Days of Our Lives Round Table: Philip Returns!

Philip returned to Salem and tried to strong-arm his father, everyone seemed to be pushing Hope and Rafe back together, and Ciara wanted Ben to forgive himself for Paige's death.

Our TV Fanatics Jack Ori and Christine Orlando are joined by Soaps4ever from MyHourglass a Days of Our Lives fan forum to debate their excitement over Philip's return, Sonny and Will moving with Ari, and which character they wish hadn't died in Salem.

Philip returned to Salem. Rate your excitement from 1 (Make him go away.) to 10 (This is fantastic!)

Soaps4ever: I would give it an 8. I like that the show is bringing back a popular classic character.

Phillip will add freshness to the show while adding some new excitement to the show as well. It will be fun to see what his return leads to.

Jack: I'm giving it a 2. I wanted to be excited. Philip is one of my favorite characters (though I prefer John Paul Lavoisier to Jay Kenneth Johnson), but this time around, the writers have made him so damn snobby he's almost unwatchable.

Plus, we already have one CEO war story that nobody wants to see and don't need another at the same time. And didn't we just go through this whole "give the company to me, or I'll disown you" crap with Brady?

Christine: I was excited knowing that Jay Kenneth Johnson was finally coming back as Philip, but so far, I'm not thrilled with how he's being written so I'm hovering around a 6.

I hate that they never seem to recall that Philip is a veteran who lost his leg or that he once believed that Claire was his daughter.

So far, Philip seems really arrogant and selfish. Maybe that will change over time, but as of right now, I'm not enjoying his return as much as I had hoped.

Your turn TV Fanatics! Are you excited to see Philip return to Salem?

Does Philip deserve to be CEO of Titan even though Victor just gave the position back to Xander?

Soaps4ever: I do not think Philip deserves to be CEO. Xander definitely deserves the honor more as he has proved his loyalty to Victor.

Jack: Not at all. He showed up out of the blue, and instead of giving any cogent argument for why he would be a better CEO, he demanded the job as a condition of his continued relationship with Victor.

Giving him the position would be a very poor business decision. The last person who tried it ran the company into the ground.

What happened to the Victor who was a shrewd, ruthless businessman rather than a pushover who will give the job to any family member, qualified or not, who demands it?

Christine: No, he's been gone a long time, and had made it clear he wasn't interested in Titan.

Now that Victor is older, fixing his relationship with his only son will probably be a priority, and I hate that Philip is willing to use that to get what he wants.

I'm sure Philip can do the job well, but I hate that this seems to be some play to see how far he can push his father instead of wanting to be a part of the family business and make it the best it can be.

Did Rafe and Hope have the "amazing" relationship that Jennifer claims? Do you want them back together?

Soaps4ever: I used to not like Rafe and Hope as a couple, but lately, I've been seeing them differently. I like their relationship more now than I used to.

That being said, I think they have an awesome friendship, so it would be fine if it continued to be nothing more than that.

Jack: It was amazing, all right. Amazingly boring, irritating, and unwatchable. I would prefer they stay apart, but if they're going to reconcile, let's get on with it. The longing looks and conversations about it are going on way too long.

Christine: I love Hope. I generally like Rafe, but together, they were horrible.

I hate that Hope always seems to take a back seat to Rafe personally and professionally. They have a nice friendship and should keep it that way.

Should Ben forgive himself for Paige's death?

Soaps4ever: I don't think it is possible for Ben to completely forgive himself for Paige's death. Considering his upbringing, though, it is no surprise that he turned out like he did.

In that context, you can understand how his state of mind contributed to him committing those crimes and the awful circumstances that caused him to turn out that way. So he can forgive that aspect of his actions because he was not in control of himself.

But for the killing itself, I don't think he could/should forgive himself totally.

Jack: I don't know how you forgive yourself for murdering an innocent person with their whole life ahead of them, but Ben needs to try for the sake of his own mental health.

Christine: He murdered people. I don't know how you ever fully forgive yourself for that, even if it was caused by his mental illness.

I understand that Ben has gotten the treatment he needed and is moving on with his life, so he has to come to terms with what he's done, but "forgive" feels like too strong a word for it.

What character in Salem was killed off that you wish hadn't been?

Soaps4ever: I miss Adrienne. It is good to see Judi Evans onscreen as Bonnie, but I always liked Adrienne. She had been a staple character for many years, and I feel they could've had some stories left for her character.

And surprisingly, I always wish they hadn't killed off Deimos. He was an interesting villain and fun to watch.

Jack: Paige. She was a bright young woman with a brilliant future, and there was no need for her death.

Instead of murdering her and using her as a prop for awful Eve stories, Paige could have simply left town in search of her father after being disgusted by Eve's antics.

That would have lead to the same scene where Eduardo showed up on Eve's doorstep three weeks later. Now she's been replaced by airheaded girls like Ciara who don't care about anything except sex.

Paige is never even mentioned unless Eve pops up, wanting to do something horrible because she misses her.

I also wish they hadn't killed off Daniel. That was also unnecessary, but at least the only awful story that came out of it was the existence of Summer.

Christine: Bo Brady. I know the actor didn't want to come back, but it was possible he could have changed his mind.

I would have preferred it if Bo had just disappeared on an ISA mission the way they've done with Steve several times.

Bo was such an iconic character, and I really miss him.

Were Sonny and Will out of line when they told Gabi they were moving to Arizona and wanted to take Ari with them?

Soaps4ever: I don't think Sonny and Will were out of line saying they wanted to take Ari with them because, let's be honest, Gabi doesn't spend a lot of time with her daughter.

I feel that Sonny and Will are Ari's main parents, and she would do better going with them.

Jack: It was stupid to think Gabi would go along with it, but not out of line.

They came there to discuss how to make this work, and Gabi's answer was to act like finding a way for them ALL to have time with Ari was never going to happen and that she was the only parent that counted.

She was way more out of line in 2014 when she wanted to take baby Ari to NY with her and not only didn't care whether Will ever saw his daughter again, but tried to hire Aiden to cut Will out totally so that she could do it without having to worry about Will's rights.

Christine: I always laugh when people claim a soap parent never spends time with their child. None of them really do until the kids are SORAS's and can have storylines of their own.

Ari only popped up recently for Will and Sonny because they were talking about adopting a child.

Chad and Abigail's kids probably spend more time with nannies and Jack and Jennifer than their parents. We're told that Nicole is a great mother to Holly, but the little girl only shows up when they need her to have some cute scene about calling Eric "Daddy."

But back to the question. Will and Sonny weren't necessarily out of line, but they didn't handle this well either.

In one conversation, they told Gabi they were moving across the country and were planning to take Ari with them. What mother is going to be okay with that?

Personally, I think they need to move and get settled, which will take time. Then they can invite Ari and Gabi out for the holidays and talk about having Ari there more often.

If they expected Gabi to be happy to send her daughter across the country with them on a whim, they were very naive.

What were your favorite or least favorite moments of the week?

Soaps4ever: I didn't like the continuing brainwashing of Ben and the John aneurysm story. I liked seeing Philip, and how Sarah and Xander are back together for a moment. I also liked seeing Maggie again.

Jack: I liked Sami's guilt and her realization that the horrible things she said to John that she didn't mean could be the last thing she ever said to him. Hopefully, this will get her to cool it, at least temporarily.

I also liked Steve's speech at John's bedside. Least favorite: All the Gabi/Jake/Gwen/Chad stuff (ew!).

Runner-up was Hope calling Rafe because her washing machine broke. What is this, 1953?

Christine: I loved Xander and Sarah finally being happy, and how Victor and Maggie are supportive.

I also rather liked John's aneurysm story as I think it's pretty good soap drama, but I'll hate it if they try to make Sami out to be a villain because of it. Aneurysms are random and can happen to anyone at any time.

Hope calling Rafe over to fix her washing machine was indicative of their entire relationship, mundane, boring, and it had Hope looking as though she can't take care of herself without Rafe running to the rescue.