, you know, it’s an entertaining ride.

Count Olaf, Aunt Josephine and the Boudelaire kids… or EJ, Nicole and Holly and Tate?

Credit: Paramount/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

And while I was entertained by this story for a time, we’re stuck on such a loop, I’m fed up with pretty much every character except Tate. At least Nicole got EJ not to press charges. And she finally acknowledged that teenagers don’t always think things through, but that doesn’t mean they need to be thrown in prison. But she’s still very much, “Are you sure you know what you’re talking about, Holly?”

More: The one person who can set Holly straight is…

Granted, that would be fixed if Holly told the truth, but here we are. Plus, all of this, “He broke into the house” is driving me crazy. Holly let him in the damn window! He didn’t break through it and burst into her room! Then Brady and Theresa just piled it on Tate after his arrest. This kid doesn’t stand a chance.

Loose Ends

Even if Harris had ever gelled with more viewers, I don’t think any of us would bother getting invested in him and Ava knowing Steve Burton’s leaving. That’s one of the problems with Days of Our Lives’ shooting schedule. When someone announces they’re leaving, it gives us too much time to shrug off whatever comes next as we just wait to see how they’re exiting. And I’m pretty sure we’ve all been expecting Harris to bite the bullet.

“I don’t know what I’m doing either, Rafe.”

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

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But I have no idea what the point is of keeping Stefan’s shooting a secret and Xander in jail now that Clyde’s escaped. (Though I wasn’t entirely sure what the point was to begin with). I’m guessing it’s just a way to take EJ out of the DA seat somehow. If Harris really does believe Stefan helped Clyde escape, then now’s the time to be like, “Hey, Rafe, I remembered who shot me. I think he helped Clyde. Let’s put the department resources into finding him.”

So, I’m guessing there’s some point to this having to do with spoilers next week about EJ hunting down Stefan. Again, I’m wondering if we’re about to be down a DiMera soon.

Stray Thoughts…

• Marlena put some bass in her voice when she yelled at Steve to tell her about John’s past. That I liked.

• News travels fast. A local kidnapping and rescue in Salem made it over to Hong Kong for Wendy’s mom to read about in pretty much the same day! I guess The Spectator really does have a world-wide readership what with their writing staff of two.
• Steve’s response to Goldman being Clyde’s girlfriend was, “I didn’t see that coming.” Same, Steve. Same. And I wish I hadn’t seen it at all.