A Critic’s Review Of Days of our Lives: A Roundup of the Best and Worst of 2022

Unlike some, more cowardly competitors, we here at Soap Hub are never shy when it comes to giving Days of our Lives its lumps when it proves grating or downright frustrating, nor are we backwards at coming forwards with praise when it’s due – moi especially.

In that vein, below you’ll find a roundup of the staff’s Best and Worst of DAYS followed by my ever cheeky, always heartfelt endorsement or rebuttal…how surprised you must be to hear that I don’t always agree with my colleagues.

Days of Our Lives — Soap Hub’s Best and Worst of 2022

Best Character Turnaround: Eric Brady’s (Greg Vaughan) halo falls and shatters and Worst Character Turnaround: Chanel Dupree (Raven Bowens) as a victim comes courtesy of Soap Hub’s very own Editor-In-Chief, Diane Brounstein. I disagree with neither, though I’m personally partial to Rafe Hernandez’s (Galen Gering) new catty attitude to life in general and Nicole Walker Soon-To-No-Longer-Be-Hernandez (Arianne Zucker) in particular.

Most Welcome Addition: Victoria Grace [Wendy Shin] — suggested by Community Manager Sandra Leaming, co-signed by yours truly. Where Sandra and I part company is her pick for Worst New Addition. She’s quick to name Sloan Petersen (Jessica Serfaty), while I’ve been quite vocal in my affection for the pot stirrer. Instead, I’m nominating actor William Christian but with the caveat of renaming the category Worst New Addition Played By A Consummate Professional. There wasn’t a thing wrong with Christian’s performance — quite the contrary, in fact — but there was never a chance of TR Coates — a woman beating, drug user — being welcomed, let alone championed.

Alina Adams — poll analyst extraordinaire and authoress of Soap Hub’s original text serial Go On Pretending — was firing on all cylinders when she dubbed EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) and Susan Banks (Stacy Haiduk) Best Mother/Son Duo, Paulina Price Worst Boss, Nicole Worst Wife/Girlfriend, and Patrika Darbo [Nancy Miller] and James Read [Clyde Weston] Biggest Waste of Talent/Potential. My only quibble? Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston), despite supposedly being retired, is far and away the worst employer.

Further DAYS 2022 Musings

And The Point Was?: Sarah assumes Renée DuMond’s identity and…nothing really comes of it aside from the inside joke about Don Craig walking out to mail a letter and never being seen or heard from again.

Best Cameo: Peter Reckell as Ghost Bo.

Best Couple That Isn’t: Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) and Gwen Rizczech (Emily O’Brien).

Best Possessee: Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman).

Biggest Bait And Switch: Clyde most certainly isn’t Abigail Deveraux DiMera’s (Marci Miller) killer…oh, wait, yes he is.

Biggest Slap In The Face: Despite being told by Anjelica Deveraux herself that she and Alex didn’t have a mother/son bond, since Alex’s return to Salem we’ve heard nothing but mentions of the supposedly solid relationship the two shared — Alex doesn’t even think of Adrienne Kiriakis (Judi Evans) as his mother, even though she raised him. How rude!

Biggest Swing, Biggest Miss: Craig Wesley (Kevin Spirtas) is a closeted gay.

Characters Most In Need Of A Real Story: Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis) and Anna Fredricks DiMera (Leann Hunley) — preferably together, though I’ll take whatever I can get — and Jack Deveraux (Matthew Ashford).

Read The Room: Despite what the accompanying soundtrack attempted to sell you, the threesome between Chanel, Allie Horton (Lindsay Arnold), and Alexander Neil Kiriakis (Robert Scott Wilson) wasn’t about love. A good time, sure. But not love.

Days of our Lives 2022 Report Card: B- When Days of our Lives gets it wrong, they get it very wrong, but when they get it right, it’s some of the best soap opera on offer — look no further than this year’s Horton family tree trimming for proof.

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