It might not have been the showy tribute she so richly deserved, but Deidre Hall made the most out of her milestone 5,000th episode.
Deidre Hall — Performer of the Week
If there’s been a constant in Hall’s Days of our Lives journey it would be Drake Hogestyn and his alter-ego John Black, so it was only appropriate that her scenes in her special show were shared opposite him.
When Hall’s Marlena Evans Black greeted John with a wide-eyed smile it felt all at once comforting and right. The chemistry between the two actors has always been palpable — as demonstrated by a flashback that saw their characters bruised and battered, prisoners of a madwoman’s machinations, fighting their obvious attraction to one another — and even the simplest of actions have always had a tinge of something special.
At the top of the hour, John floated the theory that Marlena had treated a whopping 5,000 patients since starting her practice back in ’76 and insisted that most momentous number be celebrated with a night on the town…or, at the very least, a cozy dinner for two at the Brady Pub.
Marlena complied, even as she good-naturedly hammered home the improbability that she’d really tended to that many persons. Hall’s giggle that would accompany every denial was both infectious and endearing.
At John’s urging, Marlena reflected on her storied career and granted that what stood out the most was probably her very first patient. “Mickey [Horton]. Tough case. Lovely man. We developed a very dear friendship.”
Cue the flashback from Hall’s very first appearance on Days of our Lives. Then, as now, her Marlena was warm and a might disarming, straightforward but not blunt with it.
After John drew her out of her reverie, Marlena coped to losing herself in the memory of when she’d first come to town. Things sure were different back then. “But, you know, what makes Salem so special is all the people that live here. That’s what made it so comfortable to develop a practice.”
More nostalgia. More flashbacks. Flashbacks to the time she managed to talk a youth out of leaping from a building ledge. Flashbacks to her rehabilitating Ben Weston AKA The Necktie Killer. Flashbacks to that aforementioned time she and John found themselves trapped in a boiler pit.
When all was said and done, Marlena granted that “Maybe 5,000 isn’t such a crazy number after all.”
To quote [or more precisely, slightly misquote] the fictitious Mr. Black, here’s to Deidre Hall, a true legend who’s left an indelible mark — and here’s to 5,000 more!
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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