Days of Our Lives Review: Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Baby Thomas is a year old!

His birthday just happens to fall on Thanksgiving, which also isn't going to take place until next week since Days of Our Lives was pre-empted during the holiday.

It also happens that he''s a very inactive one-year-old who has not been seen crawling, babbling or playing, but that pales in comparison to the fact that his mother is busy hiding from her family for no good reason.

Will her son's first birthday finally draw Abigail out into the open?

This has got to be one of the silliest, most convoluted storylines in recent history. Marci Miller is a fine actress but she's been given an absolutely crazy story.

Last summer, Andre appeared to come up with the brilliant idea to make Chad think that Abigail had died in a plane crash. He chuckled to himself about how Chad and JJ both believed it, and in typical Andre fashion reveled in the thought of them being so broken-hearted. But now, all of a sudden Abigail told Andre to do this so that she could free Chad from dealing with her mental illness.

And now Andre is trying to convince Abby to return to Chad.

None of this makes any sense whatsoever. Andre might have influenced Abby while she was in a fragile state to abandon her family, but she certainly would never have been the one to suggest he fake her death, and Laura "I hate all DImeras on sight" Horton would never have worked with Andre to do it.

In addition, Abigail supposedly came home because she was terrified her brother might die after Orpheus shot him, but she is equally terrified that JJ might know that she's alive and is adamant that he never be told. What sense does that make? And are viewers really supposed to root for Abby's existence to be kept a secret or to believe that Andre is the good guy in all of this?

This feels like the writers decided they didn't like the original story and are rewriting it as they go along, and that they aren't any too concerned about whether anyone's behavior is actually in character throughout this story.

It's totally implausible that Jennifer would simply agree to hide Abby in the attic, and equally surprising that she hasn't one yet pointed out that Jack also had PTSD after his Afghanistan misadventure and that he and Jennifer were on their way back to each other when he died.

On top of that, Abigail's other reason for not wanting to reveal herself is even more senseless. She has seen Chad with Gabi and decided she can't interfere with their burgeoning relationship even though she's jealous.

First of all, if Chad knew Abby was alive he would most likely lose interest in Gabi. And in addition, since Abby knows JJ and Gabi recently broke up, she should be a bit more critical of her so-called best friend making the moves on Chad so quickly rather than using it as an excuse to stay in hiding.

Let's hope that Abigail soon moves into a worthwhile storyline because this one is an insult to viewers' intelligence and a waste of a talented actress.

Put me on probation.
JJ

Permalink: Put me on probation.

While Abigail was coming up with excuses not to let anyone know she's in town, JJ was busy begging for forgiveness from someone who he is far better off without.

First of all, JJ didn't do anything wrong. The writers clearly meant to write that he had a drunk one-night stand but instead they wrote a story about a man being sexually assaulted and then treated as the bad guy by everyone in town.

It's especially disappointing that Rafe, who is a cop with years of experience, doesn't know that having sex with a person who is so drunk they can't remember what happened constitutes sexual assault.

In any event, even if JJ's one-night stand had been consensual, he confessed it and has been begging for another chance ever since, while Gabi used his being honest with her as an excuse to continue her affair with Chad.

She's been cheating on JJ this entire time, first having an emotional affair and then kissing Chad twice -- once before she and JJ were broken up and once right after -- and her meeting with Chad was more or less to break up with him.

Given how deeply the writers have thought through this story, it's probably a coincidence, but it sure seems like Gabi is projecting her own guilt onto JJ, accusing him of being untrustworthy and of breaking her heart because deep down she knows that's exactly what she's doing to him.

It also seems that JJ misses Paige so badly that he has convinced himself that Gabi is just like her, as Gabi has never done anything positive for him whatsoever except for dumping him.

JJ deserves much, much better than a woman who will flirt with another man while he is hovering between life and death and he needs to have enough self-esteem to stop groveling and begging for another chance with someone who is incapable of being faithful to him. This is almost as bad as Nicole begging Deimos for forgiveness.

What is with this pattern of having people beg for the love of people they are far better off without?

Meanwhile, Adrienne's dilemma about which man to choose continued. In a silly turn of events, Sonny invited both men to Adrienne's hotel room and then sat outside the door to ensure that they both made their case to her about who to be with.

This storyline is more appropriate to the teen scene. If Adrienne doesn't know for sure by now that she wants Lucas, he should walk away. Justin swooping in at the last second with pleas of love should not change anything.

Paper always covers rock, every time. Go ahead, Counselor.
Lucas

Permalink: Paper always covers rock, every time. Go ahead, Counselor.

These scenes were great comic relief, with both men being shocked to run into each other and ending up playing "Rock Scissor Paper" to decide who gets to speak first. But the whole premise is ridiculous and I kept thinking about how Lucas wouldn't let Justin see his speech for Will's wedding ahead of time every time one of them opened his mouth.

The best part of this fiasco was that Lucas actually stayed committed to his sobriety when he ran into Anne, and for once she didn't try to be a bad influence. After seeing Jen's lack of concern with JJ's problematic drinking and pretty much every man in Salem deal with relationship problems by drinking himself under the table, this was a refreshing change.

While the guys were duking it out, Sonny hung out with Paul and then Chad in front of Adrienne's hotel room. Sonny and Chad's friendship was great to see, and I found myself wishing Chad was bi because he and Sonny have a ton of chemistry and would make an interesting couple.

Ciara and Claire randomly got volunteer jobs at the hospital. It would have been nice to know they were planning on doing that, but nevertheless it's a set-up for an interesting story as the teens check out Valerie Grant. She told Theo a story about why she lied to her boss that sounded like she was making it up as she went along.

Claire saw through it and encouraged Theo to keep investigating, while Ciara insisted he shouldn't, probably because she's jealous that he's moved on after she dumped him to try to get with Chad.

I'm excited about seeing Claire and Theo investigate Valerie together and find out what her real story is. It certainly seems like she has another boyfriend somewhere, as she changed the subject as soon as Abe asked about her home life.

Finally, Steve and Paul decided to investigate Eduardo's business on the docks. Steve pretended to be a homeless veteran who harassed a dock worker for change while Paul stole a crate. They went to the park and opened it to find it was full of knock-offs of designer purses.

Talk about anti-climactic! Unless there's something hidden inside the purses or Eduardo somehow knew they were coming, this whole thing made little sense and was just filler for these two characters.

Did you enjoy this short week of Days of Our Lives? What storylines are you hoping to see after Thanksgiving?

Weigh in below, and check out our Round Table Discussion for more opinions about all the Salem goings-on!