After randomly agreeing to a truce with Sonny, Leo found him on the floor with a knife in his back.

Someone framed Leo for attempting to kill Sonny on Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-29-22. They planted his enemies' list by the body and used the same knife someone used to murder Abigail.

This brings up a lot of questions, but we're still no closer to finding out who killed Abigail in the first place, and that could be a problem.

Viewers lose interest when stories drag on and on without apparent resolution.

This is always a problem with Days of Our Lives regarding murder mysteries. It's a soap trope that the first person to be accused is never the killer, but DAYS takes it to extremes.

The police arrest one person after another, only to let them go. Rafe's comment that it's important to slow down and ensure they get the right person was silly, considering how many wrong guesses have spent a night in jail.

One or two false suspects are more than enough. Five or six, stretching over the course of months, is overkill.

It's especially frustrating when there's no progress forward other than eliminating names. At this point, we know that Clyde, Lucas, Sarah, Leo, and possibly Gwen are all innocent, but we don't have a single clue as to who could be guilty.

And if the killer turns out to be someone random that we never got a clue about, it will go from frustrating to irritating.

That said, the fact that someone is framing Leo does bring up interesting questions. It just should have happened a lot sooner.

The biggest question: did the culprit seek to frame Leo for both attacks? Leo had the steak knife used in both, and it was well known he wanted revenge against both Sonny and Abigail.

Leo isn't exactly popular, but the main people who would want to frame him are people who are unlikely to kill anyone: Craig, Nancy, Chloe, and Brady.

It's possible Clyde hired someone to attack Sonny and frame Leo because he wanted vengeance for what Leo did to Nancy's ex-husband, but Clyde has been proven to have had nothing to do with Abigail's murder.

Similarly, while Brady might have wanted to teach Leo a lesson for Chloe's sake, he would never have attacked either Sonny or Abigail.

Kristen still stands out as a possible suspect. She attacked Chloe with that letter opener and would have no qualms about stabbing either Abigail or Sonny because they wouldn't take her side in her custody dispute with Brady.

But she would have no reason to frame Leo and likely doesn't even know who he is.

And Gwen could have wanted to get revenge for Leo falsely accusing her of murder. Still, she was in jail (for real this time!) when the killer attacked Sonny, even if it is convenient that she mentioned the enemies list to Chad moments before Leo found it near Sonny's body.

This is why ruining Gwen/Leo was pointless. Now they don't have the chance to team up and find out who's been framing both of them.

But could Sloan be a defense attorney with a dark side? She represents people like Kristen and Leo and wasn't above counseling her client to make false statements to get himself out of jail.

She's a new character, too, whom no one knows much about, so she'd be the perfect rando to turn out to be guilty, even if she has no motive at the moment.

Some fans have also speculated that the shady Li Shin is involved in Abigail's murder.

With Li Shin so intent on controlling Stefan's resurrection, he might have killed anyone who got in his way. But that still doesn't explain why he would want to frame Leo or attack Sonny, even if Sonny is the head of Dimera Enterprises' biggest competitor.

With the whole Leo framing thing throwing a wrench into most theories of the murder(s), let's hope that the writers have some idea where they're going with this and aren't going to choose a random killer in the end!

Meanwhile, Orpheus' storyline went quickly from another clunky and annoying kidnapping to a fantastic throwback to his original story.

Too often, Orpheus' backstory is forgotten, and he becomes a random thug who kidnaps people because he needs money or enjoys chaos for its own sake. But this time, the showrunners remembered that Orpheus' vendetta against Roman began when Roman accidentally shot Orpheus' wife to death.

Roman got to tell that story to a new generation of viewers as he, Steve, and John scrambled to solve Orpheus' riddles and rescue their partners before it was too late.

The guys should have realized they found the missing women far too easily, though.

John: It's okay, baby. It's all over now.
[Orpheus is watching from another room.]
Orpheus: How touching, John. But I'm sorry to say, this is far from over. On the contrary, the games are just beginning.

• Permalink: How touching, John. But I'm sorry to say, this is far from over. On the contrary, the games...

They wasted time hugging in the warehouse while Orpheus watched and mumbled to himself that this wasn't over. After nearly half a century of dealing with Orpheus, how could Roman -- or the others, for that matter -- not realize that if Orpheus let them find the women so quickly, he had something else up his sleeve?

In general, Steve was uncharacteristically annoying during this story. While he did do the math that allowed them to find the warehouse, he spent most of the hour warning them that they might be following Orpheus' clues into a trap.

That wasn't a good use of Steve. He's supposed to be intelligent, but Orpheus appeared to have stolen his brain when he kidnapped Kayla.

Still, this opening battle of wits was fun.

The motif of women being tied up in a warehouse, waiting to be rescued, is overdone, especially on a 21st-century soap. But Kayla and Marlena did initially free themselves before being caught again by Orpheus, and they had knocked him out back at home, too.

So they weren't entirely helpless for once.

They also talked back to Orpheus and had the presence of mind to remember cryptic references to colors he made while tormenting them. While I'd rather they took a more active role, they weren't totally damsels in distress, which was refreshing.

In more mundane news, in case anyone missed it, Stephanie had an ex who ghosted her last September.

She only told everyone she met about it, including Leo.

Stephanie's initial friendliness with Leo was strange, considering that he was also coming onto her despite his lack of interest in women. Yet, she enjoyed sitting with him and was in the middle of telling him her life story when Alex turned up to disrupt everything.

Alex's display of bravado should not have been attractive to her. It's understandable that she would be skeeved out by learning that Leo used a false name and is the guy who messed with Sonny. But beating him up and threatening to kill him was no solution.

Instead, Alex showed more of the same caveman mentality that made him think that Stephanie thanking him for throwing Leo out meant she wanted to have sex with him.

Stephanie: Look, Alex, maybe other women fall into your arms just because you're handsome, but I won't.
[Stephanie leaves]
Alex: She thinks I'm handsome!

• Permalink: She thinks I'm handsome!

Alex's awful behavior shouldn't win him any points, ever, and becoming violent toward Leo wasn't any better than constantly propositioning Stephanie when she repeatedly said she had no interest in him.

It added insult to injury that Justin equated making a romantic dinner for Bonnie with Alex's constant flirting and one-night stands.

And then, to make matters even worse, Bonnie suggested that Alex should "take a risk" by pursuing Stephanie and assumed he would back off if she weren't interested.

Ugh. The whole problem is Alex's refusal to back off!

And even after Sonny's stabbing, he only cares about "winning" Stephanie. This was not the time to be upset that she was hugging Chad. Priorities, Alex!

Another person whose priorities are mixed up: Brady.

Understandably, he didn't want to poison his daughter against her mother. But his complete unwillingness to explain the situation to Rachel led to Rachel's anger that Chloe wanted to "stop Mommy from seeing me."

Kristen attacked Chloe with a letter opener, and Brady is willing not to bring it up at trial and agree to joint custody because Rachel would be upset with Chloe if she testified against Kristen.

That is so messed up that it's hard to know where to begin. As Rachel's father, Brady's job is to look out for his young daughter's best interest, even if that means the child is angry because she doesn't understand why she can't be with her mother.

A six-year-old absolutely should not be calling the shots here. At this point, Brady needs to do what he should have done long ago and explain that Mommy makes bad choices that make it unsafe for her to be around Rachel.

He should have done that after Kristen almost succeeded in getting Rachel to sneak out of the house with her several months ago.

Instead, Brady has decided that protecting his daughter from being sad about her mother is more important than protecting her safety and that keeping the peace is more important than stopping Kristen from threatening to mortally wound people he loves.

Kristen's priorities are split too, and it's unclear how she would balance taking care of Rachel with all of her secret visits to Rolf's lab and appearances at board meetings where she supports Gabi and then subtly warns her to stay in line if she wants it to continue.

The Rolf brainwashing story is typical Rolf silliness, but I'm not sure how amplifying memories of hate sex will make Stefan hate Gabi.

As for the board meeting, the most refreshing part of this too-often-repeated story is the appearance of Li's father.

Wai Shin's response to finding Li and Gabi about to have sex on a conference table cracked me up.

Wai Shin: I wanted to talk to you about company business... and your relationship.
Li Shin: But you already gave our relationship your blessing!
Wai Shin: That was before I walked in on you about to fornicate on company property.

• Permalink: That was before I walked in on you about to fornicate on company property.

Someone has to straighten out that wayward son of his. I wonder what Wai Shin will think if he finds out about Li's bizarre plans with Rolf.

It was disappointing that the elder Shin cared more about his son lying to protect Ava than EJ's using Ava's alleged mental illness against her. Considering Shin's dedication to putting business first, it was an inconsistent position to take it, and the fact that Stefano was also shady didn't justify it.

EJ's disgusting behavior put a wedge between him and Johnny. This is all well and good, except that it appears to be leading to a romance between Johnny and Tripp's mother.

Let's not go there, please. JJ and Eve were bad enough.

Nicole resisted all of Chloe's attempts to convince her to stop obsessing over Eric's sex life.

Nicole: What if Eric was lying too and he didn't dream about me giving him a secret telegram?
Chloe: Well, there's only one way to settle this. Get your phone and call Eric right now.
Nicole: I'm not doing that.
Chloe: Of course not. I only suggested it to make the point that you need to get a grip.
Nicole: Thanks for being so supportive and understanding.
Chloe: I'm trying to get you to see that you're acting like a crazy person!
Nicole: You know, maybe I shouldn't have come here. I should go.
Chloe: I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I know having Jada in the picture has been difficult for you but you have to think about what could happen if Jada tells Rafe that you have an excessive interest in Eric's sex life.
Nicole: She won't.
Chloe: You don't know that. The way she told you about having sex with Eric means that clearly she is a very direct person. You're my best friend and I love you, but I have to be honest with you. Rafe is your husband. You don't have to stay married to him, but you have to make a choice. Either end the marriage or work on it. Either way, you have to stop obsessing over Eric and decide what to do.

• Permalink: You don't know that. The way she told you about having sex with Eric means that clearly she...

This story is disappointing, even if Rafe's explanation of Salem relationships was funny. Nicole and Rafe could have been a great pairing. Instead, Nicole is acting like she's fourteen and won't stop putting her nose in Eric's love life.

Similarly, Shawn went with Belle from "this isn't working out" to "let's have sex" within seconds.

It is so annoying when grown men are written as teenagers. Shawn, Rex, and Alex are not entertaining when written this way!

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics! Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-29-22.

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

Days of Our Lives moves exclusively to Peacock on September 12, 2022. Until then, it airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes or watch on Peacock on weeknights after 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST.

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.