#Days of Our Lives Review Week of 12-06-21: Is Philip Really Dead?

Philip is dead… or is he?

On Days of Our Lives during the week of 12-06-21, the cops found a ton of evidence that Brady killed him, while the only evidence they have that Philip is dead is a prosthetic leg they dredged up from the river.

Obviously, Philip framed Brady for his “murder,” which only works if Philip is still alive and is hiding somewhere and laughing at the whole thing.

This kind of over-the-top revenge scheme isn’t worthy of Philip, nor is it in character for him.

It’s reminiscent of when Ben lost his mind and killed three people to frame Chad for their murders so that he could keep Chad away from Abigail.

But this time, viewers are in on the trick, so there’s no mystery other than how soon Philip is going to resurface.

Also, the set-up is obvious. Chloe is distraught enough to think that Brady might have hurt Philip, but if she stopped to think for a second, she’d realize that’s impossible, especially after Brady explained how being blacked-out drunk affects people.

Brady made some excellent points.

Chloe, you’ve never been as drunk as you say I was, but I have been. When you’re blacked out drunk you can barely put a sentence together. There’s no way I could have sent Philip all those threatening texts, never mind taken a knife and stabbed him.

Brady

He wouldn’t have had either the cognitive ability or the motor skills for premeditated murder if he was that heavily intoxicated.

Of course, plenty of people get violent while drunk and sometimes don’t remember it the next day, so that doesn’t rule out the possibility of a drunken altercation that got out of hand. But still, the “perfect” evidence that Philip planted doesn’t fit that type of scenario.

That’s a strong reason for Chloe to doubt the police’s theory on this one. Besides, she saw him moments before Philip attacked him.

She knows that Brady was sober when she ran into him and that he was planning to go to the hospital to deliver food to John.

When was there time between that incident and the moment she found Brady for him to get drunk out of his mind, rip the tree out of the ground, drop his watch, send Philip threatening texts, and then kill Philip?

And since Chloe was with Philip when they “discovered” the destroyed tree, shouldn’t she wonder why Philip never mentioned anything about any threatening texts from Brady?

She might rationalize that by assuming Philip didn’t want to upset her. Still, he had no problem accusing Brady of trashing their special tree or suggesting that Brady was insanely jealous, so why would he leave out that Brady had been threatening him?

The cops should also be highly skeptical of this, though they tend to take all evidence at face value in Salem. (Remember when they arrested Belle for Charlie’s murder based on nothing but her coat button having been at the scene?)

They assumed Brady had killed Philip even before they knew the blood found at the scene was his!

Talk about jumping to conclusions. That blood could have been anybody’s, especially given that all they knew was that it was the most common blood type in the world.

Plus, even if they believed that Philip was dead, there was always the possibility that someone else killed him and took advantage of Brady being passed out to frame him for the crime.

After all, Philip got caught up in a money-laundering scheme involving the Vitale mob when he first came to town and recently had messed with the same crew in an attempt to get Jake thrown in jail.

Yet it never occurred to the cops that Philip could have been in the Vitalis’ crosshairs or that anyone but Brady might have a problem with him.

Instead, they zeroed in on Brady and tried to find evidence proving his guilt instead of looking at all aspects of this crime.

Too bad there are no security cameras outside the Brady Pub even though it’s part of a major outdoor mall. That would solve this mystery quickly!

This mess will likely pit Shawn against Belle, as she’s the most competent lawyer in town and already has her doubts about Brady’s guilt, unlike everyone else.

THAT should be good, but it would be better if the case against Brady weren’t so weak, to begin with. Based on this ridiculous set-up it’s hard to believe that any district attorney worth their salt would prosecute.

Of course, Trask jumps at any chance to prosecute people who she dislikes, and Belle slipped through her fingers after it came out that Jan Spears was the one who left that missing button at the scene of Charlie’s murder.

So Trask might decide this is her chance to get revenge against Belle and to put away a “dangerous murderer.” After all, she’s already pressuring Shawn to arrest Brady!

How will she react when she learns she’s been hoodwinked again?

I don’t blame her for being frustrated with the Salem PD, though. While everyone is busy trying to tighten the net around Brady, Rafe is finding one wrong tree to bark up after another while searching for Kristen.

For some reason, no one has thought of questioning the prison guards who were supposed to transport Kristen. Instead, he’s questioning people who visited Kristen before she escaped — a strategy that is doomed to failure.

It’s not logical to assume that Kristen’s accomplices would be stupid enough to visit her minutes before she broke out. Rafe doesn’t seem to have any theory of how it happened and is grasping at straws here.

His insistence on questioning Xander was random and designed only to make Gwen squirm.  Rafe was with Xander the entire time Xander was visiting Kristen. The visit ended with Rafe telling Kristen the prison van was here.

Did Rafe develop amnesia between that incident and the discovery that Kristen had escaped? He saw with his own eyes what Xander was up to, so there was no reason for him to suspect Xander at all.

Also, the issue of who helped Kristen escape is less important than finding her. If Rafe were looking for the bad guys in the hopes they could lead him to Kristen, that would be one thing. But he seems focused on punishing her accomplices more than he is on finding her and putting her back in jail.

Rafe’s stupidity sets him up for a HUGE fall. Not only was his girlfriend involved in helping Kristen flee, but his romantic rival figured it out way before he did.

EJ’s been watching Kristen and figured most of this out, though his claims to know everything that happens in Salem are dubious.

Not only does he seem unaware that Gwen helped Ava pull this off, but he admitted to Ava that he would never have realized Sami had cheated on him without Kristen’s help.

And most importantly of all, he had no idea that Sami had been kidnapped, instead assuming she’d given up on their relationship even though that was totally out of character.

EJ is far from all-knowing, and he needs to be taken down a peg or two in that department!

Also, can we PLEASE retire the phrase, “X is my past. You’re my future.” for once and for all?

Every time someone is destined to return to their ex-lover, they tell the new person this nonsense, only to break their new lover’s heart when they change their mind.

Eric said it to Jennifer, only to return to Nicole, which seems to have started a trend.

In recent months, Jake said it to Kate, yet dumped her for Gabi, and this week alone, Xander said it to Gwen while EJ said it to Nicole.

All of these people might as well have worn neon signs announcing they would be getting back together with their ex within a few months.

In Xander’s case, it’s long overdue. Sarah, like Sami, has been gone for months, yet nobody is suspicious enough to raise the alarm about her disappearance.

For some reason, both of these women’s loved ones accept only communicating via text and think their refusal to come home or even stay in touch regularly makes sense.

I can understand Xander’s assumption that Sarah doesn’t want anything further to do with him,  but he should have had some intuition about things being off by now. And how can Maggie not question why her daughter has cut off 99% of contact with her?

In Sami’s case, it’s even more egregious. Allie was kicking herself for not realizing her mom had been kidnapped, and she was right.

It’s not in Sami’s nature to turn tail and run away rather than fight for what she wants. Look at how she acted when she got back in town and found EJ in bed with Nicole!

I felt terrible for Lucas. He always rushes to Sami’s rescue, only for her to push him aside for EJ. Every. single. time.

And Lucas was right, too. EJ has been so incredibly abusive toward Sami. Their relationship began with him raping her and ended with him making unilateral decisions about where they would live and who she would see.

Sami: Are you seriously comparing my marriage to being held hostage?

Lucas: Honestly, I don’t see much of a difference.

Sami should think that EJ did her a favor by jumping in bed with Nicole. It allows her to be rid of him without fear of him stalking her.

But instead, she’s furious that he slept with Nicole as if he was supposed to pine away for her after she cheated on him with Lucas.

I’m not a fan of EJ/Nicole either. EJ was just as abusive to Nicole as he was toward Sami. She hid her pregnancy from him for the same reason that Paulina hid hers from her ex, for goodness sake!

In what universe does Nicole hooking up with EJ now make sense?

Even without that negative history, this hookup wouldn’t make much anyway.

Nicole and Rafe have feelings for each other and no real obstacles to being together, but instead, Nicole is using EJ to get over Rafe while Rafe is clinging to Ava because Nicole doesn’t want to pursue him any further.

Stop that! Get together already!

And to add insult to injury, EJ is using Nicole to get over Sami, and they both know they’re just a distraction for the other. So why on Earth is EJ going around saying Nicole is his future?

Speaking of Paulina, how great were her scenes with Kate? THIS is what Days of Our Lives needs more of: strangers bonding over shared experiences and friends supporting each other.

Paulina: I don’t expect you to understand. You’ve never been in a situation with a man who was so controlling and so abusive.

Kate: Actually, I do understand. I was married to a man like that.

I was skeptical before these scenes aired. Paulina seems to pour out her heart to anyone she crosses paths with, and that’s silly.

But Kate turned out to be the perfect confidante. Her history with Curtis Reed helped her understand Paulina’s plight, and the two bonded for the first time. Plus, we got an apology out of Kate. How rare is that?

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit that big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know what you thought of Days of Our Lives during the week of 12-10-21.

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

Days of Our Lives airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes or watch on Peacock TV on weeknights after 8 PM EST/5 PM PST.

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.