I can't believe I used to like Rafe.

I thought he was a smart, empathetic, intuitive cop and that he and Daniel were natural friends since they both shared an interest in making the world a better place.

But after all the tantrums he threw this week, I've had enough of him. The Rafe who is disgracing our screens lately doesn't seem like he'd ever have passed the FBI psych evaluation, never mind worked for them for years.

The Rafe I knew would have been a great fit for Nicole, but this one throws his weight around to get his way and calls it "love", while Nicole mostly cries about her unfortunate situation.

I'm starting to think Andre is holding these characters on Melaswen. Can we please have the characters we recognize back?

The premise behind everyone's trip to Prague was bad enough, but the latest developments are beyond ridiculous.

After finally moving past Anna's mental illness being played for laughs, the Prague crew hit dead ends when their photo of a guy who could be Stefano never led them to the real thing.

Steve, having lost his marriage to ISA business in the past, sided with his ISA agent buddy Shane and opted to wait to get some surveillance footage. Rafe might have been right that this amounted to sitting around doing nothing, but his reaction to this non-plan left something to be desired.

Rafe ranted and raved about how Hope was in danger and he was the only one who cared, and he and Steve nearly came to blows over Steve wanting to go out for ice cream.

Yes, a former FBI agent and  a former ISA agent were arguing about whether their investigation strategy should involve eating ice cream.

If that wasn't ridiculous enough, after Kayla and Steve left, Marlena helped Rafe to realize that he was upset because of his fears for Hope. Why he needed professional help for this obvious insight is beyond me, but it got Rafe to apologize for his tantrum so there's that.

The next day, Shane suggested enhancing the photo of Stefano and bringing it to Salem's attention. I'd love to hear someone confront these guys about their great use of ISA funds for this expensive trip. Rafe did not want to do that and did some more yelling about how Hope needs their help, in case anyone had forgotten.

In case anyone was wondering, while Rafe was professing his love for Hope through extremely immature behavior, Eric was treating her for typhoid fever. Apparently Eric didn't just pick up basic medical knowledge from being a missionary; he became a full-fledged doctor.

Eric is wonderful in these scenes but his presence in them makes no sense. It would make more sense for Daniel to somehow visit Hope rather than only appearing to Nicole, since he was an actual doctor, plus had experience treating people in secluded cabins.

Justin: I don't want anyone to see us gloating.
Nicole: Huh?
Justin: Nicole. Your bail hearing went extremely well. All we need is to reap the funds and you are out of here. It's called winning. Smile!

• Permalink: Nicole. Your bail hearing went extremely well. All we need is to reap the funds and you are...

Nicole got herself in trouble this week while all this was going on.

She figured out that Dario had ordered a hit on Deimos and instead of doing anything halfway reasonable, like informing one of her many friends in the police department and/or Deimos himself, she decided to stab a guy who was sneaking up on him just in case he was the bad guy.

This is the second time Nicole has been arrested for attempted murder in the last year, and in both cases it had to do with her involvement with Deimos.

First, Kate gave the police spurious evidence that Nicole had pushed Deimos into the river. That in itself was a rerun of Kate, Sami, and Gabi throwing Nick into the river a few years ago. Now the show is copying last summer's storyline by having Nicole be accused of attempting to stab this guy.

If that wasn't bad enough, this exact scenario already played out a few years ago, with Sami on trial for what seemed like forever after she shot Joe Bernardi in order to stop him from trying to kill Rafe.

In that story, Sami kept going by writing love letters to EJ. In this one, Nicole is kept going by imagining ghostly visits from Daniel.

I didn't particularly like the first version of this story, so what makes the writers think I'll like the second?

On top of that, there's still too much paternalism on the part of too many characters when it comes to Nicole.

Chloe kept the baby's identity secret from Nicole in the first place because she believed Nicole was too weak to handle it if anything went wrong. Brady and Deimos have been investigating behind Nicole's back for weeks for the same reason.

And now, Nicole is in tears over the whole thing and Justin tells her to smile. 

This may have been unintentional, but it came off as condescending, just like it does when catcallers on the street do it to random women.  And when taken in conjunction with all the other messages about how weak Nicole is, it was pretty offensive.

I enjoyed Daniel's visit, for the most part. I always liked the calm, supportive way he had of encouraging people and I've missed that. But I wish Nicole could mourn him without feeling like she needs him to avoid going crazy.

I want to see Nicole be more than the other half of whatever man she's with at the time. I want to see her be her fiery, spunky self who enhances her partner's life, if she chooses to have a partner, as much as he enhances hers.

Deimos: Well, you haven't been handcuffed, which means you haven't been charged yet. Officer, aren't you going to do your duty?
Officer: I just interviewed her, sir.

• Permalink: I just interviewed her, sir.

Deimos apparently thought he could order the police to arrest Chloe and it would be done.

What Chloe is doing is wrong and amounts to kidnapping, but I enjoyed Deimos not getting his way. His belief that the universe has to bend to his whims is annoying and doesn't endear me to him.

I also wish Chloe would stop saying she's always put Parker first. Both she and Nicole said it and it's not true.

Chloe saw Parker as her key to getting Daniel back from Jennifer way back in 2012 and used him in several ways, culminating with her illegally taking him to Brazil and threatening not to bring him back unless Daniel and Jennifer broke up.

That is not putting Parker first, at all. It also happens to be exactly what she's doing now. She's keeping someone's child from her in order to blackmail her into breaking up with someone else.

I hate Deimos, but Nicole should win this custody battle easily by pointing out that Chloe has a pattern of kidnapping children in order to control their parents.

Chloe has been a poor parent to Parker on many occasions, including now when she is not letting him see the stepmother who comforted him after Daniel's death and mostly allows his friends' mothers to parent him, and that should also factor into the decision.

Adrienne's storyline continued to be a breath of fresh air. I'd never expected a story about cancer to be the best one on the show. Adrienne refused to let her diagnosis get her down, continuing to co-edit the Spectator with Jennifer, and was able to tell Lucas that she didn't think the time was right for her to date anyone.

Adrienne also softens Kate. I just wish the relationship was more even, because Kate needs a good talking to.

Kate and Andre had a ridiculous argument because Andre thinks Chad should be with Abigail instead of encouraging him to dump his wife for shallow, faithless Gabi. It turned out the real reason that Kate was angry was that she blamed Andre for her breakup with Eduardo.

Really. Even though her anger at Eduardo is because he believed that she went through with the plot to steal microchips that she was hired to go through with, and the only reason they're broken up is that she continues to ignore his texts.

Eduardo, for his part, needs to stop begging. JJ finally stopped following Gabi around and asking for a second chance that he shouldn't have even needed to ask for. Now it's Eduardo's turn.

Note to the writers: begging someone over and over to take you back when they dumped you for no good reason isn't romantic or sweet. It's pathetic.

Abigail and Gabi decided to work together to steal the Orwell device in order to stop the guys from fighting over it. Abigail not only seems to not care at all that Gabi screwed her brother over and has designs on her husband,  but also no longer seems to have any PTSD symptoms now that she's got involved in this.

The original poor depiction of PTSD was bad enough, but having it magically disappear is even worse. If DAYS is going to have a storyline revolving around mental illness, they need to follow through and actually finish the story.

Are you glad that Abby's PTSD is gone or do you wish the writers had allowed her to work through it? Which character did you think was most out of character this week

Weigh in below, and don't forget to check back on Sunday for our 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.