A Critic’s Review of Days of our Lives: A Weighty Topic Revisited

When it comes to Days of our Lives, every fan has their own opinion – and Soap Hub is no different. For five days we sat and watched the good, the bad, and everything in between, and now we offer you a handy review, and a cheeky critique, of the DAYS week that was.

Days of our Lives: A Critic’s Week In Review

In last week’s column, we pointed out DAYS’ predilection for recycling the same storylines time after time; and a week prior to that, we pointed out the dangerous message being sent with the tale concerning Theo (Cameron Johnson) leaving for South Africa with an amnesia-stricken Ciara (Victoria Konefal) whom he hopes to court.

In that second column, we compared Theo’s questionable decision to some of the more blatant examples of characters ignoring the concept of consent on DAYS – and those were legion.

DAYS, to its credit, made reference to a couple of those more infamous lapses in good taste during pivotal scenes between Nicole (Arianne Zucker) and Xander (Paul Telfer) – yes, he did hold her hostage inside a literal cage, and yes, he did indeed blackmail her into marrying him – and Lucas (Bryan Dattilo) and Sami (Alison Sweeney).

[Though, in the latter exchange, Lucas didn’t go so far as to call what E.J. did to Sami what it actually was – rape.]

But the soap missed the mark where Ava (Tamara Braun) and Steve (Stephen Nichols) were concerned…and they managed to tarnish the character of Rafe (Galen Gering) in the process.

Having Rafe actually refer to the torture and sexual assault that Steve was subjected to as “a relationship that went off the rails,” was heinous, and it seemed that we, the audience, were expected to forgive and forget Ava’s actions because she made one long overdue and (seemingly) heartfelt apology. It didn’t work for us.

Further DAYS Musings

* Questions that need to be answered with a quickness: Where did Ava, who claims to be so hard up for money that she needs to rely on Rafe’s charity, get the funds necessary to purchase – at a minimum – three designer duds?

Who is watching the children of Salem? Nicole and Allie (Lindsay Arnold) were both out on the town with nary a mention of Henry and Holly – and we know Maggie’s (Suzanne Rogers) isn’t around to babysit. Likewise, who was in possession of Rachel? Brady’s (Eric Martsolf) down for the count, Kristen is running on fumes, John (Drake Hogestyn) and Marlena (Deidre Hall) were both at the hospital…

* Brady, Brady, Brady. You know that Kristen (Stacy Haiduk) conned Susan into taking her place at Statesville. You know she has a penchant for getting stab happy. And you know that she not only raped your stepbrother but that she had sex with you while pretending to be another woman entirely.

And yet, while you lay in the hospital bed that she put you in, you still defend her. Why exactly? What does this woman have to do to finally earn your disdain?

* We really want to invest in, and care about, the outcome of the Charlie Dale (Mike Manning) murder case and the storyline concerning Gwen’s (Emily O’Brien) framing Abigail (Marci Miller) for causing her miscarriage…but if they’re not important enough to even be featured plots in of the five available episodes, why should we?

* In a roughly 48-hour period, Kate (Lauren Koslow) has been bashed over the head with a glass tumbler, shot up with a near-lethal amount of anesthetic, fallen out of a moving vehicle, and trudged through God knows how many miles of forest, only to be struck in the head with a fire poker.

But despite her myriad of setbacks, we’re pretty sure she’ll soldier on. To quote Gabi (Camila Banus), “only Kate.” Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.