Days of Our Lives Review: Theresa Leaves Town

Theresa's original exit story should never have happened.

She pretended to choose drugs over Brady in order to go live with a drug lord who wanted to use her as a sex slave. The idea that Shane would tell her to go do that was equal parts ludicrous and disgusting, and the story made a mockery out of sex trafficking, which is a serious real world issue.

Theresa's return did little to rectify that. In fact, her character spiraled further and further downward, making terrible choices like calling her former captor to give him a heads up that he was about to be ambushed and using her son to try to force Brady to dump Eve and reconcile with her.

The custody battle led to a completely inane storyline around cocaine being planted in JJ's apartment and Eve fearing Brady would be accused of murder.

But as silly as it all was, I have to admit that Theresa's new exit from Salem on Days of Our Lives during the week of 7-16-18 was a real tearjerker.

Part of the reason it was so sad was because I grew up with Shane and Kim and I don't like the idea of Kim possibly dying.

Usually I hate important events happening off-screen, but this time I'm grateful that we probably won't be subjected to seeing a very ill Kim take her last breath. I remember Isabella's death and Lexie's, and they were both uncomfortably realistic.

I don't think I could take seeing Kim go through that too.

I'm glad that despite their differences, Theresa wants to be there for her mother as long as she can be. And I do think it's important for Tate to meet Kim while she's still healthy enough to spend time with him.

I'm surprised Eve didn't want to do more than make a phone call.

Although she and Kim had a tumultuous relationship, at times Kim was a mother figure to her. Among other things, she did miscarry Theresa's older brother or sister as a result of trying to protect Eve from the Riverfront Knifer!

I'd think Eve would at least want to visit even if she can't stay in Los Angeles long term. Besides, that would provide her with the perfect reason to be out of town until this nonsense about someone planting drugs in JJ's apartment blows over.

Anyway, Theresa's heartfelt goodbyes with Eve and Brady made me feel like they'd finally redeemed her character. Despite how selfish she'd been all along, she listened to Eve's suggestion that it might be hard to take care of Tate while dealing with Kim's illness.

Whether Eve was being honest or this was a last ditch effort to try to hold onto Tate, Theresa did consider it and was going to suggest Tate stay with Brady until Brady jumped in and said the opposite.

It was heartwarming to see Theresa finally put her son first instead of being vindictive and manipulative, and doubly so to see Brady make a heartbreaking decision for Tate's benefit as well as make some overtures towards Theresa.

Theresa: You're one of the good guys, JJ Deveraux. You're going to be okay.
[Theresa leaves]
JJ: So are you.

Permalink: You're one of the good guys, JJ Deveraux

I also loved Theresa's goodbye scenes with JJ, even though I felt like this was the exit for Paige we were cheated out of.

Paige should never have been killed off. She should have gone off in search of her father or to Stanford or both and she should have acknowledged that JJ was a good guy despite everything that had happened between them.

JJ's loyalty to Theresa didn't make much sense and seemed like he was once again treating another woman like she was Paige. But seeing a woman see the good in him and treat him with respect was a refreshing change from the abusive nonsense he was subjected to both when he was dating Gabi and when he was with Lani.

The rest of JJ's part in Theresa's story was just plain ridiculous.

I've wanted JJ to have a real storyline for a long time, but I would have appreciated it if he was given one that made some sort of sense and didn't require a bunch of people who should know better to suddenly become idiots.

JJ sacrificed his career for Theresa, claiming that the cocaine found in his apartment was his so she could get custody of Tate. This illogical premise was bad enough, but then it got stupider from there.

The judge took JJ's words at face value despite the fact that he was the only person in the entire courtroom who was capable of making a mature, calm, and logical statement -- hardly traits one would expect from someone who was using cocaine regularly. He also had no physical symptoms of cocaine use.

What he did have was a motive to claim drugs were his when they were not, since it was obvious he was there as Theresa's quasi-boyfriend and wanted her to have custody of Tate.

Even given these facts, the judge did not as much order any of the three potential cocaine users in the room be drug tested before deciding that she was awarding custody to Theresa on the condition that she have no further contact with JJ -- a condition that nobody seemed to care Theresa violated constantly after it was set.

The judge apparently also forgot that cocaine possession is a felony, since JJ was not arrested after confessing to it in open court and no one has mentioned potential legal consequences to this false confession.

Afterwards, Jennifer confronted JJ and initially believed he was using despite the lack of physical symptoms of drug use and his ability to communicate clearly and logically with her. The two had an argument that was reminiscent of back in 2013 when JJ was newly sober and Jennifer believed his continued association with Rory and Bev meant he wasn't.

But the worst part of this farce of a storyline was Jennifer's conversation with Brady.

Brady's insistence that JJ was lying about being clean and telling the truth when he confessed not only made no sense -- after all, if addicts lie then his confession can't be trusted either -- but also was similar to back in 2013 when Brady told Daniel that JJ was buying drugs in order to cover up the fact that he was using cocaine himself.

I was waiting for Jennifer to point that out, but she never mentioned it. What she did mention was that if she thought JJ was using she would put him in treatment again, which was a senseless comment because JJ never went to drug treatment in the first place.

JJ's history does not even include cocaine use! He abused marijuana because he couldn't cope with Jack's death, then stopped when his refusal to use anything harder contributed to Theresa's OD and Daniel told him that he would keep it secret that JJ was at the scene if JJ threw away his baggie of weed and never looked back.

The writers seem to think that if they stick a line in about JJ having been in rehab before, viewers won't remember that never happened and accept their newly created backstory that he is a cocaine addict.

The character who is a cocaine addict is Brady, so it is inconceivable that he is unaware that cocaine use causes pupil dilation, rapid speech, increased sex drive, and a whole host of other physiological symptoms that JJ does not possess.

And it is equally incredible that Kayla -- a doctor with a ton of professional accolades under her belt -- didn't suggest that JJ take a drug test to clear up whether or not he is actually using cocaine instead of giving him a lecture about how he should confess to perjury if he wants to keep his job.

All of these logical inconsistencies could have been avoided by simply having JJ confess to dealing cocaine instead of using it. There would still be the problem of that being a highly illegal act, but at least it would be consistent with his history and wouldn't involve half the town being ignorant of basic facts about cocaine use!

Meanwhile, Gabi's plan to stop Abigail from getting an abortion was offensive on several levels.

I would love to have seen a nuanced, intelligently written story about a woman discovering she was pregnant with her rapist's baby and struggling with the question of whether or not have an abortion.

Instead, what we got was denial after denial that Abigail's rape is indeed rape and Gabi being harshly judgmental of Abigail's decision to terminate the pregnancy.

For years, DAYS has been guilty of having women accidentally get pregnant, consider abortion, and then change their minds at the last minute. That's not great storytelling, but at least it didn't imply that any woman who considers abortion is evil or try to suggest that women are obligated to carry their rapists' babies.

Abortion is an emotionally charged issue, but showing Gabi berating Abigail mercilessly about it isn't an appropriate way to approach it. First of all, Gabi herself almost aborted Ari so it makes her a hypocrite.

It's also obnoxious and no matter how unfair she feels it is that Abigail gets to decide whether to carry to term while Gabi might not be able to even conceive again, it is not her decision to make.

It doesn't help that Abigail's reasons for aborting are less than stellar -- she refuses to accept that if Stefan is the father, the baby is the product of rape and has decided it would be easier for Chad if there was no baby. But whatever her reasons are, that's between her and her doctor and Gabi should not be involved.

Not to mention that Abby is only considering abortion in the first place because Gabi changed the DNA test results. As usual, Gabi's plans have unintended consequences. Last time around, her behavior led to the death of Abigail's father. This time it could lead to the termination of her pregnancy.

Only it won't, because Gabi forced the issue by "accidentally" giving Stefan the phony DNA test.

This was another gross violation of Abigail's right to privacy, and of course crazy Stefan decided the baby really belonged to his imaginary friend and rushed off to stop the abortion.

Emmy Nominations 2018: Who Got Snubbed?

Start Gallery

I guess I shouldn't be shocked that there was absolutely no security at this abortion clinic and Stefan just waltzed right in to confront Abby, since there's no security at any medical office in Salem. But I'd think an abortion clinic would have MORE security, not less, because of people like Gabi who think they have the right to harass patients into cancelling their procedures.

You know, I know you don't remember, but I always had really good radar when it came to you and right now I'm reading that you're not telling me the truth. So how about you tell me what's really going on?
Kate

Permalink: You know, I know you don't remember, but I always had really good radar when it came to you...

Meanwhile, Will became the latest person to be overheard while discussing something in public he didn't want anyone to know about.

He and Sonny were talking yet again about how Leo's body disappeared when Kate wandered into the park and overheard Will's half of the conversation.

You'd think a reporter would be aware of privacy issues and refrain from discussing private matters in the park!

Nevertheless, this did lead to some nice scenes between Will and Kate. I love when Kate shows her softer side, and her reminsciences with Will about when he was first coming out were a great use of history.

It also kept Kate busy while Ted was wasting time arguing with Stefan. I wish just once, someone would say what he has to say and walk away instead of standing around listening to the enemy make a bunch of threats to dissuade him from his plans.

I'm hoping that Ted will help bring Stefan down. Stefan is arrogant, overconfident, and doesn't do anything but threaten people all day long. He is in serious need of being taken down a peg or two and I'd love to see Ted do that.

I have to admit that Kate and Ted are growing on me as a couple. I liked Kate's acknowledgment that it was nice for someone to be on her side for once, and Ted is clearly smitten with her and willing to do anything to protect her.

I just wish they would stop being in such a rush to go to bed. I know that's Kate's MO, but I'd rather see an actual romance build up over time than a race to the bedroom.

The touching scenes in Steve's hospital room showed how many beats are missing in this story.

I felt like I'd missed something when the show opened with these scenes. We'd just seen Roman with Theresa in the Pub and there'd been no mention of Steve's upcoming surgery.

I wish that instead of a random scene of Steve prepping for surgery, there'd been a consistent story about him and Kayla dealing with his blindness and then with the uncertainty and anxiety of waiting to be approved for the surgery.

I loved all the hospital scenes, especially the scene between Steve and Kayla.

But not only should the scenes not have come out of nowhere, but Tripp's visit should have been on-screen and there should have at least been a mention of calling Stephanie and trying to work with the prison to allow Joey to have a video call with Steve prior to the operation beginning.

There was also some more nonsense with Hope and Rafe trying to use police power to force Ben and Ciara apart. They're sure doing a great job of showing how awful it is when cops abuse their power and use mental illness against a suspect to try to get an illegal confession out of him, though I don't understand why Ben didn't demand a lawyer or why he called Ciara instead of one.

And in other news not worth spending a lot of time on, someone sent Will a threatening letter about his involvement in Leo's death. My money is on Stefan, who goes around blackmailing everyone, but I won't be surprised if Leo is still alive and sent it himself.