Soap Hub Performer Of The Week For Days of Our Lives: Cady McClain

Days of Our Lives had quite a dilemma when it returned from its coronavirus hiatus and actress Melissa Reeves chose not to reprise the role of Jennifer. As she is a core character on the show and has been for decades, DAYS chose to recast. And, when it did, it went for a pro, Daytime Emmy-winning soap vet Cady McClain.

Cady McClain: DAYS Performer Of The Week

Perhaps most identified for her role as Dixie Cooney on All My Children, a part she created in the late 1980s (not long after Reeves premiered as Salem’s Jennifer), McClain made us believe she was Jennifer Rose Horton Deveraux this week.

She might be a different Jennifer as Reeves and McClain have completely different acting styles, but as she dealt with the shock of Jack (Matthew Ashford) cheating on her while she lay in a coma for a year, this recast didn’t seem like one at all. Instead, she fit seamlessly into the character and story as if she had been there forever.

We believed she had laid in a coma for a year, losing 365 days of her life while the world went on without her. It now turns out even Jack went on without her, if only for one regrettable night. When Jennifer threw the fact in Jack’s face that her father had also had an affair with Kate (Lauren Koslow), we didn’t even blink because that history coming from McClain seemed natural.

Her hurt and anger were palpable as Jack explained what happened and how he ended up in Kate’s bed. When she walloped Jack across the face, we believed it and we look forward to her slapping Kate later this week for her own transgression. (Unlike Jack, Kate doesn’t seem to regret what happened.)

When an actress is able to take on an iconic character and make us believe every word she says, we know a soap made the perfect choice. Welcome to Salem, Cady McClain. Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.