Deconstructing Theresa: Will Days of Our Lives Do Her Justice?!

Theresa is finally back in Salem on Days of Our Lives (DOOL) and she’s on the verge of losing everything — again — but should she?

It feels like the show is setting Theresa (Jen Lilley) up to have a giant fall from grace because of her decision to save herself at Chloe’s (Nadia Bjorlin) expense, but is that really a fair way to portray it?

To understand what’s driving Theresa, we need to look back at what she’s been through — and how far she has come.

Theresa was a wild child, in trouble a lot, and an accomplished liar — something that Xander (Paul Telfer) reminds her of as often as he can. But falling for Brady (Eric Martsolf) and having Tate really changed her.

When Tate was kidnapped, Theresa became unglued — and solidified herself as a heroine rather than a bad girl.

That status was reinforced when she did the selfless thing and sacrificed her happiness to protect her family.

But it came at a price. For the last year and a half, Theresa has most likely been through hell at Mateo’s hand. Desperate to return to her family, she risked her life daily trying to gather evidence for her father and the ISA to put him away.

In clearer terms, that means every day of the past year and a half, Theresa knew she could be murdered at any moment — any moment! So when Xander offered a lifeline to leave, even…continue reading on the next page —>

Continue reading on the next page…

In clearer terms, that means every day of the past year and a half, Theresa knew she could be murdered at any moment — any moment! So when Xander offered a lifeline to leave, even if he wouldn’t take Chloe, who are any of us to judge Theresa choosing to save herself?

Her goal’s always been to get her family back. She simply needed to make sure she could do that and keep them safe.

So when Mateo agreed to let her go on the condition that she not tell anyone about Chloe, she’d had a year and a half of indocternation that Mateo would kill them if betrayed.

Can anyone really blame her for flipping out when she heard there was a rescue mission to save Chloe? She had no choice — she had to tell Mateo and make it clear to him that she hadn’t betrayed him.

It will be easy for those in Salem, who haven’t experienced what she has, to pass judgement on Theresa’s actions, but they haven’t walked in her shoes. They don’t know what she’s been through.

Does this mean she deserves her family back? Yes. But, time has moved on and she may not get that. But, she shouldn’t be made a pariah for what she had to do to survive.

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.