Salem has a missing persons problem.

I'm not just talking about Sarah or Kristen, both of whom have taken a turn at running away with baby Mackenzie/Rachel, or Abigail, who was quickly found after escaping the hospital on Days of Our Lives during the week of 5-11-20.

There were too many characters whose scenes were either cut or who were not on canvas at all when the storyline would have been stronger if they were.

Let's start with Will and Sonny.

There are plenty of reasons for these two to be prominent right now.

In general, "WilSon" is a popular couple as well as the first married male-male couple on daytime television. And with Victor having been stabbed and Maggie in prison for the same crime Will was recently exonerated for, there is plenty of angst for Will to support Sonny through.

Instead, Days of Our Lives cut a scene advertised in its spoiler photos featuring Will and Sonny reflecting on the year since Adrienne died.

We got plenty of Justin and Steve reflecting on Adrienne's death, mostly so that Steve and Kayla could shoot each other longing looks in the graveyard, and not a peep out of Will and Sonny.

I'd have loved to hear their take on the last year's events and how much they missed Adrienne, but the worse thing about this is that it isn't the first time.

And it doubly sucks that their scenes were listed as spoilers for a particular episode. When Days of Our Lives decided to cut these scenes, didn't anyone think that some viewers might be tuning in specifically for Will and Sonny?

That's no way to treat fans of a particular ship!

And when the missing couple is the only gay couple in Salem, it can make viewers wonder if the decision to cut them was based on appeasing those fans who are uncomfortable with gay characters rather than on time constraints.

Will and Sonny weren't the only ones who were missing, though they were the only currently-on-canvas characters who didn't get the scenes they were supposed to get.

Throughout Sarah's stint as a fugitive, I couldn't help wondering what had become of her sister, Melissa.

Melissa fell hard for, and eventually married, ex-gang member Pete Jannings, so if anyone could understand what Sarah was going through with Xander, it was her.

Plus, with her mother in jail, her sister on the run, and  both of her other half-siblings dead, you'd think Melissa would want to reach out to someone in the family.

She hasn't been on-screen in years, but this would have been the perfect time to bring her back.

I'm not saying Sarah should have hidden out with her big sis -- I thought that would have been the first place the cops would have looked, and I stand by that. But there should have been some attempt for Melissa to reach out to her sister or her mother during this.

The writers seem to have forgotten she exists, which is sad.

It would have added an extra dimension to this otherwise uncompelling story, possibly making it worth watching.

As it was, this whole Sarah-on-the-run thing was a disappointing ending to what began as a promising storyline.

Nicole's investigation and Sarah and Kristen both facing the painful truth about the baby were strong, soapy drama... and then it descended into mindless violence.

Stacy Haiduk's exit scenes were well done, though it's a shame that Kristen had to exit stage left after finally showing some compassion and vulnerability instead of just lashing out with rage.

Kristen did the same thing Marlena did for her when she was unable to let go of a baby that was not hers. She spoke kindly and with compassion while pointing out that this was an unfair situation for herself as well.

Sarah: I have been there for her every second since she was born.
Kristen: And I am grateful that you have taken care of her, but it should have been me. I am her mother. All that time you spent with her was stolen from me.

• Permalink: And I am grateful that you have taken care of her, but it should have been me. I am her...

THe scenes were beautiful and emotional, and you could feel both women's pain as Sarah struggled, then finally agreed to do the right thing and give Kristen back her baby.

Here's the problem, though: both Sarah and Kristen "snapped" and did horribly violent things in the name of holding onto this child.

Sarah's justification for kidnapping the baby and going into hiding was that Kristen was an unstable person who couldn't be trusted around a baby.

That was a weird thing to think about someone she was becoming friends with before the truth came out, and it also was hypocritical considering what Sarah did.

Sarah knocked Rex unconscious, tied him to a chair, and gagged him just to avoid hearing his opinion about her going on the run. It wasn't much different than what Kristen did to Daniel in 2014 or so, and she certainly surrendered any appearance of moral superiority with that nonsense.

And okay, stabbing someone in a fit of rage is a worse crime than tying your ex to a chair to stop him from talking you out of a crazy plan, but Sarah isn't exactly stable herself if she's going to behave like that.

I have a real issue with women being depicted as getting violent whenever their hearts are broken, too. It happens too much on Days of Our Lives and it perpetuates stereotypes that women are emotionally unstable and that people with mental illness are all violent.

But if we have to have it, can people face consequences for their behavior?

Kristen went on the run with the baby, which wasn't any better than Sarah doing it, and the only one who seems to be suffering because of it is Brady.

Brady went to jail so that she wouldn't face the music for stabbing Victor, and now he's back home without his baby or his lover and has to face Eric's wrath -- which tormented the audience more than anyone else.

Angry Eric is no fun to watch and he seemed selfish as he ranted that letting Kristen run away deprived Eric of time with the baby.

Kristen will likely never face charges for her crimes, per usual. And even though Sarah says she will probably be arrested for kidnapping soon, it's highly unlikely that'll happen.

In real life, the state would likely press charges, but since this is Salem and the mother of the baby Sarah kidnapped has absconded and the ex-fiance she attacked has already forgiven her, I'd be shocked if it even gets as far as her being escorted to the police station in handcuffs.

Nor will Lani face any consequences for her role in Kristen's escape from justice.

Eli proved himself to be yet another Salem hypocrite when he gave up his anger at Lani for helping Kristen escape to talk her out of confessing to her crimes.

I would have preferred for Eli to stick to his guns on this. What happened to upholding the law being sacrosanct? And why does Lani get a pass on absolutely everything?

Sheesh. No wonder Chad accused Rafe of planning to squash the truth to keep Gabi out of jail.

Chad was obnoxious and insulting, and the idea that the police commissioner had nothing else to do besides look for one missing person was ridiculous. 

And while it's understandable why Chad assumes Gabi is the one who poisoned Abigail, there's no evidence other than that she has a track record of doing that kind of nonsense, which isn't exactly enough to make an arrest.

Considering that Orpheus is making the rounds and turning out to be responsible for at least one other crime, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who was responsible for Abigail's poisoning, too.

Honestly, I don't care, which is sad because Orpheus was one of my favorite supervillains back in the day.

He's become a random baddie who just goes around bothering people for the sake of bothering them, and that's not compelling.

He'd have no reason to mess with Abigail, just like he had no real reason to shoot JJ last time around, and his involvement in Adrienne's death makes little sense.

Among other things, it's shocking that a guy who was once wealthy enough to spirit Marlena away to an island he owned is so low on funds that he looks homeless and needs to resort to kidnapping people for ransom to be able to afford the rest of his evil plans.

And while I'm glad that Maggie will be exonerated, I'm not thrilled that the story behind Adrienne's death keeps changing.

Orpheus and Christian/Evan will never face justice for this, for the simple reason that a defense attorney could point out that the Salem PD keeps changing its mind about who to send to jail for this.

And more importantly, it dilutes the cautionary tale aspect of this story.

Will initially thought he caused the accident because he was texting and driving, but it turned out that wasn't the cause.

Maggie thinks she caused the accident because she was drinking and driving, and now it has turned out that she wasn't doing either of those things.

We're left with Orpheus causing the accident because he took his eyes off the road due to his son's anxieties about participating in a kidnapping -- a far less common occurrence. And people who might have been warned off of either texting and driving or drinking and driving may now think those things are no big deal, since they ultimately ended up having nothing to do with the accident.

Finally, I can't decide how I feel about this Jake story.

The idea of Jake NOT being a brainwashed Stefan is refreshing, and the character is fun... but Gabi's constant insistence that he is Stefan and her attempt to stab him with a needle full of God knows what to prove it is NOT.

Rolf most likely tricked Gabi anyway. The deal was that she gets him out of jail whether or not he upholds his end of the bargain. What the hell kind of deal is that?

But let's put an end to this delusional ranting soon, please. It's obnoxious.

A few other odds and ends:

• Kate and Abe were a lot of fun! I want more of them and less of Abigail interrupting them with her hallucinations
• Zoey is the only member of the Orpheus clan that's at all interesting. She's ruthless, but has a conscience. Could she and Rafe end up together?
• Although the spoiler video showed Hope objecting to Ciara and Ben's engagement, so far she has been nothing but supportive. It's a nice change, but is she up to something?

What did you think, Days of Our Lives fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you loved and hated about Days of Our Lives during the week of 5-11-20.

Looking for more Days of Our Lives chat? Don't forget to check back on Sunday for our Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

Days of Our Lives continues to air on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes.

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.