Days of Our Lives Review: Another Day, Another Act of Violence
Jack Ori
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I was never as much of a Sami fan as I was when she confronted Hope.
Sami can be selfish and impulsive, and she usually goes way over the top with some well-intentioned scheme that everyone but her can see is going to blow up in her face.
But on Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-27-18, Sami displayed strength and determination when Hope chose to keep her in custody and harass her about what had happened to Marlena to get revenge for Sami and Rafe's one night stand in 2017.
It's about time someone other than Ben stood up to Salem's most corrupt commissioner.
Hope's behavior has been out of control for a while, and this whole thing demonstrated that she was just as selfish as Sami, if not more so.
After learning that Marlena had been shot, Rafe rushed off to arrest Sami, but at least he had the compassion to allow her to have a moment with her mother before he took her to the station.
At the station, Sami demanded a lawyer, which nobody took seriously.
Instead, Hope "interrogated" Sami, informing her that she would not be allowed to go back to the hospital unless she confessed and insisted that her claim to have been abducted and drugged was just a way of blaming other people for her own bad decisions.
And Sami called her on every bit of her BS, fully aware that Hope was using the power of her badge to punish Sami for having slept with her boyfriend.
I don't know how Rafe mansplained this to you, but I was upset over losing Will and he was upset over losing you and we were just two exes trying to comfort each other.
Sami
I don't think the writers know what the term "mansplained" means, and I could have done without that dig at feminism, but I was so glad to see an actual strong woman on canvas! Sami was not going just to let Hope bulldoze over her rights, and she made that clear.
I just wish the writers hadn't saddled Sami with this nonsensical insistence that finding EJ was the most important thing in the world.
Sami is such a fierce, independent woman; why does she need to fall victim to the same garbage every woman in Salem does about not being able to live without a man?
Plus, I agree with Jennifer that EJ wasn't good for Sami and she'd be happier with someone who didn't come with so much negative drama.
Besides, there's more than enough people in Salem that confuse rape with true love without Sami continuing to fall victim to it too.
I also wish Sami's children weren't off-screen.
Since there is no EJ and Sami has apparently been missing for a while, who is taking care of them? A story about a pre-teen or teenaged Johnny or Allie resenting having to be parents to their sister Sydney or coming to Salem to allow Lucas to take care of them until Sami is found would have added an interesting layer to this story.
Whatever else Sami is, she is certainly a devoted mother to her children, so having her be abducted and no one notice is foolish, as is having her mention the kids are living without any father but not having them on-screen at all.
Sami confronting Kristen was also the best part of the Kristen storyline. Sami ran into the room where Kristen was holding Brady and Eve hostage, ignored that Kristen had a gun, and started yelling about EJ.
Kristen was angry that she couldn't make Sami be scared of her. Sami was so determined to confront her that she didn't care what Kristen did to her.
Kristen's confusion and anger at her inability to terrify Sami was fun!
As for the rest of Kristen's ridiculous plan ... what a waste of an iconic character!
Stacy Haiduk is doing great work playing a severely unstable Kristen, but instead of a story with any point to it whatsoever, we have yet another rape story, with a lot of random violence and destruction thrown in for good measure.
Kristen kidnapped Eve and continually threatened to kill her if Brady didn't have sex with her. Every time Brady said no, she responded with some variation of insisting that Brady loved and wanted her but just didn't want to admit it, then tried again to force herself on him.
It was no different than when Ava raped Steve by threatening to kill Kayla if he didn't have sex with her, only for Kayla to berate Steve for months over his "betrayal."
Brady kissed Kristen a couple of times and Eve found them lying in bed together.
Brady: Theresa tried the same crap, and I said no to her.
Kristen: Really? Did Theresa have your fiancee at gunpoint? Cause I do, and if you love her as much as you claim, you'll do whatever it takes to set her free.
Brady did kiss Kristen, but that doesn't matter. It is still sexual assault.
Kristen threatened to kill his fiancee if he didn't comply with her demand to have sex. That's no different than if she had held a gun to Brady's head and said to get in bed with her if he wanted to live.
Brady kept telling Kristen that she ruined everything when she raped his brother, but he didn't seem to realize she was doing the same thing to him.
It happened Eve had walked in just as Brady was saying no yet again, but if they had done the deed, we probably would have had another story about "cheating."
Get into the 21st century, DAYS. Men can be raped and neither men nor women who are forced to have sex deserve to be judged or shamed for it.
It's not entertaining. It wasn't when Lani did it to JJ, it wasn't when Stefan did it to Abigail, and it's not now.
Also not entertaining: an entire town berating Sami for having accidentally shot Marlena.
It was obvious that the gun went off because Eric startled Sami when he grabbed her arm, but nobody but Eric himself seemed able to consider that possibility.
They were all too busy blaming Sami and telling her how selfish she was.
Belle was the worst. She had no right to stop Sami from approaching Marlena's bedside after John said she could, nor was this the time to try to convince her father to blame Sami and cut her out of their lives.
Belle's speech about Sami being a wrecking ball would have been right 99% of the time, but Sami was clearly distraught, and Belle was clearly taking notes when Abe treated JJ with similar hatred after he shot Theo.
This anger and judgmentalism did nothing for Belle's character, especially when she took a break from comforting John to tell him he should hate Sami as much as she does.
For goodness sake, Jennifer saw Sami try to ruin Abigail's life over her affair with EJ, but she still had enough compassion for her to offer her a hair tie and encourage her to get checked out to make sure Kristen's drugs hadn't caused lasting damage!
Surely Sami's half-sister could do the same.
Hope also made a ridiculous speech about Sami being selfish to justify her violations of Sami's civil rights, then got annoyed with Rafe because he dared suggest Sami was telling the truth about not pulling the trigger on purpose.
She was so preoccupied with her anger towards Sami that it wasn't until Sami had escaped and she'd made some ridiculous claim to whoever she called that Sami was dangerous that she was able to comprehend that Brady being missing was even a problem.
When Paul came to report that, Hope brushed off his concern so she could get back to her argument with Rafe about Sami.
And then there was Julie.
Julie has a judgmental streak a mile wide, so I wasn't surprised that she also thought Sami was guilty. I was waiting for her to declare that Sami shot Marlena just like Gabi shot her precious Nick!
She did redeem herself a little, though. She was compassionate towards Eve when she found her locked in the freezer, even though Eve is also far from a saint and has been known to make impulsive decisions that blow up in her face just like Sami has.
Anyway, Julie and Doug get bonus points for being the only people in town who have the sense to go to the cops when someone is missing or hurt. Somehow Brady wasn't able to do that after Kristen threatened him even though he was standing in the police station at the time he got her call.
Related: Days of Our Lives: Who Should Follow in Alice's Footsteps?
Hope finally woke up and realized Brady was in danger when she got Julie's report, while Paul quickly figured out where Brady was after Eve found him.
I wish Paul had let Will finish what he wanted to say before he'd run off to find Brady.
This whole Paul/Will/Sonny mess is irritating, especially since Will can't make up his mind and Paul always gets the short end of the stick.
Will keeps too many secrets from Paul, and that just ruins Will's character and makes me wonder why Paul sticks around.
And Sonny is too pushy. He wants his relationship with Will back and won't take no for an answer. Will's grandmother has just been shot; give it a rest!
I also don't buy into the idea that just because Will now remembers loving Sonny, it means he wants to be with him, especially since last time they had this conversation he made it clear he didn't. I think Will is confused and Sonny's constant pushing has caused him to believe he is in love with Sonny.
Belle: Dad, you could never see this coming.
John: Well, maybe. But Kristen wouldn't be in all of our lives if it weren't for me.
The saddest scenes of the week of 8-27-18 were John's attempts to deal with Marlena's injuries. I never really thought much of John and Marlena and the John-rescuing-Marlena motif was overplayed a long time ago, but John's grief was powerful anyway.
I wish Steve's blindness story had been treated as seriously as this. While crazy and implausible circumstances caused Marlena's condition, both stories revolve around one half of an older couple coming to terms with the other's serious illness.
These are the kinds of stories the vets need, though I could do without the senseless violence. I'd much rather Marlena had had a heart attack or something.
That's why I liked Steve's blindness story so much. Until the nonsense with the bionic eye, it was a realistic story about a couple facing a health issue together.
Anyway, John brought me to tears more than once. I didn't like looking at that bloody wedding dress, but it was a potent symbol for his grief.
And I loved Steve encouraging him. The friendship between these two guys is fantastic.
Stephen Nichols' departure is going to leave a big hole in a lot of ways, but one of the things I'll miss most is the way he and John clowned around like teenagers but were able to give each other serious support whenever they needed it.
Related: Stephen Nichols Breaks Silence on Days of Our Lives Departure
Your turn, DAYS fanatics!
What did you think of Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-27-18? Are you enjoying Kristen's latest run, or have you had enough of the over-the-top violence?
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.
