How Days of our Lives Missed a Golden Opportunity For a New Leading Man

Was it only a few weeks ago when we gushed about Days of our Lives bringing on William Christian as the fascinating new character of TR Coates? Yes, he had a past as an abuser. But this is Days of our Lives. Who doesn’t?

Days of our Lives: Missing The Boat

TR was smart, smooth, scheming…and easy on the eyes. All things which could have made him one of Salem’s new leading men. But then The Powers That Be went ahead and ruined it.

DAYS: Past Imperfect

Viewers already knew that Paulina Price (Jackée Harry) went as far as to give away her baby girl, Lani Price (Sal Stowers), to her sister, so that TR would never learn he had a daughter and go after her. We believed Paulina when she said TR was a drug user who beat her.

But, guess what? EJ DiMera raped Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) in order to conceive Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman). And the show redeemed him enough to make them an incredibly popular couple. Jack Deveraux (Matthew Ashford) is also a reformed rapist.

Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) let Sarah Horton (Linsay Godfrey) believe for months that the baby she was raising was hers. And fans are rooting for them to reunite. And let’s not even discuss how Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) conceived Rachel…yet Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) still reunited with her. For a while, anyway. Until she did her next rotten thing.

New Days of our Lives Man

The point is TR could have been a nuanced, grey character who had good and bad sides to him. And who was worthy of love, or at least romance. Instead, the show had him buy drugs, threaten a woman who was ready to expose him, and shoot to kill Eli Grant (Lamon Archey). There’s no coming back from that. And that’s a darn shame.

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.