Soap Hub Performer of the Week for Days of our Lives: Victoria Konefal

Trouble plagued heroines are a dime a dozen across the daytime landscape, but there’s just something so evocative about Days of our Lives’ Ciara Brady – played by Victoria Konefal.

Victoria Konefal — Performer of the Week

And it is for her masterful handling of a trio of episodes that saw Ciara run an emotional gamut that Konefal receives Soap Hub’s Performer of the Week Award.

Performer of the Week: Victoria Konefal

We’re used to seeing a Ciara who’s in charge of her emotions; a Ciara who’s cool, calm, and collected – even when she’s face to face with a psychopath baying for her blood,  Ciara’s got a streak of assured control that any service person would envy.

But the Ciara that agreed to undergo hypnosis to recover blocked memories seems an entirely different character. She’s unsure, she’s frightened, she’s purposeless. In short, she’s a total mess – and Konefal wisely leans into that new characterization.

The procedure that was supposed to give her answers, left Ciara even more confused than ever. She could remember red hot flames, but nothing more. And then in her heightened nearly frenzied state, she extracted a devastating truth from Marlena (Deidre Hall) – it had been Claire (Isabel Durant) who set the fire that nearly killed her!

Ciara fled her hospital room, desperately searching for a sanctuary that just didn’t exist. In its place, she found Claire accepting a hug from Ben. “Well isn’t that perfect,” she blithely snapped, “the two psycho killers in each other’s arms.”

During the confrontation that ensued, Ciara learned yet another inconvenient truth. Claire had tried to set her on fire more than once. Indignation, righteous anger, fear for her personal safety – in quick succession, Ciara experienced it all, and then she vacillated between the emotions at an alarming pace.

She wanted to decry Claire and her actions, she wanted justice for the crimes perpetrated against her, and she didn’t want to be touched by crazy Ben. “I don’t love you! There’s not a chance in hell that I could love a serial killer!”

Ciara returned to her room and sought refuge in Theo’s (Cameron Johnson) comforting arms. “I don’t want to remember anything, about Claire or Ben Weston ever again in my life,” she declared.

And just as Ciara broke an eavesdropping Ben’s heart, Konefal broke ours. Kudos on the achievement. Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.