Ever since Sarah’s paralyzation, drunk driving has been on just about everyone’s minds on Days of Our Lives. And that’s understandable, especially since this is far from the first time this type of thing has happened in Salem. In fact, just to pile on the tragedy, poor Holly, who blames herself for poor Sarah getting hit, lost her dad, Daniel to a drunk driver. And now her boyfriend’s dad is accused of hitting her aunt!
This is understandably tough on her, and Tate just made things worse by blurting out that Eric was the drunk driver who killed Daniel. Her mom’s greatest love (and her own longtime surrogate dad) is her father’s killer. She lit into Eric, pushed aside Tate and even called Nicole on Monday’s episode. But, because of all that happened with Arianne Zucker’s exit, it was only a one-sided call.
We just talked about how it’s clear Days of Our Lives isn’t willing to let Nicole go, even if Zucker is gone. But that then leads us into this week, and how obvious her not being around is.
Aside from the stunning realization that an almost-18-year-old Holly never actually knew how her dad died, her anguish in finding out that Eric killed Daniel in a drunk driving accident now, after what happened with Sarah, makes for some hard hitting story.
But it would be so much better if Nicole was around to play it, too. It’s great that Greg Vaughan came back so Holly could face her surrogate father, but without Holly’s mom, we’re only getting part of the story we should.
With that said, one interesting way the show could be taking it is to leave it with Holly and Nicole estranged, removing the one tie in Salem that Nicole would surely come back to visit. Outside of her relationship with her own surrogate dad, Abe, Nicole really doesn’t have anyone else in Salem left.
This story could be putting the final pieces in place to ensure we stop asking if she’s coming back in the hopes that we’ll move on. Or they could be prepping us for a Nicole recast to bring Holly’s mom back to face her daughter.
As things stand now, though, Days of Our Lives is telling a story with just half the drama and no easy fix. Because we’re pretty sure fans won’t be happy with either solution.
