Days of our Lives Recap: Melinda Takes Pity On A Fellow Abused Woman

The Days of our Lives recap for Friday, June 23, 2023, featured the normally unflappable, unsympathetic D.A. connecting with a kindred spirt.

Days of our Lives Recap Highlights

In addition, Chanel (Raven Bowens) and Paulina (Jackée Harry) paused and gave consideration to Talia’s (Aketra Sevillian) plight, Eli (Lamon Archy) and Kate (Lauren Koslow) inserted themselves into Rafe (Galen Gering) and Jada’s (Elia Cantu) personal lives, and Whitley (Kim Coles) called in a favor. Now, let’s dig a little deeper into what exactly happened.

Days of our Lives: Living Proof

Despite Belle’s (Martha Madison) best efforts, Melinda (Tina Huang) seemed poised to throw the book at Talia rather than agree to any sort of leniency — bad precedents and all that.

Belle argued that her client was far from a “coconspirator” but someone who committed crimes at the instigation of others. If anyone’s guilty here, it’s Colin Bedford (Jasper Newman). True, but there was the little matter of Talia’s own confession to her sister which Melinda was more than sure she could use to prove that the defendant was “guilty as Hell.”

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And sure, Talia might have nearly lost her life halting Colin’s reign of terror atop that five-story building, but Paulina and Chanel wouldn’t have been on that roof in the first place had it not been for Talia and her terror campaign. Therefore, Melinda sees nothing, absolutely nothing, that would indicate that leniency of any kind should be applied.

Belle strenuously disagreed. In fact, she had such evidence in her possession. But first, she questioned Talia as to whether she takes responsibility for drugging those Sweet Bits biscuits and illegally entering and vandalizing Paulina’s office; she does.

With that, Belle handed Melinda a signed avadavat from Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) detailing the nature of the relationship between Talia and Colin — one that she thinks will have quite the bearing on the case.

And indeed it did. Having lived through similar circumstances herself, Melinda knew all too well the toll that emotional abuse can have on a person. So, with that in mind, Melinda sentenced Talia to community service, probation, and to continue seeing Marlena so that old patterns will never, ever be repeated.

DAYS Recap: It’s Complicated

Over at Casa Carver, Paulina and Chanel readied to say goodbye to Big Mama and the latter found herself riding high and then crashing back down to earth. At first jubilant over the news that Sweet Bits was to reopen, Chanel then experienced a severe case of déjà vu when she went to post a job opening for an assistant.

That prompted a conversation about Talia and Chanel’s uncertainty as to whether or not she’s genuinely apologetic and sincere about taking responsibility for her actions or if she’s just playing an angle. Paulina wondered whether or not Chanel was considering forgiving Talia.

Before Chanel could answer, Theo (Cameron Johnson) appeared — the answer to a summons Paulina issued earlier that morning. Big Mama was insistent that she had “to see that handsome face of his one more time” before departing and Theo happily complied.

Once the younger folks had seen Big Mama off and Theo had taken his leave, Paulina and Chanel returned to the topic of hand: is she considering forgiving Talia? Despite herself, she was. After all, Colin had manipulated her, played on her insecurities, and taken advantage of the way she felt about him to get her to do things that she really didn’t want to do.

Paulina can sympathize and relate. Emotional abuse is but a fraction of what T.R. subjected her to. Chanel likewise relates. Colin’s father had done much the same to her. But the question remains, was Talia a victim in all this? Chanel certainly seems to be leaning in that direction.

Days of our Lives Recap: The Look Of Love

At the local cop shop, Eli chanced on a rather romantic interlude going on between Rafe and Jada. Well, romantic-ish. They were holding each other’s hands. Once Jada exited, Eli got down to business…the business of good-naturedly ribbing Rafe about his obvious crush on Jada.

Rafe granted that he does indeed have feelings for Jada, but nothing can come of it. Why not, wondered Eli. Both he and Jada are single. What’s the problem? The job, replied Rafe, namely, the little matter of the new regulations that state that fraternization with a subordinate is now grounds for dismissal. Oh, that, replied Eli. Yes, that, huffed Rafe.

Opposite this, a weary Jada headed for her room above the Brady Pub but found herself waylaid by a most welcome sight: Kate (Lauren Koslow) alive and well and standing right in front of her!

The two women joyously embraced, snagged a table, and sat about catching up. They of course broached the subject that was Jada and Rafe — of which Kate thoroughly approved. But again, those damn regulations. To Hell with the regulations, was Kate’s feeling.

As she recently told Eric (Greg Vaughan) and Sloan (Jessica Serfaty), life is too short to waste what time you have left. If Jada and Rafe are interested in one another, they should go for it. And as for the town council, it’s none of their business what Rafe and Jada get up to in the privacy of their own rooms. [They’ll just have to keep “it” well and truly out of the office.]

Speaking of moving things behind closed doors, spurred on by Eli, Rafe knocked on Jada’s and found himself greeted by the sight of his would-be-lover soaking wet, her modesty hidden only by a towel.

Days of our Lives Recap: About A Boy

Whitley had quite the surprise for Abe: his son Theo was in town and on his way for a visit. Of course, it wasn’t the Real McCoy, but rather an aspiring actor who owed Whitley big time for fudging his grandmother’s admission forms to ensure she got proper medical treatment for free.

Almost from the word go, the put-on was a disaster. “Theo” (Terrell Ransom Jr.) failed to recall that “he” hails from South Africa rather than South America and nearly ran out on the whole endeavor — but Whitley prevailed.

Unfortunately, she was soon called away by Eli for yet another interrogation. This left “Theo” and Abe on their lonesome, and the former’s comment about a cane resulted in the latter recalling a moment he shared with his REAL son who very much did NOT resemble the man calling him pops.

Meanwhile, Eli grilled Whitley something fierce, prompting her to decide that, as much as she hated the idea, “Abe Carver has to die.” Dun, dun, dun.

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