Days of Our Lives Recap: Attacks and Counter-Attacks
Jack Ori
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When did Days of Our Lives become a crime drama?
Most of the week was devoted to the fallout from the fugitive crisis. The town is on lockdown. The fugitives are still at large. Bombs exploded.
I'm all for an umbrella story involving most of the characters, but a little balance would be nice
There were some other things going on, of course. Aiden took some time off from worrying about the fact that the sniper bullet Abe took was meant for him to continue blackmailing Hope, while Rafe spent time trying to convince Hope to let him take care of the Aiden problem. Gabi flirted with Chad some more.
And Theresa and Brady had a mock wedding to ease the pain of the lockdown.
Theresa and Brady's wedding was a nice romantic break from all the violence and chaos. They dressed up, kissed, and declared their love to each other. This was the most optimistic scene of the week.
Too bad the day before, Brady stood there doing nothing while the baby cried – after Theresa told him how close she was to a breakdown because of lack of sleep. That selfishness made this couple a little less rootable than they otherwise would be.
Also unrootable this week: Gabi and JJ (again). Gabi told Paul all about how she never sees Rafe because he's busy protecting the town and didn't mention JJ at all. Then after showing up at Chad's and helping drive the last nail into Clyde's coffin, she stayed behind to flirt with Chad while JJ took care of business at the station.
Gabi and Chad joked about whether JJ would want her to stay there and she then called JJ and spoke to him like he was an acquaintance. No wonder he would have preferred her not stay with Chad!
I can picture you now. Shooting your way into the Dimera compound, pistol in one hand disposable nappies in the other.
Orpheus
Clyde's exploits and eventual capture took up the better part of the week. Clyde was convinced that Abby and Chad are to blame for Ben's insanity and that baby Thomas ought to be Ben's so he'll just take him.
Hopefully all the other people who go around saying Chad is no good because he is a Dimera will stop now, as Clyde sounded just like them and nobody wants to be like Clyde.
Anyway, Chad and Andre created an elaborate set-up in which Andre convinced Clyde he hated Chad and pretended to shoot him in order to lure Clyde to the panic room, where he thought the baby was. Clyde was locked in and then was apparently arrested without incident.
Clyde never questioned any of what was going on, nor did he have any sarcastic words about JJ being a cop now or arresting him for a second time. The set-up itself was exciting, but the climactic moment was, disappointingly, off-screen.
Meanwhile, Nicole got into a confusing situation with Xander. It seemed like she and Deimos were setting him up, but it wasn't nearly as clear as the Clyde set-up. Nicole went to Daniel's grave and cried to him that she was trying to move on and that she missed him. Xander showed up and promptly kidnapped her, then called Deimos.
That's where things got strange. Deimos came to the hotel room where Nicole was being held and tried to arrange a trade: Nicole for Theresa. Nicole said that was unacceptable and Deimos then chloroformed her.
It's anyone's guess what Deimos is up to. Whatever it is, I hope it puts an end to his relationship with Nicole.
Meanwhile, Orpheus decided to wreak some more havoc while the other two criminals were doing their own thing. He set a bunch of bombs – perhaps Clyde was supposed to, too, as JJ found something on him that was supposed to be significant but I couldn't tell what it was.
Anyway, eight bombs went off, injuring Paul, Kate and Dario and frightening the rest of the town.
The best part of this story was Abe's frustration at not being able to help. Abe was getting stressed out, leading to Kayla warning him he needed to try to stay calm because the bullet fragments were gravitating towards his heart and she couldn't operate until after the bomb crisis was over.
Abe also had a heart-to-heart with Theo.
You are more than capable, Theo. But there is a difference between being capable and being reckless.
Abe
He was not happy that Theo had taken his gun and tried to attack Clyde himself, and explained to him that taking the law into your own hands is a bad idea.
Abe's the only good cop left in Salem and he needs to give this same speech to Hope and company.
Anyway, these scenes showed what a good father Abe is. Even from a hospital bed he was able to be both firm and loving.
Kate randomly showed up at the hospital, having suffered whiplash when one of the explosions caused someone to rear-end her. The accident seems to have made her forget how cold-hearted she is. She was kind to both Eduardo and Theo, which was a nice departure from the way she usually behaves.
This softer side of Kate hasn't been seen since about 2004 and I hope viewers see more of it.
Eduardo found Dario, which led to the most disappointing and instant forgiveness scene I've ever seen. Dario confessed to hiring the thug that hurt Gabi and Eduardo's reaction was basically that he didn't care because his own stupidity had allowed the convicts to escape.
What a disappointing end to this story! It would have been far more dramatic for JJ to be the one who found out what Dario did, rather than any of the Hernandezes, creating an actual high-stakes conflict for him and Gabi as well as for him and Rafe.
If Eduardo and Gabi had to find out, some conflict over it instead of instantly accepting Dario's behavior would have been nice.
Besides, Dario needs to suffer some consequences for his behavior, otherwise this story is pointless.
Finally, Sonny found a badly injured Paul. This situation seemed awfully contrived and melodramatic. It didn't make sense for Sonny to find Paul at John and Marlena's, and the ambulance taking an hour just seemed like a ridiculous plot point meant to give Sonny a ton of time to emote about Paul.
Thank God Steve came to take them to the hospital.
Meanwhile, all the kids were stuck at the hospital during the crisis. Joey kept begging to go with his dad on the rescue mission. His sudden interest in being a hero might have been more believable if he had put any emotion into it. He, Ciara, Theo, and Claire ended up delivering boxes of supplies to the doctors instead.
Theo was complimented on being so helpful more than once. It was odd when Kate told him he was like Lexie, as I couldn't remember if and when Kate and Lexie ever crossed paths.
What did you think of this week's Days of Our Lives? Are you still enjoying the escaped fugitive story, or would you rather they all get caught and go away already?
Weigh in below, and don't forget to check back tomorrow for the Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
