Sami stormed back into Salem, just as Nicole left with a whimper, and Bonnie schemed her way into marrying Victor this week on Days of Our Lives.

Our TV Fanatics Jack Ori and Christine Orlando are joined by UhSir and Tony from MyHourglass a Days of Our Lives fan forum to debate Nicole's exit, Sami's return, Adrienne's phone call, and Hope's decision about JJ.

Nicole has left Salem. Rate how she was written out on a scale of 1 (horrible) to 10 (the best).

UhSir: I’ll give it a 5 because I didn't love or hate it. It was just okay. I don't like that her story was really only about the men that she "loves." But I like that she left feeling that she WILL return someday, especially after we find out that she did NOT kill Deimos, and the oh *shiver* so scary amulet is just a piece of junk.

I'm hoping she comes back with a whole new attitude and a sassy, SORASed 6-year-old Holly.

Jack: How about a -100? Nicole was strong, spunky, and took no BS from anyone and she just meekly leaves town without a word to anyone when Brady blackmails her? Please.

This was the culmination of a long line of ridiculous stories for Nicole and her character was so diluted and destroyed that I don't blame the actress for leaving. She should have left with her head held high, choosing to be a single mother to Holly, instead of this. What an ignoble exit for one of my favorite characters!

Tony: 6 - I can take she can’t be in town with the brothers and their families. I can take that she gets her daughter, but she deserved better.

Christine: I’m with Jack on the negative numbers. The Nicole I loved was smart and could stand up for herself, but the last few years the show has been determined to make her weak and dependent upon the guy of the week.

After all of these years, Nicole deserved to either find happiness with Eric, or leave strong and independent to raise her daughter. Having her cower to Brady was insulting and I’m really ticked off about it.

If you were Adrienne, would Justin be the first person you’d call from prison?

UhSir: As much as I loved Judi Evans arguing with herself, storywise it fell flat. I literally yelled at the television, "You should have called Steve!" Okay, I get why, but this is a show that makes one Salem day run anywhere from a few days to two weeks worth of episodes. I know they could have worked it.

Jack: I don't know who would have been best to call. Talking to Bonnie obviously was a waste of breath and money. Adrienne should have hung up and tried again later if she wanted to get ahold of Justin.

Lucas is drunk out of his mind most of the time so he's not going to be any help. I guess she could have called Jennifer and asked her to cover the story of dopplegangers being put in prison while their evil twin runs amuck.

Tony: i wouldn't have called Justin. I would have called Sonny . Better your son than your lovers.

Christine: Steve was probably still in the parking lot of the prison! He’s the smartest and strongest of any of them. Not calling him made absolutely no sense.

Who do you think will be more successful getting information out of Dr. Rolf: Hope or Andre?

UhSir: I really can't add much to this because this is my first time seeing the doctor and I'm pretty confused by all of it. So I'll answer based on my thoughts about Hope and Andre.

I'm still holding onto the dream that Andre is actually Tony, so I'll expect him to fail. I would love it if Hope is the one because of reasons noted in my answer to the other question (below) about Hope.

Jack: Andre is a Dimera, so he likely knows how to handle Rolf better than Hope does.

Tony: I think Andre can get more out of him. I think he can play on being Stefano’s son and not really a good guy working for the cops. He's a smooth talker.

Christine: Although I’d love to see Hope take a win both because of what Rolf did to her in the past and that she’s the new Police Commissioner, I think Andre is probably the person to get the most out of Rolf.

Sami’s back. Are you enjoying her return?

UhSir: (deep breath) She's been tolerable so far, a toned down version of what blew out of town, thank goodness. I'm fully prepared for her to explode at any minute but I'm really hoping that doesn't happen.

I can stand Sami in small doses but I suppose she is going to be in every episode for her duration. (Sigh.) I will honestly try to enjoy her return, as long as it doesn't turn every story into being about her.

Jack: Yes and no. I'm enjoying it a lot except for that nonsense with her kissing Chad. I loved her scenes with Lucas and Marlena and her scene with Eric was nice.

But we didn't need that particular nod to history with her getting revenge on Abby for her affair with EJ, and it seemed like as soon as that was done it was forgotten about, which was pointless.

Tony: Yes , I am very happy Sami is back. She is on fire and hasn’t had a wasted second since she’s been back. Sami was always one of my favorites.

Christine: I’m enjoying her more than I thought I would. Sami can be a really strong person, when she doesn’t dive into craziness.

Sami kissing Chad actually made me laugh. I don’t blame her for trying to get under Abigail’s skin. That kind of betrayal isn’t something you forget.

Hope reinstated JJ. Rafe thought she was too easy on him. Who was right?

UhSir: Hope. Because it was her decision alone, despite the show insisting that Rafe be glued to her hip.

This little tiff is keeping my wishes alive that we finally see Hope living her life on her own and using her own brain, instead of the show forcing us to watch her depending on Rafe's rules, which are fueled by Bo's "blessing" for Rafe to take care of her. It needs to stop.

Jack: What JJ did was wrong, but he has shown remorse ever since and admits he needs to control himself better. Hope should have required him to see the department shrink or take an anger management course as a condition of his reinstatement, but that's too logical for this show.

That said, Rafe was a total hypocrite as usual. He tried to choke Ben after JJ had been kicked out for what he did, so Hope really should be sanctioning him too, not asking him for advice.

Plus he's covered up crimes both for Hope and for his family and he's telling Hope she should be harder on JJ? Please. Take a seat, Rafe!

Tony: I'm with Rafe on this one. JJ got off way too easy . He can't be pointing guns at people . The whole department is a sham.

Christine: Rafe is such a hypocrite. After all the crimes he’s committed, I couldn’t believe he was criticizing JJ, or Hope’s decision. I like Hope, but I like her a lot more when she isn’t constantly saddled with Rafe.

What, if anything, disappointed you this week in Salem?

UhSir: Brady. Every. Single. Second of him. And it's totally crushing me.

Jack: JJ doesn't even get to be part of his own storyline. He's MIA again after being reinstated. And Nicole's exit was rushed, stupid, out of character and left a ton to be desired. And we didn't need that stupidity with Sami and Chad at the mansion.

Tony: I didn't like the loft stuff which seems like pointless filler . Plus it's icky that Claire was using her cousin to make Theo jealous in the first place. Also didn't like seeing Eric going nuts when Nicole was leaving.

Christine: So much to be disappointed in this week. Nicole’s lame departure where everyone gets to be miserable, Eric losing his temper, just like Brady. Rafe second guessing Hope’s decisions but still condescendingly telling her how proud he is of her.

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

UhSir: I'm loving the craziness of the Bonnie/Adrienne story. The topper was Victor explaining to Brady about the scene Brady had just barged in on: "Maggie and I got a quick divorce so the maid here could marry me and Adrienne."

Jack: I loved Sami confronting Lucas at Will's grave, especially this quote:

Sami: You need to focus on the positives in your life. Think about Allie -
Lucas: Don't talk to me about Allie. I don't have Allie. She lives with you now, remember?
Sami: So? That's not the point.
Lucas: That is the point! That is exactly the point. [Crawls over to flask] I don't have Allie, so I don't have to be sober anymore. I can be the drunk lord of Salem if I want! By the way, you're a little late to play the Allie card. Everyone's already tried it. My mother, Maggie, Jennifer, Chloe. It didn't work. So get in line to get Lucas some help. They even staged an intervention, but I wasn't having it. No way. Uh uh. [looks at Sami] So, what are you thinking? You thinking I'm my own worst enemy?
[Sami grabs flask out of Lucas' hand]
Sami: No. You're not your worst enemy. [downs flask] I am.

• Permalink: No. You're not your worst enemy. I am.

I also really liked her scenes with Marlena, and I'm also very excited to see that Bonnie will probably soon be unmasked!

Tony: Morbid as it might be, my favorite stuff was at the cemetery with Bonnie having the Whatever Happend to Baby Jane fantasy, as that’s one of my favorites. Also the Lucas and Sami, and Sami, John and Paul scenes were just electrically charged stuff

Christine: Sami was great. I enjoyed her scenes with Lucas, her reunion with Kate, and her sparring with Andre, as in this Days of Our Lives quote…

Andre: I would never have agreed to help if I'd known this woman was involved.
Sami: I'm surprised you agreed to help at all, since the wizard forgot to give you a heart.

• Permalink: I'm surprised you agreed to help at all, since the wizard forgot to give you a heart.

Want to chat more about Nicole leaving Salem? 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.