Doug’s Death & 3 More Heartbreaking Thanksgiving Episodes On Soaps

It’s that time of year when we’re feeling grateful for our favorite soaps… except for when they break our hearts during the holidays. From Doug’s upcoming death to one of Port Charles’ saddest send-offs, here are four unforgettably heartbreaking Thanksgiving episodes on soaps.

Doug’s Death (Days of our Lives)

This year on DAYS, Salem is going to be filled with familiar faces, but not for the reason you may think. While our favorite Salemites will celebrate Thanksgiving, the Thursday, November 28 episode will also be the day Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes) learns of Doug’s (ex-Bill Hayes, who passed away in January) death.

The news will travel fast as Hope (Kristian Alfonso) returns to say goodbye to her father, seemingly followed by Ciara (Victoria Konefal) and Bo (Peter Reckell), whose returns were teased in DAYS’ Season 60 preview.

Goodbye, Edward (General Hospital)

Thanksgiving is usually a hectic time at the Quartermaine Mansion, with something always destroying their dinner and leading to them ordering pizza and joining together in song. But in 2012, it was anything but a happy holiday when the mansion lost its patriarch, Edward (ex-John Ingle, who passed away earlier that year).

Tracy (Jane Elliot) desperately wanted a perfect Thanksgiving after losing her father, but of course, Q’s will be Q’s. When their dinner was inevitably ruined and they found out the pizza place was closed, a stack of pizzas miraculously showed up on their doorstep. The family sang and ate while Edward joined Lila and the two headed up the staircase together.

Matthew “Dies” (One Life To Live)

In One Life To Live’s final year on ABC, they pulled a Thanksgiving shocked on viewers involving Matthew (ex-Eddie Alderson, who recently had an OLTL reunion!). After the character spent six months in a coma, the episode opened with Matthew lying in a hospital bed while his voice narrated, My name is Matthew Buchanan, and today is Thanksgiving Day.”

Matthew recounted his accident to the audience while everyone else in Llanview celebrated the holiday and his parents had Thanksgiving dinner at his bedside. By the end of the episode, Matthew’s final words for the audience were, “It was a day of gratitude… of joy and hope and wishes; lots of wishes. But in the end, it was also the day I died.” After Matthew flatlined, viewers didn’t find out until the show returned the following Monday that Matthew had actually survived, and eventually woke up and recovered.

Bo’s Empty Chair (DAYS)

While there were no actual deaths in Salem on Thanksgiving in 2015, after Bo (Peter Reckell, who is returning to DAYS) “died” earlier that year, the holiday was a tough one for his family at the Brady Pub.

Everyone gathered for a feast at the pub — Caroline (ex-Peggy McCay), Hope (Kristian Alfonso), Ciara, were joined by Steve (Stephen Nichols)and Kayla (Mary Beth Evans), Roman (Josh Taylor), Julie, and more — and they all cheers to the late Bo, who they left an empty chair for at the head of the table.