DAYS: Monday, June 18

[PhoenixRising05]

The episode itself was a solid Monday episode. Typically, you do your most exciting episodes at the end of the week (like Days did last week) and then resolve and build things on Monday and early in the week. That was how soaps did things in the old days. That doesn't excuse a show being boring but it means that earlier in the week is typically not as exciting.

However, I thought today had good suspense and was hardly boring. Of course, with so much talking with the EJ/Sami/Lucas stuff thrown in I think it tended to slow things down whereas on Thursday and Friday we had nonstop action. Plus, I think those of us that know what is coming got caught up in that and it makes us less excited about the here and now.

The EJ/Sami/Lucas stuff was ok and good buildup. It was well-acted and necessary and I loved the end cliffhanger with the ticking in the garbage bag. I was wondering what was with that damn bag. Days has been giving us alot of old fashioned cliffhangers lately. Love that. Also liked Will's appearance. I think that is the first time I have seen Will talk of a girl in his life

Philip/Belle/Shawn was pretty good. Glad the story is resolved and loved the father mix up. JKJ and Philip are much better like this and I love that we have residual issues to deal with. This story has me excited now that Claire is back. All three can act and have chemistry so I am ok with this. I would rather see them then the teens (ironic as they were once teens but whatever).

The Bo/Hope stuff with the bomb was funny and I am so glad J&M were involved and in scenes with Doug and Julie. Love seeing D&J appearing so much. The explosion wasn't that bad. Yeah it looked bad SFX wise but I thought the tone of the scene and the aftermath was good. With Wyman in charge, I honestly expected worse. It was good they actually had Bo get hurt so it wasn't a total waste and I never thought of how this was a warning. I'm glad John mentioned how the beeping gave him, Bo, and Hope time to duck. I never noticed that.

On a side note, the J&M flashback was unnecessary and useless. Days has been doing this a bit lately and before we hardly got flashbacks other then for important reasons. They need to cut down on this and the slow motion with Claire was ridiculous and not needed. Other then that, the episode was solid for a Monday IMO. Can't wait for the rest of the week even though tomorrow looks like a teen day

[Days4Life]

Today was an okay episode. I loved the Bo/Hope stuff and as always, love having Doug and Julie around. I would be so happy if they stay around Salem and pop up now and then, maybe even reopen Doug's Place. My first memories of DAYS center around D/J so they are sentimental favorites of mine and their real life love story makes it even better. John was a little annoying today, as was the flashback. Stop the flashbacks!

Lucas is driving me absolutely nuts. Screaming, ordering everyone around, punching EJ with no provocation--he's making ME want to scream and punch someone. I think I'm going to have to start muting his scenes. And what's with him constantly telling police officers to shoot EJ? EJ should have Lucas arrested for assault. It's obvious what the writers are doing with Lucas's character, but we don't have to be hit over the head with it every day.

I kept wondering what the deal was with that bag of trash Sami was lugging around, but the cliffhanger surprised me. I didn't expect a bomb triple threat! If this is all Tony's doing, like EJ implied today, I'm even more convinced that Tony is going to end up actually being Andre.

I'm glad the Claire saga is over. I felt bad for Shawn when Claire ran to Philip. It would be impossible for him not to feel some resentment and jealousy over Philip's place in her life so I'm sure we'll be seeing that played out. Wonder if they will stay in the Kiriakis mansion still? If so, that's a big setup for disaster.

[DrewH]

How cute was Claire today? When she walked into that room and screamed, "Mommy!" It looked like she wanted to run to the other woman, but Belle intercepted her, which caused the baby to start crying. I can't believe Claire's walking. She grew up so damn fast!

[brimike]

Yeah, tomorrow has the teens. But it's also got a lot of Sami/Lucas and John/Marlena/Bo/Hope. Let's hear it for balance, even if it includes balancing stories that we don't necessarily like.

[heatherwebber]

Today & Friday were both closer to what the show ought to be. I'm loving Doug & Julie.

All the balance in the world isn't going to help me accept trashy slutty Stephanie.

[PSPCindy]

Anyone else get the idea the writers are using Screamy McChipmunk to telegraph the idea that EJ will indeed get shot? I don't know of any character who has been more annoying lately. And I am pretty sick of the mouth that could using EJ for a punching bag. Yes, writers, I get it. You have made me detest Lucas. Even WillHo was less obnoxious before her better late than never demise.

I so want to see Julie out of the mint green outfit. Two days in the tunnel would have been enough. Where are the DiMeras?

Are we treading water again?

[holo37]

Yeah Stephanie's going overboard with her PDA'S. But since she is only having sex with her devirginator, I would hardly call her slutty. Rebellious, bratty and completely immature? hell yeah! but I reserve slutty for doing seveal guys at once. YMMV as always.

[KevC1980]

Pretty good show..I'm glad they wrapped up the Claire kidnapping story...It will be nice to see them all back in salem, hopefully Victor will be more involved with their story if they are living at the mansion...The tunnel scenes were good, i loved Bope going back and forth about which wire to cut...The bomb special effects were lame, but at least it was over quick..and i'm glad someone got injured, even if its just a broken leg...

Also it was nice seeing john and marlena involved in the action, hope that continues for them...Lucas, Sami, and EJ were pretty boring today, but at least we got a cliffhanger ending...

I'm really looking forward to the brady/dimera family meetings later this week...

[Pest Spray]

John & Marlena, Bo & Hope and Doug & Julie, AWESOME. My fab four are back!

The flashback was real. Happened in January or February. But unnecessary IMO. And Bo and Hope are so effing cute right now. Not AS cute as John & Marlena are, but damn they are cute.

[heatherwebber]

I said Stephanie is slutty because all she ever thinks about or talks about or more likely yells about is sex sex sex. She's annoying as hell. She's driving me away from the show. I've never been as irritated with a character as with this version of Stephanie and that's really saying something. She's so bad in fact that I'm almost crying out for the return of that horrible character Willow we just got rid of. Willow was far less annoying, again really saying something.

I can't say she's the only yeller on the show. They're making Lucas into a shrill shrieky mess. They finally toned down Philip & EJ which was a huge undertaking because they'd both become annoyingly prone to trying to throw their weight around instead of acting sane and intelligent.

But overnight Stephanie went from an intelligent interesting "unique voice" to a trampy brain-dead nymphomaniac who yells, pouts and otherwise adds nothing of value to the show.

The show definitely needs some tweaking in the writing department in addition to a look back at former casting quickly.

[PhoenixRising05]

I don't know how one could even say we are threading water when so much is happening on a daily basis. The past two months has seen LUMI wedding, Lumi honeymoon, John waking up, end of the island story, search for Claire, Claire found, Dimera story moving at a breakneck pace, D&J return, Lexie returns, etc. Mid-January-April was threading water. This is fast pace storytelling.

As for the Dimeras, they will be on. The show is more balanced now and I like that they aren't just shoving people down our throats everyday. The show is on fire right now and it will continue to see it's situation improve as long as this continues. Everything is top notch right now IMO. Jeremy is the only weak link.

[DrewH]

Jeremy and Stephanie are weak links. Lets not forget Stephanie.

[PhoenixRising05]

Well, I don't find her as bad as some. I like the actress and I was very happy with the inner hurt they showed in her scenes last week. We saw vulnerability so I can't include her as a weak link when we have plastic Ken doll running around who is much worse then she could ever be.

To me, Stephanie should've been like this to start but whatever.

[Keith]

Stephanie's shown potential, but that doesn't make her not a weak link, IMO. The show is on fire so something that simply has potential falls flat. The whole Nick, Chelsea, Jett thing is no better. And not to mention screeching Bryan Dattilo.

[PhoenixRising05]

I feel Nick/Chelsea/Jett has great potential and has not been messed up yet. I do think the show is so good right now that Stephanie is looking worse then she actually is. I know I am in the minority but I wouldn't call her a weak link. She is not a asset right now but I think she is in between.

Jeremy is atrocious and Bryan Dattilo needs to do something. Even if they are writing him that way, he is doing the same crap JKJ did earlier this year. He needs to tone it down big time.