Days of Our Lives: Murder Most Monotonous

Well, Days of Our Lives delivered another spine-tingling week of murder and mayhem–just what viewers expect from a horror series. Remember when DAYS was a soap opera?

Let us recall DAYS’ recently (if not entirely dearly) departed: Serena Mason (Melissa Archer), Paige Larson (True O’Brien), Will Horton (Guy Wilson), Aiden Jennings (Daniel Cosgrove), Bo Brady (Peter Reckell), Wendy the Midwife (Denice Duff), Dr. Seth Malcolm (Adam Leadbeater), Dr. Daniel Jonas (Shawn Christian), Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo), and finally, Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun). Have we missed anyone?

How many more deaths must the good people of Salem endure? Forget the Salemites. How long before the audience starts pining for the shores of Melaswen Island, or abandons Days of Our Lives for The Chew? Clinton Kelly’s crafting and drinking always lifts this reporter’s spirits. Speaking of food, at least no one will choke to death on one of Alice Horton’s (Frances Reid) delicious donuts, during Death’s latest DAYS rampage.

On second thought, death-by-donuts might be preferable to gagging each time the camera pans to Gran’s couch–where Chase (Jonathon McClendon) raped Alice and Tom’s (Macdonald Carey) great-granddaughter, Ciara (Vivian Jovanni). And to think the old DiMera sofa used to give us the heebie-jeebies. At least the carnal acts performed upon it were generally consensual (as far as we can remember, or are willing to). Oh how touching the 2016 Christmas ornament episode will be, in the very room in which Ciara Alice was violated, but let us move on.

Setting aside the lovely and talented Ms. Braun herself, we will not miss Ava any more than the Johnsons will. Her arrival was ill-timed and her storyline poorly executed. What is hard to take about this otherwise welcomed death, is that Joey Johnson (James Lastovic) did the dastardly deed. Ava must be cackling in the hereafter. Even the mad mafia minx could not have come up with a plan that would so devastate dear Kayla (Mary Beth Evans).

Why DAYS brought on two handsome young actors (i.e. McClendon and Lastovic) to beef up its teen scene, only to turn one into a rapist and the other into a killer, is beyond our ken. Both McClendon and Lastovic have settled into their roles quite nicely. Now their characters are forever-tainted and far too early for our liking.

For now, the Salem situation leaves us crossing our fingers that Theo (Kyler Pettis), is sitting with Abe (James Reynolds), looking at a Salem snow globe, a la St. Elsewhere‘s infamous series finale, with Tommy and Daniel Auschlander. Heck, we would even settle for some of the recent death and destruction being a part of some drug-induced “vision” visited upon Peggy McCay’s Caroline Brady. How about you?

DAYS airs weekdays on NBC. Share your thoughts in the comment section below. For more Days of Our Lives spoilers, updates, recaps, and news, like Soap Hub on Facebook, and join the conversation about all your favorite soaps! Follow writer Cindy McLennan on Twitter, too.