Good episode. Some comments.

God damn, Martha. That girl was killing me the way she was shaking and crying. I love her.

If I hear one more line about changing, I'll scream. People grow, they don't change. Say "grow up", people. I dare you. Same goes for "How could you let this happen?" lines. No one ever says it, and it's not even that filled with dramatic punch anymore. Drop it.

Poor Lucas. Good thing is if he suffered from ED, Sami'd never know with all these interruptions.

Getting sick of Bo. I want this SL to move on, man. In contrast, I floved John and Marlena today. So much romantic goodness and not complete fluff. The reality of why they were there never really left their minds.

Victor is so deliciously evil.

It was a solid show today.

Martha rocked. I loved the way she played it. The shaking, tears, etc-well done. Shawn can't stop putting his foot in his mouth but, thankfully, he made nice with Belle for the most part. Loved that Sami supported her sister and having Bo, Hope, Roman, and Victor there was nice.

John Aniston rocks. This is the Victor I love. Loved the reveal of him being behind the kidnapping at the end even though we all knew it. His scene with Phili-love it!!

Sami and Lucas are funny . Poor Lucas-it seems like he is always taking a cold shower. Loved his exchange with Kate over EJ and the one he had with Sami when she shoved food in his mouth to shut him up. Ali looked amazing today. Kate/EJ was pretty humorous too when he mentioned he wanted Sami to have his child.

I really want the Bope stuff to get moving. It is the weak link on the show right now because Hope is different in like every scene. I just hope we are near the end of this because I want to see the real Hope I know and love for more then just one scene,

J&M wwre just great. It wasn't corny or over the top. It was nicely done and just romantic. Dee and Drake were great and I loved the proposal and how we had the henchman watching them from afar. Nice scene there.

Tomarrow is looking good too.

Much better than yesterday!

I love Bo and Hope always going off together. I've been feeling the return of Hope's character, and today just sealed it. Hope has always been Bo's "subconcious" so to speak. She's always his voice of reason. When Bo went into EJ's office and made a complete ass out of himself, she was there to knock some sense into his head. That's the Hope I love. Taking charge

I can't get how you all think LUMI is now interesting. They're more boring than ever. I'm sick of the constant "I'm going to have sex with you." "No wait, we're going to have wait." "I want you so bad." ENOUGH ALREADY! I already hate these two as a couple. I really don't want to have to start hating the characters. Lucas isn't at the top of my list anyway. Don't make me start hating the gem (Sami) that brought me to DAYS

EJ was deliciously evil as always. Even though I have the biggest obsession with EJ/Sami, I can't help but to love when EJ is doing the dirty with Kate. In my sick and twisted mind, I want EJ to be with Sami, but it's okay for him to fool around with Kate on the side

The diner scenes were much better than yesterday. Martha Madison was more believable today. The tears were coming down. I'm loving this quick story resoluation. If Reilly was still here, we'd have this kidnapping taking place for the next month

Why are you all getting on Shawn? He acted like any father would. If I just found out that my daughter was "kidnapped" and she was being watched by the mother, who uncaringly left the child alone to answer a phone call, I would've snapped too. I would be pissed. Shawn had the right to blame Belle for this happening. She talks about how Shawn needs to be more responsible. What about you, Belle?

I love Victor K! It's been so long since DAYS has had a believable villain and John Aniston plays that role so well. The cold, chilling conversation he had with the lady that kidnapped Claire, loved it. And I love that they're keeping Victor in Philip's corner and not Shawn's. It would make me sick to my stomach if Victor was on Shawn's side and not his own son's.

And last, but certainly not least, John and Marlena They were very good today. The lovey-dovey scenes work for this couple so well. I would watch them kiss and have romantic nights throughout the year without them getting boring. The guy watching them was a great twist.

All in all, major upgrade from yesterday!

Ahhh, I love John and Marlena... I wanna marry 'em. Oops, too late. Esp that kiss along her neck and kissing her all over... Fantastic!

It's in character for Shawn to be accusing and judgemental. No big surprise there. I like Sami being there for Belle. Ali and Martha play well together as sisters, much more believable than Alison and Kirsten.

John and Marlena were nice to watch. Very calm and romantic, despite the mystery and danger. I also liked the music in their scenes as well.

The actress playing the kidnapper also did a good job. DAYS has been successful at casting day players and recurring characters.

I'm glad Kate told Lucas right away about EJ's plan. Stories need to move now before the end of the year. EJ is really creeping me out. If the writers do their job, this could be one of the best male villians the show will have since Stefano from the 80s-mid 90s.

I was SHOCKED that Kate went straight to Sami with EJ's plan. I have to assume it wasn't out of the goodness of her heart. She must be hoping Sami will resign when she hears about it so they won't have to work together.

LOL at Lucas: "If I stop now, I'll have to go to the hospital". There can't be much cold water left in that apartment.

It's great seeing Victor on a regular basis. And Martha Madison rocked today.

I, too, was shocked that Kate went straight to Lucas with EJ's plan to have a child with Sami, but so happy she did. Glad that is up front, out in the open and Sami will be fore-armed. Maybe Sami and Kate will start to care for each other when all this is over. I do love LUMI.

John and Marlena were my highlight. So romantic (a bit over the top but who cares LOL). It was romance and beautiful, loving couple.

The redhaired lady extra was supurb. Great work on her part. The Salem PD was it's usual Keystone self. Isn't it amazing that the kidnapped story came to a conclusion so quickly. Wow, I feel like we've been given a treat. Poor Belle. She knows real terror and exactly how quickly something can happen with a child. It was good of Bo and Hope to take her home with them. She needs warm, caring people around her now. Shawn seems to have got a wake-up call of his own.

Amazing Victor. I'm delighted that he is so caring of Philip but it is chilling how unconcerned he is with Belle and Shawn.

I agree that it's in character for Shawn to be angry and judgemental, but he knows Belle and he knows he's on thin ice and that she's a good mom. He had no place going off like he did. How is Belle uncaring because she answered a telephone call? That hardly makes her a neglectful mother.

He had no place going off like he did.

I have to disagree. He's the girl's father. He was acting natural.

How is Belle uncaring because she answered a telephone call? That hardly makes her a neglectful mother.

She left her daughter alone to answer a phone call. Couldn't she have just taken Claire over to the counter with her? When something like this happens, it's easy to blame the mother. On a normal, average day, yes, mothers do this all the time without thinking. But when something tragic happens, you tend to blame the mother for not watching the child.

It most likely will be a safe bet that Belle will be more conscientious of Claire's whereabouts from now on.

Shawn surely will appreciate the responsibility of being a mother after this experience, too.

Pretty good show today..First off i'm loving that Hogan is using Victor so often..and that he is leading this story...John Aniston is a legend and class act and its great that Victor has returned to the darker side...The reveal that he was behind the kidnapping to make Belle look bad was awesome...

I was really happy that we got to see Sami supporting Belle during the crisis..that never would have happened under JER..

EJ was great today..and is such a delicious villian..

And John and Marlena---very nice and romantic stuff...I liked the fountain legend...

One of the things that I've really appreciated during Hogie's time at Days is the interaction b/w family members, instead of characters just isolated in their own island with other characters in their story.

It was so nice to see Sami comforting Belle and sticking up for her against Shawn. It's nice to see Sami acting like an older sister. The scene was nice too b/c it used Will's "kidnapping" to show how both mothers had that emotional connection b/c of shared experiences. I liked how both sisters related to each other with this experience.

I also liked seeing Shawn say "I love you" to Hope as he was leaving the diner. Again, the family connection was great. It appears that there no longer is any estrangement b/w Shawn and his family (if there ever was if my Brash theory holds true).....

I found Bo/Hope's conversation at the end of the show when Hope kept asking if it was over very interesting. If what was over? I think that line of conversation is part of the Brash theory.

The EJ stuff was intriguing to me. On a superficial note, I really like the Mystic set--much better than Basic Black actually. I like the warmer colors. Actually I've noticed that the colors for the Mystic set and the scenes with EJ/Kate/Sami especially have been very vivid. Even Marlena's dress was a vivid blue. I really like how stark the colors have been lately. Nice touch.

Finally, I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I really enjoyed Lucas today. His passive aggressive tendencies were in full display on Wednesday's show. He told Sami on Tuesday's show that he was fine with her taking the Mystic job, but on Wednesday we saw him acting petulent, grumpy etc. I absolutely loved it.

Anyway, I really liked yesterday's show. Actually, I think this whole week has been one of HS' best so far during his tenure at Days... Hope it continues....