Hope came face to face with a very much alive Bo!
Our TV Fanatic, Jack, along with Mikey and Silvananoir from MyHourglass, a Days of Our Lives fan forum, are here to debate what happens next for Bo and Hope, Chloe and Xander’s new friendship, if Eric and Nicole are end game, and more!
Did Tony and Anna give good relationship advice? Read on to see what our round table thinks…
Hope finally found Bo and knows he’s alive! If Bo continues not to want to be around her or any of the Bradys, do you think Hope will stick with Harris?
Mikey: I don’t think so. Now that Hope knows that Bo is alive, I could see her taking on the role that Marlena took on back when John returned from the dead as “RoboJohn” — doing everything she could to get through to him and remind him of their love.
Not that she’d do that forever, but it would take a whole lot of him pushing her away for her to give up on him, I’d think.
Jack: I doubt it. Hope will probably continue fighting for Bo’s true self, the same way Ben did when Ciara had amnesia and wanted nothing to do with him. Except it would make more sense in Hope’s case since she and Bo have been together for decades, and Hope knows that this is partially due to Megan’s brainwashing.
Silvananoir: No. Hope enjoys her relationship with Harris, but it is not nearly as emotionally involved as her relationship with Aiden. If it was him, I could believe a real struggle (in spite of the fact that they torpedoed that relationship for Bope).
She doesn’t love Harris; she likes him, and she enjoys him, but she doesn’t love him. They just haven’t had enough time together to form that kind of bond. And nothing they’ve done has shown me that they have that kind of deep love, at least not on Hope’s side.
Now that she knows Bo is alive, it doesn’t matter what he says or what he does. Hope is going to go after Bo and leave Harris in the dust of shattered plates.
Eric and Nicole fantasized about one another after having sex while drugged. Are they destined to get back together?
Mikey: Absolutely. I’m enjoying their side pairings with Sloan and EJ well enough, but there’s no point investing much in either of those relationships when it’s so clear that “Ericole” is the money couple in this situation.
They always have these huge blow-ups, say they can’t possibly be together, and then soften toward one another once some time passes. It’s happened again.
As silly as the drugged biscuits were, it seems they brought out exactly what’s in both Eric and Nicole’s subconscious — and the dual shower fantasies only served to underscore that. They ultimately can’t stay away from one another.
Jack: The writers certainly made it clear that’s what they want. I wish Nicole would stick to her original decision to leave the past where it belongs.
Silvananoir: I hope not. I’m kind of over them right now, and I’ve enjoyed the break. I am surprised by how much I enjoy Eric and Sloan’s relationship, and I love this round of Ejole.
I am disappointed in Nicole that she just didn’t tell EJ the truth because I think he would have been upset, but he would have forgiven her. But now that she is keeping the secret from him, it’s going to go bad. The coverup is going to be far worse in his mind than the actual crime.
I get that at their core Nicole and Eric will always be drawn together, and a part of them will always want to be together, but they have proven that they will never last because they are just too different.
Even this new version of Eric is still completely judgmental when it comes to Nicole. And she tries to change who she is for him. They don’t accept each other as they are. They just don’t have the emotional commitment.
So I wish the show wouldn’t take us down this path when we know it’s not going to work out. Eric and Nicole are better apart than when they’re together. No matter how much they are pining.
What did you think of the advice Tony gave EJ and Anna gave Nicole about relationships?
Mikey: In isolation, I thought it was decent advice. In practice… well, Nicole has a history of keeping some pretty huge, damaging secrets (uh, Sydney??) from EJ, so I can see why he’d have his guard up more than if she were someone he had just met.
Tony knows enough about EJ and Nicole’s history for that to factor into his advice!
Anna’s advice was more innocuous overall, but I was distracted by the weird revisionist history about how Anna took EJ’s side over Nicole’s when the Sydney/Grace switch came out.
That’s not really what happened at all, and it still drives me nuts that none of that has been addressed between EJ and Anna, so it pulled me right out of the scenes. The lines about the mahjong and crystal lampshade were pretty cute, though.
Jack: Tony’s advice was fine — you need to be able to trust your partner and communicate with them.
Anna’s advice, on the other hand, was ridiculous. Nicole knows that the reason Sami and EJ ended was that Sami lied about having had sex with Lucas. EJ would have forgiven it if she’d been truthful because he understood the circumstances.
Now Nicole is making the same mistake. Plus, Anna not telling Tony how much she spent on that lampshade is in no way comparable to Nicole having had sex with Eric!
It’s aggravating that the writers are making Nicole so stupid when that’s not her true character, and doubly so that she’s listening to Anna’s awful advice.
Silvananoir: I liked it. I kind of like them and their role as Dimera elders. I think it was smart, and I think neither Nicole nor EJ are going to follow it because they’re terrible about advice.
But it does give me hope that maybe EJ and Nicole are the actual end game here and that Eric and Nicole are just a bump in the road. But I also wish that Nicole would go to Chloe.
Should Brady take John’s advice and allow Rachel and Kristen to see one another?
Mikey: I think so since Rachel is aware of where her mother is, and not seeing her seems to be more traumatic than seeing her in prison. But that brings me to another rant that I’ll get to in an upcoming answer…
Jack: I was so annoyed with John. Kristen is toxic and manipulates Rachel. Just because she gave birth to her doesn’t mean that her presence in Rachel’s life is healthy for Rachel.
Silvananoir: Yes and no. You cannot deny Rachel her mother despite how bad of an influence Kristen clearly is. But you can control the interaction Kristen has with her in prison.
Brady should not allow them to be alone together. He should keep his ears on alert for anything that comes out of Kristen’s mouth when it comes to Rachel and make sure that she’s not handing Rachel secret little notes.
A lot of Rachel’s behavior is because Kristen spent all her time instead of just enjoying being with her daughter whispering little bon mots in her ear and turning her into a monster. Brady needs to get her under control, and maybe seeing her mom can be a little part of that.
Li finally lets Gabi go to be with Stefan. Should he stick around Salem?
Mikey: I can’t really imagine what utility Li would serve in Salem if he’s out of the Gabi/Stefan story, and it feels as if the town is overrun with random folks at the moment, so I can’t say I’d be sad to see him go (or be put on pause for a little while).
I could see him continuing to pop in as part of the inevitable, tiresome DiMera Enterprises stories, but I don’t need to see some story about Li being paired with, I dunno, Sloan or Stephanie or someone.
Jack: He should go lick his wounds elsewhere, but it doesn’t appear that’s what he’s going to do. I’m worried about what his next move will be; I doubt he’s going to act like a reasonable person for long.
Silvananoir: I like Li. I mean, the show kind of ruined him a little bit with his obsession with Gabi. But they seem to be committed to rebuilding Stefan, so maybe they can do that with Li and someone else.
Honestly, maybe try him out with Stephanie because I’m not feeling her and Chad at all. There is no chemistry there. And I like that Li isn’t completely delusional; he’s not going to humiliate himself over this anymore. He let Gabi go be with her true love and leave him out of it.
Now, I do not think that Gabi and Stefan had the world’s greatest romance story, and I’m not sure why the show is trying to convince me that they did. They were really happy together for like 5 minutes before he got shot,o I don’t think they ever really had an opportunity to be a true couple.
I am curious as to what will happen now. Will they go to war with EJ and Nicole over control of Dimera? Will Nicole’s one night with Eric be a tool that Gabi and Stefan use? Probably yes. But yeah, let’s see what they are now that there’s no real adversity keeping them apart.
Chloe and Xander got closer. Are you enjoying their newfound friendship? Would you like it to be more than friendship?
Mikey: I expected to hate this, and in some ways, I still do. Xander is vile, and Chloe should not want anything to do with him. That said… the actors have a certain sparkle together.
Chloe has seemed fun and funny around Xander or, more accurately, around Paul Telfer. I don’t need it to progress beyond friendship — and in fact, leaving it as a friendship would be a nice, novel thing for Days to do.
Still, I wish that someone, anyone, would remember that this man is a wholly unrepentant, dangerous criminal!
Jack: I’m enjoying Chloe laughing and having fun, but I don’t see any need for it to go beyond that. Why can’t straight opposite-sex friends just be friends on this show?
Why do men and women always have to go further unless one of them is gay? We need more friendships in this show.
Silvananoir: I like them so much. I’m surprised by how much I enjoy them together. It’s cute. It’s really just cute.
What’s so enjoyable is there just kind of a fun lightness to it that I like seeing, and there’s no real baggage other than the whole abandoning her to a crazy drug lord kind of thing that she eventually had to kill.
It seems like Chloe’s kind of forgiven him for it because he was emotional support when she needed it. And they’ve established pretty clear boundaries that this is a friendship and not romantic.
Now whether or not it stays just a friendship is unclear, but I’ve always enjoyed Chloe with relationships that are shades of grey, which is why I have always been so bored of her and Brady together.
I liked her more when she was with Philip, for example, because he was such a grey character, and I thought she was at her best when she was with morally ambiguous characters. It’s why I love her friendship with Nicole.
Chloe is not as judgmental as a lot of Salem people are. As long as you’re not a complete garbage human, she is more than happy to be around you.
Now I am unsure if I want them together because of the whole Sara issue, and I do not want Chloe thrown under the bus for Xander and Sara. So unless there’s really something there, I’m completely happy with just this lovely friendship. It’s just a bonus that it drives Brady pretty crazy.
Who was the most annoying character in Salem this week?
Mikey: I don’t believe Leo or Gwen aired this week, so I need to think outside the box a bit! I’ll go with another ol’ standby: Alex.
I suppose it’s admirable that he’s seeking therapy, but that whole whining session between him and Marlena irked me. Every time he says that Stephanie is the only woman he ever loved, I roll my eyes so far back in my head that they almost disappear.
You barely knew her, you barely dated her, and the whole thing began with you being a gross brute toward her.
I’m just tired of this forced character, and the attempt to capture the old Marlena/Ben “magic” (bleh) didn’t do it for me.
Jack: Sloan and her constant insistence that Chanel is an evil psycho. Chanel wasn’t acting rationally when Jada questioned her, but at least her opinion is based on something other than thin air.
Talia was also annoying, constantly smirking and remembering what she did while acting concerned. I’m ready to move on to finding out why she did this.
Silvananoir: Honestly, even though she’s the victim, Chanel. She’s the victim, and I want to be on her side, and I get why she’s blaming Sloan, but she’s got to calm down and let Jada do her job.
We know you believe it’s Sloan. If there’s evidence leading to that, Jada will find it. For Jada, Sloan is suspect number one, and she has no reason to want to protect Sloan because of her behavior, which is probably why Eric told Sloan to take it down a couple of notches.
But Chanel has got to stop harassing Jada about it and let her do her job.
What, if anything, disappointed you on this week’s Days of Our Lives?
Mikey: As I mentioned above, I have a major rant about Kristen: why is she hanging around Statesville at all now? Megan is there, which means that law enforcement knows that she kidnapped the three women meaning they didn’t die as a result of Kristen stealing the orchid, which means Kristen should be free.
It was driving me bonkers to watch those conversations between the two DiMera sisters and Kristen eventually agreeing to break out of prison with Megan when Kristen should be having a lawyer get her out of there ASAP! It’s such a glaring oversight.
Jack: As I mentioned earlier, John insisting that Brady not cut Kristen out because “Rachel will be upset” aggravated me.
This evil version of Bo has also worn out his welcome, and I’m not sure who I’m more annoyed with. Harris for listening to Bo and not telling Hope the truth, or Nicole for telling an unnecessary lie and then talking about it in the hallway of EJ’s home.
Nicole was acting like she wanted to get caught. She also was acting stupid. What happened to the smart, shrewd, snarky woman with great instincts?
Finally, I’d have liked the person messing with Paulina and Chanel to be anyone but Talia. It’s predictable, yet, at the same time makes no sense. Why can’t a new character ever pop up without some secret diabolical plan for Salem?
Silvananoir: I want to care more about this Bo and Hope storyline. Bo and Hope were before my time, and I was more of a Last Blast girl. I was a bit younger than the Last Blast crew, but their storyline was what I was watching more than anything else.
But as I got older, I appreciated Bo and Hope more, and I followed their story. So, I was a bit disappointed in the build-up this week, although I did enjoy Steve and Kayla. I’m just glad we finally got a resolution. Just getting there was not enough for me.
What was your favorite quote, scene, or storyline this week in Salem?
Mikey: As I mentioned earlier, the drugged biscuits were incredibly silly, but they did produce some genuinely humorous moments.
A lot of the reactions from Johnny and Chanel when Wendy confronted them had me cracking up (like Johnny calling Tripp “the drip”), but I think my favorite was Eric using the banana as a camera when pretending to photograph Nicole. I love when you can tell the actors are really having fun!
Jack: I enjoyed Roman’s conversation with John. I’m also glad that news is spreading about Bo being alive.
Finally, I loved Paulina putting Sloan in her place and reminding Eric that he should be smarter than he is about Sloan.
Silvananoir: Honestly, this was not that great of a week. I kind of enjoyed some of the antics, but I will say I like Chloe and Xander. I’m just surprised by how much I enjoyed them together and how fun they were together.
The show kind of captured something there that I’m not sure they realized, but the actors are just doing it for me. I do want to say that I am a die-hard Phloe fan and loyalist, and this changes nothing.
Want to chat more about the happenings in Salem? Then check out Jack Ori’s Days of Our Lives review here at TV Fanatic!
C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.