Days of Our Lives Review: Salem's Full of Secrets

Is there anyone in Salem not keeping secrets these days?

When I looked back over Days of Our Lives for the week of August 6th to August 10th, the number of lies and secrets were overwhelming.

Victor was keeping Eve’s involvement in planting the drugs a secret from Brady in order to control her.
Jennifer was hiding how Brady forced Nicole out of Eric’s life.
Kayla was terrified over Steve learning she made a deal with Stefan to get his eyesight back.
Will and Sonny were hiding how they were involved in Leo’s death from everyone, but especially Paul.
Kate was concerned that Chad would learn about her involvement in setting up Sonny, and now she was entangled in Gabi’s secret as well.
But Gabi had the biggest, most horrible secret of all.

I hate the turn that Gabi has taken recently.

Yes, some would say that Gabi has a history of resorting to underhanded behavior to get what, and whom, she wants, but she’d come so far since she was released from prison for killing Nick.

I love it when we see real character development and that’s what we were seeing with Gabi. She’d started her own business, was a wonderful mother to Ari and ended up being a great friend to JJ.

Now she’s backslid to the point where that person is almost unrecognizable. I understand Gabi’s anger towards Abigail and Stefan. Stefan is an arrogant jerk who stole her company and Abigail can do almost anything and still have all of Salem feeling sorry for her.

But Gabi is torturing Chad, a person she’s always cared about, and she’s putting a lot of undue stress on this unborn child. Can you imagine the stress this poor child will be surrounded by if this situation continues after it’s born? That’s nothing but cruel.

Watching Abigail interact with Stefan is eye roll worthy. If she thinks he won’t be insinuating himself into her life as that child’s father for the next couple of decades she’s kidding herself.

I’m also tired of hearing how ashamed Abigail is for considering ending this pregnancy. This unborn child was the product of rape while she wasn’t in her right mind and her rapist, who never faced justice, has made it clear he plans to be a big part of its life. Any rational human being would at least consider ending this pregnancy.

I was proud of Chad most of the week, although I know not all fans will agree with that.

Chad loves Abby and he understands what happened to her is horrible but I can see how it twists him up inside.

On the one hand, Stefan raped a mentally ill woman and he got away with it. I get why he wants to kill the man every time he sees him.

On the other hand he’s being told that Gabby is a part of Abigail, and Gabby wanted Stefan, so does that mean that some small part of Abigail wants Stefan too?

Chad didn’t try to bury his feelings. He was smart enough to go to Marlena and try and get help because he wants to do the right thing. But watching Stefan put his hand on his wife was too much, and it’s made all the worse by Gabi’s subtle manipulations.

The worst part is that we didn’t need Stefan to rape Abigail to have a dramatic storyline. Days uses rape to try and add drama when it doesn’t need to and it trivializes a serious crime and the trauma that goes with it.

Stefan could have been in the dark about Abigail’s mental illness and simply thought that she wanted him and was cheating on Chad. Then he could have been as shocked as anyone when the truth came out. It would have given his character some redeeming value and still made for a compelling story.

The way it plays out now, I want to fast forward every time Stefan appears.

Speaking of characters going down the wrong path, let’s add Hope to that list.

Unfortunately, Hope has been on this path for quite a while, ever since the show decided to trash Aiden, kill off Bo, and then immediately paired her with Rafe.

The Hope I grew up with was feisty and fun and had a moral compass. The Hope I’ve seen these last few years is none of those things. The Hope we see now takes the law into her own hands and doesn’t think twice about manipulating an investigation.

This time she even pressured Marlena to throw away her own professional ethics to help put Ben back in Shady Hills.

I understand Hope not wanting Ben near her daughter. He’s a mentally ill man who has murdered people. But Ben saved Ciara’s life and as much as Hope and Rafe want there to be, there’s no evidence that he set that fire.

Given Hope and Rafe’s penchant for using their “own methods” in cases where they believe they are right, Hope pushing Ben to leave Salem almost feels rational when in reality it’s an abuse of power and harassment. How far my favorite character has fallen?

And I have to take a minute to mention how ridiculous it is to see Ciara walking around Salem, even if it is cautiously.

They said Ciara had a compound fracture of the leg. A compound fracture is when the bone has literally broken through the skin. Even with Ben’s help she would have most likely needed surgery, been at serious risk for infection, and required weeks of physical therapy.

I hate it when shows don’t even attempt to get the medical stuff right and just make stuff up to fit the story. Then again, I should be used to it by now. Days of Our Lives has a long history of this.

And although I found Ciara and Tripp’s almost romance lackluster, I had to give Tripp the Days of Our Lives quote of the week…

Am I seriously getting the over-protective Dad lecture from a serial killer?
Tripp

Permalink: Am I seriously getting the over-protective Dad lecture from a serial killer?

Elsewhere, Lani and Eli had an emotional moment turn icky.

I appreciate that they aren’t glossing over the death of their child, but my dislike of Lani hasn’t changed.

I hated that a moment of shared grief turned to sex. Eli kissing her and telling her he was trying to make her feel better was all wrong. But sex without love or thought is this couple’s fallback position.

However, Lani screaming harassment was over the top but not surprising. Lani has always been a little unstable. She’d stalked Shawn when she first came to town. She slept with JJ when he was blackout drunk. She had revenge sex with Eli and then lied to JJ for months about the baby it created being his.

Lani is another character that makes me want to change the channel whenever she’s on, no matter who she’s paired with.

But to be clear, if Eli needs to be the sacrificial lamb to keep Lani away from JJ, so be it because if I have to watch JJ get pulled back into Lani’s orbit once again, I may truly tune out and not come back.

Now on to a couple I don’t care about because the show doesn’t seem to care about them. Chloe declared her love for Lucas, but this is a couple with no build up, no scenes together, and no love story.

Simply having a character declare their love for one another does not make a romance. I wish the Days writers would figure that out because both Lucas and Chloe deserve a story and neither of them has it here.

We’ll finish out the week with a lesson all of Salem needs to learn.

Private conversations held in public places are NOT PRIVATE!

All residents of Salem should have this tattooed on their foreheads so they don’t forget.

Ted didn’t have to do anything more than have someone keep an eye on his client and keep his hears open in public places to learn all the details about Sonny and Will’s involvement in Leo’s death.

If he hangs out in the park or the square with this strategy he’d probably have enough dirt to blackmail most of Salem in just a few weeks. The man might never have to work again.

Check back on Sunday to hear what the Days of Our Lives round table team has to say about this week in Salem. And tune in next week when Jack Ori will return with his Days of Our Lives weekly review.