Days of our Lives Review: Ciara is Back
Jack Ori
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I always thought a teenage Ciara Brady should be a fireball.
The little girl version of Ciara was spunky, outspoken, and not above manipulating Hope to try to get what she wanted.
Ciara got Theo to run away with her, hid an envelope meant for Hope so that her mom wouldn't go to work when she wanted to go to the zoo, and even went toe-to-toe with Sami over a lost earring that she found by the river and gave to Theo.
Ciara always seemed to be roping Theo into some scheme or other and it seemed like it would be fascinating to see what was going to happen when they were teenagers.
But when Ciara and Theo were aged, for some reason Ciara was written as kind of bland, as if her inner fire had all been extinguished when she grew up.
Ciara returned to town on Days of Our Lives during the week of 12-4-17 and she seems to be every bit Bo Brady's daughter, as she always should have been!
A lot of her opinions and decisions are questionable, but I'm mostly enjoying her return now that her personality is closer to what it was always meant to be.
Ciara burst into town on her father's motorcycle and immediately got into an argument with Claire over Theo.
For some reason, Ciara seems to think that Claire is to blame for Theo getting shot and if only Ciara had been able to deliver her love letter and get him to date her instead, he never would have got hurt.
That is, of course, ridiculous. I'm glad to see Ciara state that she doesn't blame JJ for the shooting -- he needs all the friends he can get.
But if Ciara had been dating Theo at the time, I can virtually guarantee that the only difference would be that Abe would be screaming at Hope that he always knew her daughter was bad news who should have stayed away from his son.
Nevertheless, best friends -- or in this case aunt and niece -- fighting over a man is a soap staple and this is a more interesting storyline than the pre-shooting nonsense with Claire whining that she didn't like Tripp the way she liked Theo but spending every waking minute with him.
I love that Ciara is being given some depth. She's totally obnoxious when it comes to Claire, moving back into the loft when there's no room for her and swearing she's going to make her pay for what happened to Theo.
Yet her scenes with Theo are softer, more tender, and you can see the love and the pain involved in what's happened to her childhood best friend.
And Hope is being completely ridiculous. Ciara is over 18 and does not live at home. Hope can think motorcycles are dangerous all she wants, but Ciara is an adult and if she wants to drive one that's really her business.
For all the noise Hope was making about how Bo was the love of her life, she doesn't seem to appreciate her daughter being at all like him and that's going to be a problem from now until she cuts this out and treats her like an adult.
I wish Ciara had not suggested that they talk to Rafe about the motorcycle nor that it was suggested that Rafe was her father figure that she was so close to.
There wasn't much evidence of that on air, other than Rafe teaching Ciara to skate backward when she was eight years old. And it seemed like more obnoxious Rafe/Hope pimping.
Hope and Rafe ended for very good reasons. Rafe was constantly belittling Hope, second-guessed every decision she made, acted like she was a weak little woman in need of male protection, and ended up taking her job.
And if that wasn't enough, the second they ended things he slept with Sami.
I'll give Rafe credit for thinking he should admit to Hope what he'd done, but he only made a half-hearted effort before accepting her ridiculous marriage proposal.
This whole thing, from Rafe hiding in the other room when Hope showed up to Hope wanting to reconcile while he had this secret on his mind, is all too reminiscent of when Eve slept with JJ and Paige walked in, then wanted to get back together with JJ the next day.
The only thing missing is Sami blackmailing Rafe into breaking up with Hope, which would totally be a Sami Brady thing to do except for some weird reason she's encouraging Rafe and Hope to reconcile.
Nobody lies in bed with someone telling him he should forget the sex they just had and go back to his fiancee, and certainly not Sami Brady, who was only in this predicament in the first place because her plan to re-enact her son's murder in order to cure him of amnesia blew up in her face!
Anyway, the Eve/JJ debacle is one best forgotten and I don't want to see a rerun of it with Rafe and Hope. At least JJ and Paige were an enjoyable couple.
Hope seems like she is begging Rafe to believe she loves him every time she opens her mouth, while Rafe is demanding that Hope get on his timeline for how and when their relationship should move forward.
Many viewers breathed a sigh of relief when these two broke up; why couldn't it have stayed that way?
Why didn't my husband tell me any of this? You made it sound like we have the perfect marriage, and clearly we don't. Why did you lie to me?
Will
Meanwhile, Will wasn't particularly eager to get his memories back, especially if it meant remembering he was related to the crazy lady who tried to have him murdered for a second time. But his interest was piqued when he learned he'd slept with Paul.
Will's behavior when he found this out was similar to his imitation of Sami when he slept with Paul in the first place. Though he told Marlena he was upset to think he was the kind of person who could cheat, when he arrived at Paul's hotel, he seemed to be determined to bed him again even though he knew Paul was engaged to Sonny.
Will stared at Paul's naked chest while Paul took forever going to the other room to get dressed and then came back to put a shirt on. He flirted with Paul over and over while asking him about what had happened the first time. He offered to be friends someday... and then he kissed him.
It seemed like he remembered the original affair on some level and wanted to recreate it. He also was pretty manipulative when Sonny came to the door.
You can't rewrite history. Will slept with Paul and you didn't forgive him then. What makes you think you can forgive him now?
Chad
Sonny abruptly broke things off with Paul to be with Will.
It's no secret that I dislike Paul and Sonny as a couple. I still can't get past the flirting at what was believed to be Will's grave and the lack of buildup in their relationship.
But right now it's mostly Sonny I dislike.
Sonny can't seem to get over the fact that Paul waited a full 24 hours before telling him that Will might be alive, and he's suddenly decided that Will is the only man for him despite the fact that when Will was alive he couldn't forgive him for cheating.
Sonny is just being portrayed as an unforgiving person, period, who holds grudges in order to have an excuse to break up with someone he no longer wants to be with.
He's not likable and there was no evidence he still had feelings for his late husband prior to Will showing back up, so his sudden devotion to him is hard to buy.
Will and Paul both deserve better and I'm finding myself hoping they hook up and leave Sonny out in the cold.
Kayla: Why do you think I'm accusing you of something?
Kate: Well, in my experience, an interrogation often leads to an accusation.
Kayla: You think I'm interrogating you?
Kate: It has the earmarks of it.
Kayla: Well, maybe it feels like an interrogation because you feel guilty about not being there for Theo.
Meanwhile, I loved seeing Steve and Kayla support Tripp and begin to work on unmasking Kate. However, I wish they would remember JJ is their nephew!
For some reason, ever since Steve's return in 2015, it's been written as if he and JJ are not related at all, but Kayla used to be close to JJ when he was a teenager.
Steve and Kayla should be struggling with feeling like they want to show support to their nephew without appearing disloyal to their good friend Abe, not focusing solely on Theo as if JJ is some stranger.
I'm glad JJ has a real, meaty storyline, but I don't like it that he's still being written as if Jennifer and Abigail are his only family while everyone else treats him as a non-entity at best and a pariah at worst.
It's especially ridiculous for Steve and Kayla to ignore him while giving Tripp so much support. I know Tripp is Steve's son, but he deliberately sabotaged Kayla's records to ruin her career, without regard for the risk to her patients, and held her at knifepoint. JJ shot Theo because he mistakenly thought he was in mortal danger himself.
By supporting Tripp and not JJ, the implication is that Tripp's deliberate violent and destructive behavior is less bad than JJ shooting an unarmed person who appeared to be pointing a gun at him.
I love seeing Steve and Kayla work together, though, and I'm glad Kate's part in this is going to come out.
Incidentally, what happened to Abe?
He was spending every waking minute guarding Theo's bedside to make sure JJ didn't visit, but he seems to be nowhere in sight as Claire and Ciara fight over Theo in front of his comatose body, nor was he around to see Kate practically confess to her part in what happened to Theo while in his room.
Finally, Sami sulked and lashed out at pretty much everybody after Will rejected her.
Sami still refuses to admit that her plan backfired or that it wasn't a great plan in the first place. I enjoyed seeing both Belle and Eric put her in her place.
Eric: What did you do last night?
Sami: It's nothing for you to worry about.
Eric: You said the same thing about Ben and Will.
Sami: I hate when you remember things I say!
Eric and Sami are always my favorite part of any Sami storyline. Eric knows his twin sister very well and is able to be both accepting and tough on her to try to get her to be reasonable. It's really not surprising he fell so hard for Nicole after spending so much time taking care of his wayward, manipulative sister.
Of course, after he left, someone called with news that appeared to be related to EJ's whereabouts. I wonder what trouble Sami is going to get into now and what shape she'll be in next time we see her.
What did you think of Days of Our Lives during the week of 12-4-17?
Are you enjoying this reboot of Ciara's character?
Who are you hoping gets together at the end of this Sonny/Will/Paul triangle?
Am I the only one who is extremely disappointed that Hope and Rafe reconciled?
Weigh in below, and don't forget to check back on Sunday 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.
