Uninvited guests are constantly crashing Salem parties.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that on Days of Our Lives during the week of 1-03-22, the Devil ruined Johnny and Chanel’s wedding reception.
The Devil’s interference in this story was disappointing and predictable, though. And will anyone ever notice that Johnny never takes off that red suit?
Without the Devil, Johnny and Chanel had a classic soap opera story.
Their families disapproved of their whirlwind romance and marriage. Johnny’s twin sister secretly carries a torch for Chanel and keeps trying to sow doubts in her mind about Johnny’s intentions. Johnny’s controlling, powerful father thinks Chanel is a golddigger only after Johnny’s money.
That was a recipe for a ton of drama, so why did we need the Devil?
The writers didn’t see it that way, though, so instead of Johnny and Chanel’s wedding reception being a hotbed of family-related drama, the Devil possessed Johnny. At the last minute, he broke up with Chanel in front of their families.
This senseless story confirms that the Devil is NOT the biblical Devil but just another doppelganger — one with supernatural origins.
This story is no different than Kristen donning a Sarah mask to break up Sarah and Xander or Bonnie masquerading as Adrienne and breaking up with Lucas.
After all their experience with fake people breaking their hearts, everyone in Salem’s first thought should be that this is not the real Johnny. His behavior doesn’t make any sense considering how in love with Chanel he seemed to be until 30 seconds before he broke up with her.
And since Salem has spent months trying to get the Devil away from Marlena, everyone should be on high alert for it possessing her grandson, too.
But no, everyone is sure to take this weird behavior at face value, and with Anna announcing that Allie and Chanel make a perfect couple, it’s not hard to guess what’s going to happen next.
Most likely, Chanel will turn to Allie for comfort, and the two will have another encounter, maybe even a full one-night stand, that Allie will struggle to keep hidden from Tripp.
The Devil will probably push for Johnny to keep making his movie, and it probably has EJ in its sights to try to get revenge on Susan.
Yawn. We just went through six months of this awful Devil storyline with Marlena. We don’t need a redux this soon. And is anyone ever going to notice that Johnny never changes out of that red suit?
If we can’t have a proper storyline for Johnny/Chanel, at least there’s something interesting going on across town.
Xander has finally begun to wise up to the fact that something is fishy about Sarah’s disappearance almost a year ago. While he should have realized this a LONG time ago, his piecing it all together now is fun.
I love that Abigail finally has a decent storyline, too. Searching for her cousin is a better fit for her than shrieking at Gwen or any of the DID nonsense.
She hasn’t impressed me as an investigative reporter in the past — JJ’s instincts were much better, while Abigail tended to be oblivious to obvious manipulations — but I’m willing to give her a chance now.
And like many fans, I’m rooting for Xander to kick Gwen to the curb in favor of Sarah. It’s not so much that Sarah and Xander are a great couple, at least not for me. But Gwen is so awful that even Sarah’s baby voice and demands for constant attention are better than her.
Lani’s characterization of Paulina as only caring about herself fits Gwen more accurately.
Gwen didn’t care that Sarah is Abigail’s cousin or even that she’s a missing human being.
She thinks that leaving Sarah on a deserted island and letting Maggie go to her grave someday without ever knowing what became of her daughter is just fine because Sarah being MIA means Xander can’t return to her.
She never even considered that there might be other reasons for Abigail to search for Sarah besides sticking it to Gwen. Talk about a self-centered brat!
Sadly, Jack and Jennifer left for Boston while Gwen stayed in Salem instead of the other way around. It was nice that Jack and Jennifer’s goodbye tour included forgiving Gwen for the past, but she shouldn’t have gotten such compassionate treatment about her current behavior.
Jack is supposed to be one of the best investigative reporters Salem has ever seen, yet he had no clue that Gwen was lying to him for the third time in recent history.
Ugh. Gwen’s comeuppance can’t come fast enough.
Xander also seems to be on the clueless train. He’s interviewed Rex twice about Sarah’s disappearance, learned that Kristen impersonated Kate to cause trouble, and said twice to Abigail that Sarah “seemed like a different person” when she called their wedding off.
But he can’t seem to figure out that the woman he spoke to that morning was not his fiancee!
What more does he need? A map with a spot marked ISLAND WHERE SARAH HORTON IS BEING HELD? Sheesh.
And if Jack and Jennifer had to leave, their big goodbye scenes shouldn’t have been with Gwen. For some reason, they took three days to bid her adieu, then broke the news off-screen to Doug and Julie.
How disappointing! Doug and Julie are already reeling from Hope’s extended absence and their brush with the Devil, so saying goodbye to Jack and Jennifer would have been emotional for them.
Plus, they are legacy characters and deserve more screen time than a one-note newbie like Gwen.
Jack and Jennifer weren’t the only ones to leave town. Sami and Lucas also disappeared to parts unknown to rekindle their relationship.
It was a cruel joke to play on Lumi fans. Many of us have shipped Sami/Lucas for over two decades and were eager for Sami to realize that Lucas has always been and always will be her soulmate.
And Sami did say those words, but it’s not going to last, not with Lucas’ secret involvement in her kidnapping hanging over their heads.
Plus, as soon as they declared their love for each other, they were shipped off-screen. What kind of victory is that for Lumi fans?
The biggest problem with this story, though, is how it twists characters out of shape.
Lucas is right that EJ abuses Sami and that she shouldn’t continue to crawl back to him. However, it weakens his argument when he stooped to EJ’s level by kidnapping Sami!
Plus, this is not Lucas’ style. He’s a reformed schemer, but he’s usually the more level-headed partner who talks Sami out of her worst ideas, and this behavior of his doesn’t make any sense.
The Devil took credit for putting the idea in his head, but that’s all too convenient an excuse, and nobody is going to buy it when the truth comes out.
I’m less surprised that Chad went along with Lucas’ scheme, though.
Chad often plays the role of the “good” Dimera, who eschews corruption and violence. But he isn’t above shady behavior when it suits him, and his hatred of EJ has no bounds.
So if kicking EJ out of Dimera Enterprises was part of the deal, it’s not shocking that Chad only thought about Lucas’ scheme for a few seconds before jumping in wholeheartedly.
Kate’s reaction was odd, though. Since when is she this paragon of virtue who disapproves of both Philip and Lucas’ over-the-top schemes?
It’s great that she wants to get her sons professional help, but the Kate I know would enthusiastically cover up their misdeeds or do some scheming herself to stop them from reuniting with the women she thinks are bad for them.
Of course, Roman is a consideration now, and there have been more than enough spurious break-ups lately. So I’m glad that Kate wants to be honest with him even though it’s out of character for her.
The problem is, too many people know both Philip and Lucas’ secrets. It’s only a matter of time before something gets back to the wrong person and all hell breaks loose.
If Chloe finds out, all anyone else has to do is visit Basic Black when she’s alone with Brady. Just ask Philip and Ava.
Speaking of Ava, her crazy revenge story has just begun, and I’m already ready for it to be over.
This whole thing could be resolved easily if either Ava or Rafe had an ounce of courage. Ava could tell Rafe that she knows what he did with Nicole and is unwilling to be the second banana. Or Rafe could put on his big boy pants, admit he’s more into Nicole, and break things off with Ava.
Instead, Rafe keeps stringing Ava along while Ava stews and plots violent revenge on him and Nicole. Ugh.
Some viewers love Ava in crazy mode, but we’ve had more than enough of these kinds of stories, and all this does is prove Gabi right in the end. Yuck.
As for Nicole, I’m glad she had the self-respect to kick EJ out of the office, and more importantly, out of her life. She was right: he uses her as his fallback girl whenever Sami isn’t available, and that’s not cool.
But Nicole should go a step further and put Rafe in that same category. He says he wants Nicole but is unwilling to give up Ava or tell her the truth. Nicole needs to realize that she’s worth more than someone who can’t make up his mind, too.
Your turn, Days of Our LIves fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts.
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Days of Our Lives airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes or watch on Peacock TV after 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST on weeknights.
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.