#Days of Our Lives Review Week of 10-12-20: It’s All About Revenge

This Kristen/Lani/Eli mess is driving me crazy.

Kristen and Lani are making each other their top priority, so much so that Brady called Kristen out on it… yet we’re supposed to believe they’re “just friends.”

Either go all the way and make this a story about the two women exploring their feelings for each other or stop it altogether, because this in between business makes no sense.

As we all know, Lani risked her job and her freedom to stop Kristen from going to jail. And now, Kristen returned the favor.

The entire Kristen confessing storyline was problematic from the get-go.

For one thing, Kristen could have easily double-crossed Eli since he deleted the confession before she’d gone through with speaking to Trask. For another, Kristen had a lawyer that Brady went to great lengths to convince to represent her.

If Kristen felt Trask had her over a barrel because of her loyalty to Lani, why not call her lawyer, explain the entire situation, and see what could have been done?

As Brady said, Trask was being incredibly unethical by blackmailing a police officer. Surely Belle could have done something to help resolve this without Kristen throwing away her case in exchange for absolutely nothing.

At the very least, surely Belle could have arranged a plea bargain for both women.

And I’m STILL waiting for someone to ask Trask if she plans to prosecute Eve. After all, Eve kidnapped Ben and indirectly led to Ciara’s disappearance because he killed Paige, and Trask believes that blackmailing Eli is appropriate because Kristen killed HER daughter.

So just how big a hypocrite is she? Enquiring minds want to know.

Meanwhile, Kristen will throw away her entire life for Lani’s sake… while insisting she’s doing it to keep Lani and Eli together. In what universe does THAT make any sense?

Those kinds of sacrifices are the things people do for the love of their life, not for their best friend who they want to be able to be with someone else.

This whole mess was not helped by a bunch of people acting at cross purposes because they didn’t know what the other was doing.

Trask was about to drop the case thanks to Lani’s manipulations, but as soon as Kristen stormed in hellbent on confessing, that went out the window.

Now Abe — who used to be the most honest person in Salem — is twisting himself all out of shape to stop Lani from learning that Eli gave in to Trask’s blackmail and in turn forced Kristen to confess so that Lani wouldn’t be mad at him.

Abe should be upset with both Eli and Lani over this entire mess, but ever since Lani came to town he’s put his strong sense of morality on the back burner so that he can act as if his daughter can do no wrong.

Maybe it’s because of guilt over having not been there for Lani’s childhood that Abe has elevated her to sainthood now, but then that needs to be made explicit.  Instead of the moving drama such a motivation would entail, we’re just getting Abe acting entirely out of character.

Meanwhile, the Allie rape story has, unsurprisingly, mostly become the Tripp false accusation story.

This story came so close to being worthwhile before it veered off in this annoying direction.

A tale about a young woman who was raped after having drank too much could have sent the clear message that having sex with a person who is too intoxicated to consent is never okay. But instead, this story relies on stereotypes and cliches…some of them harmful.

This is really Allie’s story to tell, but since you’re here and at least one of her parents should know, maybe it would be easier if I told you.
Nicole

The Lucas/Nicole exchange was especially annoying.

Lucas’ reaction to the news was emotional, and I loved him telling Allie it wasn’t her fault and that he was here for her no matter what.

But this was never Nicole’s news to tell, and that ruined the whole thing for me.

I don’t care that Allie said after the fact she appreciated someone else breaking the news for her. Nicole didn’t ask ahead of time, and that made this inappropriate.

One of the reasons rape is so traumatic is that the rapist takes the survivor’s sense of control over their own body and circumstances away. So the worst thing anyone can do, no matter how well-intentioned they are, is to reinforce that loss of control by telling the person’s story for them.

Besides, this is an intimate type of crime, often triggering unearned feelings of guilt, shame, and embarrassment. Many survivors don’t want people to know, especially people close to them. Like their fathers.

Nicole should have told Lucas that Allie was going to need his support but that she couldn’t say anything more. Period.

Also, while many men do feel enraged that someone violated their daughter’s bodies this way, it would be nice to have a range of reactions from Allie’s male relatives.

Lucas threatened to kill Tripp and John punched him in the face, while Charlie — who doesn’t even know any of the people involved — was ready to start a fistfight too.

Men are not a monolith, and making them all react violently did no one any favors.

Steve and Marlena were probably at least partially right that John’s poor impulse control since his aneurysm was part of the problem.

I don’t see how Marlena is going to be able to deal with John while he is struggling with this. He should have some sort of aide who is trained to deal with aneurysm patients.

Also, while I don’t know enough about traumatic brain injuries to be sure, it’s weird to me that John’s ONLY symptoms are emotional. He has zero issues with aphasia or other speech problems, no memory problems, and no motor skills deficits… just the inability to control angry impulses.

That strikes me as unrealistic and as a missed opportunity for Drake Hogestyn (who suffered a real life traumatic brain injury after an accident on set back in 2016) to shine as John struggles to put himself back together after his aneurysm.

As for Tripp, he’s likely innocent… but he’s not doing himself any favors.

Kayla: A DNA test would resolve this whole thing.

Tripp: In other words, you think I’m guilty. I’ll pass.

Tripp took it personally that Kayla wanted to do a DNA test to prove his innocence. 

That was ridiculous. If he’s innocent, all he has to do is submit his DNA sample and in a few days it’ll be proven that the baby conceived the night of the rape isn’t his. End of problem.

Unless, of course, someone messes with the DNA samples, which is standard operating procedure in Salem. But still.

Between his senseless decision to confront Allie and his refusal to take a DNA test, Tripp is making himself look guilty as hell. Maybe someone can explain to him that if he refuses to clear his name, the police will get a subpoena eventually and he’ll be forced to give a sample that way.

My guess is that Charlie is the real rapist. He was too interested in the backstory and too glad that Tripp isn’t going to be competition for Claire.

Besides, it would be typical of Days of Our Lives for Claire to fall hard for Charlie, only to find out that he was the one who raped Allie.

Speaking of senseless decisions, can someone make this idiotic competition between Philip and Xander stop?

The latest nonsense involves Philip talking to some mysterious person about money laundering and destroying the company every time he’s alone… and making a play for Sarah just to piss Xander off.

Philip was so transparent that I questioned whether Sarah had the intelligence to be a doctor when she fell for this nonsense. 

Of course, then Xander came storming in and acting like yet another man who can’t control his temper because Philip and Sarah were sitting near each other, and Sarah had to go into mommy mode and talk to him like he was a misbehaving five-year-old.

This is all so disappointing. Philip is a character who holds great promise, but this snobby, elitist, bullying version of him is not at all enjoyable.

Similarly, I can’t stand the “friendship” between Abigail and Gwen.

Abby is supposed to be an award winning investigative reporter, so why is she so naive that she doesn’t even question Gwen’s motives for worming her way into her life?

And Chad and Jake’s pissing contest was equally annoying. Maybe Chad and Philip should compare notes, since they both seem to be all about shaming their co-workers for having held blue-collar jobs in the past.

Finally, Kristian Alfonso’s last scenes aired, and if you didn’t know she was leaving, you never would have guessed.

I had hoped that since [executive producer] Ken Corday had planned for Hope to be off screen for a few months that we’d get an ending of sorts even though Alfonso chose not to return to film exit scenes.

But instead, our last ever sight of her was her lying on a floor crying and holding a photo.

Ugh. 

At least Hope had a few emotional scenes with Shawn before mysteriously disappearing off our screens. But nevertheless, this was no ending whatsoever.

I don’t understand why Days of Our Lives doesn’t recast Hope.

Yes, Kristian Alfonso has performed this role for decades. But Eileen Davidson was closely associated with Kristen until Stacey Haiduk was given the role. And Days of Our Lives will soon have a new actress playing Jennifer after 30 years of Melissa Reeves’ performance.

So if Days of Our Lives really wanted to continue Hope’s story, they could recast her character too.

Anyway, I doubt Ciara is dead. A bullet casing without a body or even a blood stain is meaningless.

And since Claire is planning this big memorial, I’d be shocked if Ciara DIDN’T show up in the middle of it.

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics.

What did you think about the latest developments in the Allie/Tripp story, Kristen’s confession, and everything else that happened in Salem during the week of 10-12-20?

Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and share your thoughts!

Eager for more Days of Our Lives chat? Make 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.