Days of Our Lives Round Table: Who's to Blame for Claire's Violence?

Days of Our Lives promised fireworks during the week of 7-1-19, and not just at the Fourth of July celebration!

Guest posters soaps4ever and silvanoir1 from My Hourglass: A Days of Our Lives fan forum join our Days of Our Lives fanatic Jack Ori for our Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

Our Round Table panel debates how enjoyable DAYS' Fourth of July was, whether Eve is to blame for Claire's spiral into madness, and more!

1. Salem celebrated the 4th of July! Rate this celebration on a scale from 1 (watching paint dry would have been more fun) to 10 (This was the best holiday celebration I've seen on Days of Our Lives in a long time.)

soaps4ever: It wasn't too bad, there was a lot of drama mixed in with the celebration. I felt a little sorry for Hope who was having a sad time. Even though she and Rafe aren't together anymore it still hurt her to hear about him and Carrie.

As always, it was good to see Julie and Doug. Eli proposing was a nice happy moment. The light-hearted scenes helped pick up the mood from the Claire situation. So I would say an 8.

silvanoir1: It's nice to see some fun in Salem after the downers we've had lately. I'd give it a 7. Enjoyed Eli's proposal and I liked the family getting together. A nice pickup me up holiday.

Jack: I liked the idea of reviving the Fourth of July tradition, but I was underwhelmed. Doug and Julie should have been leading the festivities, not Rex and Sarah, and I didn’t find the latest version of Rex and Eric’s perpetual competition over Sarah to be at all entertaining.

I also could have lived without the Rafe/Hope drama. However, it was nice to see family get together! I’ll give it a 4.

2. Ted and Kate kissed while being held prisoner. Would you prefer to see them reconcile, see Ted and Hope get together, or let Ted stay single?

soaps4ever: Ted is one of my favorite characters because he is always fun to watch. You never know what he is going to do.

I wouldn't mind if he dated either of these ladies but I don't think either relationship would last. It would be interesting to see him date Hope though.

silvanoir1: Well Ted seems to recover quickly. I do enjoy him with Kate, though. He makes her a little fun.

The whole thing with Hope is just a bit tainted to me. I don't think I can really enjoy him. Hope would never accept him anyway after the truth comes out. Kate married Stefano, as long as you don't screw with her family she's good with scheming.

Jack: Ted and Hope always seemed like a ripoff of Aiden and Hope to me, and up until this point, Ted was little more than a stalker with money to burn on an expensive necklace.

At the same time, I was disappointed that he kissed Kate when he’s supposed to be so “in love” with Hope. So if I had to choose one, I’d choose Ted/Hope but I’d rather see Ted become a better person for real before he engages in any more romance.

3. Are John and Marlena right to blame Eve for Claire's breakdown and subsequent violent behavior?

soaps4ever: No, I don't think they are right to blame her although she did play a part.

There were so many factors in Claire's demise and no one person is to blame. I don't think Eve could've convinced Claire to get help, though she should have tried harder to do so.

silvanoir1: I don't think Eve is 100% to blame but she certainly didn't help matters.

I don't think Eve had any idea how unstable Claire actually was but she did support Claire in her actions. She did deserve blasting but Claire's downfall was her own doing.

Jack: I agree with everyone else. Eve enabled Claire’s violent behavior and used her to get Ben without thinking about the potential consequences. But Claire made her own choices.

Mental illness or not, she is not a helpless victim, and she could have gone to Marlena and admitted she felt out of control long before she got to this point.

4. Carrie's brief stay/announcement of her breakup/fling with Rafe -- good story or could you have done without it?

soaps4ever: I liked the story although I don't see a point in stirring up something between them if Carrie wasn't going to stay. I do think they have chemistry though, so if she does return for a longer time, I wouldn't mind seeing them as a couple.

silvanoir1: It was okay. I think I'm in the minority but I always thought that they had chemistry since their first go around. But it was wasted. What's the point? There will be consequences but it's unfair that only Rafe has to suffer them.

Jack: I’m with everyone else. This story was pointless since Carrie was only going to be in town for a few days. Rafe and Hope have been broken up for a while and honestly,

I’m rooting for them to stay that way, so Rafe “ruining” his chance of reconciliation with Hope does nothing for me. Plus I didn’t like the off-screen insta-breakup of Carrie and Austin to facilitate this story.

And for the life of me, I can’t figure out what on Earth the point was of Eric finding out this “secret” that lasted five seconds without any consequences for him for keeping it.

5. Is Eve right to be worried about Jack's interest in getting his memory back?

soaps4ever: Yes I think Eve has a right to be worried about Jack getting his memory back. If he does, he will fully see how she has manipulated him, plus he will remember his life with Jennifer. So she does have reason to be concerned.

silvanoir1: Yes. Jack may not love her but without his memories she's one of the few people he trusts.

IF he gets his memory back, he might not leave her right away, but he will be furious when he fully remembers the past. He'll also be drawn to Jennifer, who will only be too happy to help him understand the memories he gets.

Jack: Eve’s right that Jack won’t stay with her once he gets his memories back (if he does). Will can tell him how many times he promised Paul that remembering his life with Sonny wouldn’t change anything -- and Paul was far better to Will than Eve has been to Jack!

I think Jack is already semi-aware that Eve is manipulating him. That’s why he tried to keep his interest in the diary secret from her. So she could lose him either way, and she completely deserves that!

6. What one storyline would you rewrite if you could, and how?

soaps4ever: I think I would rewrite the Claire story. I think it is sad how they had her go off the rails like that, she has hurt so many people and I don't think they needed another Ciara kidnap story.

It's ok for her to be jealous, but in my opinion, they went too dark with her character. If I wrote the story I probably would still have her trying to get revenge just on a smaller scale, and I wouldn't completely ruin her friendship with Ciara.

silvanoir1: The Claire storyline is the worst. It feels as though she got thrown under the bus for the altar of Saint Ciara (who I actually like). It reminds me of the damage that was done to Gabi to force us to be team Abigail.

It's my least favorite soap storyline. She's a legacy, a Brady, the daughter of an incredibly popular super couple and they destroyed her. I wanted her to be Sami Brady because it would be hilarious for Belle to have to deal with a mini Sami in her daughter.

But this has done a lot of damage to her character.

Jack: I agree about Claire. It felt like they just randomly turned her violent for the sake of this plot, and while the acting has been amazing the story is ridiculous.

Plus it’s yet another story of a woman going off the deep end and becoming violent, which promotes negative stereotypes of both women and people with mental illness.

I would have written it that Claire felt guilty because she fantasized about starting the fire that almost killed Ciara and got falsely accused of it, but someone else was actually to blame.