#Days of Our Lives Review of 3-22-21: This Dynamic’s Gotta Change

Paulina told her daughter she didn’t listen, but that applies equally to the writing team.

Days of Our Lives fans have complained for months, if not years, about how legacy characters are written out. They are always either killed off or left in limbo.

And yet Days of Our Lives, during the week of 3-22-21, handled Linsey Godfrey (Sarah)’s exit the same ridiculous way as always.

Sarah’s exit was doubly disappointing because it effectively killed fans’ hopes that she and Xander would find their way back to each other.

Xarah fans were excited about the pair’s wedding, only for it to be ruined by Kristen kidnapping Sarah, masquerading as her, and making Xander think she’d slept with Rex.

To add insult to injury, Xander only gave lip service to questioning whether this was really Sarah even though he 1) knows Sarah better than anyone and 2) Was working with Kristen when she was running around with a Nicole mask wreaking havoc.

We won’t even talk about Rex’s stupidity, not realizing the woman coming onto him was not the same one he has been obsessed with. That was minor compared to the crime of killing Xarah.

It’s not right to give fans of a ship false hopes like this. If Sarah were staying in the show, at least there would be the possibility that she would escape and reunite with Xander at some point.

But now, her story ended with Kristen stabbing her with a syringe full of hallucinogens and stuffing her in a trunk while Sarah was so out of it she thought Xander was rescuing her.

What kind of ending is that???

Did the writers really think that Xarah fans would be satisfied with Sarah and Xander being together in her dreams while in reality, Sarah has been shipped off to parts unknown by a troublemaker, and Xander is heartbroken because he 100% believes Sarah dumped him for Rex on his wedding day?

Sorry, but Sarah’s fantasies are not good enough. This was a terrible ending.

And not only did it pull the rug out from under Xarah fans who were super excited for their couple’s marriage, but it disposed of another legacy character in a stupid manner.

Sarah might not have been my favorite character, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is Maggie Horton’s daughter.

And instead of giving her any reasonable send-off, the writers literally threw her away.

There’s been no word as to whether it was the actress’ choice or the show’s to write Sarah out at all, but either way, this sucked, especially when there was an obvious way to write out Sarah.

All the writers had to do was marry Xander to Sarah, have them decide to take their honeymoon in Vegas so Sarah could support Maggie, and have Xander come back alone and say Maggie needed Sarah.

Yes, that would mean Sarah and Xander were apart, but at least they’d have been married, and Sarah’s disappearance would have made some logical sense. (Even if it did leave Xander in limbo.)

It would have also opened up an interesting possibility for Nicole, who hates Xander yet is going through the same thing with Eric.

Besides the disrespectful send-off for Sarah, there’s also the problem that viewers are sick to death of doppelganger stories.

People who look just like other people have been a part of Days of Our Lives for as long as I can remember, but now it’s taken over the show. Every other month we have a new doppelganger, and most of the time, they have broken out of prison to take over someone’s life or wreak havoc somehow.

We don’t need any more people in super realistic masks, people who happen to look like other people but act like idiots, or people who can’t catch on to someone not being who they claim to be when they act nothing like the real person.

And if we are going to have those kinds of ridiculous stories, can the doppelganger at least stay on task? All this nonsense with Sarah did nothing to advance Kristen’s goal of breaking up Brady and Chloe.

Another thing we don’t need any more of people being kidnapped and/or forced to take that damn hallucinogen.

Gwen escaped only to be replaced by Sarah, who then found the syringe that Abby was going to use on Gwen but managed to get stabbed with it instead of using it to make Kristen back off.

Sarah was kept in the same place, tied to the same chair, and ultimately suffered a similar fate to the one planned for Gwen. Is it too much to ask for enough originality not to have the same storyline twice in a row?

Also on the top of the list of not terribly original storylines: Ciara’s selective amnesia.

Amnesia is also a big part of Days of Our Lives and has been from the beginning. In 1965, Marie Horton fell for the handsome solider next door… which turned out to be her own brother with a case of no memory of who he really was!

But something about the Ciara amnesia storyline rubs me the wrong way.

For one thing, it is similar to the Xander/Sarah story in that Ben/Ciara shippers were excited about their couple finally getting back together only for it to…not happen.

If Victoria Konefal (Ciara) were staying long-term, this would be less of an issue. After all, amnesia is a soap staple, and fans could trust that Ciara would eventually remember her love story with Ben.

But the actress plans to stay on recurring status, which means that this story will probably end with Ciara being shipped to Bayview or some other mental hospital without any promise of her ever returning or ever remembering her relationship with Ben.

Plus, Ben and Ciara’s love story is hard to buy anyway because this couple was never given a real relationship — just a clingy obsession with each other and lots of sex scenes.

That makes it hard to hope they find their way back to each other!

The other problem is that Ciara’s selective amnesia means lots of rehashing of old stories. I didn’t enjoy her rivalry with Claire or Ben’s murder spree the first time and don’t need a repeat.

And maybe it’s just me, but as a JJ/Paige shipper whose hopes were dashed when Paige was killed unnecessarily, and JJ wasn’t allowed to grieve for her, I resent Ben and Ciara getting the flashbacks and story that JJ and Paige should have had instead.

Not that this story isn’t well-acted.

Robert Scott Wilson is doing a kickass job showing Ben’s pain and impatience to make Ciara remember she loves him. Victoria Konefal’s Ciara finally seemed like she could be the same person as the spunky little girl fans once loved.

(To be clear, Ciara’s blah personality in the past was the fault of poor writing — the actress has always done a good job with what she was given.)

I especially liked Ciara’s scenes with Theo. If I recall correctly, the nonsense with Claire and Theo happened before Konefal joined the show, and we have a new Theo too. These two have great friendship chemistry, though, at this point, I have no interest in a resurgence of anything beyond that.

Conversely, what I DON’T like is Kayla’s attitude toward the whole thing.

First of all, Kayla is not a psychiatrist. She should be consulting Marlena about Ciara’s case rather than acting like an expert in memory loss and recovery when trauma may be involved.

And her idea that the truth should be kept from Ciara is annoying.

This isn’t the first time Kayla has done this, either.

Way back in 2013, she caused Rafe’s blood pressure to spike by insisting that she had to take the newspaper away from him to protect that blood pressure instead of telling him the truth about what was going on with Sami.

This is working almost as well, and I’m glad Roman finally told Ciara the truth.

As an aside, I was surprised that Doug wanted to tell Ciara while Julie didn’t because Julie is usually the loudmouth, but Doug’s scenes with Ciara were too cute.

Anyway, at this point, Marlena DEFINITELY needs to be brought in to help Ciara manage her feelings about what Roman is telling her. I hope we’re not in for any scenes of Kayla yelling at Roman for his “indiscretion.”

Roman has been the voice of reason lately.

Rex: Xander already knows. He walked in on me and Sarah having sex.

Roman: Doesn’t anyone lock their doors anymore?

He deserves more of a story than being the friendly bartender who listens to everyone’s problems! His renewed, and so far unrequited, feelings for Kate is a great start.

I’d also like for him to have more of a reaction to Sami’s legal woes. She is his daughter, after all, even if she does spend more time in jail for acting stupid than out of it.

Speaking of which, there still isn’t enough of this murder mystery!

There is some movement, to be sure, now that it’s been revealed that Sami is trying to cover for Allie, and Allie didn’t actually do it.

Unsurprisingly, it seems everyone in Salem had the same idea about confronting Charlie at his apartment that night, and it’s just a question of who actually pulled the trigger.

Allie didn’t, unless she’s lying (and I will be furious if it turns out that’s the case!), but both Tripp and Ava went to the apartment, and we still don’t know what the story is with John.

I’m looking forward to more of this, but we need it to be on more than once a week!

Finally, I take back what I said about Paulina being annoying. Ever since she learned she wasn’t actually supposed to be baby Jules’ godmother, she seems like a different person.

It seemed her feelings were more hurt that Lani didn’t straighten her out herself than by being rejected, and it was a pleasant surprise when she apologized to Julie and reassured Lani that she had no hard feelings.

She also seems to have taken to heart the idea that she is too quick to make everything about herself and is trying to make a change.

It helps that she has this out-of-control daughter that she’s trying to rein in. Paulina’s attempts to deal with Chanel showed a more human, sensitive side to her character.

It seems like Paulina doesn’t know how to show love other than by offering to pay for things, which is probably what led to Chanel becoming so spoiled and entitled in the first place.

I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of Chanel being a con artist. There are so many stereotypes floating around Hollywood about Black people being criminals.

But Paulina, Lani, Eli, Abe, Valerie, and Theo are all Black characters who don’t act that way (though Lani has used VERY questionable judgment in the past), and that helps. I also like Paulina turning the negative stereotype of the impoverished single Black mother on its head by being a single rich mother.

Chanel: I don’t appreciate you yelling at me in public like that.

Paulina: I tried more than once to tell you that we should discuss this in private. But you don’t listen. It has finally gotten through this thick skull of mine that you are so self-absorbed that you can’t listen to anyone or anything.

Chanel: You hate me.

Paulina: No. I love you more than anything. But I have failed you as a mother. I spoiled you and now you think you are entitled to whatever you want. Trying to stiff those poor kids just for self-indulgence!

Chanel: I’m sorry.

Paulina: You’re just sorry cause you got caught this time. I should have done something about this a lot earlier. But this dynamic is going to change starting right now.

Chanel: I’ll do better. Give me a budget and I’ll stick to it.

Paulina: You’re gonna be the one to make up a budget with your own money.

Chanel: You’re putting me on a salary?

Paulina: No. You’re gonna get a job.

Chanel: But I don’t need a job. We’re rich.

Paulina: I’M rich. You need a job. Now, do you know how I became rich? By working. So you’d better get your butt back to Miami and start doing the same.

Chanel: But I don’t have gas money to go back to Miami. So if you’re gonna cut me off, I’m gonna stay right here.

In any case, I expected Chanel to be this level-headed person who was embarrassed by her larger-than-life mother, but I was pleased to be surprised.

I didn’t like how gullible Claire was, though.

It didn’t make much sense that she would share her life story, including some fairly embarrassing things, with a total stranger, especially one that was bothering her for no reason while she was on the phone with her mother.

At least Claire didn’t tell Chanel that she used to set fires when she got mad. Though maybe then Chanel would have thought twice about trying to stick her with a huge bill.

And I loved that Eli and Lani took the opportunity to reflect on their own dreams for their kids and their fears that they would screw up and end up with badly behaved kids like Paulina had.

What a relatable story! More of this, please, and less doppelganger nonsense.

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know what you thought of Sarah’s exit, Chanel’s debut, and all other things Days of Our Lives during the week of 3-22-21.

Hungry for more Days of Our Lives chat? Be sure to check back on Sunday for our Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

Days of Our Lives continues to air on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes.

Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.