Soap Hub Performer Of The Week For DAYS: Emily O’Brien

Whether you view her alter-ego as a villain or a heroine — okay, okay, anti-heroine at best — there’s no denying that DAYS’ Emily O’Brien suffers for her art.

Emily O’Brien — Performer of the Week

O’Brien’s Gwen was at her fluttery best when Xander Cook (Paul Telfer), her erstwhile lover, shared that he wanted to have a talk about their relationship. After all, it had been only an hour or two since she impulsively threw herself upon him and laid on one heck of a smooch…which was very much not reciprocated.

Unfortunately, the hits kept on coming. Xander, it turns out, is holding out hope that he and his soon-to-be-ex-wife will be able to reconcile, and it he seems perfectly okay with the idea of Gwen moving on.

But what Gwen heard — or, at least chose to hear — was that there was still the possibility that something (else) might transpire between — in the event that he and Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) were indeed parted. So, of course, she’s willing to wait.

In no time flat, Xander received word that his divorce from Sarah was well and truly finalized, and in that moment, O’Brien scanned her co-star’s face for any indication that he was pleased by the news, all the time her own visage vacillated between sheer elation, pitiful pleading, and sheer anxiousness.

When Xander still hedged, Gwen finally exploded, and Emily O’Brien was off to the proverbial races. “You know what Xander…when there’s blackmail to be done, or the odd dead body to hide, or [when the] cops are closing in, you have no problem calling on your ‘good old friend’ Gwen…but I am never the person you take home to meet your mother, am I? …You see me as some sort of a…fearless bad girl, don’t you? Have a couple of laughs with, and I help you out with your schemes, but you would never actually commit to me, would you?”

To that last point, Xander took exception. “I was going to marry you until you drugged Sarah,” he pointedly reminded. ‘You KILLED Susan Banks,” Gwen countered. “YOU killed Laura Horton,” Xander sassed back. “That was an accident,” swore Gwen. “Was it,” inquired Xander.

And while that Hepburn and Tracey-esque back and forth was utterly sublime, it was the dejection and utter disillusionment displayed by Emily O’Brien that truly stole the show.

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