The Gwen/Dimitri/Leo story’s been aggravating.
This was not a love triangle that left me torn in any way, shape, or form. The only exciting moment in the story was when Gwen revealed she knew that Dimitri and Leo were messing around.
You know what would have been a great twist? If Gwen turned out not to care. Instead, we got some silly revenge attempts before Gwen exited stage left as part of one of the most bizarre casting decisions in recent history.
The story is finally over, but the end seems rushed.
On Friday’s episode, Gwen tried to attack Dimitri’s magic member with a scalpel, told Dimitri she’d never forgive him, accused Kristen of shooting her soon-to-be-ex, and agreed to go to Alamainia to get her hands on the Von Leuschner fortune.
Dizzy yet from how fast this story went from zero to 60 and then wrapped up? There’s a reason for it: Emily O’Brien (Gwen) is now playing Theresa Donovan.
I promise you, you haven’t seen the last of this girl.
Gwen
Gwen boldly declared that Salem hadn’t seen the last of this girl and walked off, only for Emily O’Brien to walk in from the other side of the set, sporting a blond wig and using her natural American accent.
This in-joke was amusing yet too on-the-nose. It almost felt like Gwen was pretending to be Theresa rather than her portrayer taking over a different role.
As Jen Lilley has recently shared, the behind-the-scenes reason for the switch had to do with her unavailability—and the switcheroo came as a surprise to her.
Lilley has encouraged fans to give O’Brien’s version of Theresa a chance rather than criticizing her out of loyalty to her original portrayer. O’Brien hasn’t had much opportunity to show what she can do with the role, but that blonde wig is silly.
It was ridiculous that producers didn’t require Lilley to dye her hair brown, as she had during previous appearances as Theresa, only to replace her with a brunette who now has to wear a wig to appear blonde.
This whole thing was not thought through very well, making it harder for fans to accept O’Brien as a replacement.
We’re also missing an interesting storyline now that Gwen’s exited stage left. While I haven’t had much use for Gwen, the idea of her and Vivian both headed to Alamainia has potential.
Vivian wouldn’t be as kind to Gwen as Megan, who wanted to engineer a marriage between Dimitri and Gwen. Vivian would likely double down on the cutting remarks and form a plan to get Gwen out of the way so she could seize the money for herself and kick the Von Leuschner family out of Alamainia.
THAT would have been must-see TV, but it’s not likely to happen now.
Brady and Theresa’s story could be compelling, assuming fans can overlook the ridiculousness of how this soap opera recast happened. This Tate story could be similar to when a SORASed JJ first returned to Salem, and Theresa was involved with that, too.
But where was Tate? He didn’t appear to be with his parents during the gimmicky introduction of Emily O’Brien’s version of Theresa.
The best part of Gwen’s exit story was Leo’s begging her for forgiveness.
I have little use for either of these characters, but when they are together, magic happens. As an asexual person, I enjoyed having characters who were clearly in love with each other but were not sexually attracted to one another.
Maybe they can fix this mess if Gwen returns after the Theresa story ends. Gwen and Leo overcame throwing each other in jail for murder, so surely this affair isn’t a permanent dealbreaker.
Vivian’s exit also seemed rushed, though her big hat and sunglasses were one of the most hilarious Salem disguises in recent memory.
After she shot Dimitri, Stefan covered, saying he had found a gun on the ground but didn’t know what happened. The usually incompetent Salem PD quickly realized that the ballistics didn’t match, and Gabi ratted Vivian out so Stefan wouldn’t get in trouble, leading to a rift between the lovers.
All that is fine, soapy drama. But Vivian, who never backs down from a fight, decided to leave town so she couldn’t be re-arrested for violating her parole.
This seems like a situation that permanently exiles Vivian. If she ever returns to Salem, she can be arrested on a parole violation—two of them now that she ran away to a country that likely has no extradition treaty.
But it seemed out of character for Vivian to quickly run away rather than stay and fight. This woman’s signature move is to bury others alive; surely she wouldn’t let Gabi go on with her life without any dire consequences for her betrayal.
Camilla Banus is leaving Days of Our Lives soon, so could this be a setup for Vivian to exact revenge in the way that only she can?
We’ve had enough revenge stories (Gwen throwing pies in Leo’s face and threatening to remove Dimitri’s magic member was more than enough, thanks!). But if anyone lives and breathes vengeance, it’s Vivian. So what gives?
Of course, Gabi and Stefan could end up divorced because Gabi betrayed Vivian, but that seems more like the realistic drama on Neighbours than a typical Days of Our Lives plot.
It’s more likely Gabi will be ‘killed’ (in Salem, nobody seems ever to stay dead unless their portrayer dies!). Stefan will be left feeling guilty about the horrible way he treated her after Vivian’s departure. Then, someday if Camilla Banus returns or the role is recast, we’ll learn Vivian kidnapped her.
It’s not like we didn’t just go through that with Susan.
I never believed Susan was dead in the first place. It turns out the rescue workers got it wrong whenever they show firefighters and remains charred beyond recognition.
It happened when Jack ‘died’ in the elevator crash and again when Nicole supposedly perished in a warehouse fire. And didn’t Xander once fake baby Holly’s death in a similar crash?
I wish we hadn’t had to sacrifice Edmund Crumb’s character for this goofy resurrection story, though. Edmund was never a bad guy; he was clumsy and seemed to operate on another plane of existence—Susan’s soulmate in every way.
Domestic violence, stalking, and obsession are important social issues that Days of Our Lives tends to get wrong. If written correctly, this could have made sense; after all, many abusers come across as normal at first, and they often bond their victims to them with excessive displays of love.
But that’s not what Edmund did the first time, so turning him into an obsessed creep now is not a good look. In addition, viewers with knowledge of the world beyond the United States questioned how Edmund got his hands on a gun in the United Kingdom, which has far stricter regulations on gun ownership.
Edmund became a creepy serial killer type who chained up Ava and Harris as well as Susan and planned to kill Ava because he heard on the news that she’d hurt Susan.
He also threatened to shoot Rafe and Tripp, leading to a silly sequence where Harris magically freed himself from his bonds after Susan had a vision of what was happening in the next room and prayed that the chains holding Harris became weak.
The situation was resolved pretty quickly. But what’ll happen to Ava and Harris now? They supposedly were only free to get the goods on EJ, which they failed to do.
Ava told Susan she was likely going back to Bayview. Susan approved, and Harris insisted on staying committed so he and Ava could watch each other’s back.
Days of Our Lives loves the danger leads to love trope, but Ava and Harris compete with Tripp and Wendy for the most boring Salem couple. Can we not, please?
Meanwhile, Susan’s reappearance seems to mean that all is forgiven. Xander can now go ahead with his custody case—not that he couldn’t before, considering that Kristen has custody of Rachel despite a long list of serious crimes to her name—and EJ called off his latest goon attack.
Xander really should have gone ahead with his plan to call the cops.
EJ’s claim that Xander would go to prison if EJ did was silly. Susan could easily have been convinced not to testify against Xander and would be preoccupied with stopping the mean, mean, mean Melinda Trask new DA from messing with her precious baby boy.
People get away with too much illegal activity on Days of Our Lives. It’s time someone was held accountable for something.
Rex’s attitude is also aggravating. His name may be on the birth certificate, but that doesn’t mean he has the right to cut Victoria’s biological father out of her life.
I would love for Rex to be arrested for kidnapping. His continued insistence that Xander is a thug who doesn’t deserve a child is obnoxious.
Xander can get violent, to be sure, but ever since he met Sarah, his violence against others has always had to do with trying to help her in some way. He switched the babies to ease Sarah’s pain after hers died, and he kidnapped Susan to get the money to support his and Sarah’s lifestyle.
This idea that Xander would hurt Sarah and the baby is pure fiction. He hasn’t been the man who locked Nicole in a cage or faked Holly’s death in a long time.
And it would be nice if anyone would let the court decide custody issues instead of Rex continually insisting Xander can’t get custody and Xander hiring some random lawyer who agrees.
In addition, Justin is Xander’s cousin and needs distraction after this Alex paternity thing. Why didn’t Xander hire him instead of some stranger?
However, Kate’s interference shouldn’t have been a reason for Sarah to divorce Rex. That’s almost as ridiculous as Rex concluding that Xander knocked him out when Xander was in front of him while someone else hit him from behind.
Meanwhile, Philip and Chloe decided to leave town despite Kate’s disappointment. Kate seems convinced that Philip will lose his mind again because of Chloe stringing him along, but she never approved of Philip and Chloe.
Chloe and Philip’s exits were also rushed. Chloe broke up with Xander for no real reason and turned to Philip despite admitting she couldn’t be in a relationship with him right now.
The two randomly agreed to take off for New York together despite their unresolved feelings for one another and agreement to keep things platonic. Like that’ll work!
It’s a shame New York is code for “black hole.” Nancy’s reaction to Chloe playing musical boyfriends would have been fun!
Alex’s behavior has long been annoying, but he’s insufferable now that he’s Victor’s son.
Victor did not say that he wanted Alex to take over his company, and Victor’s behavior while he was alive suggests Alex is merely using Victor’s death for his own purposes.
I wish Maggie had been stronger. Alex is the second person who kicked her out of her office in as many weeks, and she shouldn’t have stood for it.
Incidentally, how did she not know that the will said Alex had a controlling interest in Titan? She read it before he did.
Finally, Belle and Shawn had it out over his one-night stand with Talia while Marlena fired Talia as a client.
I’m not sure who I was most aggravated with here. Belle seemed so hypocritical. She has every right to be upset that Shawn cheated on her, but the bottom line is that he has taken her back after long, drawn-out affairs and she’s ready to throw the towel in after a drunken one-night stand.
But Marlena was even worse. She’s supposed to be professional, and her behavior was anything but.
Of course, this is why she shouldn’t have been treating her son-in-law in the first place. Still, her behavior was unbecoming of a psychiatrist.
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics! Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you think of this week’s stories.
For more Days of Our Lives chat, check back on Sunday for the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.
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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.