Greatest DAYS Moments: Marlena “Realizes” John is Roman

Soap Hub is celebrating great soap opera moments in Days of Our Lives history. One classic scene we’ll never forget was when the (supposed) identity of John Black was finally revealed.

In 1986, The Pawn, as he was known at first, escaped from Steve’s (Stephen Nichols) apartment – Steve had been holding him, hoping to extract a large payday from Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston). He wandered the streets of Salem, unwrapped his bandages (from extensive plastic surgery), and named himself John Black. He took a job doing security for the hospital and befriended Dr. Marlena Evans.

In the Beginning
Marlena (Deidre Hall) tried to help John regain his memory by doing hypnosis on him. It led them to an old safe house owned by Stefano, leading many to think he could be the man himself. Their next course of action was to try to find the plastic surgeon who worked on him, but in the process they were being chased by both the KGB and men working for Victor. Their next stop took them to West Virginia.

Making Progress
Laying low near a river, John removed his shirt – revealing a tattoo of a phoenix. Marlena was in shock, fearing that the man she was slowly developing feelings for was in fact her sworn enemy Stefano – the man who killed her beloved husband, Roman Brady. Roman’s brother, Bo Brady (Peter Reckell), already thought he could be Stefano and now this made that conclusion even more valid. The two men, both obviously trained in combat, went at each other, upsetting both Hope (Kristian Alfonso) and Marlena who wanted the two men to stop.

The Moment
While they were fighting, Marlena came across before-and-after photos from the surgery. Her heart almost burst out of her chest when the before photo was none other than her “late” husband Roman. She screamed for the men to stop, that Bo was in fact beating up his own brother – and the two men stopped and stared at her. Finally, the feelings that he’d been having for Marlena, the flashes of memory, all started to make sense to him and he embraced Marlena, full of gratitude. The former Pawn (Drake Hogestyn) started to live life as Roman Brady – at least until a man with the old Roman’s face was found and proved to be the real Roman Brady – but that’s a moment for another article.