Michael

The big standout for me was also the explicit tie between Liam and the 80s Selejkos! Until now, it's just kind of been shorthand for "poor family with gang ties." But now we know that he is Ivy's son. I don't get why Xander and Kate can't just... drop the lawsuit. Why do they have to admit they set Johnny up? I know it's part of Xander's therapy or whatever, but it feels silly that they "have to" say they planned this. Just say you don't feel it's worth the fight and don't want to harm Johnny, the end.

Yeah, my immediate assumption about Destiny was that she was trying to score prescription pain meds!

Some of the dialogue and emotion with Chanel/Johnny/Paulina was great. Very raw, and I appreciate that they aren't making Chanel some saint just because she's pregnant and has cancer. That said... These episodes have felt soooooo slow and sluggish. There's just no energy to most of this. I feel like Rafe and Cat have had this same conversation 40 times. EJ and Cat have been in this same dynamic for a good 6+ months. The pacing has been very poor, even when the ideas are okay.

I think Mark and Aaron are used the perfect amount, which is: to fill in gaps where it would be weird NOT to see them, or to give Cat a talk-to when needed. I really don't think "the Greene family" needs to be a thing at all. The show acts like it's a thing on social media, but really, it's one major character and three very supporting recurring individuals tied to her. I don't think this is a story about EJ's drug actually helping their mom, though. That seems to be the "trap" Cat told Rafe that she was setting for EJ. I have no idea what their mission even is anymore, now that EJ's activity in that lab is public knowledge...

I bought all of them a few years back and read through them in order. Actually, I couldn't find #13 for a decent price ANYWHERE, so a friend who had it mailed it to me (and I returned it to her afterward). They were fun to read. They veer off from the actual storylines somewhat, but it's nevertheless an interesting glimpse at that era of the show, most of which I've never been able to see. I did a blog post about my reading experience: https://whathappensinsalem.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/a-novel-idea-the-early-years-of-dool/

This looks so boring. Just more of the same dreck stretching out over several more months. It isn't even that most of it is BAD on its own, but the stories completely lack thrust and definition. It makes me feel like I could tune in in November and not have missed anything of consequence.

This is how I feel. Plenty of the scenes are nice or have good dialogue or touch on interesting ideas. But there's no drive to any of it. The episodes feel VERY LONG to me. That opening shot of Tate got my attention, at least!

Yeah, I was so confused for a minute and had to retrace the steps to make sure I wasn't going nuts. I was like, "Dickie Martin survived and got adopted?!" SSH didn't even play that story, so she wouldn't necessarily know. I appreciate that they tried to use history, though? The Jennifer/Jack, Jennifer/Gwen, and Jennifer/Cat stuff has been nice this week. The stupid hypnosis stuff, however...

Nice Jack and Jennifer scenes today. The JJ stuff was a bit maudlin but sweet. Good grief, Casey Moss is HOT. Can they give him something fun to do?! I appreciated that they acknowledged Memorial Day with Philip, too. His scenes with Brady were nice. They can nail these quieter episodes well. They just can't all be quieter episodes!

I think there's an interesting seed in the idea of Rocco being fascinated by the story of his birth and being drawn in by Britt, but like... in a Philip/Vivian on DAYS way, where Vivian has always clearly been a villain and has preyed upon Philip's darker impulses in times of weakness. But they've gone so far in the other direction.

Totally. Most of the pieces are there. They just don't seem to know how to execute them for maximum impact. The editing at the end of the episode where Lexie emerged (I think it was the Friday before last, May 8) was well done, with those quick cuts and mini-dissolves. It had some sense of drama. But it's like they set up these Big! Shocking! Events! without really thinking through how impactful they really are.

That's definitely a plus. I always thought Xander would work well as a boy toy for Kristen whom she eventually fell for. They've had good chemistry going back to when he was working for her in that Nashville warehouse or whatever was going on with that Warehouse of the Dead. We're far past the point where it's needed or makes any sense, but I was reminded of the potential today.

That definitely was a weird dropped thread. Though I think it might be picking back up with the chess set thing? The whole will-reading was SO much build up for nothing, too. "Stefano's estate will be split amongst his living heirs. Gabi is actually Stefano's widow, so she's entitled to 1/13th of the estate instead of that 1/13th being split among the 8 living parties. Marlena got some crap from TJ Maxx and left. Oh, and a recast Lexie wandered into a room full of people her character has barely met."

I think Conner Floyd is fitting in very well. I was wary of this recast, but they've done something smart by not immediately centering him in story. He's around, he's interacting with the right people, but he's not the focal point right now, so we're able to get used to him. Surprisingly smooth recast. I also have to say that I'm not seeing this "new vision" that Noel Maxam has allegedly brought to the show. At all. It's the same Titanic with the same deck chairs shuffled around a bit. Sometimes some of it works, more on a scene level than an overall story level. They hit some nice character beats (as they have been for the past year), but there's very little juice to any of it.

They could do what they did with David and Valerie to make Eli's age work: say they reconnected years later away from Salem and hooked up, and she got pregnant but didn't tell him about the baby. They could've slotted this retconned reunion either between Michael T. Weiss and Roark Critchlow's runs (so 1990-1993) or after Mike and Carrie broke up offscreen (early/mid-2000s, which would put Liam's birth around the same time as Theo's onscreen one).