DAYS: Lucas & Sami have received the official "Kiss of Death!"

[IMissAremid]

And those are the exact same reasons I root for EJ and Sami. The wild ride. Their ride is just beginning. The two of them started out as friends, became enemies, and now they're starting to become friends again. Can't wait to see what's next for them. As for Lucas and Sami, their ride is pretty much over with Lucas standing by her at the wedding. The only way I can see Lucas and Sami would become enemies again (which is when they have their best chemistry IMO) is if Sami cheats or Lucas thinks Sami cheats and Sami dumps him. And if Sami cheated then I don't think they could become friends again and certainly never romantic again. The Lucas and Sami ride is no longer wild and I don't see how it could be again.

I don't want to see Sami a cartoon either. But at her core, Sami is selfish and shrewd and is only guilty about what she's done if she thinks she's going to be caught or has been caught for as much as much as she whines about just wanting to be loved and accepted by her family. As if Sami hasn't attacked EVERYONE she claims to love from her parents to her children to her sister without provocation or explanation in the past? Obviously not on the same scale as the DiMeras, but she has. I don't see why being with EJ or developing feelings for EJ again would make her stop being that complicated antiheroine who struggled with her holier-than-thou family. A big part of the reason I root for EJ and Sami is last fall's "anti-Brady" episode where EJ encouraged her to stand up to her family and Sami wound up drunk and belligerent at Carrie and Austin's wedding.

Maybe because Sami has always been about the thrill of the chase? Sami has never had a man stand by her before so who is to say how she will react to that. She's always been about planning that next wedding or hatching that next scheme or getting that next guy to fall in love with her. Yeah she says this happily ever after/happy family thing is all she's ever wanted, but she's often confused about what she really wants and oh yeah, she lies. A lot.

And this Sami loves Lucas stuff. Yeah. I agree. She loves him. But I don't get where there is some unshakable, nothing can ever come between us love there on Sami's part. Maybe now on Lucas's part but not hers. Not after her making such a fool of him all those months she lied about what happened the night she saved his life and not after she chose to drug him over telling him the truth. And even refused to tell him the truth when she found out EJ was alive and only considered telling him once it was clear that Lucas was going to find out anyway. I mean, I am trying to come up with any point in this latest Lucas and Sami courtship where we got to see Sami have this epiphany that Lucas is the one she wanted. Instead it's been more like, "Gee, I don't want to be alone and this will make Will and my family happy so I hope Lucas will have me." The way I see it she wound up with Lucas by default because of the way things went sour with her and EJ.

[Toups]

"He raped her."

"Ohh....who cares....they have such great chemistry."

"He also shot John, stole his kidney, brainwashed Steve, sent Steve to kill Bo and Shawn......"

"Chemistry!"

Chemistry always trumps rape and any evil doings. Kinda sad, but true.

I wish things would've been different, wished that EJ didn't rape her because I like the two together. If Hogan wanted to pair EJ/Sami, why did he have him rape her? Did he not expect them to be good together? Was he going for a Luke/Laura feel?

I'm also sad to see that Hogan's using the "make a bigger, badder, more evil villain to make the other bad guy more sympathetic and good" trick. It's a cheap ploy to redeem someone.

I also like Sami/Lucas because of their history. We've watched them for the past 14 years and saw how their relationship evolved. I also don't see how they are like Bro/Sis at all.

[Cheyenne]

The Lumi fans have been waiting for them to really be together for more then a decade. I think they (we) finally deserve some silly romance just for a little while.

What I've been loving with Lucas latley is how he tells mother Kate off. She plays the guilt card but he doesn't buy it anymore. Also I've always liked Sami better when she's with Lucas. Somehow she's kind of annoying and not so smart otherwise. lol

[SpiritualJunkie]

Well, yeah. Even if you created a good, healthy dynamic between two characters...if they lack the chemistry, then it's no fun watching. Now, I'm not sure if TPTB underestimated how well Scott and Sweeney work together but I'd hate to see the potential go to waste. Story-wise...there's so much that could be done.

It also shows that they're human and have their own fears. I don't think it's cheap at all. Of course, I want the rootable bad guy to recognize his own mistakes somewhere down the road.

Yet people like to sweep under the rug that he used their son to try and kill her. The number of years they've been telling the Lucas/Sami story doesn't really matter to me because they just lack the "it" factor, IMO.

[billyjill]

Keith once again I find myself totally in love with your post, pretty much the whole thing. You can't just ditch whatever and ignore what's been happening over the last decade just because. That's so not soap opera. Honestly, if you think the simple answer is to burn bridges every time something is older than 2 minutes, you'll never build anything. Yeah maybe Bill Bell should've ditched Doug and Julie after year three, lord knows that never amounted to anything

I'm all for twists and turns and shocks, but all I will say is if they do make Lumi undesirable for the future, that's really not very good soap. They have already gone quite far enough in writing them out of character, and a ten year history deserves more attention IMO. The fair thing is to truly make both legs of the triangle interesting, and then when it is time to resolve the triangle (and a writer worth their salt will know when that is, neither too soon or too late) take the audience's temperature and go with the fans' vote.

I do not think very highly of Hogan's relationship writing skills and I doubt that the triangle will be a truly good one. Like Keith, if they do go for it I'm fairly positive it'll be really poorly done. EJ and Lucas will alternatingly be sacrificed for each other just to prolong the situation out; that's the best this show can do really since it cares so little about quality characterization and depth.

[Ann_SS]

I know what is going to happen. The Lucas/Sami/EJ will heat up and as usual the Days' ratings won't budge or will decrease. The male attacker/female victim romance is so passé. Good writing not gimmicky romances entertains the audience.

[Days4Life]

This is an argument that will probably go on as long as Sami, Lucas and EJ are all on the show because there are so many sides to the situation. I loved Sami and Lucas together back in the 90s, but the writers put them through so much and had them do so many horrible things to each other that I gave up. Lucas's fascination with Carrie last year was the straw that broke the camel's back, for me. He was so over the top in love with Carrie and treated Sami so badly, and then in the blink of an eye he was over Carrie and loved Sami again. I haven't felt any real chemistry between them for a long time (and being that this is a soap, chemistry is very important); however, in EJ's first scene with Sami, sparks ignited. I think the writers made a huge mistake with the rape, but Sami and Lucas have done many evil things to each other and a lot of Lumi fans overlook all that. Sami and Lucas at various times hated each other to the point that they were willing to kill each other....should we come up with some sort of scale to grade their sins to decide who deserves who?

I feel for the Lumi fans. They have waited over a decade for this marriage to happen, and then it was rushed through in a couple of episodes. But in the situation DAYS finds itself right now, with 2009 approaching rapidly, they need dramatic, fiery, passionate love stories--and I just don't see that happening with Lucas and Sami.

[Ponz]

And that's exactly what it would be: a gimmick. Even if one ignores the rape, I've yet to read a viable, character-based scenario that justifies Sami being torn between the two men. It's telling that 80 posts on and not one poster has refuted the claim that Sami is a loyal & faithful character (ie. she doesn't cheat). If it was/is Hogan's plan to write a conventional love triangle, why did he allow the wedding to go through? He could have had Lucas dump her at the altar and then have Elvis swoop in to pick up the pieces. As much as this would have sucked, its preferable to Sami committing the one act that goes totally against the core of the character.

[Euclid219]

I have watched Days of Our Lives since before I could walk, but I haven't posted in a Days thread since last September when I was not so politely told that I was a fool for rooting for a pairing of EJ and Sami. I believed then and I still do that Alison Sweeney and James Scott have the best on-screen chemistry that DOOL has seen in over a decade. It compares favorably to Steve and Kayla, Bo and Hope, and yes, even GH's Luke and Laura. I had this opinion last summer, and it had nothing to do with the male attacker/female victim cliche that the two have since been saddled with. I was offended by the writers having EJ rape Samantha, and I still am. If the show had the time and money to cast new people to convincingly and charismatically pair EJ and Sami with, then that would be my choice. However, they don't. The show needs a red hot couple and they need them now. Last September, I took the word of all the Lumi fans when they said that Lucas and Sami were the money couple. I didn't appreciate their tone, but I had been a Lumi fan in the past and I did try to enjoy the hand that the show was dealing the audience. (The Lumi wedding did have some nice moments, and the clips were wonderful.) But after nearly six months of pathetic ratings and after the Memorial Day scenes in the car, I have to say that I no longer care how convoluted the retcon is, EJami has to happen. They are where the chemistry is, they are where new stories can be told and they are where new viewers can be found.

[Angie79]

I think that James and Ali having amazing chemistry too. I really wish they wouldn't have done the whole rape storyline....

[KLN]

Let me just pop in here to say that I still like aspects of LUMI. I'm not 100% pro-EJAMI and 100% anti-LUMI. I'm just saying that if I'm supposed to like Lucas and Sami as the rooting couple, changes will have to be made.

Either way, I'm not a "fanbase" boy. I like certain couples, but my likes and dislikes shift so often that I can never categorize myself, because by the time next week rolls around I will have contradicted myself nine times, LoL.

[IMissAremid]

Then you haven't been reading the posts very carefully or you simply disagree with them. It's not true that character-based arguments haven't been made. As I and others have said in this thread, the character of Sami is capable of forgiving a lot when it comes to her relationships as demonstrated by her falling in love with and marrying Lucas after all the fighting they have done and despite all the problems that his family (Kate) has caused for her. And just because she says she hates a man with every fiber of her being one moment doesn't mean she won't be claiming to love him with every ounce of her soul sometime in the future. THIS HAPPENED WITH LUCAS so why not with EJ?

She could become torn between EJ and Lucas for lots of reasons. Starting with the possibility her thoughts about EJ could change after the intense situations they're put in over the next few weeks where EJ is standing up for her against his family, something she didn't previously think he was willing to do. Maybe Lucas does something to piss her off that makes her like him less. In the past, Sami did find EJ attractive and she did want to be with him romantically, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that those feelings could resurface should she forgive him and befriend him even if she doesn't ever act on them.

I thought what Sami told EJ when they were talking about the rape on her honeymoon was pretty telling: "Hating you keeps me safe." Safe from what? IMO I took that to mean safe from having to deal with all the complications that result from being friends with/loving him.

Sami says she's a loyal and faithful character and I am not expecting her to have an affair with EJ while still married to Lucas. But you never know. She often does things that totally contradict what she says. And we've never seen married Sami so IMO anything's possible. I wouldn't have expected Marlena to cheat on Roman either.

In addition, I thought it was interesting that when Sami got busted for drugging Lucas the night she met at the cabin with EJ that she never volunteered the information that the way she got EJ to meet her at that cabin was by making out with him on Lucas and Sami's wedding couch. IMO the fact that she kept their makeouts a secret means it was cheating. Maybe not marriage-ending/breakup-necessitating cheating, but cheating just the same.

How would that be a conventional love triangle? Isn't the conventional love triangle one where the woman and/or man is married to or decides to marry the wrong person and then we get to watch as they try to find their way back to the person we want them to be with? In my case that would be she screwed up marrying Lucas and now she's finding her way back to EJ. Obviously that would be flipped for you if they decided to turn this all on its head having EJ and Sami get close all summer and then make the baby Lucas's and that would be how Lucas and Sami reconnect. There's A LOT about this story and these pairings that's unconventional, but to me it seems like they are following a classic triangle formula underneath all the weird specifics that go along with this storyline.

[KLN]

IMA, do you know why this same thread on the NBC board was deleted?

I posted in it, asking why EJami fans aren't allowed to make threads such a this one... there were a few replies... then poof. Gone! They also put the EJami thread on lockdown, and dis-allowed anyone from creating a new one. WTF?!

That board is ruled by Nazis, I swear! LoL

[IMissAremid]

LOL. Welcome to my world, Kenny. I know it's a stretch to seek impartiality from a board that has moderators who use banners that say things like "EVIL EJ RAPIST" or "EJ WELLS MUST DIE" but I foolishly did once, too.

The thing with that place is if you post something questioning any mod decision about a thread having anything to do with EJami it gets zapped. And if you do this with an EJami banner under your name it usually warrants a suspension for "bashing mods." I don't understand it but a PM I got from one of the mods there before the thread went down the last time informed me that the EJami thread doesn't always get locked for the actual posts in it, but because of some perceived general unruliness of the EJami fanbase and their need to "send them a message" because they think it's more effective than handing out individual suspensions to the people who break their rules. Of course this same PM had the mod telling me I was "one of the few good ones" and I got suspended less than 24 hours later so who knows. LOL.

I can only assume this powertripping will get worse as the show improves for fans of EJami.

But back on topic...

I thought today's Lucas and Sami scenes were interesting in terms of what they mean for the couple now and for the future. On one hand, it was interesting seeing Lucas and Sami sitting at a table with Bo and Hope and John and Marlena as if Days was saying hey, Lucas and Sami is a supercouple just like these guys.

But on the other hand, Lucas was presented as kind of a controlling jerk in the scene not believing Sami that EJ was actually a good guy for once, not respecting her wish that they keep her encounter with Tony a secret, pressuring her to go along with Bo's plan to use her as bait for another EJ sting, not letting her get out of the booth to talk to EJ and Sami having the beg Lucas to LET HER talk to EJ for a couple minutes. Ugh. Of course Bo and John were written the same way arguing with their wives about things. It'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

[IMissAremid]

OK I think it's worth revisiting this thread after we've seen EJ rescue Sami like 3 times since the thread was created AND now today we have Stefano raising the possibility of EJ and Sami marrying.