On this week's Days of Our Lives, Adrienne was diagnosed with breast cancer and Stefano turned out to have had bone cancer at the time of his murder.

Meanwhile, Abigail continued to hide in the attic and Dario put JJ down for, among other things, his rape which again was referred to as consensual.

If these storylines were written seriously, any one of them could be powerful. Instead, important issues were treated as trivial plot points.

I'd like to start with the Stefano storyline in honor of the late Joseph Mascolo, who passed away on December 8.  

Stefano's send-off could have been far better than what viewers got.

Mascolo was an important part of the show and it was hard to watch Chad and Andre talk about how their father was terminally ill while knowing the actor who played him had passed away the day before.

Stefano was the ultimate love-to-hate character and Mascolo played the role perfectly.

His loss is already being felt keenly by fans and cast mates, and it was heartbreaking to realize that this story isn't just a story – he will never grace our screens again.

Listen to me. She [Hope] is now in prison and it is our responsibility to make sure she stays there.

Andre

• Permalink: Listen to me. She is now in prison and it is our responsibility to make sure she stays...

On this week's shows, Chad and Andre learned that Stefano had bone cancer that he told nobody about. Somehow, this is supposed to exonerate Hope for his murder because he allegedly wanted her to kill him.

This storyline is painful to watch. It was hard before Mascolo's death, and it's harder now.

It also makes no sense. Hope went to Stefano's house, and he goaded her into shooting him. Terminally ill or not, Hope fired several shots in succession. She and Rafe then took his body to an abandoned warehouse and covered him with trash.

There's no excuse for any of that. None. Bone cancer or not, wanting someone to kill him or not, certainly Stefano wasn't looking for someone to empty her gun into him and then desecrate his body.

If DOOL wanted to do a euthanasia story, they should have done a proper one, with it being clear from the beginning that's what it was and family taking sides over whether it was the appropriate thing to do.

This story equates euthanasia with mindless violence, which is never a good thing.

There's also the whole issue of calling it "suicide by cop" which is a controversial term considering the tensions between police and minority communities and how often police shootings are suggested to be "suicide by cop."

At the very least, the suggestion that Hope losing control and shooting an unarmed suspect over and over is somehow okay because he had a terminal illness is insensitive and someone should have thought twice before pursuing this storyline.

The only one who seems to understand what actually happened here is Andre. When your leading villain is the voice of reason, something is wrong in the story.

Earlier in the week, Andre suggested perhaps Chad encouraging Gabi to sneak around behind JJ's back to go on a date with him wasn't the way to go.

Gabi quit her job with Chad and decided to be committed to JJ for about 30 seconds before trying to hold Chad's hand.

I got the strongest sense that  viewers were supposed to root for Chad and Gabi just because evil Andre is against them, just like Julie's opinion of Gabi is supposed to be the driving force between viewers wanting Gabi and JJ together.

Instead of these silly manipulative games, it would be better to let the writing speak for itself. Perhaps viewers would be more invested in JJ/Gabi if there was evidence on screen that Gabi actually loves JJ as much as she claims.

Gabi gives lip service and half-hearted efforts to the man she promised never to take for granted again only a month ago.

It's also been totally forgotten that JJ risked his life for Gabi, insisting she be given the antidote to that deadly virus first even if it meant he would die before more medication arrived, and that he was shot in the line of duty and almost died.

Instead all that matters is that he called his rape "cheating" and some viewers think somehow Gabi deserves better than a guy who would risk his life for her and that it's okay for her to attempt to cheat on him with Chad every chance she gets.

Gabi's life is now in danger again because of her own shallowness.

She ran into Dario, who is smuggling stolen microchips in knock-off purses, and decided one of those purses was so awesome she had to have it right now even though he claimed it was a Christmas present and it's not Christmas yet.

This silly storyline got even more ridiculous when Gabi returned to the docks to tell Dario that the purse was not a real designer purse, only to refuse to give it back to him because she loves it even though it's a knock-off.

Eduardo then warned Dario that Gabi's life is in danger because she has the stolen microchip and sooner or later Andre will realize it.

And a couple of years ago viewers thought the elephant statue story was bad! 

Most likely this story will end with JJ saving Gabi's life again and all will be forgiven,, until the next time JJ fails to behave exactly how Gabi wants him to.

If you tell anyone, especially Chad, that I am alive, then I will report what I just saw to my brother the cop.

Abby

• Permalink: If you tell anyone, especially Chad, that I am alive, then I will report what I just saw to...

Abigail could have put a stop to this nonsense sooner but instead she chose to blackmail Dario in order to ensure that Chad not find out that she's alive.

Dario has no reason to be looking down his nose at Abigail.

He called her a coward, but since coming to town he has hidden a body, hired a thug that attacked Gabi in order to turn the family against his father, stalked Nicole, helped Deimos to stalk Chloe, and now is involved in stealing microchips.

Abby is being ridiculous, but she's hardly the worse person in this scenario. And she certainly should not take relationship advice from someone who has made as many bad choices recently as Dario has.

In between these silly scenes, Abby had some very nice scenes with JJ, who encouraged her to go back to Chad, and again with her mom. It was especially nice to see Abby bond with her brother and for him to be in the advice-giving position for once. 

However, both JJ and Jennifer told her some nonsense about how she was being like Jack, who suddenly and randomly has a history of faking his death and abandoning his family.

This character assassination has got to stop. It's not consistent with Jack's actual history.

He was kidnapped and presumed dead three separate times then was killed saving Abigail's life. He did run away once but he never claimed to be dead and Jen went after him.

This nonsense isn't even consistent with recent history. JJ had mental health issues due to losing the dad he was super close with in 2013, and a month ago Jennifer was telling comatose JJ that his father was so proud to have a son and loved him so much.

And now we're supposed to believe that Jack walked out when JJ was a little boy, leaving Adrienne to take him to see Santa, and/or he faked his death and hurt Jennifer? Please.

The only one who abandoned anyone was Jen, who filed for divorce without knowing the facts while Jack was being held captive in Afghanistan and then left JJ in boarding school on another continent after his father's death.

Finally this week, Brady sulked about Theresa leaving while the rest of his family mourned Adrienne's cancer diagnosis.

Adrienne's story could be emotional, but it's riddled with illogic and inconsistencies that pull viewers out of the story.

First of all, Adrienne's diagnosis occurred because she fainted due to stress and Kayla's first reaction was to tell her she was late to have a mammogram.

Breast cancer doesn't generally work that way; fainting is not a sign of the disease.

And even if it made any sense at all for Kayla to order a mammogram in response to Adrienne losing consciousness, the fact is that Adrienne had one a few months ago that came back negative even though supposedly she hasn't had one in eight months.

Breast cancer is so important to detect early, so getting all these details wrong is not doing anyone any favors.

Even if viewers suspend their disbelief on all of that for the sake of the story, everyone is running around acting like Adrienne is dying tomorrow when nobody has said any such thing.

She does not appear at all ill, presumably has found no lumps in her breasts, and is just sad about having missed her mammogram.

Kayla also spoke to the men in Adrienne's life about her care as if she were incompetent to understand or decide for herself. This was pretty insulting and unnecessary.  

There was also a silly sideline about Sonny blaming himself for the cancer because he made Adrienne go into a room with Lucas and Justin, as if her fainting actually caused the cancer itself.

This was more or less an excuse for him to bond with Paul, and it was ridiculous. Sonny is not five years old and it's inconceivable that this once level-headed character would think something so off-base.

Meanwhile, there were some more prison scenes that aren't worth mentioning except to say that Julie branching out to be judgmental and critical of Hope's prison friends was hilarious.

Finally, Ciara went on a date with Rory and ignored the fact that as a little girl she was fascinated by him and hung out with him at JJ's probation party to tell him that she knew nothing about him except for that he used to do drugs with JJ and that she didn't want to know any more.

What did you think of this week's Days of Our Lives? Are you ready for Abby to meet Chad? Have you had enough of the assassination of Jack's character yet?

Weigh in below, and don't forget to check back on Sunday for the Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

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.