In the May 15 episode of Days of Our Lives, Salem finally realized that EJ is no longer thinking like a businessman. One minute, he was talking to Cat about moving the resurrection drug through “proper channels.” The next, Rafe was spelling out the far more obvious reality: EJ already sees the black market as the real endgame. The money matters. The power matters more. And somewhere underneath all of it sits the genuinely terrifying possibility that EJ no longer fully separates scientific progress from personal control.
Key Takeaways
- EJ pitched legitimacy to Cat while privately planning black market sales with Gwen.
- Rafe realized EJ intentionally left out the black market option when discussing the drug.
- Cat admitted dark web chatter about bidding wars has already started.
- Kristen warned Chad that EJ’s arrogance makes him dangerous.
- EJ’s obsession with control is starting to eclipse the science itself.
What Happened on DAYS
EJ (Dan Feuerriegel) spent most of the episode carefully tailoring different versions of himself to whoever stood before him. Around Cat (AnnaLynne McCord), he played the ambitious visionary. He framed the resurrection project as something that could either be abandoned or legitimized through proper medical channels. He even spoke about “humanitarian prospects” while insisting the shortcuts he took were justified because moving quickly mattered more than outdated regulations. It sounded convincing enough that Cat admitted she trusted him, though not without warning him not to make her regret it.
Meanwhile, Kristen (Stacy Haiduk) gave Chad (Conner Flynn) the version of EJ nobody else wants to fully acknowledge. When Chad admitted wishing Abigail could somehow be brought back, too, Kristen immediately pushed back against the fantasy. She admitted she once felt tempted to “play God” herself, but called EJ arrogant, cruel, and convinced of his own invincibility.
Then the situation grew even darker when Cat updated Rafe (Galen Gering) about EJ wanting Marlena (Deidre Hall) to hypnotize him so he could recover memories from his time in Italy after his burn. Cat panicked because EJ remembering too much could expose her ISA cover completely.
Rafe, meanwhile, focused on something bigger. When Cat explained that EJ presented only two options for the drug, Rafe immediately clocked the missing third one: unregulated black market sales. Cat confirmed chatter about the resurrection treatment was already spreading through dark web circles, complete with talk of future bidding wars.
Why It Matters
The important thing here is not whether EJ eventually plans to go legitimate. It is that he already thinks he should get to decide. That’s the shift. He’s no longer behaving like somebody cautiously testing boundaries. He talks like a man who believes success itself excuses the ethical fallout afterward. The science stopped being the story somewhere along the line. Now the story is EJ convincing himself he deserves to control who lives, who dies, and who gets access to a miracle.
And honestly, Salem has seen this kind of DiMera spiral before. The problem is that EJ sounds calmer about it than most of them did. Stefano usually enjoyed the performance of power. Kristen weaponizes emotion. EJ now carries this colder energy, in which he genuinely seems to believe the ends justify everything beneath them. That makes him harder to predict because he no longer sounds conflicted at all.
The Fallout
Cat may be in the worst position out of everyone right now. Rafe basically admitted the ISA embedded her too deeply into EJ’s operation, and the deeper this resurrection project goes, the more dangerous it becomes for her personally. If EJ uncovers her connection to the ISA, this stops being corporate espionage and starts becoming survival.
Meanwhile, Salem itself may be heading toward something much uglier than simple medical corruption. Once Cat mentioned dark web bidding wars, the entire storyline shifted into something bigger and far more dangerous. This is no longer about one miracle drug sitting quietly in a lab somewhere. It is about what happens when wealthy, desperate, and powerful people realize resurrection might suddenly have a price tag attached to it.
