Michael

It's like they just see who's around to film a few scenes with Dan Feuereigel and/or Greg Rikaart on whatever sets happen to be up, and they write the 'stories' based on that...

Good grief, this was excruciatingly boring.

Right. Brady & Sarah are very clearly the interim pairing with Sarah & Xander are apart. They're not "pushing Brady & Sarah as the new Jarlena"???

Not as tiresome as her adding fifteen syllables to every single word of dialogue.

The new Arianna definitely seems decent. She certainly reads older than 18, but she looks more like Cherie Jimenez's daughter than Marissa Reyes did.

EM's Brady and LH's Tate work well together. EM plays "dad" well, just like his own Days dad, Drake Hogestyn. But you know Tate is going to wind up CEO of Basic Black within three months. And everyone will act like that's normal.

Brady has been so STUPID traditionally that it's hard for me to imagine that Steve thinks this is a good idea. This man has been snowed by Kristen how many times?? I am trying to figure out what the hell is going on with Kristen's voice. Stacy Haiduk is doing, like... Susan + Scarlett O'Hara + dental work? Today's scenes were insane to listen to.

It's so goofy that this entire plagiarism story is predicated on no one having read both books until Bonnie's had been published. I mean, an intern did have her illiterate love interest compare them, but that's about it.

Yeah, I mean, it's POSSIBLE she's Nicole. It's also technically possible she's Chad's mother Madeline, back from the dead, or Sandy Horton de-SORASed, or Victoria aged up. I just don't see what hints we have to suggest that this 34-year-old brunette is playing Nicole Walker.

I wouldn't put it past these people!!!

Sofia Mattson is 34. Nadia Bjorlin is 45, and Arianne Zucker is 51. It would be insane even to consider her for either of those roles. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but Chloe and Nicole both have adult children at this point. I could sooner see them going to someone like Gina Tognoni for Nicole.

Dare I say... Abigail? I wouldn't mind if she were a love interest for JJ, who desperately needs something new.

Thanks for answering! I was listening more than watching tbh. It's still pretty stupid -- what is Owen's plan if the GUY WHO OWNS THIS LAB ever happens to drop by while he's on duty?!

Didn't EJ know Owen Kent? I thought he had hired him to infiltrate the Kiriakis estate back in the day or something. The way he just said, "You must be the night watchman. I'm EJ DiMera" and went about his business confused me. (I mean, everything on this show confuses me, but that struck me as a possible continuity error? But maybe they never actually met face-to-face.)

YES. I've been saying that since she showed up! She could legitimately be playing Jordan's daughter or younger sister.

It's crazy if you count. I guess Tom and Alice DID have five children, so in theory there are six bedrooms established in that house... But you're right, the sheer amount of people allegedly living at Marlena's is insane.

With the smaller apartments, I wish they'd design them so we just see a main living area with the front door, and there could be a cutout that seems to go into a kitchen (maybe we see a single counter, or backsplash or something) rather than having the all-along-one-wall kitchens that we tend to get. It makes it look like everyone lives in an efficiency apartment... which is fine for a normal person but not a CEO or chief-of-staff or whatever!

I'm pretty sure they call it a townhouse, which also doesn't make any sense. It's a condo.

I know it's the Hernandez kitchen repurposed, but Brady's new apartment feels so tight and claustrophobic that I can barely breathe when they're in there. This is the only place a multimillionaire with two kids can swing??

I've been fast-forwarding WAY more than I have ever allowed myself to. Usually I'll just let a boring episode play and do something else -- fold laundry, cook, clear out emails -- but lately I feel like I can watch the first 10 and last 10 minutes of an episode and get the drift. (Does make it harder to nitpick them on stupid details because I might have missed stuff, but my immediate sanity feels worth the trade-off.)

They did a nice job with Billy Flynn's farewell tour. I even got emotional in that final scene. He's been one of the constants for over a decade at this point. I'll miss Cary Christopher as Thomas, too -- one of the few memorable non-demon children I can ever recall on this show. This is possibly the most boring stalker storyline I have ever seen, though. To the characters' knowledge, has this stalker even DONE anything besides write some messages? Stephanie and Alex are constantly being lovey-dovey instead of seeming frightened or have anything happen to me, so it feels completely without teeth.

I have two episodes to catch up on and it feels like such a daunting task. I need to just put them on, buuuuut...

I don't MIND that they did this, because it was kind of dangling out there that he could be alive. Since the actor passed away ten years ago (!) and therefore we knew he wouldn't be returning, it didn't feel like that much of a loose end to me. However, I fear there is more stupidity coming as far as Stefano's legacy/"essence"/whateverthef*ck... I agree that it's time to move on. The idea of Stefano should always hang over people like Marlena, Roman, Hope, EJ, Kristen, etc., but he's dead. Make like Elsa and let it go, Days.

Never thought I'd say this, but I liked the little Roman moment when he got to say, "Checkmate, you old bastard" to Stefano's urn with the portrait looming over his shoulder. And that ending with the candles going out and Marlena turning, startled, to look at Stefano's portrait was nice. I know it isn't leading anywhere especially compelling, but good Friday ending!

They full-on have not mentioned him at all since 2012, when he came back for a minute and then left again.