A Critic’s Review of Days of our Lives: Dinner Parties and MLK Day

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. Here we lead with optimism. Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want. So here’s a review of DAYS’ week that was.

What I’m Feeling This Week: Awkward Dinner Party Moments

Days of our Lives doubled down on the dinner parties this week. There were two — one was a success of sorts, but not without awkward moments. And the other was a complete disaster of epic proportions thanks to a certain blonde sloppy drunk.

Sloan (Jessica Serfaty) got the advice to drink one glass of wine to loosen up. That way, Marlena (Deidre Hall) wouldn’t come off so intimidating. Apparently, Sloan must have heard Nicole (Arianne Zucker) advise her to drink one or two bottles of wine before any food is on the table. Poor Eric (Greg Vaughan) didn’t know what to do but play some sort of air traffic controller as Sloan knocked things over, as she flung insults Marlena and John’s (Drake Hogestyn) way, and even as she drunk cried over her failings as a host, a joke teller, and a mom.

The intimidation vibe is something I can relate to, but at this point, it’s hard to feel bad for Sloan considering what she’s done. But Jessica Serfaty managed to tug at my empathy strings a little bit. But only a little. Marlena’s side eyes and straight-on glares were amazing to behold. John just took it all in and Eric was mortified. MORTIFIED. I don’t think any prayers to the man above could have helped save this evening. At least Jude slept through most of it.

Personally, I do love to watch train wrecks so my dinner party of choice was the Brady / Black dinner from hell. But the Johnsons threw one as well. This one was way more subdued. However, there were some, let’s say, intense moments when Steve (Stephen Nichols) turned all expert interrogator to suss out the intentions of one Everett Lynch (Blake Berris). It didn’t help that Stephanie (Abigail Klein) had never told her parents about this guy who meant so much to her while living in Seattle.

Knowing that, I was okay with Steve embarrassing Stephanie a little with his questions for Everett. The good things that happened: Wendy (Victoria Grace) got a seal of approval from Kayla and Steve, and a scavenger hunt was born that’ll play out on Valentine’s Day. That’s also the day that Johnny (Carson Boatman) and Chanel (Raven Bowens) are about to get married. Now I’m looking forward to that day.

Other DAYS Thoughts

Feeling It: MLK Day Honors. Overall, I really ended up enjoying the MLK Day episode. It was a lot to take in, but the show kept me interested. I did like the different ways the characters spread the good word and the message of the day. Jada (Elia Cantu), Rafe (Galen Gering), Johnny, and Chanel sat in The Pub detailing the different ways they were affected, especially Jada and Chanel.

The group hug with Leo (Greg Rikaart), Chad (Billy Flynn), and Everett was a bit much, however, I did like that Leo’s article focused on civil rights and gay rights. It featured an openly gay civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin, a man actor Colman Domingo is playing in Rustin, a movie getting a lot of awards show recognition.

Paulina’s (Jackée Harry) podcast as she played through the pain, so to speak, and the way Abe (James Reynolds) helped her out, was great. I ended the episode feeling uplifted so that’s a beautiful thing.

Not Feeling It: Ava (Tamara Braun) and Stefan (Brandon Barash). I know this is a fake relationship, but could they play the fake relationship a little less fake? Who’s going to believe them when they kiss so awkwardly as they did in front of Harris (Steve Burton)? Does Harris really believe Stefan is cheating on his incarcerated wife? I sure didn’t.

Favorite Couple: Johnny and Chanel. They’re getting married again, and they’re going to do the deed in Salem in front of everyone, or a destination wedding with their friends and family from Salem. Their engagement was just about the sweetest moment of the week.

Favorite Couple, Honorable Mention: I have not been feeling Xander and Sarah 2.0 until this week. Their moving in together was baby bear — just right.

Still Processing: Well, they’re not a couple yet, but I’m still processing Stephanie and Everett. They’ve kissed. They’ve told us about their relationship pre-Salem. But the problem is twofold: Stephanie needs to be alone for a bit. There’s always some guy orbiting her world, and it’s exhausting to watch. The other issue I have is with Everett. I can’t trust a thing he says. Like not even a word, so until that happens, I’m still processing. Give me a reason to love these two.

Days of our Lives airs weekdays on Peacock+ in the U.S. and The W Network or Global TV App in Canada. For more about what’s coming up in Salem, check out all the latest DAYS spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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