Summertime

The best part about Days right now is Patch and Kayla. They are so fabulous together that it takes away the pain of all the other storylines.

I'm baaaaaaack! Sorry for the absence folks...but it is that time of year when vacations are taken, bodies are relaxing in the hot summer sun and drinks are drunk in copious amounts. Hmmm...what am I saying? Drinks are drunk in copious amounts regardless of whether I am on vacation or not! LOL! Just kidding... So anyway ....I could waste all of our time by going on, and on, and on...and ooonnnnn about how slowly the various storylines have been progressing but why tell you something you all ready know? Judging by my bag of email; many of you are frustrated by how long it is taking to transition the storylines from Reilly's regime to Sheffers'. I feel your pain my friends. I mean; how utterly annoying have the Sami/EJ conversations been?? "You must tell Austin the truth" "No I can't, I won't lose him" "Tell him, it will come out anyway" "Okay I will" "No, wait, I can't". Jeez!!! How many times can you have the exact same discussion? Well; let me tell you...about 100 times in the span of two weeks! Not to mention the absurdity of having these conversations while the relevant parties are standing not more than 3 feet away! Sheesh! Some of the other stories jump around so much that I'm not really sure what's going on half the time. Like the Max/Chelsea story. One minute she's professing her love for him and the next minute she's dry-humping some loser on the dance floor! I've heard of low self-esteem but wassup with that? She then had the nerve to express her jealousy by writing the word "Whore" on Stephanie's locker (like no one would have guessed who did that) and Max actually forgave her for that? Wow! I guess he'll forgive just about anything; talk about a sucker for punishment! Anyhow - yes, we all recognize how slo-o-o-o-ow and ponderous the stories have been lately. I'm sure that it's simply a by-product of the Head Writer transition but it does get annoying at times. As the article on soapcentral.com's Days FrontPage states - NBC and Days have officially confirmed that Hogan Sheffer has assumed the position of Head Writer. However, we still have a little ways to go yet before we see a marked difference in the storylines. The article mentions that Sheffer's work will not begin to be reflected on air until the end of September. That seems like such a long time from now...I guess we'll just have to grit our teeth and continue to hang on...not long now.

The best part about Days right now is Patch and Kayla. They are so fabulous together that, for me, it takes away the pain of all the other storylines. The way they look at each other and interact together stands head and shoulders above everything else on Days right now. I very much look forward to their scenes and I am always disappointed when they aren't on a particular day. It's easy to see that the two actors share a special rapport because they play so well and so warmly off each other. So; Steve has returned home to Salem, his wife and his daughter. Yay! I was worried that this business with Della in Cincinnati would be drawn out for a while. I can't quite figure out if "Della" was an aborted storyline of JER's or if she's a clue of things to come. Wasn't it strange the way she just popped out of the woodwork and introduced herself as Nick's (Steve) 'wife'? I don't know about the rest of you but; I wouldn't be introducing myself as someone's "Wife" when we are simply dating/sleeping together. Weird! Was it just me or did Della seem awwwfully interested in keeping Steve away from Kayla?? As I listened to her talk, it occurred to me that she may have been hired by the person(s) that erased Steve's memory in an effort to keep him occupied and prevent him from getting curious enough to do some digging in to his old life. The way she kept going on and on about the kind of guy he is and the kind of life he liked...it just seemed like she was working way too hard to convince him. Well, I guess we'll have our answer if she shows up in Salem to throw a monkey wrench in to Steve and Kayla's reunion. Speaking of which...I am a bit frustrated with the fact that Steve and Kayla weren't on again after Tuesday's episode. Note to writers: We want to see more of this couple!!! How about seeing him develop a relationship with Stephanie? They are virtual strangers at this point and it would be nice to see him make an effort to get to know his daughter. Sigh....I can't wait until Steve gets his memory back. I keep waiting to see the 'real' Steve interact with the characters in Salem and while it is interesting to watch him struggle to assimilate all these people who claim to be his family - it will be 100 times better when he can actually remember who they are and what they mean to him personally. I'm hoping for a zillion flashbacks once his memory is restored; cuz there are loads to be seen!

Bo and Steve have agreed to help each other with their mutual problems (Bo has to prove his innocence with regard to the missing DVD evidence and Steve wants to find whoever kidnapped him and erased his memory) and I for one, couldn't be happier! Their scenes together were amongst my favorite of the week. The flashback was great too! I'm hoping that we may finally get to see some real action on Days now that the two have teamed-up together. It's so exciting to see these two working together again! Bo and Steve - despite their sometime contentious history - have always been firecrackers to watch in the same scene. In much the same way that Steve and Jack are pure gold together; Bo and Steve crackle with bad boy energy whenever they interact. Bo seems to get a bit more mischievous and fun when Steve's around. That can only be a good thing considering how annoying he is when interacting with Billie and/or Patrick. Steve came up with a few theories about who could be messing with Bo (Chelsea was the first person he mentioned - which proved that his instincts are still on par) and he also mentioned investigating the DiMeras in connection with his amnesia (another mention of the DiMeras again; hmmm, veddy interesting). I really hope that with Steve's help, it won't be long before Bo figures out the bad cop/Kate connection to the missing DVD. Considering that he asked someone to get him a log of Kate's phone calls (can he do that without a warrant?) he may be closer to putting it together than he seems. Oh how wonderful it would be to see Kate hang by her thumbs for this latest evil deed. It would also be wonderful to see the Salem PD actually solve a crime for once. I was kind of confused though; wouldn't the PD have begun an internal investigation all ready? Didn't Abe say they were going to? (Where is Abe anyhow?) Surely they wouldn't have just shrugged their shoulders and thrown up their hands in bewilderment??? And why did it take an ultimatum by Hope to push Bo to investigate what happened in the evidence cage? Had it not occurred to him to look in to the situation before Hope told him that he had to prove his innocence in order to get a second chance at working on their marriage?? Kind of strange isn't it? I have to admit that I looooved the scene where Bo questioned Kate and brought up how much she has meddled in his life and pushed Billie to be with him. I was thinking "Thank God" - maybe he's not so clueless after all. Part of me wishes that Billie would just come clean with Bo and Hope on all that she, her conniving mother and her evil daughter have done to keep them apart. I think that would go a long way to redeeming the character in a lot of fan's eyes. The other part of me wishes that Bo would figure out all that Billie (and Kate and Chelsea) has done - without her admitting it - and turn his back on her forever. I think that either option would be fun to watch.

John and Marlena have finally returned to Salem!! I hate how fast the summer goes by....blink and it's gone. Like something ephemeral that cannot be held in the hand for too long. What does John and Marlena's return have to do with the lazy, hazy days of summer? Well; they have been off-screen for two months now! That's right - they've been gone since the beginning of June and it just doesn't seem like it's been that long. So...this led me to realize that the summer is just zipping by at top speed and I am not looking forward to the coming winter. I guess I'm getting old...every year the thought of the cold/snow/ice/slush gets less and less appealing. Okay...I'm getting off topic here...So; John and Marlena have returned and the first person to show up on their doorstep was their daughter Belle. She filled them on all that had transpired with the Fertility Foursome in the past few months (did she not keep in touch with them while they were on vacation?). Marlena and John both counseled Belle to give up her secret love for Shawn and content herself in her marriage to Phil. No sooner was Belle out the door that Marlena told John that she feels that she and John must separate. She explained that although she loves John more than ever; she is mentally destroyed by her entanglement with Alex North and she can't help but beat herself up for her actions in that situation. Apparently she attended a few seminars on women's issues while she was away and she told John that she feels it is important for her to stand on her own two feet and regain her sense of self and her identity before she resumes her marriage to John (remember; they aren't legally married anymore). I think Marlena needs to have a talk with her daughter Sami about these realizations...she could benefit from her mother's wisdom! I have to say that I was quite pleased with her decision. After all - as frustrating as it is to see these two part ways yet again (it's been over two years since they've been happy together) I think it's important that DOOL takes the time to put this couple back together again properly. It had always kind of irked me that John and Marlena got back together immediately after she recovered her memory; as if the Alex North debacle had never happened. I really hope that this is just the beginning of the John/Marlena love story that we had been expecting to see ever since she was rescued from that damnable DiMera Island! I was gratified to hear her say that she doesn't feel like she's the same strong person that she used to be (no kidding!) because she allowed the situation with Alex to continue. While I don't agree that it was her fault per se - she does have a point. Memory or not; her behavior was very out of character. It was nice to have Days acknowledge what a lot of the fans complained about during that whole fiasco of a storyline. Marlena Evans has always come across as intelligent, independent-minded, warm and caring and her conduct while "with" Alex just about destroyed the long-time fan favorite character. I am looking forward to seeing her rebuild herself and her life with John over the coming months. I just hope that Hogan Sheffer's team of writers is handling this story because it needs to be done with a delicate touch. Everyone wants to see John and Marlena together but there are a lot of things that happened over the past two years that must be addressed and overcome prior to having the happy ending that we all want.

You know...I almost went stark raving mad while watching the scenes of Sami and EJ talking. The thing that bothered me the most was what I call the 'fake' drama factor. If you actually sat and watched their conversations (which I doubt most people did); you would have noticed that the action and dialogue were continuously set-up to make the viewers think that Sami really was going to tell Austin the truth about her plot to keep him and Carrie apart and that she actually believed it was the 'right' thing to do. She would make the decision to tell everyone the truth [one time she even went so far as to make the statement "I have something to tell you guys that will change all of our lives" ] and then the show would cut to commercial. When we returned, it would be to see her babble on about something that had nothing to do with the "truth". Or she would flip-flop and change her mind or she would simply be unable to tell the truth for one reason or another (people interrupting or not letting her speak etc). The final decision not to tell was made because she found out that Carrie wasn't pregnant after all and she felt that if she didn't keep quiet, she would lose Austin for sure. Nice justification!!! It was really silly, really poorly written stuff. I can handle repetitive dialogue (I can tune that out pretty easily) but I have a hard time with the fake drama when I know darn well that Sami would NEVER tell the truth of her own free will (she never has before; why expect anything different now?). That annoyed me the most...I couldn't even pay attention to what was happening because it felt so pointless to me. I hope that this is the first thing that Hogan does away with when he takes over the HW job. Don't even go 'there' unless there is going to be some pay-off. The following is an example of how stuff like this is handled on other soaps and how it could be handled on DOOL. On As The World Turns this week: Will cheated on his wife (Gwen) and decided to keep it a secret for fear that Gwen would leave him. Unfortunately, Gwen's friend Maddie spilled the beans (she overheard Will talking about it to the girl he slept with). Maddie told Gwen, who confronted Will and he admitted it! What a refreshing change it is to watch a well written show! Instead of the covert looks, blackmailing eavesdroppers and the self-sacrificing baloney; we actually have a story. A story about how one defines love, how one makes a marriage work and what happens when the person closest to you betrays you at such a deep level. I am totally relishing the fall out of Gwen's discovery and how it will affect all related parties. Okay, okay...'nuff about ATWT - back to DOOL!!! The reason I brought up that bit about ATWT is because that is what I wish would happen with these 4 (or 5 including EJ). I want the truth to finally come out; Sami's deeds as well as Carrie and Austin's (more on that later), and I want to see the fall out of that reveal - including the impact on all parties' lives. That is why we tune in every day; to see the human drama unfolding on-screen!

The other thing that annoyed me greatly about the Sami/EJ scenes was Sami blathering on about her reasons for keeping her secret. She never, ever, EVER learns. She stood there and tried to convince EJ that her secret was safe and that no one would ever find out. Does she not realize that she ALWAYS says that when she's in these situations and yet the truth ALWAYS comes out??? Hello McFly? Anybody home? There is some total stranger out there writing notes to her and threatening to reveal what she did to keep Austin and Carrie apart. That - to me - would be a pretty good indicator that someone out there knows the truth and is simply waiting for the right time to reveal it. If I was Sami (and thank gawd I'm not) - that knowledge alone would be a great incentive to freakin come clean before anyone has the chance to blow me out of the water! But not Sami! Nope, nope, nope! She plans on taking her chances. A gambler at heart she is. I hope it works out for her but history tells us that there's no way it can. The other, highly annoying factor is this stupid idea that Sami has in her head that she absolutely "can't lose Austin" and that he can make all her dreams come true because, hey - she's loved him since she was a teenager! Naturally, that must mean that he's practically perfect in every way. Whatever! I am so tired of this storyline and I really hope that it will be over soon. I just can't take it for much longer. I read a spoiler that Sami and Austin will actually get married without a problem this time. Of course it will...it's the one time that no body wants to see her actually married...sigh...

Carrie and Austin shocked me though - Mr. and Mrs. Upstanding Morality/Do the Right Thing have themselves committed a huge sin (according to their own definitions). They made love on the roof while their clueless partners made googly eyes at each other in the apartment below. Who wants to bet that Carrie will end up pregnant Fer Real this time? Although the writing in this storyline has been excruciating for the past few weeks, I did think it was an interesting twist to have Mr.& Mrs. Perfect do something that is far from perfect. And instead of coming clean and owning up to their dalliance (like they are always preaching one should do in these circumstances) they have kept quiet. Of course...EJ had a little something to do with their decision. Why EJ? What do you have to gain here? Who are you and why do you spend every waking minute hanging out with these four? I haven't seen him to any actual work with Austin and Sami's company yet! Anyhow...yeah; this story is making me crazy. Carrie and Lucas are married. Austin and Sami are engaged. However; after learning that she was never pregnant after all - Carrie suddenly realized that her marriage to Lucas was a mistake and consoled herself by doing the horizontal mambo with Austin. And Austin jumped on Carrie with nary a second thought to the woman he had proposed to mere hours previously. I guess Billie's chat with him about not marrying Sami when he is in love with Carrie went in one ear and out there other. He brushed her off with a "I'm not going to hurt Sami"...uh-huh well St. Austin - sleeping with her sister constitutes as something that will hurt Sami. Sami and Lucas for their part spent a lot of time making googly eyes in each other's direction and fighting their obvious sexual attraction. What amazed me was that Austin told Carrie that he believed that they were meant to be together and that Sami and Lucas are still in love with each other. He went on to say how it's "not fair to Lucas" that Carrie stay married to him when she truly loves Austin. He also admitted that he doesn't love Sami in "that way" and is only with her because she's the next best thing. Lovely eh? How'd you like to be Sami right now? Okay...I guess that after she plotted to get him; she deserves a man who does not truly love her. I'm just shocked that even after saying all that, Austin is STILL going to go ahead with his plans to marry Sami simply because of the fact that Carrie has decided to give her marriage another chance. HUH? Well - justified Austin - he wants a family too and if it can't be with Carrie - then why not Sami? Where did Always-Do-The-Right-Thing-St. Austin go? One minute he's proclaiming his love for Carrie and trying to convince her that they'd be doing everyone a favor by dumping their partners and declaring their love for each other. The next minute; he turns around and kisses Sami and tells her that they should get married as soon as possible. What the HUH? I'm sickened by his behavior. Seriously...these four are so screwy some times that I don't know what to think. At least the storyline is somewhat interesting in that for once; it is the 'always perfect' and 'always nice' Carrie and Austin that have committed a "bad" deed. Maybe they'll be able to identify with Sami's behavior a bit more after this. Come to think of it, that might actually lessen the impact of Sami's 'terrible' thing when it all comes out in the wash. One can only hope anyway...and I do because I'm quite tired of seeing Sami constantly take the fall as the bad guy in every situation.

Even though I have never been a fan of JC's Shawn with MM's Belle; I have resigned myself to the fact that the characters will indeed get back together. It's only a matter of time. I think that's fairly obvious - especially after everything that Belle has said to Shawn about how they are meant "to be" and that they "will always love each other" and their "love will only strengthen with each passing day" (who writes this fluff?). And there is the little matter of 'The Kiss' in the hospital and which was witnessed by Mimi and neatly explained by the two. Something about Belle being emotional and needing to kiss someone? Ri-i-i-i-i-i-ght. Rumors that Farah Fath (Mimi) and Kyle Brandt (Philip) are leaving the show only seem to solidify the story direction. I don't know how the characters will exit but spoilers are running rampant that all the Lockharts will exit (even Patrick?) along with Philip. Jason Cooke is set to leave Days as well but his part will be recast (I can only cross my fingers that the actor they bring in to replace JC will have more chemistry with Martha). It looks like there's a method to the writer's madness in having this fertility screw up after all. If Shawn and Belle are going to end up together in the long run - they may as well be the biological parents of both children (Claire and new baby). Right? Personally speaking though; I have a hard time tolerating the character of Isabella Black-Kiriakis. Or; Ding-Belle as I like to call her. As I watched her fill Shawn's ears with crap about raising their child together, getting divorces, yada yada - I realized that no matter where this story goes; I can't see her being redeemed in my eyes. I just can't see any redeeming qualities in this character but maybe it's a personal preference thing...I can allow for that. The only question remaining is what will happen to Mimi and Philip's surrogate baby and who will get custody? We know there is more story to tell however because although Friday's ended with Belle and Shawn saying a tearful (gag me) good-bye to each other; the truth of Claire's paternity is still hanging out there waiting to be revealed. Spoilers indicate that Chelsea (of all people) will discover the truth about Claire and I'm sure she won't hesitate to blow everyone's lives out of the water by letting the cat out of the bag. Oh Joy.

Don't ask me what's going on in the Jack/Jen/Frankie story because I really haven't been paying much attention. From what I can figure out; Jack is cured (surprise, surprise) and has returned home. But yet...Jennifer is still smooching Frankie and acting like his wife while at the same time; she's nursing Jack. It is a very weird triangle and a very weird situation. We know that Matthew Ashford and Melissa Reeves are leaving their roles very soon but there's been no word on what will happen with the characters. I don't want to see Frankie leave the show so it would be great if they wrote Jack off somehow and recasted the part of Jennifer to stay married to Frankie. Now that Abby got herself a job at Max and Shawn's shop (??? Another out-of-the-blue storyline) it doesn't look like she's going anywhere in the short term. Rumors...rumors. I've read that, not only is Stefano due back but he is supposedly bringing Tony and Kristen with him. Apparently Kristen will be played by Kimberlin Brown (you Y&R fans will remember her as the demented Sheila). I think Kimberlin is a fabulous choice in the absence of Eileen Davidson's availability. Oh I hope this comes to pass! I am excited just thinking about how much fun it would be to have the whole crew - don't forget Bart please - back in town! As I am mentioning the DiMeras, I feel it's necessary to comment on the Gloved One. After seeing 'the glove' flit around all over the place like it had its own private timeline; it has occurred to me that the Gloved One is not in fact one person. I believe that we are seeing a bunch of different henchmen wearing gloves and carrying out the nefarious activities of the DiMera family. I think that there is a master mind (Stefano) directing the actions of the Glove (or Gloves as it may be) and that will turn out to be the important factor in this mystery.

Reader Feedback: Thanks to everyone who wrote in with their theories on the owner of the Glove. It's just unfortunate that I couldn't print them all!

From Jade:"First let me say that I love your column and agree with you 9 times out of 10. However I disagree about Stefano and the DiMera's returning being a good thing. Stefano and the DiMeras are done. Their story is told. Yes I absolutely would love to know WHY... why they did all they did and hated the people in Salem so much. But I don't trust the writers, even the new ones to ever bring this out. I don't think we will learn anything new from this round of the DiMeras on the show. We will get repeats of the old and as most fans I feel would agree... enough with the repeated stories! I don't mind repercussions from DiMera plots being dealt with. I don't mind them still being talked about. I like a show to acknowledge their past. But I don't think we need to have them physically there any more. I agree with you that the writers have not shown that they can bring in a new villain but to say it is impossible? It is possible. Improbable? Definitely. :) But even so I don't feel that is reason enough to have DiMera back. If they can't create a cool new villain then they certainly can't do an old and dearly loved one justice. I would personally rather have a new crappy villain with at least a background that is wide open then have them trash DiMera and muddy up an already confusing history. Finally, I feel that there is no realistic way to accept any of the DiMera's back in Salem. After all they have done why would the people of Salem let them back in their town? Someone would do the 'noble' thing and just shoot them dead! An old fashion lynching would not be unrealistic here. I'm about as non-violent as they come but if I were one of them... I would see it as the only way to protect my family. Plus, it isn't like anyone in Salem EVER pays for a crime so why wouldn't at least one of them do the town a favor? Don't get me wrong. I was a DiMera fan. I enjoyed them all and part of me does miss them. But I just can't see how this would work and really feel that the show needs to stop bringing back loved characters just to bump ratings for a few weeks... which is ultimately what I think this is about."

From Babs:"Hi, Let me offer my 2 cents on the gloved one. I really think it will be Stefano since his is leaving B&B. He has been great on that show, but lately has been not having a real storyline. I hope he comes back. THEY NEED HIM! I also think they will bring a Kristin back and maybe even Tony in the future. I also think they should make Victor evil again. Could maybe Victor be the gloved hand? I don't know and they don't know, but I am so glad that we have some good people and some storylines to look forward to. I love the new days and hope they keep up the good work. Thanks, Babs."

From Cindy:"It is nice to be able to watch again and enjoy some of the show. Having Patch, Kayla and Stephanie in Salem is like a breath of fresh air. I too think Sami and EJ has chemistry and I am thinking I might like to see her break from Kate's sons. I can't imagine having evil Kate as a mother-in-law. I do hope Carrie's baby is a mistake and the sham of a marriage can end."

From Lisa Rogers:"I have ideas about who EJ is. I think he could be Shane and Kim's son Andrew (born May 15, 1986). EJ has an English accent like Shane. Or, he may be Robin and Mike's son because Robin's dad's name is Eli Jacobs (EJ) although I know her son's name is Jeremy Jacobs-Horton. Many people believe that because Steve and Kayla are back that this is Stefano's son Benjy DiMera (whom they found in a warehouse on their honeymoon). Possibly; since he went to live with his grandpa Orion when his mother was killed. EJ had a sore spot when Sami mentioned his mother. Stefano is being brought up a lot now too. So, these are the people I think EJ could be. We'll see as the story progresses. Lisa :)"

From Meggie:"I have to agree with you that I would LOVE to see the DiMeras come back. There's too much history for them to bring in some new villain. Am I the only one that remembers that Alex North told Marlena they had a child together? I think Alex is the gloved hand. He was already setting up a history with Sami against Lexi. There are a lot of reasons he could want to keep Lexi from telling the truth about Sami but the one that first jumps to mind is because he wants to slowly destroy Sami himself if for no other reason to get to Marlena, but then again the spoilers say that Roman is getting ready to have a new big storyline. Maybe it's someone after him and they are trying to hurt his daughter to get to him? What if Marlena and Alex had a son instead of a daughter and his name was EJ? What if EJ is Romans son and he knows Sami is his sister and he's trying to help her for that reason. What if the E in EJ stands for Eric? There have been stranger things than Sami not recognizing her twin. Now for your comments on Shawn and the way he's treating Bo! GOOD FOR YOU!!! I mean come on! In the real world how many men would put up with all Bo had put up with? Why is it ok for Hope to sleep with Patrick and be carrying his baby but Bo isn't supposed to have any loyalty towards his own daughter? And please PLEASE tell me that when Shawn finds out Claire is really his (which I PRAY is soon because this storyline is getting soooooooo old) he will at least have the decency to be humbled towards his father. I mean how long can the hypocrisy go on because when Shawn finds out Claire is his, he is not going to be that worried about Mimi or Philip!! And lil Ms. Mimi and Mr. Perfect Philip! Come on already! Philip pursued Belle till she couldn't breathe anymore. He's acting all holier than thou when he knows darn well that Belle never truly loved him but yet he was willing to do whatever it took to steal Belle from Philip and the minute Shawn was locked up in Jan's cell Philip moved right in on Belle. He didn't care much about Shawn being his best friend then. There was no forgiveness for Shawn when all that was found out. Philip has always coveted Belle as Mimi has Shawn so what right do these two have to act all self righteous and surprised to find out Shawn and Belle still love each other considering their relationship was interrupted and never allowed to play out. One more thing and then I will get off my soapbox (pun intended)... Carrie!! WAKE UP AND QUIT BEING SO IGNORANT!!! No real questions as to why Lexie would REALLY test Austin...no second opinion and not even telling Austin?? No woman in the REAL world would just accept it so easily and marry someone they didn't love... THERE IS A SUCH THING AS ADOPTION!!!"

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