Why Are We Losing Tate Black and Holly Jonas for DAYS?

Days of our Lives is known for its supercouples. Some have been on the canvas for decades. But many of them started when they were barely out of their teens. All soaps needs to be developing young characters even as they invest in their veterans. And DAYS had — and still has — an incredibly promising pairing in Holly Jonas and Tate Black. So what happened?

Mass Appeal

Ashley Puzemis as Holly (get to know more about her here) and Jamie Martin Mann as Tate are both appealing young performers. They have chemistry with each other and, more importantly, with the actors who played their family members. Instead of shoving Tate and Holly’s insta-love down our throats, DAYS introduced them slowly.

We saw Holly with her mom, Nicole (Arianne Zucker), and with her stepbrother, Johnny (Carson Boatman), on whom she had an inappropriate crush. We saw Tate lock horns with mom Theresa (Emily O’Brien) and dad Brady (Eric Marstolf), as they tried to figure out what to do about Tate getting kicked out of boarding school, at the same time as Tate had a warmer relationship with Grandpa John (Drake Hogysten) and Grandma Marlena (Deidre Hall). Because people we loved loved Holly and Tate, we were growing to love Holly and Tate. But then….

Over and Out

Holly landed in a coma after stupidly taking drugs and is off to a clinic in Italy. Tate, meanwhile, got out of adult prison and is being shipped off to rehab, even though the crime he was accused of was giving Holly drugs, not taking them himself. So what is he rehabbing from? Two promising teen characters, wiped off the canvas in less than a week. So what was the point of introducing them in the first place?

Endgame

Just when we were getting interested in Holly and Tate’s future, DAYS made it seem like they no longer had one. What a wasted opportunity.