A Critic’s Review of Days of our Lives: Humor And Pathos Aplenty

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 of our Lives week that was.

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

Of the four remaining soaps, Days of our Lives won Thanksgiving sweeps, hands down. There was humor and pathos aplenty. A major reveal. A daring rescue. And sidelined characters like Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis) and Anna Fredericks DiMera (Leann Hunley) were given an (albeit brief) chance to shine.

Perhaps the best scenes of the entire three day week were the ones featuring EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) and Susan Banks (Stacy Haiduk), and Julie Williams (Susan Seaforth Hayes) vs MarDevil (Deidre Hall); the former scenes because, for the first time in years, Days of our Lives actually played up the fact that loving bond does exist between mother and son – as fans will no doubt remember, James Scott’s version of EJ could barely tolerate the sight of Susan; and the latter scenes because Julie warded off the evil one by invoking the power of love.

Are we implying that Days of our Lives was perfect? Not in the slightest. There were a number of head-scratchers – Why were Ben Weston (Robert Scott Wilson) and Ciara Brady Weston (Victoria Konefal) not celebrating the holiday with the Horton’s; what better place to reveal their pregnancy news family-wide?

Where was Jack Deveraux (Matthew Ashford), Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn), Abigail Deveraux DiMera (Marci Miller), and the wee ones? What did Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) and Gwen Rizczech (Emily O’Brien) get up to? And why were we denied even a glimpse of, say, the Kiriakis gathered together (and forced by Maggie to make nice), or the sure-to-be awkward dinner over Eli Grant (Lamon Archey) and Lani Grant’s (Sal Stowers)?

Further DAYS Musings

* Dialogue of the Week:

Sami to Marlena: You’ve been possessed by the Devil, again?! I thought it was like the chickenpox – I thought it could only happen to you once.

* The Hypocrisy Is Staggering: Lani, who let’s not forget, lied about baby David’s paternity, invites Olivia Price (Special Guest Star, Marla Gibbs) over to eat, but continues to ice Paulina Price (Jackée Harry) out. To quote Paulina, “What about Tammy? Maybe she could fly in for a turkey leg, or two.”

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Salem, check out all the latest that’s been posted on DAYS spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.