The Days of Our Lives Exits We’ve Been Waiting for Are Finally Here — Just As the Show Kicks Off a Massive, Emotional Storyline

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (4), Peacock screenshot

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Well, this was a rollercoaster of a week — and I don’t just mean the wedding drama. Because once again, the pacing drove me a bit nuts. We went from the high of Monday’s wedding bombshells to just dropping the fallout for two days to push through episodes that were a bit more of a slog. So let’s dive into this week’s Days of Our Lives…

So Long, Farewell

I can’t help but feel like this week would have played out better if stories like “Beverett” and Connie were woven through the bigger wedding stuff, rather than swinging back and forth and dropping Monday’s exciting threads for days. I really enjoyed Thursday and Friday, but the wedding lost some momentum from that break.

But by Friday, I was a bit impressed with how they wove Holly, Nicole and Eric into the wedding drama. From Eric and Justin comparing notes on how they both had their sons ripped from them and given back, to Maggie offering to take Holly in. I guess Eric is leaving with Nicole after all — but I’m still waiting to see if it’s permanent or not.

Still, now we know. They’re leaving, Holly’s staying and EJ’s back to being a complete jerk… Which is, honestly, my favorite EJ. Petty, vindictive and manipulative. And more than a little vicious. His confrontation with Eric set up Nicole’s exit better than anything else. And his Holly threat was utterly cruel and despicable. Now that’s Stefano’s son!

Though I was a bit flabbergasted that Eric killing Daniel is all still a big secret. Has Holly never asked about her dad? Never googled what happened to him? Everyone in town and her life knows. It was kind of strange.

Wedding Fallout

As for the wedding itself, that was, as expected, a blast. (You can check out our photo gallery of the big day here.) Fiona dragged out the Xander/Alex switch reveal a bit and Justin carrying the letter she wrote with him was kind of plot pointy, but it was still fun. There was Theresa’s growing panic, Alex’s fury when he realized what she’d done, Xander, Maggie and Sarah closing ranks after all was said and done… I had fun.

And I’m really enjoying the family unit that those three, along with Victoria (and now maybe Holly?) are forming. I’m looking forward to Xander and Sarah moving into the mansion, but rest assured, between Fiona’s alcoholism, her lies and estrangement from Xander and her time in an institution, this story is just getting started. And Paul Telfer and Linsey Godfrey both promised that it’s going to be an emotional gut punch.

No Black and White

Folks who read this soapbox regularly know that I tend to be more forgiving of “gray” characters like Theresa than some fans — especially when they show genuine remorse and their motives are murky and complicated. Outright villains like Konstantin and Clyde, sure, let them have what’s coming to them in the harshest way.

The Gwens and Theresas of the show aren’t cut and dry. And Emily O’Brien’s performance as Theresa turned around to face what she’d done and begged Maggie in tears to go with her to the police station was just phenomenal and kept her so painfully human for me.

And while I’m still not an Alex fan, I do have hope that this will knock the wind out of his sails enough to keep his most obnoxious tendencies in check. Again, he’s not black and white. His reconciling and apology with Justin was long overdue, and I just continue to utterly love Justin and Wally Kurth’s performances.

Downward Spiral

I was going to say that the strike writers wrote relapse far better with Theresa than the way it was handled this week. Both Fiona and Brady are recovering alcoholics, and relapsing in the way they did, to the point of blacking out, should not and would not have been handled afterwards in real life with a simple, “Oops, oh well.” But it looks like it’s not over and, as of Friday, it’s about to get more serious as they pull each other further down into addiction, so I’m willing to give it a chance to see how well they play it.

And Brady and Fiona could at least be a blast to watch while they ruin each other’s lives! His growing horror and spit take as he realized Fiona was Xander’s mom was fun.

I could suddenly see Tate and Holly pulling their secret trysts off all summer. Her mom’s going to be gone, his mom’s going to be gone and his dad’s about to head down into a drunken stupor. But then, maybe Theresa getting locked up will be enough to bring Tate back. And do they really need to sneak around after Theresa and Nicole are out of the picture?

The question is, is this really the end of Theresa? And are we finally getting Gwen back?

Danger! Danger!

Elsewhere… I’m kind of impressed at how quickly everyone caught on to Bobby. He was good at first in the hospital, but after that, he was just sloppy and pushed too hard too fast to get “Everett” positioned to reconnect with Jada. And thank God Marlena realized something was off after one session. She’d look awfully incompetent otherwise.

As for Connie and Gabi… girl, you in danger. Would Gabi really have been that quick to let Connie in? I get that she’s stressed and grieving and that can impact your judgment, but there is not one thing about Connie that does not scream “RED FLAG!”

“OhmyGod! You’re my favorite, I just want to be near you, I’ll be your assistant for no pay and, oh, yeah, I was just in your brother’s room after he was stabbed by a mysterious assailant because clearly that was the best place to look for you!”

Run. Away. Gabi. But Connie’s gonna be lurking around for a bit yet, stirring up trouble. Next week, according to spoilers, it even looks like she might be going after Ava for some reason. And Rafe’s fate is still up in the air — though Cherie Jimenez had some beautiful things to say about Rafe and Galen Gering that makes us feel better about him sticking around.