Jack Was Back: Days of Our Lives Surprises Need to Pay Off

Who expected to see Matthew Ashford’s face pop up today on “Days of Our Lives?” While we thought we got our Jack fix a few weeks back during Jennifer’s withdrawal night, we were shocked to see the beloved character show up in Abby’s dream today.

Of course, soap fans do love a good surprise and DAYS has delivered on several this year. It came out of left field when Hope shot Stefano four times in the chest and we never expected Chase to rape Ciara on Alice’s Horton’s couch. Those were definite double take moments, as was Jack’s appearance today as Abby imagined him rescuing her from the institution.

However, just because DAYS presents some shocking moments, it doesn’t mean that’s all it takes to hook and keep viewers. All of those moments have led to lackluster story, and in turn, sinking ratings. Some days the ultra-talented actors seem to phone it in with dialogue that puts us all to sleep. We don’t blame the performers, but we do have a problem with consistently inconsistent writing, if that makes sense. DAYS hones in on those surprise moments, but then drops the ball before we know it.

While surprises are all well and good, we wish DAYS could deliver on stories that work and make sense and believe a large part of the problem is the six-month taping lead time. Once a story isn’t working on a soap that doesn’t tape a half a year ahead, it can be scrapped. With DAYS, we have to wait for a clearly dull story to play out and get bored. If it weren’t for surprises, sometimes we feel there’s no reason to tune in at all.

With that said, thanks for that little bit of Jack today, DAYS.

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