In some ways, the drugged biscuit story wasn't as bad as it seemed from the spoilers. In others, it was worse.

On Days of Our Lives during the week of 4-10-23, Talia spiked the biscuit dough with some powdery substance that causes hallucinations, leading to inappropriate sexual behavior all over Salem.

Luckily, most of the people involved stopped before it became full-on rape -- but Rafe's behavior was another story! These scenes would never have been appropriate, especially not during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Rafe will probably try to say he was under the influence and didn't know what he was doing.

While to an extent that's true, here's the problem with that. Rafe behaved as he did because he hallucinated that Jada was wearing revealing clothing.

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It happens that she wasn't, but does it matter? Clothing choices have nothing to do with consent. In the 21st century, TV shows should not perpetuate the myth that what the survivor was wearing had anything to do with whether she was sexually assaulted.

Oddly enough, Sloan was the one who walked in and noticed that what Rafe was doing was inappropriate.

She knows what sexual assault is -- except for her father. It's never occurred to her that a professor who offers students sex when they ask for help with their grades is doing the same thing she witnessed Rafe doing to Jada.

Rafe was not the only one who engaged in sexual behavior while under the influence, and that's a massive problem with this storyline.

Stefan thought Trask was Gabi, while Gabi thought Li was Stefan. I don't know where to begin with that. It was sketchy!

I spent all night screaming your name and all I got in return was a sore throat.

Trask

• Permalink: I spent all night screaming your name and all I got in return was a sore throat.

Li pretending to be Stefan is having sex under false pretenses, and if Gabi wanted to sleep with Stefan and did NOT want to sleep with Li, that's sexual assault by deception. Thankfully, he stopped himself before it got to that point, though he did kiss her.

Trask didn't engage in deception, and Stefan didn't mean to have sex with her. Understandably, she was upset right before getting violently ill, thanks to the drugs.

Stefan thought she was Gabi, and Trask thought he was genuinely interested in her -- so no sexual assault occurred, but the situation was still all sorts of icky.

Then there were Eric and Nicole. I was worried that this would be an Eric/Kristen situation in reverse -- that would have been doubly upsetting because Days of Our Lives has always treated Kristen's drug-facilitated rape of Eric as what it is.

To avoid this, Eric also felt the effects of the drugged biscuits. He didn't eat any on-screen, confusing some viewers, but it's easy enough to imagine that he had some before Sloan realized they were from Sweet Bits and threw a tantrum.

Still, the two did have sex while under the influence (and again, the fact that Eric thought Nicole was wearing a bikini is irrelevant.) EJ should understand what happened since he refrained from having sex with a drugged Nicole not long ago, but will he?

And where was EJ? He ate the drugged biscuits, too -- what effects did he have?

This was the second time Nicole had been drugged in as many months -- and that's an additional problem with this story. People ingesting drugged food/drink shouldn't be a regular occurrence.

If it does happen, it should be taken seriously and not be repeated a month later. And it certainly shouldn't be played for laughs!

The Wendy/Johnny/Chanel interactions were the most ridiculous part of this story and a repeated beat. Wendy should have realized something was wrong with Johnny when he started saying things that didn't make sense.

I don't believe for a second that Wendy was into Johnny, either. She's been giving off signals for months that she's far more attracted to Tripp and only sees Johnny as a friend. Her explanation for why she decided to go out with Tripp was stupid; if she was sold on Johnny, there was no reason to date anyone else to clarify her feelings.

Not only has Wendy freaked out any time Johnny and Chanel get within 100 yards of each other, but this breakup isn't any different than when Johnny was possessed by the Devil and treated Chanel horribly.

Johnny and Chanel would be happily married if it weren't for that. Wendy will likely hold Johnny's intoxicated behavior against him and refuse to give him another chance.

Meanwhile, Chanel seemed to be moving toward a relationship with Talia before the drugged biscuit incident. Is that supposed to amp up the drama when Talia's revealed to be behind the trouble?

Talia appeared to leave with Chanel, only to have a flashback of drugging the biscuits later. But what was her motive?

The only thing that makes sense is that she wanted to frame Sloan. But as a doctor, she knew what kind of havoc these drugs would wreak. Why wouldn't she find another way to make it appear Sloan was causing trouble for Chanel if that's what she wanted to do?

And if she had hoped this would get Rafe and Jada together, she failed miserably. Jada may look the other way (I expect Days of Our Lives to go with the idea that Rafe wasn't in control of himself), but she'll always be uncomfortable now and within her rights to file a formal complaint.

Will this story have a further twist, such as someone else being responsible for the other things that Sloan supposedly did while Talia drugged the biscuits to frame her? Or is Talia responsible for all of it, and now the drama will come from her sister investigating who drugged those biscuits?

Until ingesting drugged biscuits, Eric seemed to be moving back in the direction of who he really is now that Marlena is back.

Sloan: Do you think I should just get over it?
Eric: Sloan, I am only trying to help you. I know you were traumatized by what happened.
Sloan: What happened is my mother was killed. She took her last breath when Chanel pushed her off that rooftop. My mother isn't coming back from the dead. That's not a luxury I get to enjoy.

• Permalink: My mother isn't coming back from the dead. That's not a luxury I get to enjoy.

He stopped being so angry and tried to give Sloan some decent advice. He was right that she allowed her obsession with Paulina and Chanel to take over her life, though buying food from Sweet Bits wasn't the smartest way to make his point.

Sloan has the right to grieve her mother's death, but her insistence on vengeance will never go anyplace good. She needs to accept how this whole mess happened and move forward with her life.

She realized that Eric had reason to suspect her of bothering Paulina and Chanel when she discovered the drugged sex with Nicole -- what will happen now?

I'm not invested in Sloan and Eric as a couple, but if Sloan could learn to become a decent person, I'll take anything that gets her there. And can we please put Eric and Nicole to rest once and for all?

Nicole is better off with EJ than with Eric, which is saying a lot, considering how that went last time. I wish Days of Our Lives would stop trying to push a pairing whose shelf life expired long ago.

Elsewhere in Salem, everyone keeps pushing Xander and Chloe together.

Gwen and Leo can make the residents of some other town miserable any time they want. Xander and Gwen are not together; neither has the right to tell the other who to move on with!

As for Brady, if he'd learn to discipline his bratty daughter, that would make his dream of being with Chloe a reality.

This nonsense about how he has to be kind and understanding while Rachel is rude, disrespectful, and manipulative has got to go. 

Parents need to talk to their kids and listen to their feelings. That doesn't mean a six-year-old manipulated by her narcissistic mother can dictate who her father dates.

This isn't that hard, and I wish Marlena would call him on it instead of talking to Rachel off-screen and telling him it'll take time to resolve all this.

Instead, Marlena hypnotized Stephanie to remember what Kayla said on that call.

This may seem silly and far-fetched, but it has a scientific basis. The subconscious mind can pick up on things the conscious mind does not, so it was plausible that Stephanie heard something underneath the static that didn't register on a conscious level.

Chad and Stephanie then went to Maggie to determine if Victor had properties in Greece. Although Victor's death hasn't been written in yet -- he is supposedly traveling for business -- his absence leaves a gaping hole.

We truly lost so much when John Aniston passed away. Even something as simple as Victor being unable to provide a voiceover for the letter Kayla found drives home this point.

And Maggie has had to step in and give Chad and Stephanie a list of Victor's properties. It's easy to imagine the snark and passion with which Aniston would have delivered Victor's lines had he still been here to handle the request himself.

The letter Kayla found was doubly poignant because both Victor and Caroline are gone. It was the only link she had to these two legacy characters now that the actors who played them have passed on.

The letter was a beautiful tribute to Victor and Caroline's love story. I've always believed that Caroline was the love of Victor's life and that despite his cruelty later, he sacrificed everything for her happiness. Walking away was the most unselfish or perhaps even the only such choice he ever made.

This letter proved that and was a wonderful Easter Egg for long-time viewers, even though it did nothing to move the core story forward.

Meanwhile, Hope and Harris spent too much time in that Greek tavern. The manager was giving off suspicious vibes when he came at them with a baseball bat and then insisted they let him give them a free meal, but so far, nothing happened except the two danced the way they would at a wedding.

This felt like filler. We all know Bo and Hope will end up together, so what's the point of investing time and energy in Hope and Harris?

Finally, Bo attacked Steve.... then reunited him with Kayla.

Steve should have assumed Bo was microchipped like Steve was. After all, Steve did plenty of violent and crazy things when he thought he was Stefano.

Bo and Steve's fight paid tribute to their long relationship. After knocking Steve out, Bo brought him to the same villa where he was holding Kayla hostage.

What sense did that make?

While Bo wants Steve out of his way and doesn't want him to be free to tell the authorities, reuniting him and Kayla only ensures the two will escape.

Steve said that Hope would break the spell over Bo -- let's hope he's right and that it happens soon.

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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.