Previously:

Everyone involved took the news of Phillip’s shocking murder badly, especially Kate who lashed out at Sami when she learned she was brought in for questioning…. Both Sami and Belle’s hair samples failed to match the unidentified blond hair found at the scene, but neither has been ruled out as a suspect… Max sees Belle nude… Marlena goes to Marion Industries on the day of the book release and is shocked to find Lawrence Alimain there…

Monday January 23rd

-Canadians everywhere Vote!!!! Prediction: Liberal Minority.

-In Salem, Bo agrees to help Victor with plan the funeral. While Bo was never close to Phillip, he does mourn his brother’s passing. This also gives Bo an opportunity to dig up some dirt on the funeral home that provided Jack’s coffin, and maybe learn more about the coffin itself. Bo learns that each coffin has an individual id tag (like a licence). Bo learns Jack’s coffin number.

-Bo meets with the Marine officer to help coordinate Phillip’s funeral. Phillip is entitled to a military funeral. Bo picks out the uniform Phillip will be buried in.

-Belle is upset with Max for finding her naked. When Belle dresses, Max is there waiting and offers a shoulder to cry on.

-Carrie asks Sami where she was when Phillip was murdered but Sami dodges the question.

-Austin, Lucas and Billie help Kate mourn while Victor shuts out the world. Inside his study, Victor blames John for this and vows revenge.

-Alex arrives to see Victor and to everyone’s surprise, Victor agrees to see him. After a short time in the study, Alex emerges with a small brown envelop and leaves. He tells Kate he’s sorry for her loss and that he’s leaving Salem after the funeral.

-Bonnie arrives at Mimi and Shawn’s place and annoys Hope while they watch as Shawn spends his first afternoon with his daughter. Hope is very annoyed with all of Bonnie’s parenting tips and they two have a comical exchange over the right and wrong way to do things. Shawn ignores them and is just thrilled to be with Claire. Mimi’s heart is breaking, as she is still insecure about the whole situation.

-Marlena is surprised to see her former brother-in-law, whom she hardly knows. Lawrence explains that Marion is a private, international consortium of several companies that deal with a wide range of business, including importing, publishing, medical devices, burial supplies, telecommunications but its main enterprise is energy, mainly, oil. Marlena wants to know how Lawrence, or Marion, got the book and who the real author is. Lawrence says that all the SSK survivors signed a waiver when they were rescued by the coast guard; perhaps no one paid much attention to it. Marlena never signed it, since she was presumed dead. Lawrence told her that when she was revealed to be alive, her and the 5 other castle survivors each signed a release, perhaps without knowing it, sometime in the past few months. Marlena feels duped but more so, she feels angry and wants to know what Lawrence wants with the book. Money is his answer but Marlena isn’t buying it.

-Abe gets a call from the hospital: Donor corneas have been found: Phillip’s.

Tuesday January 24th (CSW’s real life Birthday, btw!!!)

(new day)

-The events of today’s episode take place in separate households across Salem as we watch different people prepare and get ready to attend Phillip’s funeral.

-Patrick wakes up and is disappointed that Billie did not come home last night. Mimi knocks on his door and asks Patrick if he’d take her to the funeral later. Shawn and Claire are going with Bo and Hope and Mimi doesn’t want to go alone. The brother and sister bond as Mimi confesses her insecurities over the Shawn suddenly being a dad. They get ready and head to the funeral.

-At the Brady home, Shawn tells Hope he feels weird about taking Claire to the funeral but Bo tells Shawn that he has to get over the shock and realize the responsibility of being a dad. They give him a parenting talk. Bo admits to having mixed feelings about being a grandpa, especially since the events lead to his younger brother’s death. Bo just hopes that Victor will be ok and that more bad news does not stem from this tragedy.

-At the Black penthouse, Belle refuses to get dressed and go to the funeral. She is only concerned about getting Claire back and John tells her that they will get Mickey on that as soon as Phillip is buried. Marlena tries to coach Belle and Sami (who is also there) about the need to show respect for the family and to avoid appearances that they have something to hide that might incriminate them. They all reluctantly prepare for the funeral but not before two body guards show up as per John’s request. John knows Victor and wants to be prepared, just in case.

-At Carrie and Frankie’s new home, Max questions why Carrie and Frankie are going. Carrie is going to support Lucas and Austin and Frankie is going to support Billie. Max asks if they think Nicole will be there but neither of them thinks Nicole would be welcome. Max stays behind to watch TV.

-At the Carver house, Celeste shows up to take Abe to the hospital but Abe wants to attend the funeral to pay tribute to the man whose corneas he’s about to receive. There isn’t time and Celeste takes Abe to the hospital. Abe wishes that Lexie were here and wishes he knew how to contact her to discuss forgiveness.

-At the Kiriakis mansion, Lucas, Billie and Austin try to coach a grieving Kate to get dressed and get ready for the funeral. After an emotional trip down memory lane, they are all ready to go when Victor, dressed sharply in black, announces they are going. There is no hint of sadness or remorse or grief in his voice or demeanour... He’s scary again and his heart is full of vengeance…

Wednesday January 25th

-Salemites and Marines all gather at St. Lukes for Phillip’s closed casket service. Lucas deliverers a heart-wrenching eulogy that credits Phillip for his braveness in Iraq, his generosity to charities and to his family and for his kindness after death by donating his organs. Kate breaks down during this speech.

-As everyone pays there respect and the paulbearers (Bo, Austin, Lucas, Patrick, carry Phillip’s flag drenched coffin down the aisle, Bo (a paulbearer notices that the serial number on Phillip’s casket is the same as Jack’s. They are reusing the same casket.

-At the burial site, Phillip is honoured with a full military salute. When the guns are fired Kate and Belle each break down.

-As the funeral ends, Kate is irate and blasts Sami and Belle for attending. Belle tries to talk to Kate but Kate only slaps her. John steps in and tries to reason with Kate and comfort her grief but Kate is not willing to let her close friend in to her heart. When she looks at John all she sees is Belle and how they all contributed to Phillip’s death. Kate is convinced that Belle or Sami are the murderers.

-Caroline and Shawn pay their respects to Victor but he is cold and disengaged. Aside, Caroline tells Victor that she’s afraid of him in this state.

-Near the cars, Shawn-D and Claire meet with Belle. Mimi and Patrick are near-by with Billie. Belle wants to hold Claire and Shawn-D gives her to Belle. Belle starts to cry and wishes that none of this happened. Shawn-D says they need to talk about this and takes Claire back. Shawn-D asks Mimi to come back with him.

-Bo, Hope, John, and Marlena discuss how they are all grand parents and what this will mean for their two families. None of them want a custody battle and all agree to support and nurture Claire, Shawn and Belle during this transition time. Victor interrupts and vows not the make this simple and will interfere to make sure his grandson (Shawn-D) gets full custody of Claire. John flips out.

-At the hospital, Abe undergoes surgery and dreams of returning home to find Lexie. Abe’s dreams turn into nightmares when he envisions seeing Lexie in trouble, struggling for her life.

-At the wake, Marlena pulls Bo aside and tells him that she needs his help. She tells him that she had a run-in with Lawrence yesterday…

Thursday January 26th

-John invites Hope, Shawn-D, Mimi, and Belle back to the penthouse to discuss arrangements for baby Claire since John and Belle are not welcome at the wake.

-Sami, who is also unwelcome at the wake, goes with Roman to have a chat about her involvement in Phil’s murder. Sami tries to convince Roman that she didn’t have anything to do with it but she has no alibi. Sami says if her own father doesn’t believe her than how can you prove her innocence?

-At the hospital, Celeste waits for Abe to return from surgery when she overhears other doctors complain how their workload has doubled since Lexie took off. Celeste is shocked to learn that Lexie did not even phone the hospital to clear her schedule. Celeste is even more worried that she has no “vibe” of Lexie at all.

-Meanwhile, in her captive chamber, Lexie demands that she be released and returned to her son. Suddenly, the TV screen turns on and she’s about to see a live broadcast of the hospital’s security cameras. She sees Tek laying in a coma on one TV and Abe recovering from eye surgery on the other. Lexie is being haunted by these images.

-Jennifer goes to visit Abbey at the mental facility and is shocked when the doctors say Abbey is in isolation because of violent outbursts. Dr. Mcgregor tells Jennifer that Abbey continues to see her father and these hallucinations are lending to her belief that death is immaterial. Jennifer asks what is next…

-At the wake, Carrie comforts Austin who admits that he’s been away for most of Phillip’s life and regrets that. Austin regrets leaving Salem and his family. He admits to Carrie that he regrets letting Carrie go. In his grief, Austin kisses Carrie but she doesn’t kiss back. She backs off and asks him what he’s doing.

-Victor kicks Nicole out of the wake after she gets drunk and makes as a scene. Nicole makes her way to Max’s house and barges in. Nicole and Max make it up to the bedroom and start to go at it.

-Bo is stunned that Marlena spoke to Lawrence and is unsettled by his connection to the book. Bo doesn’t believe that Jack wrote it either. Bo, however, doesn’t have time to worry about this. He found Jack’s coffin but is no further along with clues than he was before. And now his son needs him more than ever when all of a sudden his arch rival returns… Bo is not amused…

-Alex stuns Marlena when he says that he’s leaving Salem tonight and gives her a gift…

Friday

-Nicole and Max bask in afterglow when Max starts to think of Belle and realizes that the sex with Nicole is getting old. Max breaks it off with Nicole, much to her surprise.

-Billie, Chelsea, Patrick, Frankie and Carrie arrive home after the wake and are shocked to see Nicole’s and Max’s clothes all over the house leading up to his room. When Nicole bursts out of her room, nearly naked and picks up her clothes Billie gets in her face about being a slut. They have another confrontation as Nicole leaves.

-Alex kisses Marlena good-bye and pays his respects to Kate. As he leaves, he says to himself that he’s not going anywhere and that the fun is just starting…

-Caroline is closing up the Brady pub when she tells Shawn that she’s worried about Victor and what he might do. Shawn thinks that Caroline might still love him.

-After everyone leaves the wake, Kate and Victor still haven’t spoken to each other. They finally break the silence and tearfully confront their grief. Kate is convinced that Sami killed Phillip but Victor believes it was Belle. Either way, Victor plans to make John pay and Kate is too depressed to stand in his way.

-Bo and Marlena arrive at the penthouse to learn that Shawn and Belle have agreed to joint custody.

-Shawn and Belle talk alone about this and Shawn tells her he feels betrayed that he never knew. Shawn makes it perfectly clear that Claire changes nothing between them and that his life is moving forward with Mimi. Mimi overhears this.

-Bo tells John that he’s been investigating the mystery of Jack and Steve’s missing coffin and how it turns out that Phillip is in Jack’s coffin. John doesn’t know what to think but knows that something is going on. If Jack isn’t in his coffin could he be alive? And if so, where is he?

-Roman gets a call on his cell phone from the police station. A witness has come forward with evidence that Belle killed Phillip.

-Abe awakes at the hospital and opens his eyes to see Celeste standing above him…

-Roman arrives at the penthouse and arrests Belle, much to everyone’s shock.

-In the control room watching Lexie, the man watching the tv screens (face unseen) is startled when he sees the door open. He turns around and welcomes his boss into the room. The boss walks into the light… it is Lawrence…

(I’ll probably be taking a writing break over the holidays with few updates)

Next time:

Hope tells Jennifer about the found coffin… Laura and Roman start a relationship… Lucas wakes up in an unexpected bed… John investigates whether the witness is legitimate or not… Marlena and Bo go back to Marion to find Lawrence and get answers…