There aren’t many opportunities for DAYS’ Dan Feuerriegel to really let loose, to really plumb the depths of his alter-ego’s psyche given that he plays the normally unflappable EJ DiMera, a man who’s seen and done it all at least once in his lifetime — but losing a loved one has a funny way of making one take stock. A little introspection is good for the soul…as is a nip or two of brandy and little destruction of property.
Dan Feuerriegel — Performer Of The Week
Feuerriegel spent the immediate aftermath of Susan Banks’s (Stacy Haiduk) supposed passing screaming into a void and smashing barware.
Afterward, the disheveled, grizzled fellow guzzled copious amounts of stage spirits from a glass that outlived his rampage and stared pensively at a photo of his co-star.
Enter EJ’s mother-in-law, Dr. Marlena Evans Black (Deirdre Hall), who’d come to pay her respects, to him and to his son/her grandson. Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) wasn’t at home, EJ explained it. He was away and unaware of Susan’s passing and that was the way EJ preferred it because, as he pitifully opined, “this is all my fault.”
When Marlena wondered how that could possibly be true, EJ recounted the whole sordid affair. He learned that her marriage to the late Jake DiMera (Brandon Barash) had never taken place, and he took great delight in taking back everything that had come her way as his brother’s widow — then he banished her from Salem and threatened her with prison should she ever return…and that he did because he feared that Johnny was becoming too enamored of his play auntie.
More imbibing. More self-recrimination. An epiphany — “I am responsible for my own action,” EJ declared, Feuerriegel imbuing the line with both a matter-of-factness and undertone of biting regret — and a soul-shattering observation — “I let down the one person who loved me unconditionally my entire life. I could have saved her but I didn’t…I was a terrible son. She deserved so much better.”
They say that pride goeth before a fall, but EJ’s defeat proved to be Daniel Feuerriegel greatest victory.
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