A Critic’s Review of Days of our Lives: Wish Lists and Guilty Pleasures

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: Torn (Sloan Petersen and Xander Cook)

Sloan Petersen (Jessica Serfaty) is turning out to be my favorite guilty pleasure character on DAYS. Do I want Sloan with Eric (Greg Vaughan)? Hard no. Is she horrible to have teamed up with Melinda (Tina Huang) to steal Nicole’s (Arianne Zucker) baby? Hard yes. I also want her to reveal the entire truth to Nicole and Eric ASAP (or at least when Nicole is back in town).

But I’m having fun seeing Sloan deal with the extreme situations of her life. She’s twisting herself inside and out in order to accommodate Leo (Greg Rikaart), a diva of the highest order. And when the two are in the same room, her expressions after Leo drops a taunt or three are priceless.

Her drunk and disorderly act last week was great as well. You’d never think that anyone, even Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall), could intimidate Sloan. But she was affected by Marlena’s very presence. She’s super lucky the good doctor is so understanding. Although, how she lived through Marlena’s stares of doom during that dinner party is beyond me.

This week, the photo shoot Leo set up with Eric threw Sloan into a tizzy. The lawyer has to juggle so many things that could explode all over her. Having said all that, I would love it if this story sped up a bit. It’s dragging…

As for Xander Cook, I have a love/can’t be bothered relationship with this character. Paul Telfer is a charming beast, and I adore the way he plays Xander’s roguish ways. And as I mentioned previously, I’m getting back on board with Xander and Sarah after jumping off their ship a while back.

But I also remember Xander’s crimes, and some aren’t that easy to write off. And anyway, I don’t want a Xander that’s on the up and up and the straight and narrow. I like him shady. It feels like the show is trying really hard to redeem him (although, we’ll see where this mystery call leads him), but I’m torn as to whether I want him redeemed. There, I said it.

Other DAYS Thoughts

DAYS Wish List: Lani (Sal Stowers) and Eli (Lamon Archey) returning for Johnny (Carson Boatman) and Chanel’s (Raven Bowens) wedding. I want this more than anything. We’re finally going to see an actual wedding for this adorable couple (hopefully, anyway). And even though they’re making it small for the purposes of what their families are going through, I still want them to make this a priority event.

Please bring back Lani and Eli, who also need to be here because Paulina (Jackée Harry) is dealing with her own crisis. She found out she has one of the most treatable cancers, but at the end of the day, it’s still cancer. She needs the support of everyone in her life. And Lani and Eli are family.

Oh and Lani BETTER be out of prison.

My Best Guess: So, we’re all in agreement that Ava (Tamara Braun) and Harris (Steve Burton) cooked up a plan to deal with this drug crisis, right? Behind the closed doors of the PCPD interrogation room where Ava slapped Harris after he kissed her?

Ava’s been wanting to tell Harris all along, although she’s tried to protect him through this all, which is odd considering he’s a cop who can take care of himself. Anyway, there was just enough time for her to download Harris and for them to create a plan of attack. And now she’s acting out another fake scenario. Speaking of which…

Sorry, Not Sorry: Ava and Stefan need to stop kissing. Full stop. At least Gabi is now in on his fake relationship. I’m grateful for that.

Thank You, Show: For starting to move this Pawn story along. John (Drake Hogestyn) is already looking rough, and he’s not sure why. Steve (Stephen Nichols) is just as affected, but in a different way. Let’s keep this train going.

Showing Support: I love Maggie (Suzanne Rogers) wanting to be there for Brady (Eric Martsolf) and Theresa (Emily O’Brien). I don’t love her continuing to give Konstantin (John Kapelos) the benefit of the doubt.

More information, please: Hearing Jada (Elia Cantu) spill a little more on her ex-husband (AKA Everett Lynch), makes me want to hear more about their lives in Seattle. And I also want the timelines, and I want to know if he really was in a coma. And when are she and Stephanie (Abigail Klein) going to name names? Not once have they said, “Everett” (Blake Berris) in each other’s presence yet.

Odd but Welcome: Other than a few digs here and there, the fact that Chad (Billy Flynn), Everett, Xander, and Leo can stand around and mostly get along is a bit refreshing. I don’t buy that it will last, but Chad, especially, acting more mature is great. Also, putting Stephanie behind him is even better. Also, Team Everett vs. Chad in the protecting Stefan’s interests debate.

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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