In the February 6 episode of Days of Our Lives, the DiMeras gathered for Stefano’s memorial the way people do when the guest of honor spent a lifetime hurting them — dressed properly, voices lowered, everyone pretending this was just another solemn occasion and not a room full of unfinished business. There were flowers, framed photos, candles arranged just so…and then there was Marlena, alone for a moment, speaking directly to an urn that had spent decades looming over her life. It looked like closure, but it wasn’t. It was something far sharper.
Key Takeaways
- Marlena addressed Stefano directly, rejecting the fantasy he built around her.
- A masquerade flashback linked the memorial to her Queen of the Night trauma.
- The extinguished candles challenge, but do not undo, Marlena’s control.
What Happened on DAYS
At Stefano’s (the late Joe Mascolo) memorial, Marlena (Deidre Hall) spoke to his urn and named what he took from her, without nostalgia or softening the edges. She dismantled the idea that she was ever his obsession, reframing herself as the person pulled into his fantasy and forced to survive it. As she spoke, the episode slid into a masquerade ball flashback — Stefano masked, Marlena moving with him, Lohengrin: Introduction to Act III rising and filling the space. This was that era, the one where he called her his Queen of the Night, slipped drugs into her sleep, bent her mind, and tried to overwrite her love for John (Drake Hogestyn) with a version of himself she never chose.
Marlena continued, crediting Stefano not for romance, but for consequence. Because of him, John entered her life and gave her the strength to fight what followed, including the Devil himself. She wished Stefano rest, not out of mercy, but because peace would keep him gone. Then the candles in front of the urn blew out on their own. The music surged. Marlena turned, alert, but unshaken.
Why It Matters
This scene refuses the usual soap comfort of goodbye-as-forgiveness. Marlena doesn’t absolve Stefano, and she doesn’t bargain with his memory. She names the damage cleanly, without poetry or indulgence. Just the truth spoken aloud, in the same room where his presence once felt unavoidable.
The Queen of the Night imagery matters because it has been haunting her recently. Those dreams weren’t nostalgia. They were an intrusion. By placing the masquerade against her present-day voice, the episode lets Marlena overwrite the script. The fantasy no longer speaks louder than the survivor.
The Fallout
The candles going out isn’t Stefano reclaiming power. It’s the test. Evil doesn’t vanish politely. It pushes back. The difference now is that Marlena doesn’t flinch or shrink to accommodate it.
She stands there whole, grounded, and fully herself. Whatever lingers after Stefano no longer owns the room. Not tonight. Not with her watching.
