Days of Our Lives managed to pack a lot of punch for a short week!

To fans' delight, renewed romance was in the air for Sarah and Xander on Days of Our Lives during the week of 5-30-22, as she finally forgave him after a flood of memories came back.

Meanwhile, Belle denied that her decision to file for legal separation from Shawn had anything to do with EJ, while Eric insisted he no longer had any feelings for Nicole. Was anybody being honest?

Sorry, Rafe/Nicole fans, but the writing's on the wall for Eric and Nicole's reconciliation.

While it would be nice if the writers gave Rafe and Nicole a real chance, Nicole already uttered those famous last words: "He's my past."

Eric was the first to trot out that overused phrase back when he was dating Jennifer but secretly harbored feelings for Nicole. Ever since it's been code for a character being unwilling to admit that they want to give a past lover another chance.

While Ericole fans may be thrilled by this development, I'm not. Eric and Nicole have had chance after chance after chance, and it always ends up the same way. Sooner or later, Nicole resorts to scheming or other self-destructive behavior, and Eric goes off on a self-righteous rant.

Why do we need to go through this AGAIN? Can't they stay friends instead of trying to be something more?

Brady: You're forgetting I had a front row seat to all the drama with you and Nicole.
Eric: Which thankfully has come to an end.
Brady: So you're telling me that now that you're not a priest, Nicole hasn't ever crossed your mind?
Eric: No.
Brady: Well, I guess it's not a sin if you're lying to yourself.

• Permalink: Well, I guess it's not a sin if you're lying to yourself.

We also don't need the whole town pushing Eric to admit he has feelings for Nicole. Brady was particularly annoying, though Kate wasn't much better. Nicole and Eric had already moved on before this, so let's keep it moving.

I've never been a fan of the trope in which everyone lines up on the same side to force an outcome. It's not realistic. In real life, it's rare that everyone in the same family agrees about a major issue, never mind the whole town!

It feels disingenuous when this happens, as if the writers are desperate to convince us that a pairing is "right," so they put words to that effect in all the characters' mouths.

That shouldn't be necessary. If a couple works, viewers should pick up on it without needing all of Salem to endorse it first.

Brady encouraging Eric to pursue Nicole was weird, considering that Nicole was also one of Brady's many loves of his life girlfriends of the moment.

There was a time when Brady and Eric would have come to blows over Nicole. Instead, nowadays, Brady smugly informs Eric that Eric is lying to himself if he denies having feelings for Nicole.

It's not that Brady's necessarily wrong. Eric keeps looking sad and forcing a smile whenever Nicole being engaged to Rafe comes up.

But he's so damn pompous about it. It's the same problem he had when he was trying to force Chloe and Philip apart, even though, in this case, he's doing the opposite. There's this whole self-righteous air about it as if he knows better than the people involved what their hearts want, and it's annoying.

Brady needs a real story that doesn't involve his or anyone else's forever-revolving door of lovers and ex-lovers. Chloe is out of town at the moment, but that shouldn't leave him with nothing better to do besides bother Eric about Nicole.

He could work with his father to find out what happened the night Leo drugged Sonny or try to talk some sense into Shawn. Anything besides wandering around town being smug and annoying.

SOMEONE needs to get Shawn thinking clearly before he loses Belle altogether.

He seems to have been totally brainwashed by Jan. Why? Back in 2000, a teenage Shawn saw through her nonsense and told her in no uncertain terms to leave Chloe alone, so why is he unable to pick up on Jan's desire to destroy his relationship with Belle now?

It's not as if this is the first time. It wasn't that long ago that Jan kidnapped Belle and replaced her with herself at Belle and Shawn's wedding.

Maybe Shawn doesn't want to think about that because murderous Charlie was in attendance that night, but the fact remains that he was a billion times stronger when dealing with Jan then than he is nowadays.

He's alienating Belle further and further each time he placates Jan. And even worse, Jan is standing there smirking about it, but he never seems to notice.

What happened to him? He's acting like a brainwashed Dimera goon.

The only logical explanation is that the plot demanded it, so Shawn became clueless when it came to Jan. It's not a good reason, but it's the only one that makes any sense.

Belle's already filed separation papers, and who can blame her? Shawn has become a pushover who does whatever Jan wants, including letting her box up Belle's things and send them to EJ.

Belle is as justified as Anna was at being more than peeved with her husband after he pulled a trick like that! If anything, Shawn is worse. Tony didn't actively encourage "Renee" to disrespect Anna. Shawn wants Belle to treat Jan like a member of the family and blew up at her for daring to suggest that Jan should lose her parental rights.

Jan IS an unfit mother, and in any case, Belle needs to fight fire with fire. If Jan wants to play dirty, Belle should outfight her, and custody of that baby is the one thing that means anything to Jan.

Instead, Shawn demanded Belle drop that idea, is oblivious to the million and one ways that Jan deliberately provokes Belle whenever they're together, and acts like Belle is the unreasonable one.

He will lose his wife, and he has no one but himself to blame.

Shawn isn't wrong about Belle and EJ's attraction to one another, and he has reason to worry, especially with Belle's history.

Two wrongs don't make a right, and Belle ALWAYS does this. Every time things are going badly between her and Shawn, she makes them a billion times worse by jumping into bed with someone else.

Most often, the other man is Philip, who is still MIA as far as most of Salem is concerned. But still, Belle can hardly use the need for comfort after her separation as an excuse. Not when this is the third time that she's cheated on Shaun in the past several years.

But Shawn's behavior certainly isn't helping the situation.

He's making it clear repeatedly that his loyalty is to Jan, not his wife. It's one thing to want to protect and love the baby that is half his (assuming it really is, and there was no DNA test trickery!), but he's prioritizing his rapist over his wife, which is not okay.

And he's not just doing it with Belle. In what universe would Ciara and Ben ever want Jan Spears anywhere near their baby?

We did not get our baby away from the Devil to allow him anywhere near Jan Spears.

Ciara

• Permalink: We did not get our baby away from the Devil to allow him anywhere near Jan Spears.

Luckily, both Ben and Ciara are far stronger than Shawn is when it comes to Jan.

Ben didn't allow her to manipulate him other than into giving her Marlena's number so she could try to schedule therapy, and Ciara channeled Hope while expressing her disgust for the idea.

I could picture Kristian Alfonso delivering those multiple "no's" the same way, and for the first time in a long time, I believed fully that this version of Ciara is Hope's daughter.

Ciara gave Shawn some wise words that he will likely ignore until it's too late, but at least one of these two is thinking clearly.

Belle and EJ are a trainwreck waiting to happen for a billion reasons, and one of the biggest is Sami.

The last thing anybody needs is for Sami to return to Salem, suddenly ready to give EJ another chance and determined to destroy her half-sister for "stealing" him from her.

Hurricane Sami is only entertaining for so long. Sami vs. Belle always turns into the same screaming match about Sami having sold baby Belle on the black market 25 years ago.

So let's not go there. Thankfully, Belle still has the sense to stay away from EJ while she's too heartbroken to resist his charms, but how long will that last?

Despite the idea of this relationship being a complete disaster, was anyone else disturbed about Chad gleefully sharing his brother's indiscretion with Abigail in a public place?

It has to be weird for Abby to discuss this with Chad. EJ is her ex-lover, after all. But more than that, why does Chad need to be the town crier?

If EJ and Belle are going to become a thing, all of Salem will know soon enough. There's no need to gloat about it, especially not in a public place where anyone can overhear.

Chad and Abby's happily ever after is about to be ruined, so maybe they should focus on their own marriage.

Gwen's already angry enough about being imprisoned that she's not entirely drawing the line at murder. Thankfully, Leo is, but that doesn't mean this plan won't lead to just that.

Gwen and Leo's banter is fun, but the subject matter deserves to be treated seriously.

Murder isn't a game, and Gwen's coy "maybe I killed Laura, maybe I didn't" act needs to go.

In addition, while Leo draws the line at murder, neither of them has any problem with drugging people and taking compromising pictures. Newsflash: even though it's not rape, that's still sexual assault!

Thankfully, Will got Sonny to go to the cops about this. However, Sonny should have had a full rape kit, and the hospital should have been his first stop, not his last.

Chances are that the drugs are out of his system altogether since he wasted time informing Shawn BEFORE he got the test. And even if there are traces of sedatives in his blood or urine, there's no proof one way or the other about whether he had intercourse that night. That's going to make this even harder to prove.

What Leo did is wrong, and Sonny will likely never get justice for it.

At least Days of Our Lives is acknowledging that this is a crime. That's progress.

But with Chad and Abby planning to have another baby, what are Gwen's chances of losing it altogether and seeking revenge because her baby died and Abby's is still alive?

This revenge story needs to go ASAP, as does talking about illegal things in the jailhouse visiting room without getting caught.

The best thing to come out of Days of Our Lives during the week of 5-30-22 is that Sarah forgave Xander!

When he took her to little Mickey's gravestone, her memories of grieving with him came flooding back, and she quickly switched from never being able to forgive him to realizing she already had.

What a relief! It was painful enough when Sarah learned her baby was dead the first time. Very few viewers had any desire to relive that storyline.

Of course, there has to be more to the story than this since it was wrapped up so quickly.

But at least we don't have to suffer through Sarah's heartbreak and pain all over again.

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics! Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know what you thought of this short week's episodes.

Don't forget to check back on Sunday for the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

Days of Our Lives airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes or watch on Peacock TV on weeknights after 8 PM EST / 5 PM EST.

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.