Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (6)

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Days of Our Lives managed to both frustrate me and give me reason to breathe a sigh of relief this week, which is honestly kind of impressive. It looks like the Greenes’ Clyde saga has come to an end, but so far, the payoff has been pretty light and left a lot of open ended questions. Then there’s New Doug’s mystery, which hasn’t given us a ton to work with, and the battles brewing between Ava and Kristen and Philip and Xander. One of those fights promises to be a whole lot more fun than the other!

Hello, Goodbye

We’re going to see more of Catharina, right, Days of Our Lives? Right?? That can’t just be it after all of this. I know folks aren’t exactly invested in the character, but we’ve been taken on this journey to find her from practically the moment Chad and Jack found John tied up in that apartment. And then… she was somehow brainwashed, on for two episodes, puts Clyde in a coma and disappears into Vancouver jail? There needs to be payoff. Though Clyde finally being done with meddling with everyone and everything is one nice thing. He can be a decent villain and he has his place, but the show way overplayed his near omnipresent threat.

I really, really thought that at the least this would tie into John and his farewell more than Steve and Kayla talking about how much of a relief it was to finally find Catharina alive. But looking at spoilers for next week, there’s practically nothing. We’ve got maybe a day with Cat and Chad, but that’s it. And what happened with Catharina?! Was she staying with Clyde willingly? Was she really brainwashed? Are we not going to find out until weeks from now when they get back to the story, if at all?

Argh! But one thing to come out of this, I guess, is Abigail. I’m convinced after this story that they’ve made up their minds that she’s alive. It’s now just a matter of them making up their minds about when she’s back and who’s playing her. Which is probably the usual soap formula.

The Slaps Heard Round the World

I know I’ve mentioned right from the start that I liked Brady and Ava’s chemistry, and now that I see her going toe to toe with Kristen, I’m even more certain I’m Team Ava. I thoroughly enjoyed the ladies’ face off in the square, from the threats to the cold smiles that never slipped as they slapped each other. These two women facing off would be a fair fight. Provided Ava’s willing to tap into her Vitali resources. The show’s struggled to figure out what to do with Ava at times, and I think this could be a good balance of her being a somewhat respectable member of Salem without sacrificing her edge.

I’ve also been liking how they’ve been letting Ava and Brady develop a bit slower, become friends through their respective “kids” (since we don’t know Sophia’s family, Ava’s the closest thing to a mother we’ve seen) and build a relationship somewhat naturally. I don’t want Brady and Kristen back together, but this could be fun.

Mistaken Identity?

What’s Doug’s game here? (Side note: I’m struggling with how to refer to him. It feels too soon since Doug’s death to use his name, but Doug III is just going to get old.) He stole the necklace, worked his way into Julie’s trust, is turning her against her brother right after she finally reconnected with him and I just don’t get why. Nor do I get why everyone’s decided Steven’s the villain when they have a literal complete stranger show up just as the necklace disappears! But also, Hope should have asked her brother to send a photo of his son just to be sure Doug is Doug.

I hope he is and they’re just trying to parallel his grandfather’s sketchy but still lovable beginnings in Salem. But they need to start giving him a personality, some backstory and a reason for us to care before we lose interest. And part of that could be getting to meet his dad, Charles/the former Dougie. Mostly that’s because I’d like to see more of Doug’s family carrying on his legacy in Salem, even if they weren’t raised with him.

Back In Black (and Brady)

And just like that, the show gave both Shawn and Belle reasons to stay in town, independent of each other. I’m glad they’re back and being taken in new directions. Honestly, super couple or not, they just got stale and boring together, no matter how many Jans or affairs cropped up. So bring on their new chapter! But I’m already getting nervous that something’s going to happen with Jada and Shawn now that he’s back on the force. I don’t know how, but there seems to be a running theme that Rafe loses in love.

As for Belle — are she and Philip going to hook back up? I thought they were pushing him towards Stephanie, but the way he eyed up her rings on the table was suspicious. And I know they’re pushing Belle towards EJ. But her reconnecting with both men would pit Philip and EJ against each other. Oh, wait, would that make Philip another suspect in EJ’s eventual shooting?

Either way, Philip will need something to do after he loses Titan — provided he sticks around that long. I’m not sure if it’s happening next week during the legal fight or not, but since his letter is a lie, it’ll happen eventually. And then maybe we can stop the musical CEO chair game and just let Xander run it for a while? It is possible to have corporate drama without constantly switching bosses.

Stray Thoughts…

• Wait, Salem has its own opera house? Wow, it really is as large as they’ve been making it seem with those establishing shots.
• Kerry is the new Lady Whistleblower. Are we all agreed on that?

• Shocking. Johnny made up an excuse for what Chanel overheard and she bought it. Who could have seen that coming?
• Also, shocking: Joy decided to stay… Though I did like Kate’s interjecting herself into that whole bribe scheme. She didn’t know what was going on, but you could tell she knew EJ was trying something shady and did her best to give Joy the support to counter it.
• Aw, Clyde really did love Nancy. But for a criminal mastermind, he could’ve picked a stronger computer password.