Days of Our Lives Round Table: Who Is The Most Violent Person in Salem?

Marlena spilled the beans about Ben missing his meds while Jordan abducted both Ciara and Charlotte, and John was left wondering if he fathered a child with Diana!

Our TV Fanatics Jack Ori and Christine Orlando are joined by Kierstin from MyHourglass a Days of Our Lives fan forum to debate whether Marlena can be trusted, if Leo is John’s son, the return of Jordan Ridgeway, and who they consider the most violent person in Salem.

Did Marlena break confidentiality by telling Hope that Ben had missed his meds? Should Ben continue to trust her as his therapist?

Kierstin: Either way, Marlena shouldn't have told Hope that Ben missed his meds. Ben shouldn't continue to trust her as his therapist.

Jack: She had absolutely no right to reveal that info to Hope. Despite the wrong opinion of the DAYS writers who keep having her say this, knowing a person committed a crime is not a legal exception to confidentiality. (If it was, all the people who seek help for illegal drug use would be in huge trouble.)

The ONLY times a therapist can break confidentiality is if they have a specific, credible threat that the patient will harm himself or someone else.

Even in those cases, the therapist has to initiate contact with the authorities -- there is no such thing as the police asking for info and the therapist agreeing absent a court order, and even then the therapist is limited to only sharing info that is relevant to the threat.

Ben's medication history was not and should not have been shared. Not only should Ben not trust her any longer, but Marlena should be subject to a license suspension and an ethics board hearing for her behavior.

Christine: Marlena was totally in the wrong and should have to face consequences for it. Why should any patient trust her?

What I can’t figure out is why she told Hope that Ben missed his medication? What did that change? Hope already suspected him; this may have fueled her paranoia but it gave no real proof that Ben had done anything to Ciara and did nothing to help find her.

Do you think that John is Leo’s biological father? Do you want him to be?

Kierstin: I don't think that John is Leo's biological father. I believe Leo learned all of his scheming from his mother. I would rather Leo not be John's biological son.

Jack: No, I don't, though I wouldn't be surprised if Diana says he is just to cause trouble between him and Marlena. John doesn't need any more surprise children and even though Sonny doesn't want to be with Leo at all, it would be nice for him to have been involved with at least one person who wasn't related to John.

Christine: Goodness, I hope not, and I don’t really think he is. However, I do think they’re going to drag the question out for a while.

Who do you consider the most violent person in Salem?

Kierstin: I would consider Leo to be the most violent person in Salem right now because he was unremorseful of the murder he committed.

Jack: If we're talking physical violence, Chad seems to be pretty eager to beat people up all the time. Hope's abusive mind games with Ben count as violence against him too, though, and I find that very disturbing.

Christine: For life-threatening violence, Chad. He beat Stefan almost to death and was about to strangle Ben.

Also, Eric certainly has a bad temper and doesn’t do much to keep it under control when he feels provoked.

It is ironic that Ben is the former serial killer, but he frequently keeps his emotions in check better than many of the so-called “good guys” of Salem.

What are your thoughts on Jordan Ridgeway’s return? Why do you think she’s acting the way she is?

Kierstin: I like the return of Jordan Ridgeway. I think Jordan is acting the way she is because she had a breakdown because she feels responsible that she couldn't stop the murders that Ben committed.

Jack: This is a terrible misuse of a character. Her personality and history were totally rewritten in the hopes that her kidnapping Ciara would bring in ratings for February Sweeps.

It makes no sense. She and Ben didn't even grow up with Clyde -- she escaped with Ben and they grew up in hiding. Jordan was never unstable before. The writers just decided that it would be a good way to get Ben and Ciara back together if Jordan held the same opinions as Hope but acted in an even crazier manner.

Probably Hope called her with concerns about Ciara/Ben and didn't realize that Jordan was even less stable than Hope is and would kidnap Ciara to "keep her safe."

Christine: I’m not thrilled with this return. I was never a big fan of Jordan but she was always the sanest person in her family who protected everyone else.

My guess is that Clyde may have sexually abused her. She always felt she had to protect her brother from Clyde, and now she’s had some sort of a breakdown believing she has to protect everyone else from Ben. No matter what the details, this is a very twisted story that has changed the character a great deal from the one we knew.

Did Chloe make the right decision by moving into the Dimera mansion to protect her family?

Kierstin: Yes, I think Chloe made the right decision by moving into the DiMera mansion because she and her family will be protected from El Fideo's thugs.

Jack: I'd rather she have stood up to Victor and pointed out that he was putting Parker's life in danger with his nonsense. Has everyone forgotten that Parker is Maggie's grandson and that Daniel was Victor's godson?

Moving into the Dimera mansion gives her the opportunity to develop a relationship with Stefan, but I have no interest in Stefan so meh.

Christine: The Kiriakis mansion made more sense. Victor may not like Chloe but he loved Daniel like a son, and Parker and Holly are his children and Maggie’s grandchildren, so Victor kicking her out seemed like a lame way to push Chloe into Stefan’s orbit.

That said, with no other options, I understand why Chloe turned to Stefan. She needs to hide out somewhere she and her kids will be safe and figure out what to do next.

What, if anything, disappointed you the most this week in Salem?

Kierstin: Tripp and Claire's scenes disappointed me the most this week in Salem. The scenes were sort of boring.

Jack: This whole ridiculous Ciara/Jordan story should not have eaten up three days of screen time.

We should have seen Jack and JJ's conversation on-screen and Jack debating what to do about it while JJ debated whether he'd done the right thing.

Also, when Jack finally was shown on Friday, Abby's behavior towards him was incredibly rude and obnoxious. Her daughter being missing doesn't give her a free pass to treat anyone any way she feels like.

Speaking of which, this whole nonsensical poor investigation into the kidnapping... where to begin? Jordan is a super obvious suspect that no one is considering because the whole police force is focused on harassing Ben -- which helps find Ciara how?

What are they doing to look for Ciara? Has anyone pinged her phone? What happened with the security tapes Hope was so excited to get, that should have shown Jordan?

Doesn't the fact that Jordan was ranting about Ben wanting to kidnap Charlotte 30 seconds before Charlotte disappeared, while Ben had an alibi thanks to Eli interrogating him at the time, trip any alarms in anyone's head?

Elsewhere, JJ and Haley didn't need to kiss. Too many people in Salem think sex is the answer to sadness and we don't need that -- besides it was contrived to up the drama of when Jack or Eve reveals Haley's secret.

Also: the mayor is not a super-commissioner of the police force and certainly has no control over federal immigration policy.

Christine: Having to watch Ciara crying while tied to that bed got tedious very quickly.

Also, everyone jumping on the Ben must be guilty bandwagon, even though the police have been watching him for days.

I understand Ben being a suspect but is he somehow magical? How has he supposedly gotten in and out of his hotel room to kidnap both Ciara and Charlotte? If he had given his police detail the slip that many times then those officers need to be fired!

What was your favorite quote, scene, or storyline this week on Days of Our Lives?

Kierstin: My favorite storylines this week in Salem are Jordan's return and I have also been enjoying Haley and J.J. scenes.

Jack: I loved Roman asking John didn't he know how to not get a woman pregnant! It's about time birth control came to Salem. Also, the Leo/Diana reveal was amazing. The actors are talented and for the first time, Leo was actually interesting and somewhat sympathetic.

Christine: Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the conversations between Leo and Diana. It has me intrigued as to what happened to Leo to turn him into this manipulative con artist who is desperate to find “love.”

I also loved John and Diana. You can tell these are talented, veteran actors because they’ve never shared a scene before and yet I completely felt their connection. They’re taking what could have been a mediocre storyline and elevating it.

Your turn TV Fanatics! Tell us who you think is the most violent person in Salem right now.

Want to chat more about the happenings in Salem? Then check out Jack Ori’s Days of Our Lives review here at TV Fanatic.