Kate visited “Stefano,” and Xander declared his love for Sarah while Eric band him from Mickey’s life.

Our TV Fanatics Jack Ori and Christine Orlando are joined by Ronnie from MyHourglass a Days of Our Lives fan forum to debate Sonny and Will’s future, if Sarah should stand up to Eric, Jennifer’s homecoming, and Lani and Kristen’s return to Salem.

Is Sonny stringing Evan along? Would you prefer Sonny to stick with Will or move on with Evan?

Ronnie: Sonny and Will haven't been interesting in years, so i'm open to something else. But so far nothing about Evan has been particularly interesting either. I'm going to say move on with Evan, but only by default.

Jack: I don't think Sonny is stringing Evan along at all. He's been honest from the get-go that he is still married despite Will being in prison and refusing to see him.

Now he's being honest that he does have feelings for Evan. I can't get invested in it, though, because we know Will/Sonny are endgame and the writers will likely spring Will from jail the second Sonny makes a commitment to Evan.

We've seen this one too many times already, so what's the point of these Evan scenes?

Christine: I feel badly for both Sonny and Evan. Sonny is lonely and he’s leaning on Evan, even though he swears he doesn’t want any kind of romantic relationship. Whether Sonny realizes it or not, he’s setting them both up for heartbreak.

Sonny and Will lost their spark some time ago and have never really gotten it back. If they could find it again, I’d love to see the couple I fell in love with, but if that can’t happen then they should both move on.

And much like Ronnie said above, there’s nothing all that interesting about Evan, so I’m really not invested in what happens to him.

Kate knows that Steve is Stefano? Choose between Kate and Roman or Kate and Stefano (Steve) as a romantic pairing.

Ronnie: I've always have a soft spot for Kate and Roman, he makes her likable. The Stefano thing is too creepy for me. It's Steve's body and he wouldn't sleep with Kate in his right mind.

I'm still not over Stefan raping Abby while she has DID. 

Jack: I have long shipped Kate/Roman, so now that it's a possibility, it better happen! Besides, I think Stefano is going to turn out to be a microchipped Steve and eventually be reunited with Kayla. 

Christine: I’m Team Kate and Roman. They are great friends and could be a lot more. However, I always thought that Kate was one of the better pairings with Stefano.

Unfortunately, having “Stefano” taking over Steve’s body is a little too warped for me to get behind.

Is Sarah giving Eric too much power where Mickey is concerned?

Ronnie: Well, Sarah kept Eric from his daughter because he had the audacity to dump her. The least she could do after her year-long deception is to finally give him some power over the daughter she pretty much stole from him.

Jack: YES. Sarah needs to get a backbone. Let Eric go to court and say he wants full custody because he doesn't like that Mickey has a relationship with the stepfather who has raised her since birth. 

Eric is the one putting Mickey through a custody battle if it happens when that's entirely unnecessary, and Sarah shouldn't be so afraid of standing up for herself and her daughter.

This is no different than Lani dumping Eli because Gabi said so even though there were 10 million other options. The only one who is considering Mickey's needs at all is Xander.

Eric only cares about his own feelings and Sarah is putting her own discomfort with having to be in the middle ahead of Mickey's needs.

Christine: Yes. She is Mickey’s mother. Eric should be allowed to be a part of her life but she’s giving him way too much control over what happens next.

Mickey loves Xander like a Dad. Understandably, that infuriates Eric but he’s taking his anger out as much on his daughter as he is on Xander. I wish Sarah would stand up to Eric and tell him what he’s doing is best for him, not their daughter.

Xander has told Sarah he loves her but she hasn’t said it back. Do you think she loves him? And if so, why hasn’t she returned the sentiment?

Ronnie: I don't know yet. I think Sarah is grateful and people can sometimes confuse gratitude with love. So I like that she's taking her time before returning the sentiment.

Jack: I think she does but 1) she hasn't admitted it to herself and 2) if she said it back she'd have no excuse for not standing up to Eric and she thinks her life would be easier without having to confront Eric's selfishness.

Christine: I think Sarah feels it but she hasn’t admitted it to herself yet. Now, she’s so consumed by fear and grief that all she can focus on is getting Mickey well.

It’s a shame because having Xander by her side could make this a lot easier on her, but Sarah just isn’t there yet.

Lani and Kristen are about to return to Salem. Would you like to see Lani reunite with Eli and Kristen reunite with Brady?

Ronnie: I want to see Lani and Kristen wreck havoc in Salem and take down Gabi's smug self. Their love lives don't interest me at all.

Jack: I have never liked Kristen/Brady, but I am looking forward to Kristen putting Gabi in her place. I'd like for the truth to come out about what Gabi did to Lani/Eli but I think Eli should still refuse to take Lani back because she gave in instead of telling him what was going on.

Christine: I actually like Brady and Kristen and was sorry to hear their child didn’t make it, so I’d like to see them find their way back to one another.

I’d also love for Kristen to put Gabi on notice, maybe even let Brady in on it because he’s no choir boy and he could use that information to manipulate things at Dimera Enterprises.

As for Eli and Lani, I’ve never been a big fan of Lani’s so I’m not invested in whether they get back together or not.

What was your biggest disappointment this week in Salem?

Ronnie: Everything Ben and Ciara. They're insanely boring and have the same conversation over and over again. I'm sick of them.

Jack: I discussed this at length in my review, but my two biggest disappointments this week are first, that the baby Mickey illness story was a plot point to give Eric leverage to excise Xander from Sarah's life instead of being about parents dealing with a seriously ill child.

Plus, she has no symptoms for her aggressive Stage 3 cancer whatsoever and there was no reason for the doctors to even test for cancer.

And secondly, JJ's attempt to kill Kristen was nothing but a plot device to get Kristen and Lani back to Salem. God forbid JJ have an actual story.

Christine: That Eric doesn’t seem to care about Holly. He and Nicole have been living together which means that Holly has thought of him as her father, but she doesn’t even appear to be an afterthought to Eric now that he’s angry with Nicole.

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

Ronnie: I loved Jack and Jennifer on Friday, they were just so sweet. And I think Kate Mansi and Kristian Alfonso are very good at playing the tension between Hope/Gina and Abby.

Jack: I loved Jack and Jennifer's romantic reunion at the Horton House! It was so perfect and so Jack/Jenn. And I laughed when Jack admitted he bought the cake in this Days of Our Lives quote...

Jen: Oh my gosh, a wedding cake.
Jack: It doesn't compare to Alice's donuts but it was baked with love.
Jen: You baked something?
Jack: It was bought with love.

• Permalink: It was bought with love.

Runner up was Xander's impassioned plea to Sarah to let him come to Boston too. If only she had listened...

Christine: Definitely, Jack bringing Jennifer back home. After a year of nothing but torment, it was good to see these two so happy together and I hope we get more of that.

Xander begging Sarah not to shut him out of Mickey’s life and telling her he loves them both was beautifully heartbreaking. 

Finally, I was glad Nicole reminded Eric about his belief that, “sitting in judgment is God’s job” and that he was forgiven after driving drunk and killing Daniel and almost killing Brady. I know Eric has a right to be angry but he comes off as such a sanctimonious jerk that it’s difficult to care.

What do you think about the terminally ill baby storyline, TV Fanatics? Check out Jack Ori’s take in this week’s Days of Our Lives review here at TV Fanatic.

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.