Days of Our Lives Round Table: Gabi's Evil Genius!

Gabi continued to torment Abigail and Chad, while Jennifer prepared to tell Eric the truth about Nicole, and John and Roman struggled to keep Hattie under control in order to save Marlena on this week’s Days of Our Lives.

TV Fanatics Jack Ori and Christine Orlando are joined by Stephanie from MyHourglass a Days of Our Lives fan forum to debate if Jenn should tell the truth, what to do about Bonnie, Gabi’s plan for revenge and who will be the first to oust Hattie in Salem.

Do you consider Gabi’s plan diabolical genius or petty, vindictive, cruelty?

Stephanie: After hearing what the end game for Gabi’s plan is, I actually think it’s pretty smart. She knows that the paternity test results can’t stay a secret forever and has planned out how things will ideally go when they are finally revealed.

Despite the intelligence behind the plan though, I still wish that Gabi wasn’t seeking revenge on Abigail and Stefan. I would have much preferred for them to suffer natural consequences of their actions rather than for the writers to ruin a good strong character who had already redeemed herself from this sort of thing for the sake of a story.

Jack: This is beyond petty, vindictive, and cruel. Gabi refuses to accept that Abigail was suffering from a mental illness, thinks that mental illness is a convenient way for her to break up Abby and Chad, and doesn't care that her actions could harm the baby regardless of what it says on the pill bottle about the pills being safe to take during pregnancy.

The constant rape-shaming and villainization of Abigail for having been taken advantage of when she was not in conscious control of herself is bad enough without Gabi making herself the victim.

Gabi's relationship with her daughter has been healed and she has no plans to have other kids so she doesn't even really have a reason for her behavior other than jealousy and wanting Chad for herself. Get it off my screen!

Christine: Can it be both? When Gabi explained how she was going to give Stefan everything he wanted and then not only rip it away but make him look like the person who swapped the test results, I‘ll admit that I was kind of impressed.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the plan isn’t also cruel and vindictive. As much as Abigail can grate on my nerve, she has been suffering from mental illness, and Chad hasn’t done anything to deserve this type of pain. Plus the added stress on the unborn child isn’t ideal either.

But worst of all, I hate what they’ve done to Gabi. She had grown so much that it’s really disappointing to see what she’s become for this lame story.

Given that Eric and Brady are on such good terms once again, does Eve have a point about not telling Eric what Brady did to him and Nicole?

Stephanie: I think the truth needs to come out sooner rather than later. All of the people in Salem should know by now that secrets never stay secret.

Jen’s best bet is to tell Eric herself before someone else finds out and not only tells him the truth but that she knew it and kept it from him. It will ruin the progress between Eric and Brady for sure, but their relationship will never be able to fully heal until the ugly truth has been told and dealt with.

Jack: Of course not. I think that it's stupid for anyone to think that Eric should care about any of this. Of course, on this show people magically care about things they didn't care about at all five seconds ago just for the sake of "drama."

Even so, Brady and Eric can't really move forward as brothers if there's this lie between them. Brady needs to come clean and then it needs to be taken from there.

Christine: Eve’s correct in that it will take a wrecking ball to Brady and Eric’s current relationship but I’m not sure it can be helped. The truth usually comes out eventually.

Nicole was Eric’s first love and perhaps the love of his life. He deserves to know why she really left him. As for Jennifer, if Eric leaves her that won’t be fun but she deserves better than to feel like his consolation prize for losing Nicole.

Should Adrienne try to have the charges dropped against Bonnie in order to find baby BonBon?

Stephanie: I don’t think Adrienne should drop the charges. There are other ways to find the baby without making this sort of deal. Being a Kiriakis, Adrienne has plenty of money to pay someone to search for and find the baby for Lucas.

Jack: Nope. Adrienne should help Lucas charge Bonnie with parental kidnapping so she spends MORE time in jail and then hire a PI to find the baby. Too bad Steve was pushed out of the show for no reason. That would be a perfect story for him.

Christine: Bonnie belongs behind bars now more than ever. Lucas focus should be to find his child. Bonnie isn’t a criminal mastermind. She called someone to the police station to pick up the baby. That person should have had to check in and should be on surveillance cameras. I can’t imagine it would take very long to track down baby BonBon.

Who will be the first to figure out that Hattie isn’t Marlena and what will they do about it?

Stephanie: I think Kristen will be the first to find out. She is a con artist herself, so she should be able to easily recognize someone else who’s playing that role. She will most likely threaten to kill Hattie if she doesn’t tell her where the real Marlena is.

Jack: I’m sure whoever it is will be sworn to secrecy so that this can go on for months unless they decide to blackmail someone instead.

I'm expecting Chad to consult "Marlena" about Abby's new memory lapse and get Hattie instead. Just please, don't let Stefan find out. He's already tormented Kayla enough with his nonsense.

Christine: I think it would be funny if Sami found out but also went along with it for the good of her mother. I’d love to see Sami jump through hoops to keep the secret and deal with Hattie at the same time.

Would you like to see Sheila stick around Salem?

Stephanie: I actually would like to see Sheila stick around. She has an interesting backstory, and I like her relationship with Eli. I think it would add more substance to his character if she’s around to interact with him.

Jack: I was all for her sticking around until that stupidity with Abe. I'd much rather have seen a legitimate story about an ex-convict trying to turn her life around and finding it difficult, but I guess that's too realistic a story for this show.

Anyway, if she does stick around I hope it's for something other than being a thorn in Lani and Eli's side as I don't want to see any more screen time for these two.

Christine: I’d like to see her given a real story about trying to rebuild her life in Salem. The actress is good, probably better than the character is written at this point, but there’s a lot of potential there.

Which two characters aren’t currently a couple but you’d like them to be?

Stephanie: I still like the idea of Chad and Gabi despite what she’s doing right now. You can tell they have a bond when they are in scenes together. Chad’s relationship with Abigail seems awkward and forced by comparison.

Jack: Sami and Lucas. They should be working together to defeat Bonnie and fall in love again instead of this nonsense about her being in love with the man who raped her and Lucas giving in to blackmail from the woman who raped him.

I'd also like to see Roman give Hattie a try for real. Roman and Hattie double dating with John and Marlena after Marlena gets out of her coma (which we know will happen eventually) would be all sorts of fun!

Christine: I still think Gabi and JJ could be a solid couple if they can reverse the damage they’ve done to Gabi. Unfortunately, I can’t imagine JJ forgiving Gabi for what she’s done to his sister.

What was your favorite quote, scene, or storyline from this week in Salem?

Stephanie: I liked seeing Chloe interact with Bonnie. Bonnie has been trying to manipulate and control everyone to get what she wants, but Chloe stood up to her. It was good to see someone doing that when everyone else seems to be ready to just give Bonnie exactly what she wants.

Jack: I’m surprised by how much I'm enjoying Hattie. I thought this story sounded stupid when I read the spoilers, but it's been some great comic relief.

Christine: I loved seeing Chloe not back down to Bonnie’s manipulations. Bonnie needed someone to smack her down.

I also liked John, Roman, and Kayla working together to protect Marlena, and trying to keep Hattie in line has been more fun then I expected.

Want to chat more about the happenings in Salem? Then check out Jack Ori’s weekly Days of Our Lives review here at TV Fanatic.