Damn You, DAYS, You Killed Kayla Brady Johnson and Kate Roberts Brady

In a single episode of Days of our Lives, a flat-lining Kate Roberts Brady was declared dead as son Rex, and husband Roman wept, and Kayla Johnson Brady breathed her last, with husband Steve by her bedside. Two major legacy characters! Dead! In one episode! Both had been living in Salem, on and off — and with sometimes different faces — since the 1980s. And this is what they got?

Days of our Lives: Where’s the Drama?

The deaths of someone as important as Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) or Kate (Lauren Koslow), once upon a time, would have both been major occasions. There would have been citywide grieving, a funeral, and loved ones at each other’s throats, and, oh, what do we call it? Ah, yes, right — drama! Remember drama? We do not believe this show does.

DAYS: Temporary State

This show is currently so devoid of drama and genuine feeling, that two major players can die, and life…goes on. There was a little sniffling. Marlena (Deidre Hall) and John (Drake Hogysten) looked rather put out, and Eric Brady (Greg Vaughan) pulled a gun on Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk). But it was still all pretty anticlimactic.

Kayla Brady Johnson & Kate: Undo Key

It’s hard to take any deaths, even — especially — of such major characters, seriously — since no one has really died on DAYS in decades. Instead of the one-offs we used to get when Roman and Marlena came back from the dead, we got a whole bunch of serial killer victims living on a backward island. Or Dr. Rolf bringing back the Necktie Killer’s victims. Death isn’t just a temporary state now, it’s a non-existent one.

This isn’t love in the afternoon. It’s not death in the afternoon. It’s not drama in the afternoon. It’s a cartoon. Even falling off a cliff isn’t final. As long as you pedal your legs really, really hard.