Why Days of our Lives is Doing a Great Job Integrating Holly Jonas Into Salem

Bringing a new character onto Days of our Lives is always a tricky task, even if it’s someone we watched born on screen. The newly grown-up Holly Jonas is basically a stranger. But DAYS is doing an excellent job of making us care for and about her by using the following tactics.

Tell Me What You Want

The first thing Holly (Ashley Puzemis) let us know about herself was that she wanted Johnny (Carson Boatman). It’s a silly crush. She’s much younger than him, he’s her stepbrother, and he’s madly in love with Chanel (Raven Bowens). But at least it’s a clear and concise goal.

We can watch her with Tate (Jamie Martin Mann) and know they’re destined to be together while understanding why Holly barely gives the more age-appropriate guy the time of day. We’ll ignore the part where, as toddlers, Nicole (Arianne Zucker) and Brady (Eric Martsolf) went on the run with them, raising them as brother and sister. It’s a triangle where we understand where each character is coming from, which is nice.

Holly Jonas: Family Practice

Holly is also right there, reacting to the tragedy of Nicole losing her baby. She’s had tearful scenes with both her mom and EJ, which shows that the people we care about care about Holly. And vice-versa.

Going Broad

That last one is the most important. Holly came to Salem as a pretty self-absorbed teen. (Aren’t they all?) She didn’t care about Chanel’s feelings when trying to insinuate herself with Johnny.

But Holly is genuinely hurting for Nicole and having her be the one to go to Eric (Greg Vaughan) to ask for him to perform a DNA test on his new baby so that Nicole will quit thinking the tot is hers (he is, but nobody outside of Sloan [Jessica Serfaty], Melinda [Tina Huang], and Dimitri [Peter Porte] know that) proves that she is capable of kindness, empathy, and loyalty. All great qualities to demonstrate in a newcomer poised to become Salem’s new, young leading lady. Kudos, DAYS!

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