In the May 22 episode of Days of Our Lives, Jack finally stopped talking around Gwen’s pain and confronted it directly, which somehow made one of Salem’s messiest family relationships feel human again. You could still feel all the old baggage sitting there between them, years of Gwen feeling rejected and Jack screwing things up in slow motion, but neither of them was really trying to hurt the other for once. Jack finally sounded like a guy who realized he might actually lose his daughter if he continued keeping her at arm’s length.
Key Takeaways
- Jack told Gwen he wants a meaningful father-daughter relationship.
- Gwen admitted she still struggles with feeling unwanted and unloved.
- Jack assured Gwen that she is loved and always will be his daughter.
- Gwen agreed she wants to rebuild their relationship, too.
- The episode revisited years of emotional damage between them.
What Happened on DAYS
At first, it just sounded like an uncomfortable catch-up chat after Gwen’s (Emily O’Brien) divorce and move out of the DiMera place. Then Jack (Matthew Ashford) went straight for the real issue, which was Gwen carrying around the belief that there was only room in his heart for the late Abigail, and everybody else was standing outside the door.
Once Jack admitted he’d spent too long keeping Gwen at a distance, the whole conversation shifted into something much more raw. He basically told her he wanted to stop treating their relationship like an awkward obligation hanging over the family and actually try being her father properly, whether Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) liked it or not.
Gwen visibly struggled hearing Jack openly call her his daughter, admitting she was not used to it. She blamed some of her emotional reaction on her divorce, though she made it very clear she was not mourning Dimitri (Peter Porte) himself.
What Gwen finally admitted was that this wasn’t really about Dimitri at all. The divorce just cracked open all the old feelings of being unwanted again. Then Jack looked her dead in the eye and made her say she was loved out loud like he was trying to force those words past every emotional wall she’s spent half her life building.
Why It Matters
This isn’t one of those soap feuds where everybody screams for a week and then forgives each other over Christmas cookies. Gwen’s resentment came from growing up convinced Abigail was the daughter who got loved properly, while she was left piecing herself together from whatever emotional scraps were available. That damage shaped almost every terrible decision Gwen made after arriving in Salem.
Jack also finally stopped treating reconciliation like a vague future possibility and actually took responsibility for the emotional distance between them. The episode did not magically erase years of betrayal, blackmail, manipulation, and hurt feelings, but it did something more believable: It showed two people deciding they are tired of staying emotionally frozen in the worst parts of their history.
The Fallout
The Jennifer issue still hangs over all of this, whether Jack wants to acknowledge it or not. Gwen helped destroy Abigail’s marriage, blackmailed Jack and Jennifer, and repeatedly detonated chaos inside their family. Jack can separate his love for Gwen from her actions. Jennifer may not get there nearly as easily.
At the same time, Gwen agreeing to try matters enormously because she usually defaults to sarcasm, anger, or sabotage the second she feels vulnerable. Letting Jack comfort her instead of pushing him away felt like real movement. Which probably means Salem will find some fresh emotional catastrophe to drop on both of them by next Tuesday.
