Hope has seemed almost terminally hapless of late on Days of Our Lives.

She has needed to be bailed out of situation after situation. When Kristian Alfonso first brought her Hope to Salem in the 1980s, Hope was a spitfire who put everyone on notice. She was not going to let the likes of Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) treat her like a little girl, and she wanted everyone to know she could fend for herself. Not surprisingly, she decided to join the police academy where she could protect others as well. She was even able to stand up against the biggest meanie of them all – Stefano DiMera.

She Snapped
Of course, it was standing up against Stefano – after countless crimes he committed against her, Bo, and their families – that caused her to snap, kill him, and left her vulnerable to the likes of Aiden Jennings (Daniel Cosgrove) in the first place. Aiden tricked Hope, and ended up getting her confession recorded. This recording was just the ammunition he needed to try to get Hope back into his life and into his bed. He used it in a foolhardy attempt to get Hope to spend time with him, which he thought would lead her to fall in love with him again. We’re not exactly sure when Aiden’s break with reality happened, but Hope has been in a pickle ever since.

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Beginning of the End
For any diehard Hope fan, watching her kowtow to Aiden’s whims lately has been painful. She had just gotten away from him and back with Rafe (Galen Gering) where she belonged. Holding over Hope’s head her own freedom, along with Rafe’s and Roman’s (Josh Taylor) — who had helped her cover it up — was bordering on predatory behavior. On today’s show, Aiden no longer teetered on the edge but rather went for being an all-out creep by letting Hope know that she had no choice but to essentially allow him to have his way with her. In a way, it was a blessing in disguise.

Wake-Up Call
When Aiden crossed the line with his demands, some last vestige of self-preservation within Hope woke her up. She finally stood up to her abuser, calling him out on his behavior and saying it was similar to what his son Chase did to her daughter, Ciara (Vivian Jovanni). She was letting him know his latest demand was akin to rape – and she would never, ever allow that. Here’s hoping that on tomorrow’s episode, she really lets him have it. While it’s nice that Rafe and Roman want to come to her rescue, the Hope we know is no man’s damsel in distress.

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