j swift

Yes, I get that completely. But for me, the final reunion felt all the more satisfying because of the long wait. When I started watching in the late ’80s, Ed never struck me as particularly romantic. Loyal, yes, and reliably messy, but not someone who swept anyone off their feet. That’s why that last scene with Holly landed so beautifully. He felt like the romantic lead as he had been before my time, and I was all in. It was such a lovely note to end on.

I’m unsure of a full triangle, but Gabi definitely has plans on inserting herself into whatever Theo and Arianna are building—romantic, laundry-based, or otherwise. But, also, Theo can fill out a suit quite nicely (ahem). Also, we know the secret of Gabi being responsible for hiding the pen to record Xander and Philip is bound to come back to bite Gabi in the behind. I’m glad too. It gives Gabi some narrative autonomy again. But does that put her in direct competition with Basic Black? I honestly can’t tell what Brady’s company does anymore. Maybe Belle will finally weigh in on her father’s legacy, assuming anyone still clocks in at that office. Also, are Tony and EJ conning Gwen? Because EJ's using her to pay the hospital contractor, while Tony is buying companies left and right. Where does Tony have the cash to buy back Dimera (after EJ and Kristen already pocketed their part of the original merger)? And now he's giving away divisions of the company? When did Tony get so rich? -- It is ironic because during his first marriage to Anna, they depended on her fashion line, because he was also the Dimera with the least assets. I’m still puzzled by Marlena dropping Cat due to “cutting back,” yet somehow she’s still seeing half the town. And Sarah choosing her husband’s anger management therapist for couples counseling? Beyond the boundary issue, doesn't Sarah want someone more objective? For example, Rachel's therapist is available. She is not very good at solving Rachel's issues, but clearly she's worked with rage addicts. 😡 And yeah, I don't watch Susan either. I couldn't tell if this was the end of Doc fainting, or just the beat? I wish they would give Susan scenes with Johnny. They can speak like country folks to each other. Chanel could roll her eyes. Her priorities of looking after Marlena feels like a mean spell that Kristen imposed before she went to jail. "You will hang on Marlena like a wart - hahaha..."

Note; I don't think contrition is necessary, none of us knew the extent of her issues when this discussion began. @ranger1rg - my use of "oy" was not meant to inspire either guilt or shame. I am just as shocked, and only mentioned it as a hope that we consider it in future discussion.

It’s refreshing to recognize that we can applaud her for achieving justice without endorsing her political views. Proof that it is entirely reasonable to celebrate accountability while still disagreeing with someone’s ideology.

I really appreciate the ambition behind the Greene family. It’s rare these days to see an entire family debut at once. When was the last time DAYS introduced that kind of ensemble from the ground up? It was a bold move. But I worry they might not withstand the test of time, simply because they were the passion project of a previous writer. Without that original vision driving their arc, they risk being sidelined or reshaped beyond recognition. Soap history is full of families who started strong but faded when the creative baton changed hands.

Oy, did you read the headline today that she needs brain surgery? I think we need to take a moment and consider whether we are in Michael Zaslow situation, and we will regret not being more sensitive to the sort of grace that she requires.

Since we're discussing incendiary headlines, how about how Bryton was credited by TMZ?

ALMtm is an awesome find, and she is so lovely. I was chuckling at the thought of Cat applying to work in the cafeteria, before she bumped into EJ. She doesn't seem to have the wardrobe for food service. I hope the character survives because of Cat's charm (including with Gwen). Also, I don't want Rachel to be directly and indirectly responsible for the fate of so many adults in Salem. I do not want a serial "kiddie-killer". EJ and Ava barely made it.

Or, SORAS Jude to make him a similar age to his first cousins. They gave the Brady twins too much separation in their kids ages for fun stories. So, I am unopposed to just aging him up in five years, when we watch DAYS streamed directly into our eyeballs. Will has a daughter in college, Allie has a baby, Johnny wants a baby, and their cousin Jude is a baby. Yet, Eric and Sami are twins.

OK, but did their sourpuss expression surprise you? 🙈

But, look at it the other way. If RM was on Donahue with Vincent Irizarry, in her early 30s. She would soon be playing a story where Gina pretends to be blind in order not to lose Dr. Scott Clark to a younger woman. So, poor Robin is like 32, playing the older, scorned, desperate lover... Then she was typecast as that for the next 30 years.

Given this couple's notorious history, does anyone think it was unwise to promote a story about being "surprised" by her husband? 😉 This would be an invitation for bad comments from trolls (like me, I suppose)

Who knows if she would ever want to return, given that it was probably a sizable settlement? Plus her leading man was just cast on another soap.

@Liberty City & @carolineg - are you both unfamiliar with ALM's Saudi Arabian oeuvre?😎 --- It's like Lifetime for those who can't get cast on GAF, but often date international athletes. Just finished watching Tate’s reaction, and I found it predictably nuts. He’s spent weeks frantically searching for his son, only for his dad to drop the bomb that it wasn’t his baby. So what does Tate do? He sprints to the airport, buys a ticket to France, breezes through customs without a single bag, and rushes off to kiss Holly. That’s his pivot? I’m hoping he gets a second shot at a real response when he finally sits down with Sophia. Because right now, it feels like this is the response of Hugh Grant in a romcom, not an 18-year-old college freshman.

Mary-Beth Evans is hyphenated, so MBE makes sense. I would vote for AMc due to Annalynne being one word. @carolineg I agree, Rafe is deadweight, and we need more room in the Hernandez household. BUT - for the past two years in a row, there were long periods when Rafe was out of commission. I know one was to facilitate the actor's recovery from a skiing accident. But, given how often he's offscreen, I don't think of him as a leading character in need of much focus. To me, Days has always had strong adult friendships. So, I like Rafe and Cat as buddies. Just as I enjoyed Stephanie and JJ discussing life the other day. I am hoping we do not get a JJ/Jada pairing, because Jada has got to stop smooching guys on the force, it is a bad look. Imagine if Jessica Tisch (NYPD police commissioner), had affairs with two different police officers?! El Scandalo

By my calculation, Robin Mattson was 32 when she was on Donahue She had already appeared on GL, GH, and RH. Santa Barbara being her fourth iconic soap role. It is remarkable how young she was, and yet she is styled like a middle-aged woman of the period. For comparison, in 1988 she was two years younger than Sofia Mattsson who just left GH as Sasha. (randomly search for GH actresses in their early 30s, and she's the least reactive). Obviously, that is fashion. Yet, I’m sure my memory of Gina’s age on Santa Barbara was shaped less by canon and more by how she was styled. The wardrobe, the hair, the way she moved through a room. It all of it suggested a woman older than her supposed years. By 1988 she’d already weathered multiple marriages, betrayals, schemes, and reinventions. It’s a sharp contrast to how younger characters are often styled today: polished but passive, dramatic but rarely decisive.

I had to laugh at my favorite soap trope. Nathan’s been unconscious for anywhere between a week and seven years, yet somehow he’s rocking a fresh high-cut fade, clean-shaven face, and gym-honed muscles. The man’s been in a coma, but his grooming routine hasn’t missed a beat.💪 Meanwhile, over at GH, no one’s bothered to check for scars, run an MRI, or even ask basic questions. Maxie is still in a coma, not because the actress is unavailable, but because apparently the standard of care at General Hospital is to let patients sleep it off and hope for the best. Note: IRL the average coma is 3–5 days. 🛌

Minority opinion, maybe, but after last week’s cliffhanger, I think it actually works better with Maxie incapacitated. She would’ve clocked Nathan instantly. So now she’s Chekhov’s Gun. We know the moment she wakes up, the whole secret detonates. That makes her absence a source of tension. We’re not just waiting for the reveal; we’re waiting for her to deliver it. The anticipation builds with every scene she’s not in. It’s like when Laura Spencer wandered Port Charles for a week to the strains of Christopher Cross’s “Think of Laura,” and we all screamed at our TVs for Luke to just look left already. Maxie needs to stay off canvas to preserve that suspense. If they recast her mid-arc, it flattens

If AnnaLynne McCord stays past October, I'm going to need a ruling on how we will officially reference her moving forward. 🤔 Firstly Cat or Kat, I go Cat because it is short for Caterina. But, I am willing to change Next AMC or ALM? Annalynne is one word, but Mc last names are usually shortened to Mc, so I think it is AMC, not ALM, yet A-LM might be acceptable. What's the consensus?

Remember, back in August 2024, a Los Angeles County judge ruled that Zucker could proceed with her claim seeking a court order to bar Alarr from future harassing behavior in the industry. That was her final court appearance, and during it, Alarr’s attorney pushed back against the provision, saying that would prevent him from ever holding a similar job again. But the judge sided with Zucker, stating there was sufficient evidence that Alarr should never be in a producer role again. That ruling likely played a major role in motivating the settlement. If the court had already determined that his conduct warranted a professional ban, it stood to reason the rest of the case wouldn’t go in his favor.

@AbcNbc247 - I have done some Cat math in the spoiler section, which may be of interest.

@janea4old since you are such a good sleuth, can you figure out who did Judi Evans's facelift? That is some remarkable chin work, and the neck is tight in profile, which is very difficult.

But, either way, there would be less than three weeks left. And given that, DAYS rarely shows the same characters two weeks in a row. That's not many episodes left... Also, logically, they announce the day the contract is signed, not sooner.

I really appreciate this, because we have to give credit where it’s due. They used history to shape the dynamic of the Four Musketeers in a way that feels intentional. It would’ve been easy to flatten them into archetypes: prince, snob, joker, Cinderella (which is what so many soaps do wrong when they try to recreate a "teen scene crowd"). But instead, Kobe and Long wove in the legacy of the prior generation to drive their motives.

So, @JAS0N47 , they name-checked you on screen, but they won't simply add you to the email list for the production schedule? That seems inconsiderate. 😉