Days of Our Lives Review: Another Interrupted Wedding
Jack Ori
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Soap opera weddings used to be big events.
They were the payoff after going through all the angst and buildup and rooting for a couple to overcome serious obstacles to their union.
Days of Our Lives had some of the biggest and best weddings in years gone by, too. There were destination weddings, people almost marrying the wrong person, and disasters averted at the last second to make sure the right couple said: "I do."
In recent years, the budget has gotten smaller so there isn't money for big, flashy weddings. But that doesn't mean romance has to be dead and that weddings don't have to be important events.
The last big wedding was Will and Sonny's landmark union in 2014. Ever since then, weddings have been an exercise in frustration because viewers know the couple isn't going to get married or stay married.
And to make matters worse, the double wedding of Paul/Sonny and Abigail/Chad during the week of 9-25-17 featured only one rootable couple and very little buildup, making it even harder to invest in.
Much of the week was devoted to getting ready for the weddings.
There were bachelor parties instead of a rehearsal dinner the day before the wedding. It was nice to see family and friends support Abigail at her bachelorette party, and Lani was even tolerable despite claiming that she had to learn to stop letting JJ drive her nuts.
The guys' bachelor party was another story.
Andre offered a classy, high-brow experience complete with a fancy menu that was likely a nod to Thaao Penghlis' real-life interest in gourmet cooking, champagne, and bridge playing. I actually felt bad for him when the guys ditched his party in favor of the party at the Pub!
Meanwhile, at the Pub, Paul was pressured to drink when he didn't want to while Brady tried to hide his own drinking from everybody and a male stripper showed up who just happened to be Paul's ex.
That party reinforced so many negative stereotypes about men that it was difficult to watch. I also found it highly unbelievable that JJ, who has ruined his life more than once with alcohol, would be among those pressuring Paul to drink.
Rafe, despite being the uncle to a child whose father was gay, couldn't figure out on his own that the guys would hire a male stripper instead of a female one for Paul. Can they make his character any stupider?
John missed this scintillating party to coach Little League, which was a ridiculous excuse, and sent cigars that the guys were all smoking. I found it odd that JJ wouldn't even think about his pot smoking days while smoking cigars and all the guys looked ridiculous doing it.
And the stripper being Paul's ex was silly enough without him then showing up at Abby's party, where Lani was shocked that Abby didn't want a stripper there.
There were some really nice pre-wedding scenes for Abigail, though. Jennifer and JJ were there to help her get ready and there were plenty of warm, family moments.
My favorite was Jennifer giving Abigail the veil she wore at her own wedding to Jack, though her belief that she saw her husband in both her kids and her grandson was also very nice.
These scenes are the kind of thing I watch soaps for: the relationships between family members, love being passed down from generation to generation. I'd like to see more of these warm family moments.
Julie: So we realized if we didn't pool our resources this sleazy guy Myron was gonna get it and so we did pool our resources and so we got it. So this place belongs to you and me and Chloe. [pause] Darling, you haven't said a word since I sprung this on you. Was I too impulsive? Should I have discussed it with you first?
Doug: This is my place?
Julie: Yes.
Doug: Then I would like a dance with my girl, if you don't mind.
The other thing I watch soaps for is romance, and the most romantic scene had nothing to do with the wedding at all. After Julie and Chloe bought the club, she and Doug shared a dance in it before heading to the church for the wedding.
I loved seeing the closeness between these two and hearing Bill Hayes sing was an added bonus.
Jennifer: What is it? Is it bad news about the wedding?
Abby: It looks like there might not BE a wedding.
I thought it was ridiculous that Father Louis dropped out of the wedding at the last minute and that everyone had to scramble to find a replacement.
Earlier, Father Louis was noticeably absent from the pre-cana scene, which was even more ridiculous because the whole point of a pre-cana is to talk to a priest about your relationship, not just to fill out a survey.
I can't decide whether Days of Our Lives just didn't want to pay Larry Poindexter to appear in these scenes or if they were trying to solve the problem of the Catholic church not recognizing same-sex marriages in real life by having the priest absent from the nuptials.
Either way, I thought this aspect of the story made little sense and making Adrienne suddenly and magically have been ordained just to get Bonnie all flustered again was unnecessary.
I am very proud of my brother today and equally proud of the woman he's chosen to be his wife. When I'm around Abigail and Chad, I can't help but be uplifted by the light that emanates from them. It's made my heart not so dark. It's made me a better man. I am sure that everyone in this room will agree that history will not be remembering the Dimeras for how they loved, but when they write the story of Chad and Abigail, it'll be a story of beauty, poignancy, a story of true love, a story of passion that is timeless. And so, I want to say to them, to wish them a very well deserved happily ever after.
Andre
I enjoyed many of the speeches at the wedding, but Andre's was my favorite.
Andre was so nice throughout the entire ceremony, even comforting Kate about Lucas, that I was wondering if he'd been switched with his identical cousin (or identical brother nowadays, I guess) Tony.
His speech suggested that seeing Chad and Abigail's love softened him. I'm not sure I believe that, but I thought it was heartfelt, romantic, and classy.
I used to be really into planning. I think I got that from my mom. But I can't plan anymore, cause I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. I don't know what's gonna happen in the next 10 minutes, 10 seconds... Anything.
Abigail
Too bad that right afterward, the wedding had to be interrupted by an evil, unwanted guest so that viewers have to wait til Monday to see if anyone is really getting married.
This irritates me. We got all these beautiful moments with family and romantic moments at the wedding, and for what? It's hard to enjoy all the buildup when you know it's probably all going to fall apart because it always does on this show.
I know that interrupted weddings are a soap staple, but enough already.
It would also have helped if there'd been two couples at this wedding that I actually cared about.
I like Paul as a character, but he has no chemistry with Sonny whatsoever and these two were rushed into marriage with very little buildup. Plus, for a while Paul was pretty much stalking Sonny. I can't get the image of him flirting with Sonny at Will's grave moments after Will's gruesome murder out of my head.
That moment killed any potential Paul and Sonny had and the lack of a real story for this couple hasn't helped any.
The weakness of this pairing was evident in the buildup to the wedding, too. Abigail and Chad got some well-earned pre-wedding moments while Paul and Sonny got nothing.
Sonny was in his tux already and celebrating with Chad while Paul was still in a sweatshirt, and Paul literally wrote his vows moments before the wedding because he forgot he had to get them done.
That doesn't exactly add up to the romance of the century. In fact, I agree with the tailor who assumed Sonny and Chad were the happy couple. They have a ton more chemistry and it's a shame the show never explored the possibility of Chad being bisexual.
Nicole: It was Adrienne leaving him. From what I understand, that's why Lucas started drinking.
Maggie: Adrienne broke his heart, no doubt. But there is no good excuse for him to relapse. In fact, Lucas drinking again, it will sink him deeper into depression.
It was interesting how much of the wedding was devoted to people talking about Lucas' drinking.
Kate's concern was understandable, but I wasn't sure why Maggie and Nicole were talking about it. Brady was hanging around looking upset as usual -- was this supposed to make him think twice about his own drinking?
In any case, Maggie was right that "Adrienne" breaking up with him didn't cause him to drink and that he made a bad choice that he is going to regret. I wish more people understood this.
I also wish more and more with every passing moment that someone would realize that Bonnie is not who she claims to be.
Victor was shocked by her attempt to come on to him, but it just led to another round of discussing how Adrienne doesn't seem to be herself without anyone putting two and two together. And then Bonnie wore a completely inappropriate dress for the wedding and freaked out about the possibility of officiating at it.
This storyline is getting stupider and stupider. Bonnie is practically wearing a sign saying she is a doppleganger and no one is questioning her supposed identity or showing all that much concern about "Adrienne's" bizarre behavior.
Eli randomly showed up to take Gabi to the wedding and take her mind off of Chad marrying Abigail.
First of all, Gabi should have finished being upset about this a long time ago. It's not like Chad just chose Abby over her yesterday. She's known for months that Abigail is his true love. The "drama" of her looking sad during the wedding was unnecessary and didn't do her character any favors.
Secondly, this new love story, complete with Arianna attaching herself to Eli, would be a lot easier to invest in if this wasn't the third "love of her life" Gabi has allowed her young daughter to become attached to in the last 18 months or so.
If Gabi and Eli get together, Gabi will probably suddenly remember her feelings for JJ, since she can't ever be happy with the guy she's with, so I can't really look forward to this latest romance for her.
JJ and Lani are almost as mismatched as Gabi and anybody.
This pairing is so unimpressive that I forgot that JJ has a girlfriend and thought that now that Abby is getting married, next the show needs to work on finding someone for him. And it was bizarre that the two of them were sitting on opposite ends of the church while all the other couples were sitting together.
However, the worst couple is definitely Brady and Nicole. I was sickened by seeing Brady act like he was actually in love with Nicole at the wedding.
Earlier in the week, Brady threw another tantrum because Eric decided to leave town himself rather than firing Nicole. He also spent a lot of time looking lovingly at alcohol bottles.
Brady's true love is clearly alcohol. In addition, his behavior towards Nicole is obsessive, controlling, and abusive, and I don't find it entertaining in the slightest.
What did you think of Days of Our Lives during the week of 9-25-2017? Were you excited by the double wedding, disappointed about yet another interrupted wedding, or both?
Weigh in below and don't forget to check back on Sunday for our 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.
