Credit: Peacock screenshot (2), Jill Johnson/JPI

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Soaps.com may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

The fallout from EJ’s shooting continued to ripple outward on Days of Our Lives, from the Titan takeover, to the adoption shenanigans. But most thoughts I had for this week’s soapbox went out the door after watching Friday’s episode. Because just about all I want to talk about now is those amazing Johnny and Sami scenes.

What Makes Sami Tick?

Sami can be… a tough character to like. She’s not a villain, but she’s not exactly a good person, either. She’s done horrible things and she’s had truly horrible things done to her. And for a character who’s been around as long as she has, realistically, not all her actions have made sense. There’s bound to be things that were written solely to drive plot instead of serve her character.

So what the show did today, weaving together Sami’s story, from her childhood being ripped away, to the assault she went through as a teenager, leading her to feel like she never deserved love, but always needed to obsess over men… She took responsibility for her own actions and helped Johnny and us understand the trauma that led to them. She didn’t have all the answers, and she didn’t need to.

What we do doesn’t always make sense, even to us. But it not only showed real growth on her part (something I know folks were annoyed about when she showed up on Wednesday/Thursday and took shots at Belle) it also made her history so important to who she was and is.

And seeing the pain and shame as she opened up to her son, and his pain in turn was just so well done. Carson Boatman and Alison Sweeney both rose to the occasion and delivered incredible performances.

I was in tears with them. But it wasn’t just the performances that worked, it was also how it was filmed. Days of Our Lives understood that once they got into Sami opening up, they needed to let the scene breathe and continue on. They didn’t chop it up or jump to other characters. They stayed with Johnny and Sami until they got through it. It was a great choice, and explains, I think, the longer run time today.

What’s Up Sami’s Sleeve?

And still, they left out a lot. The trauma from Alan Harris kept going, for instance, because even though she did try speaking up, she was branded a liar after testifying in court and the charges against him were dropped. He later attacked her at gunpoint and she took care of him once and for all when she grabbed his gun and shot him… Right in the groin. But that whole incident taught her at an early age in the most traumatic way possible that she can’t rely on anyone else, she won’t be believed and she has to take drastic steps to make sure she stays safe and makes people pay.

I don’t know if we’re going to get into her past anymore, but they could keep exploring it a bit here and there during this visit. And specifically telling Johnny not just what happened, but Alan Harris’ name makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing him somewhere, somehow. To be clear, I don’t want to. He’s best left in the past and I think what we got today was great, but… we all know how these things go.

The only thing that can ruin this is if they ignore Sami’s growth. Her reaction to Belle was fine — she’s still Sami, she’s still going to fight with her sister and she’s still going to react to her sister falling for the man she loves, for better or worse — but we need her to not be a horrible person.

But did this come too late to pull Johnny back from the brink with his dad? Did he already try shooting him? Also: What was Sami about to ask of Johnny? I can’t imagine it was asking if he shot EJ. But Martha Madison hinted that Sami’s back with her own surprises, so what, I wonder, is she about to spring on us now?

Vivian Could Solve a Problem

I guess we can remove Sami and Belle from the shooting suspect list for now. Paulina and Chanel are also out. Paulina’s trying to get state law changed to go after EJ legally. She’s not shooting him. Vivian could be on the list, though. (And I lay out why here.) She came back just after EJ was shot? Suspicious.

She’s a definite thorn — albeit a fabulous, amusing one. Kate and Philip aren’t killing Xander and only someone as warped as Vivian would even think that’s a viable ask. But yeah, I don’t see how they’re getting out of this one without disappearing Vivian. Philip’s time may be just about up.

But Vivian could solve everyone else’s problem… If she rats Philip out, no one else who knows needs to take the blame or let on that they knew. Unless Philip’s feeling especially petty and decides to take everyone down with him.

I’m no expert on corporate takeovers, but Xander and Philip’s seemed way too easy. There’s been a push and pull between Titan and DiMera for decades, and suddenly they just pull it off because EJ’s in the hospital and Kristen was taken in by the police? All that scheming over shares seems extra silly now if all they needed to do was have someone be a proxy voter the second a shareholder can’t make a meeting…

I will say, though, that it’s taken some time, but somehow Alex is seeming more and more like a good person who’s learned from his mistakes and his own past. He knows how it feels to be drunk with power and now he’s seeing it in Xander and Philip (though I had fun with their smug taunting of Gabi).

Alex is angry at Sarah, but just seems sad about everything else — including the takeover of DiMera. Morally conflicted is a good look on him.

Stray Thoughts…

• The show needs to ease up on Sarah’s “Xander, I have to tell you something. Just kidding.” every episode they’re on. I can’t even recap it with a straight face anymore.

• Also, please ease up on the oh-so-recent flashbacks! Folks will pick up on things, I promise. We don’t need to see everyone grab their respective guns 20 times.
• So Belle loves EJ. Not a surprise, but the only way they can make this work is if EJ wakes up a changed, repentant man.
• Kristen didn’t shoot EJ — it’s too early in the story for her to be the shooter — but she still feels like she’s hiding something. Fans have mentioned the little Rachel shooting theory and… it’s not implausible.
  I like seeing the angrier side of Doug from time to time. Like his goading Tate this week. It makes me less certain of what he’s capable of, and that’s better than the fairly bland character he’s mostly been since arriving.

• I’m sorry, but I don’t see any logic in EJ’s shooting convincing Amy to give the adoption another go. Moving out of the mansion aside, yes, let’s adopt your grandchild into a violent, dangerous family with lots of enemies.