The constant tug-of-war over the CEO positions at Titan and Dimera is usually yawn-worthy.

But the latest Dimera takeover is surprisingly fun.

A lot of that has to do with Thaao Penghlis, who always brings excitement, intrigue, and class to any scene he's in. And is this really Tony, or has Andre made another appearance?

I'm not happy with Jake lately, but I was rooting for him to overcome the odds and defy the attempt to oust him.

The other Dimeras are so damn snobby toward him just because he used to be a garage mechanic. I hate the elitism, and it seems that Shin is the only one who is at all business-focused rather than wanting Dimera's brand to be hoity-toity rich guys doing whatever it is they do all day.

After all, Shin chose Jake because an important client liked Jake's authenticity and closed a deal BECAUSE of Jake being working-class. Can the company really thrive if it caters only to elitists despite what its biggest accounts prefer?

Yet at the same time, all the manipulations and machinations on both sides were pure fun.

This was a more realistic portrayal of an intra-company war, though the board meeting was a little on the small side. And what was with Shin being the only non-Dimera in the room?

But the two sides spent time on the phone trying to whip up votes and trying to get people on their side, including people who were only peripheral to the company and in some cases, hadn't been heard from for years.

Gabi: I brought you some tea.
Kate: Is it laced with styrchnine?

• Permalink: Is it laced with styrchnine?

It wasn't surprising that in the end, Kate double-crossed Jake, but I hope she did it for her own reasons. Until recently, Kate seldom gave in to blackmail threats, and Chad's was weak. Would Jake even have heard him out, never mind believed him, if Chad had claimed that Kate was faking her blindness?

At this point, it wasn't clear who was using who, either. Jake has apparently decided he wants Gabi over Kate but told Kate she was the only woman for him because he wanted Kate's vote.

Jake is a total heel who literally made the same speech to Kate, in front of Gabi, that he  has made TO Gabi about "you're the only woman I want to be with." As obnoxious and gloaty as Gabi has been lately, I couldn't blame her for being angry about that.

Jake jumps from one to the other at the drop of a hat, swears love and allegiance and that he doesn't have any feelings for the other, then drops them in favor of the other one. Does he just want both of them pining after him or what?

So even though I wanted Jake to prevail, I also felt he deserved what he got because of the way he has treated both of these women.

The most interesting question is whether Tony is really Tony or whether he is Andre.

Rafe: I thought you said EJ was staying in Salem.
Lucas: Oh, he is. Turns out he wants to work on his marriage. And where does he want to work on it? At his house, with my blind mother and your sister and that creepy picture of Stefano that's watching over everything.

• Permalink: Oh, he is. Turns out he wants to work on his marriage. And where does he want to work on it?...

Lucas cracked me up complaining about that creepy Stefano portrait, but as far as Tony/Andre goes, the fact that he stayed behind to look at that thing was telling.

That seemed very Andre-like and I was half expecting him to give Stefano's likeness an evil laugh.

EJ is far more interesting in this corporate takeover story than he is in this Sami triangle.

Some viewers feel EJ's controlling tendencies are sudden and out of character. But EJ has always been overcontrolling with Sami. Their relationship began because sleeping with him was the only way Sami could save Lucas' life, for goodness sake!

The difference now is that Days of Our Lives is no longer depicting EJ's abuse of Sami as romantic, and it's beyond time to get rid of that harmful trope.

EJ is doing a good job of being the typical abusive husband who alternates between being overly loving and being violent to keep his partner tethered to him.

Sami's reaction to EJ grabbing her arm made it clear that she's more scared of him than she is in love with him.

She also has never once claimed to love EJ since his return (except for her fake happiness in front of Nicole.) She generally insists she can't be with Lucas because she's married, and as Roman pointed out, that sounds more like an obligation than like love.

And her rationale for keeping her distance from Lucas seems to be more that she's afraid of EJ's wrath than that she feels guilty about betraying him or reluctant to hurt him.

On top of what EJ is doing to Sami, he is wandering around town trying to control her relationships with the two ex-husbands she is still friends with.

He had no right to tell Lucas how much time Lucas can or can't spend with Sami, especially not when he also claims to not want to interfere with Lucas and Sami's relationship with their adult daughter!

It looked like Rafe and Lucas might team up to try to help Sami get out of this relationship, and I'm all for that.

Rafe and Lucas have not always been the best of friends because of their rivalry over Sami, so it is refreshing for them to team up as friends who both care about her.

I don't know if Rafe's feelings about that would change if he knew that Lucas and Sami had slept together, but he has already picked up on Lucas' jealousy and that doesn't seem to bother him any.

I also enjoyed Lucas' scenes with Nicole, though I could do without her attempt to find out what he and Sami have been up to.

Sami and Nicole both need to mind their own business.

Nicole probably wouldn't care if she wasn't trying to get Sami off her back, but still. She and Lucas have a nice friendship, especially now that they are connected through Allie and her baby, and I hate for her to ruin it with these types of tricks.

And if Sami has her nose in Nicole's love life now, imagine what she'll do if Nicole and Rafe end up being end game!

Also, what was with Nicole's insistence that Sami and Lucas never get along?

Was she projecting her own hatred of Sami? Lucas and Sami fought bitterly for custody of Will years ago, but they've been friends a long time and their "fights" in recent years have been more of the light-hearted banter variety than anything else.

I don't remember any custody battle over Allie. Since Allie was aged, I guess it could have happened off-screen, but it seemed to me that the writers decided to rewrite Sami and Lucas' history and added this fictional event to support their claim that these two have been fighting for years.

Anyway, I'm also curious as to whether Jake and Gabi will get involved in this mess as a way of undermining EJ. Kate also has never approved of Lucas and Sami, so it would be a way of getting under her skin if Gabi and Jake joined Team Lucas!

That would almost make up for how obnoxious this Gabi/Jake/Kate triangle is.

Jake constantly jumping from one of these women to the other is bad enough, but Gabi is as insufferable as Chloe claimed she was, constantly smirking, gloating, and saying unnecessary and nasty things.

It's a shame that Gabi is written this way so often. She was a much more interesting, dynamic, and likable character when she was helping Jake whip up votes for the board meeting.

Back to Nicole and Rafe, what's triggering Rafe's sudden desire for Nicole?

Rafe seemed sad a while ago when Nicole ended their birthday fun to take a call from Eric, but he's with Ava now and they seem happy.

This triangle is interesting because everyone seems to be respecting everyone else's boundaries for once. Rafe doesn't want Nicole while she's with Eric and Nicole is trying not to interfere with Rafe and Ava.

Nicole and Ava have a great friendship, too, so let's hope it can withstand any rivalry over Rafe.

I've shipped Nicole/Rafe for years, so I hope they're end game, but only if Nicole dumps Eric and stops keeping it secret from Rafe that she slept with Xander.

If there is to be a Nicole/Rafe relationship, it needs to be a mature, adult relationship... no more of Nicole destroying everything because of shame and guilt.

In other words, not like the way Philip and Brady are currently behaving toward Chloe.

They both think they know what's best for her and are actively trying to stop her from spending time with the other one. It's obnoxious and doesn't make either of them seem like a good choice for her.

Philip's pushiness was meant to be romantic, but it missed the mark because Philip was acting a lot more like his father than he has in a long time. I'm all for a Philip/Chloe reunion, but not like this!

Across town, the evil Dr. Snyder met a grisly fate... but why?

It seemed like the writers felt as if they had painted themselves into a corner and the only way out was for Snyder to randomly die of a heart attack.

It was unnecessary. Steve and Kayla were starting their investigation into Snyder's illicit activities, with some help from Tripp.

This would have been a great opportunity for a father/son adventure as Steve and Tripp could have worked together on uncovering what Snyder was really doing. But instead, the object of their investigation suddenly died just as things were getting started!

And so we have yet another hide the body story. Most of the time, victims of these things turn up alive later to cause more trouble -- will this be an exception?

There was some great comedy as Gwen and Xander struggled to hide Snyder's body from Julie and Jack, but this story is ridiculous and overdone, and there was no reason not to call the police.

All they'd have to say is that Snyder came over to make a house call and appeared to have a heart attack. The letter opener could have been left out.

And what's going to happen when Jack eventually finds out what his houseguests are up to? The whole reason Xander wanted to get involved was to protect Jack from potential legal problems... how's that going to work out?

Finally, if I were Lani I would have wanted Paulina to use a little more discretion! Asking for her blessing as Paulina and Abe begin dating is one thing, but Lani doesn't need to know about her father's sex life.

At least Abe was more discreet. I loved his catch-up with Roman and his refusal to share details, though there was no reason to go along with it when Lani said she was sure Abe went bragging to his friend that he scored.

Abe is not in high school and is far too respectful of women to act like that. Lani wants her son to grow up learning not to do that, so why on Earth would she expect or accept it from her father?

And what the heck is Paulina's secret? Whatever it is, I hope it's not too late for her to change track, because I don't want her breaking Abe's heart... or Chanel's.

I like this new, purpose-driven Chanel and I'd hate for her to backslide because of Paulina's nonsense.

Also, while I have some issues with the unrealistic way that Allie and Chanel's kiss was depicted, it's beyond time for Days of Our Lives to have a bisexual character or two. (Some trans characters would be nice too!)

It seems that Tripp has forgotten his jealousy. In fact, he appeared to be attracted to both Allie and Chanel.

What are you doing, Days of Our Lives? Is this going to be a traditional triangle after making Chanel's bisexuality a major focus?

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics.

What did you think of all the triangles, manipulations, and double-crossings on Days of Our Lives during the week of 6-21-21?

Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know!

Hungry for more Days of Our Lives chat? Be sure to check back on Sunday for our latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

Days of Our Lives airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes.

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.