Michael

That was Andre! See?! It's craziness.

They were cousins until 2015, and the story had been that Andre (Stefano's nephew) for some reason got plastic surgery to look just like Tony. Then in 2015, Andre showed up and was like, "Btw I found out I'm actually your son, Stefano!" They never explained it beyond that. You're both probably right. I know the "Plan to Save Days" stuff started around that time. The media blitz about JER returning definitely had a whiff of "we're gonna right this ship!" -- it felt like they had hit the "Break Glass in Case of Emergency" point by having him do double-duty with Passions. It also felt like Higley's stuff had barely aired when we found out JER was coming back, but that might be my memory warping things a bit.

Andre being four years younger than Tony is the most insane and random fact. They've never told us who his parents are, how he became Stefano's son, or what he looked like before having this radical surgery, but we know THAT!

Technically, never! DiMera Enterprises wasn't a thing until 2008-09. Tony "died" in 2009 (when Stefano was alive and running things) and didn't come back to life until 2019, and he's been very in-and-out since then. So I have no idea why he cares this much about "Faaaaaaaathuh"'s stupid company.

There was definitely something weird there. The talk has always been that C&B's show was too expensive, and Higley pitched a bible that was way more affordable and producible, but she was out almost as soon as she started. I think JER's arrival was the first "Plan to Save DAYS!"

Bo and Hope getting bonked at the fashion show was definitely the start of the SSK storyline. It was probably technically a transition week, but that was absolutely JER’s big return. The entire episode was like a hard reset of the show.

Thanks for the reminder about Tony and Anna. It’s seemed weird that they’ve mostly been in separate episodes.

Have Anna and Tony been in a single scene together since their return this past spring/summer?

DEAD. It's so true. I don't think it's unreasonable for Tate to want to know what actually happened to his child, or for Brady to want to know what happened to his grandchild. Especially since Sophia is very clearly lying about something. And now there's a very specific child who could actually be that child -- it doesn't seem crazy or unfair to want that information. I'm still unclear how Sophia would've been able to give up this baby for adoption without the legal consent of the biological father, but that's another story...

I... thought the Solana backstory worked? I mean, an exposition dump of that nature is always tough, but there have been SO many news stories about exhausted and disoriented parents leaving children in hot cars for an entire workday, leading to their deaths. It happens a LOT. The legal cases surrounding those incidents have received a lot of coverage. I definitely couldn't watch the whole thing play out onscreen, but as backstory that adds depth, I find it pretty compelling. I even thought the acting was okay? I think where it faltered is that we had almost no buildup to this. We had two mentions that Javi previously had a child, and then BAM. A normal person would probably go to that level of histrionics in revealing a story like that, but we didn't have weeks of intrigue and near-misses and half-truths before the whole thing came spilling out. That, and the pretty static way it was shot, really undercut the whole thing. Greg Rikaart had a great expression as Leo when he hugged Javi and then looked over his shoulder with this "Holy sh*t" look.

When that long promo video came out, I was sure that Thaao was playing Andre in those clips and that there had either been a switch or Tony had just been Andre all along. But now I'm not so sure. I kind of think they just decided to write Tony being more devious, and Thaao is playing the same way he played Andre from 2015-17 because he doesn't have a damn clue who Tony actually is, since they retconned half his life away and the actual Tony has done so little of consequence.

Nice to have confirmation on who's playing him. Thanks for posting!

Thanks! I didn't realize they divorced offscreen between the '84 exit and that Doug return. I'm actually surprised/relieved they didn't recast Julie with someone cheaper.

I'm so lost on what was Sheila and what wasn't and who was where when... I know the recent B&B years are all clearly canon but it's weird she's so fixated on Finn with no thought about any of the other kids.

Yeah, I thought Bo/Gabrielle actually kinda worked and was liked!

It's stupid/insane but honestly more plausible than half the sh*t this show tries to sell us. It's an adjunct position teaching a film class, and he directed a bunch of television just in the past year. Him working at Titan-DiMera was almost a bigger leap.

Bill Hayes also had that weird 1986 return without SSH where he... became mayor or something? Did they explain why Julie wasn't around for that?

I like the position they've put Marlena in with this. I wish they were doing more exploration of what a quandary it is, how she's justifying this decision, etc. The idea of Marlena and Kristen aligned to keep a secret is a juicy one -- I wanted to see more of their history in the scene between them. Let Marlena remind Kristen that they're only in this position because of Kristen's parenting and how warped Rachel's norms are. Have Kristen assume that Marlena likes seeing Kristen locked up. There's a lot to play there. They downplay their history so much since the recast. It's like Kristen is... I dunno, Nicole, someone who's been involved with Marlena's child and has caused problems, not a personal rival.

Leo Howard is JACKED. Whew! There were some interesting glimmers with Sophia today, about how "that's another thing that didn't work out." I feel like they're going to use that sense of being lost and depressed to make her cuckoo over Tate, but it's so inconsistent with how she's been since the recast in particular. More than anything, she seems like she wants to be done with all these people.

My guess would be a lack of continuity, honestly. That earlier beat didn't feel to me like it was setting up a medication dependency storyline, though maybe I'm forgetting some other beats. That whole thing yesterday was so weird -- these people who are constantly getting shot don't keep Ibuprofen in the house?! It felt like it existed mostly just to lay down some "clever" dialogue. But maybe there was an actual point to it! Gwen really does seem to just be moving in and out of random scenes.

It doesn't feel like they even have story for Gwen. It's like they wanted to give EOB a job, so they made her be the one to have the necklace, and they're just moving her around town bothering people with no real narrative.

This is so cool to see, Jason! Thanks for sharing.

I have no idea why they never built an interior for Sweet Bits. It could function as a bakery/coffee shop with a little table and chairs or a window bar. They should also have something like that inside the bookstore. I love the IDEA of a bookstore (and I personally love going to one), but it's the type of set you're going to have to twist yourself into knots to get characters coming into to have interactions with people they wouldn't seek out on their own.

Ooooh, I hadn't logged in all day and was NOT expecting a headline this comedic to greet me!

I feel like the new writers completely moved away from a possible Shawn/Jada pairing, and I'm not sure why. Now we have Rafe, Jada, and Shawn all floating around as single people anyway.