Eric hooked up with Sloan, Gwen's scheme got Xander out of a jam, while Ava blew up Susan's memorial service!

Our TV Fanatics, Jack and Christine, are joined by Mikey from MyHourglass, a Days of Our Lives fan forum, to debate who survived that explosion, if Rafe is out for revenge or justice, if Sarah was wrong to blab to Justin, and more!

Ava blew up the chapel! Do you think anyone will die in the explosion at Susan's memorial service, and if so, who?

Mikey: I doubt it. I don't even think Susan is actually dead. If anything, Ava will be presumed dead yet again and escape, only to pop up in a few months to wreak random havoc. The only other potential fatality I could envision (of the five people there) is Sister Mary Moira, who's a relatively expendable character.

Jack: I'm hoping no one dies. We have had enough death and destruction!

I doubt any more main characters will die. It would be pointless if EJ, Nicole, or Tripp died since they were all resurrected in the last few years.

If Ava dies, no one will believe she's really dead, plus it would mean EJ never gets justice for Susan, and we'd have months of angry Tripp -- no thank you. Marlena won't die either, as she's involved in too big a storyline elsewhere. Same for Johnny.

The only ones who are really expendable are Sister Mary Moira and the priest, and I doubt Days will go there.

Christine: I think Sister Mary Moira is a goner, or maybe I'm hoping she is. I'm not a fan. And Ava may be presumed dead once again, but I doubt anyone else will die.

It's your turn, TV Fanatics. Who do you think will die in the explosion?

Did Xander and Gwen's scheme work? Will this be the end of the clown caper, or will Xander get caught in the end?

Mikey: It definitely won't be the end of it. I thought it was a reasonably clever way to get out of a jam, but there are now too many people involved for it to stay secret.

I could see Xander convincing Bonnie to keep quiet, though I'm not sure what bargaining chip he could use to do that.

Jack: Secrets always come out eventually. I'm still not convinced Susan is dead; if she's not, she could come back and tell the truth.

Bonnie could remember more details and realize Clown #2 and Clown #1 are not the same person. Leo or Gwen could slip up. And there's still the matter of Justin wanting to see the "employment contract," plus his suspicions may be raised after talking to Sarah.

So, one way or another, the truth will come out, but it'll probably be a while -- at least three to six months.

Christine: It worked for now. I'd love for Xander to get away with this, but we all know that's not going to happen.

Gwen's scheme was clever, and I love Xander, Gwen, and Leo working together. Whenever this does blow up in their faces, I hope it doesn't destroy Xander and Sarah's marriage or end up with Gwen or Leo in jail.

Was Sarah wrong to tell Justin she thinks Xander may have kidnapped Bonnie?

Mikey: Not at all! It would've been irresponsible not to share information like that, especially since Xander and Bonnie were both missing at the time. This really has to be the end of Sarah and Xander, though, unless she's going to start being okay with criminal activity and constant deception.

To me, they're a worse version of Maggie and Victor -- Maggie's been wringing her hands for 11+ years every time Victor does something immoral, unethical, illegal, or dangerous. Still, she never actually puts her foot down.

Jack: She was right. Xander may be her husband, but Bonnie was missing again, and so was Xander -- for all Sarah knew, he was tormenting Bonnie right then. She had to do whatever she could to help find Bonnie.

Christine: No! Xander is her husband, and she loves him. If she's that concerned, she should have tracked Xander and Bonnie down herself, but telling Justin or anyone else was just disloyal.

Eric considers himself the good one in the family, and Sami and Theresa are the bad seeds. Do you agree?

Mikey: Until recently, more or less -- not because he's perfect, but because he has always seemed to follow a moral compass of some kind.

Eric's remorse over his DUI and Daniel's death felt legitimate and strong. Sami and Theresa have traditionally done whatever they wanted at a given moment because it benefitted them, and they only show remorse when they get caught or when it'll help them out of a scrape.

But Eric is just being a full-on jerk now. I'm not sure why a woman he didn't even love choosing to terminate a pregnancy she was on the fence about has turned him into such an irresponsible, miserable ass.

Jack: I object to the whole "bad seed" idea. Sami, Theresa, and Nicole are sympathetic characters even when they are doing something terrible because they are wounded women seeking to heal the wrong way.

They aren't evil in the sense that they don't enjoy harming others for their own sake, at least not nowadays. In the past, they were more villainous, but even then, it came from pain.

Eric has been playing a role his whole life, one at which he's not great. He has tried to be the perfect son, but he's very judgmental and hotheaded and often jumps to conclusions and flings accusations at people, especially Nicole.

It's also never discussed much, but he's a rape survivor, and what Kristen did to him undoubtedly affected him negatively.

It makes sense that Eric lashes out and acts out, but the sympathetic base for it isn't there as the writers haven't explored his reasons beyond being angry that Jada had an abortion. That makes him unlikable, far more so than the people he called bad seeds.

Christine: Everyone sees Eric as the saint, but he's a hothead with a bad temper who judges others harshly. He's no better than Sami or Theresa.

And can someone show Eric how to properly use a condom so he'll stop causing these unwanted pregnancies?

Eric and Sloan hooked up. React!

Mikey: Bleh. I've never seen Eric as a casual sex sort of guy, and while I'm fine with a story of him spiraling, it feels like we're playing Musical Beds lately. When everyone sleeps with everyone, nothing is shocking, and it isn't entertaining. I just sort of... don't care.

Jack: Blech.

This is Brady/Kristen 2.0, and I didn't like the original! I also think that even though he's hurt and angry, Eric isn't the type to just jump into bed with someone he barely knows.

And doesn't he care that Sloan is hurting innocent people, including his friend Abe? Why was he so quick to believe Sloan's side of the story, especially after learning that her father took advantage of Chanel sexually?

As a fellow survivor who was blamed for his rape, he should be 100% on Chanel's side with this.

Christine: Eric jumped into bed with Jada pretty quickly. And he didn't seem to have a problem with breaking up Nicole and Rafe's marriage, so I'm not buying that Eric is too moral for casual sex.

I find Sloan and Eric an interesting couple. I don't expect it to go well, but it's a pair I wasn't expecting, and that alone makes it entertaining.

Rafe is determined to bring EJ down? Is it because he believes EJ has committed a crime or because Rafe thinks Nicole is sleeping with him?

Mikey: Both. Rafe has had it out for EJ long before Rafe was ever involved with Nicole.

This all goes back to Sami, the kids, and how EJ had Rafe kidnapped and replaced with a dangerous doppelgänger. Nicole is just his latest excuse for wanting to pin any charges on EJ at any cost.

Jack: It's both, but I don't like it. Rafe is no better than Sloan or Trask if he uses his position at the police station to punish his ex-wife's alleged new guy for personal reasons.

Christine: Rafe seemed sympathetic to EJ losing his mother before he mistakenly thought EJ was sleeping with Nicole. Now he's determined to take EJ down. So this has more to do with personal vengeance than justice.

Is Stephanie sending Chad mixed signals?

Mikey: I'm going back and forth on this. She seems to be taking him at face value that he is still mourning his wife and isn't ready for a relationship. She's in a relationship with Alex -- plus she seems incapable of writing a simple press release without his help -- so why shouldn't she encourage him to stay on with SJPR?

But she's also sharing her short rib pho with him and having these intimate chats. My read on it is that she's walking a fine line and not always succeeding. I wonder what she'd do if Chad suddenly told her that he *is* ready to move on.

Jack: I think Chad is the one sending mixed signals. From the moment she overheard Chad talking to Alex, Stephanie has been clear that she is attracted to Chad but wants to respect that he's not ready to move on.

She moved on with Alex since she can't have Chad, but Chad goes back and forth between acting like he's interested and saying he's not ready.

Christine: I don't think she's leading Chad on, but she does skirt the boundaries of intimacy with him.

But Chad is the one who keeps waffling about what he wants. However, it does make me wonder what Stephanie would do if Chad decided he wanted Stephanie and told her so.

What surprised or disappointed you the most this week in Salem?

Mikey: All of Eric's behavior. He's lashing out and being nasty and stupid. Clearly, he wants to hurt Nicole, and he's acting like an ass to accomplish that. If he wants a casual hook-up with Sloan, fine, but he's going out of his way to be "bad." And he should not be drinking.

Eric doesn't consider himself an alcoholic, but he killed a man by driving drunk, then got drunk again and punched two people. He's being reckless, and he's going to harm someone other than himself.

Jack: I was surprised that Brady told Eric the truth. Once Stefan interrupted, I assumed that would be the end of that.

I was disappointed with the hypocrisy in the Stefan/Brady scene. Eric goes to jail for punching EJ, but Brady gets a free pass for punching Stefan. Chloe even seemed to be on Brady's side with this.

I also hate this evil clown story and am so disappointed that Leo agreed to pretend to be the kidnapper. If he wants to turn his life around, he needs to commit to good behavior, and this scheme will only blow up in everyone's faces. Plus, I want this awful story to end already.

The bomb at the memorial was also disappointing—enough death and destruction.

Finally, Sister Mary Moira's disgust at Brady kissing her should not have been played for laughs. I hate the trope of the uninvited kiss. Kissing someone without consent is not cute or romantic, and Sister Mary Moira was right to be horrified.

Christine: I still can't believe that Maggie and Sarah let Bonnie wander off to "get some air" after hallucinating and attacking a man. If that's not the definition of "a danger to themselves and others," I don't know what is.

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

Mikey: As goofy as it was, Brady kissing Sister Mary Moira and her subsequent disgust made me laugh. What can I say? It was not my favorite week of shows, but that at least got me to pay attention.

Jack: As much as I hated the Stefan punch trope, I did like Brady and Eric bonding as brothers and was especially thrilled that Brady tried to stand up for Nicole. Eric also seemed more like himself with Brady, even when they didn't see eye to eye, as in this quote:

Brady: Maybe it's none of my business, but I'm going to put my two cents in anyway because I'm your brother and I love you. Was Nicole wrong to talk to Jada? Probably. But Jada was the one who decided to have an abortion. Is it really fair to blame Nicole?
Eric: That's not why we broke up. We broke up for the same reason we got divorced. We're too different and we're not good for each other. We got caught up in this forbidden love but we weren't meant to be together. We got into it again this morning. Nicole trailed me to Sloan Peterson's apartment and lay into me for sleeping with Sloan.
Brady: You slept with Sloan? Eric, do you have any idea what she did to Paulina and Chanel, and indirectly to Abe? Is this really the kind of person you want to be sleeping with?
Eric: That's real classy coming from someone who's shacked up with Kristen Dimera.

• Permalink: That's real classy coming from someone who's shacked up with Kristen Dimera.

Christine: I loved Nicole telling Sister Mary Moira off for being so rude.

It was great that Johnny remembered that Nicole was a part of his childhood and in a positive way.

And I cheered when EJ kicked Kristen out and told her she couldn't come to Susan's memorial service. Kristen did horrible things to Susan over the years, and I was glad to see EJ remember that.

Also, the bomb was a great Friday cliffhanger to keep us on the edge of our seats until a new episode drops on Monday. It was a very classic soap trope.

Now it's your turn, Days fans. Hit the SHOW COMMENTS and give us your answers to our round table questions. Then check out Jack Ori's Days of Our Lives review here at TV Fanatic.

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