As DAYS fans, we've seen our fair share of wedding interruptions. We had plastered Nicole in a wedding dress, Shawn and Bo's respective motorcycles, and Carrie punching Sami. But Ben's return has to rank up there with the best. Not only did we get a whopper of a cliffhanger return, but we got the big secret right away -- Will might not be all that dead.
For starters, Robert Scott Wilson must have a blast playing psycho Ben. He's so good at navigating Ben's mix of madness with desperation to be loved. It actually ticks me off that DAYS wasted him so long playing the doofy meathead. This guy can act his face off. They should have been throwing better stuff at him much sooner. The scene with Marlena alone should go straight to his Emmy reel for supporting actor.
Next, how resourceful is Ben?! I have to chuckle at J.J. saying Ben's going to be locked up for the rest of his life. How many times has that dude escaped? Not only did he escape, but he had time to snag a pretty sweet leather jacket ensemble and still make it to the church at just the right moment! Sure, he's a killer, but he's not without manners!
Ben's return was fabulous for so many corners of Salem. To be a shot of adrenaline on a show that's already firing pretty well is no small feat!
I'm not advocating violence, but I would be lying if I said I was mad to see Abigail throw that punch. Yes, ma'am! It was the first time that Abigail was sane and making the decision that deep down she wanted. And I think DAYS has finally found a fabulous groove for Chabby.
Look, I appreciate what the show tried to do. But Chabby never felt right as this angst-ridden and longing love affair, mainly because neither Chad nor Abigail is very "angst-y" or "longing-y." They're actually both pretty chill, polite people.
So last week, as they sat on the church pew, just talking through the day's events, I started to like them. When they made the classy move to not call all the guests back for a big wedding but opted for one with just Jen, Andre, and Thomas, I started to adore them. And when they canceled their honeymoon to be there for Paul, Sonny, Gabi (and probably Will), I downright loved them. Not all great soap romances need to be filled with glass-throwing and constant breakups. I'd like to see Chabby follow more in the lines of Abe and Lexi rather than Sami and E.J.
Speaking of couples that need a change, it does not look good for Paul and Sonny. Let's assume that Will isn't alive. Paul's still stuck with the dude who literally left him at the altar to go into a rant about how much he loved another man. I don't think Sonny is malicious or made the wrong choice to call off the wedding. But ooff, that's no consolation to our favorite baseball star. Paul and Gabi could start a club for super nice people who didn't deserve to be romance roadkill!
The fallout of Ben's declaration was a real treat. I expected to see Paul and Sonny deal with the news. But DAYS really followed through giving us the extended family, as well. I loved seeing Kate reminisce about Will. It's always a delight to see that side of Kate from time to time.
John and Marlena were the pillars of love and class -- each expressing sincere hope that Will could be alive, while also appreciating the unfair pain Paul will be in if that happens. Cheers to both of them! We even got to see reactions from Roman and Eric. Let me repeat that: we got to see Roman!
Funny as Bryan Datillo is, I find drunk Lucas much more storyline-appropriate when he isn't played for laughs. Lucas' rant about no type of alcohol being able to erase the pain of losing Will was powerful. Lucas' relapse does help usher Sami back to Salem. Though I'm still not sure we needed it. The door was pretty open for Sami to return at any time.
But thanks to the slight rewrite that Sonny and Will were legally separated when Will died and to Lucas' semi-incapacitated mental state, Sami's now the one who can make the call to exhume Will's body. Man, I hope Ben is still around when Sami returns next week. I'm living for a chance for Alison Sweeney to play the scene where Sami tells off Ben. ('Cause we all know Julie ain't gonna do it!)
LOOSE ENDS:
Remember that couple of angst and longing that I said wasn't a great fit for Chabby? Oh, that's because Eric and Nicole totally have that covered. You guys, she heard he quit his job so that she didn't have to leave hers, so she tracked him down in the pouring rain. #swoon
I like Brady expressing remorse over bullying Eric to leave town. Brady's not the monster he's been acting like these last few weeks. Not only are we running out of time for Ericole to get their loving reunion, but we're also running low on time to get Bricole back to being the besties we know and love.
It was touching to hear Eli speak from experience while comforting Gabi and point out that kids who grow up without a dad do have a special respect for their mother. Step off, Rafe. This dude is the best one Gabi's ever picked. I kinda want Valerie to go give Rafe a piece of her mind when it comes to his attitude toward Eli.
What is Brady talking about when he talks of people "being on the Titan account for years"? Sonny fired anyone Deimos hired. Deimos was head of Titan for maybe a year. I could not be more on Sonny's side here. It makes absolute sense to fire everyone Deimos hired right away. The guy has fierce loyalty. Xander was ready to go to jail for him. There's no telling how deep his connections went. Victor would have done the exact same thing.
Yay for the Chloe/Nicole scene! I love that they're friends again. I love that Chloe got real with Nicole about Eric and Brady. And I love that Nicole trusts Chloe enough to leave Holly with her.
HOT:
Yes, I had to go look up this name. But, Scott McKinsey deserves a round of applause for directing Monday's episode. The fantasy sequence with Abigail was fantastically done. The fading in between Abigail's dream sequence and the slow-motion shots of the reality was superb. He had half the cast to work into one scene that spanned the length of the set. The whole thing was glorious.
NOT:
I have a lot of dissonance about Hope being named commissioner. One one hand, it's awesome to have a female commissioner. For being a matriarchal soap (Alice is and always will be queen), DAYS does a pretty poor job of giving powerful, decision-making jobs to women. There's Kate, Kayla, and...um... Meanwhile, Sonny, Chad, Lucas, Brady, Andre, Deimos, Philip, and more are just handed powerful executive positions with little to no experience. I would have been furious if Abe had proposed some sort of co-commissioner situation for Salem's first female commissioner.
However, my palm hit my forehead when Hope's first official action as commissioner was to suspend J.J. for pulling a gun on a madman who had tormented his family. What could have been a beautiful and organic scene where Hope drew upon her own empathy played out like what would happen if Brady suspended every man at Titan who wore dress shirts unbuttoned down to their sternums.
I'm absolutely cool with the rewrite that Stefano is alive. In fact, it's believable. What I'm not okay with is pretending Hope didn't pull her gun on him and fire at him when he was laughing in her face, because that was one of the best scenes in DAYS history. Kristian Alfonso and Joseph Mascolo's performances are seared in my memory in the best possible way! And since it turned out to be one of Joseph Mascolo's final scenes on DAYS before he passed away, to forget it almost seems disrespectful to the man himself. Nope. Not willing to forget it. It's too vivid.
LINE OF THE WEEK: Ben: "I feel a little underdressed. I should have worn a tie."
Honorable mention:
Ben: "Everyone keeps telling me to talk and then shut up. It's very confusing!"
Robert Scott Wilson's delivery was perfection.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
I like every time Christopher Sean gets to speak Japanese.
Abigail's wedding dress was her best one yet!
Here's a fun fact: Will's going to return to learn that Andre is his step-grandfather. That should be fun.
Ben managed to steal keys from a nurse. Marlena swiped a cell phone from an orderly. I'm thinking some safety training might be necessary for that place.
I love how everyone stayed in their wedding gear for subsequent scenes. If I looked as fabulous as Nicole, Gabi, or Jennifer did in their respective dresses, I'd never take my dress off either. Going to Target? Hang on, lemme get in my flesh-colored sparkly dress!
You are correct, Brady. You have not been fun. You should apologize.
Yo, Father Louie, you need to work "all the days of our lives" into your wedding ceremony if you want to keep your gig in this town.
I'm not sure Brady should be running a lemonade stand if he thinks that the marketing department is the one to offer raises to people. I guess he goes into the accounting department and asks why they aren't installing security updates on everyone's laptops.
Not being flooded with protests isn't exactly an endorsement for your decision, Abe. That's like me saying I'm a good cook because no one's sued me for food-poisoning them.
Really, Abs?! You can't imagine what it would be like for someone to learn that the love of their life is alive? You said that! Out loud! TO CHAD. Girrrrl, get over to YouTube and watch your own return storyline. It wasn't that long ago!
You've got to appreciate Justin's "Hey, it's cool! We'll get the serial killer out of here and then we'll jump right back in! Come on, guys! No one will notice!"
On a show where Andre is basically "redeemed," it's hard to buy that anyone is all-the- way evil with no hope.
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