DAYS Recap: The Acting Mayor Says No More Sweet Bits For Chanel

In the Days of our Lives recap for August 8, 2023, Chanel Dupree learns that her dream is being held hostage by a smarmy, sinister force…and no, it’s not Sloan Petersen.

Days of our Lives Recap Highlights

In addition, Talia did the healthiest thing she could for herself (you go, girl!), Harris (Steve Burton) had quite the hair-raising experience at Bayview, and Shawn (Brandon Beemer) failed upward. Now, let’s dig a little deeper into what exactly happened.

Days of our Lives Recap: If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Two

Color Chanel (Raven Bowens) all kinds of confused…and on multiple fronts. First, what’s up with her mother sitting before the TV, in her pajamas no less, watching Body and Soul — as if neither one of them had never seen Kassandra toss that no-good Charlemagne into a swimming pool.

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That necessitated a down-and-out Paulina (Jackée Harry) to explain how Abe (James Reynolds) did a runner the evening previous, leaving her all on her lonesome. Chanel was flummoxed. Here she’d spent the night away from the apartment in order to give Abe and Paulina time to themselves, and her beloved stepfather didn’t even attempt to make nice with his wife? (Which may have had something to do with Paulina shoving her tongue down his throat without an invitation.)

As for Chanel’s secondary wave of confusion, her head is spinning where Talia is concerned. Yes, Talia. Having dined with her former employee-cum-one-day-girlfriend, Chanel was beginning to remember why she liked Talia in the first place…and how very much she liked her.

Yes, the connection that the two shared was back in full force. But what, exactly, does that mean, inquired Paulina. Is Chanel saying that she’s still attracted to Talia? Maybe. But before Chanel could really unpack all that baggage, she received an SOS from her employee. Sweet Bits had been shuttered on the order of Acting Mayor Clint Rawlins (Grayson Berry)!

Paulina and Chanel summoned the man himself to the town square and demanded an explanation — an explanation that he was only too happy to provide. Chanel’s shop “failed to adhere to city’s regulations” by…not displaying the official City of Salem sticker in their window. All businesses are required to do so, and he’s not making any exceptions — even if the city promised to mail Chanel a sticker as soon as their supply was restocked.

As far as Rawlins was concerned, this was a Chanel problem, not a Salem problem. And when the women objected — strenuously — Rawlins hissed, “I make the rules in this town now, and that means the bakery is closed.”

DAYS Recap: Feelings, Woah Woah Woah Feelings

Opposite the above, Talia (Aketra Sevillian), reeking and in desperate need of a shower, wound up running into a half-naked Rafe (Galen Gering) as he exited Jada’s (Elia Cantu) bathroom. Once Rafe got dressed, the two set about debating who was the most at fault for his firing.

Talia’s finger pointed straight at Shawn. Aren’t cops supposed to close ranks, look out for each other, and not gossip about each other’s personal lives? Rafe, meanwhile, took full responsibility for how things shook out. Talia granted it was lucky that Rafe wasn’t the kind to hold a grudge. (HA!)

The next topic of conversation was Talia’s addled feelings for Chanel. It’s possible that she “likes” likes her, but she’s never been attracted to women before…and she only got close to Chanel on Colin’s (Jasper Newman) orders. But when she and Chanel kissed, she actually felt something. If only things weren’t so darn confusing. Lucky for Talia, she had Rafe and the good Dr. Evans (Deidre Hall), with whom she went to see, to discuss things.

DOOL Recap: Leveling Up

Meanwhile, Shawn returned to active duty, much to Jada’s obvious chagrin (even if she was too much of a lady to just come right out and say it). Equally galling to Jada (and to Shawn as well) was Rawlins slithering in and issuing an ultimatum: either Shawn take Rafe’s vacant job or he was fired! (And as for that whole “drinking on the job thing” — eh, it’s no big thang, says Rawlins. Shawn has obviously learned his lesson. Obviously.)

Days of our Lives Recap: Mistaken Identity

Over at Bayview, a hallucinating Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun) mistook Harris for Charlie and raged at him so fiercely that she had to be sedated. Seeing how deeply affected Harris was by the incident, Marlena offered that perhaps something about him reminded Ava of her son, and that triggered her troubling episode. Yeah, maybe. But there was something so strange about the way she looked at him, insisted Harris. It was almost as if she actually knew him. But that’s not possible…right? Right?!

DOOL Recap: Homework

With a new day dawned, Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) warmly greeted Abe with pub grub. Unfortunately, Abe mistook his new landlady for her Body and Soul lookalike. That incident jumpstarted a conversation about why Abe felt so compelled to move out of his and Paulina’s apartment (apparently, his leaving would hurt less than his not remembering) and his frustration with being unable to recall his loved ones.

Kayla did her best to reassure Abe that they’d get through this extremely difficult time, then she produced professionally made flash cards depicting Abe’s loved ones. So far, he’s one for 3, but that’s only because he spied Rafe’s name on the back of his card.

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