DAYS: The Glossing over of EJ Wells

[IMissAremid]

ICAM. The gloved hand also revealed the truth to Carrie that she was really able to have kids with Austin so the two of them would no longer have to stay with people they didn't love under false pretenses. And it halted Sami's wedding to Austin when she would have been marrying a man who had cheated on her with her sister. Abe deserved to know that Lexie was cheating so I don't feel bad for her that the gloved hand busted her on it. And not everything that we know EJ did during the summer was bad. Sure some of it he had his own agenda working but it was good that he got Lexie to get a retest on her cancer and EJ was right the entire summer he was telling Sami to just come clean about everything and take away the power from her blackmailer, but she just wouldn't listen. EJ also rescued Lucas from the fire in Carrie and Lucas's apartment while Austin was too preoccupied with Carrie to help Sami get him out of the fire.

I am a fairly new poster so I'm just curious if there was a thread here at SON sometime in October of last year that talked about the glossing over of Lucas Roberts? Because the writing also did to a total 180 then in order to villainize EJ in Lucas's stead to prop Lumi and it's unfair to not at least acknowledge what was done to EJ back then while complaining what the show is doing to Lucas now. I would have much rather have had a real triangle and I agree it's bad, lazy writing to just ping pong back and forth with one guy as total jerk and one as total sweetheart, but it has happened to both sides of this triangle. EJ had been the supportive friend throughout all of Sami's troubles last summer while Lucas took every opportunity to run her down to Austin and EJ and rub his espoused happiness with Carrie in her face every chance he got. Then they 180'd EJ to make him a bad guy and threw away all the romance and intrigue that had been building all summer in EJ and Sami's relationship just because Hogan Sheffer had a thing for Lauren Koslow and wanted to put Lumi together even if it meant throwing them together haphazardly and he decided to pin all the gloved hand crap on EJ when it was originally supposed to be Tek or Jan Spears even if EJ being responsible for all of it didn't really make sense based on other things we had seen in the storyline.

That's not totally accurate. Yes he was a sadistic bastard a majority of the time. And it's not right that he was. But there were other moments that gave viewers clues that EJ really did love Sami but was just treating her the way he was because he was hurt by her rejection and didn't want to let her see that he did care for her because he didn't want to give her the power to hurt him. There were often moments in those scenes even when he was being cruel where he would see how she was feeling and soften to her and be honest with her. Some that come to mind are when he admitted to Sami AND Lucas that he was in love with Sami but had the maturity of a 15-year-old so didn't want anyone else to get his girl and that is why he was behaving the way he was. Or when he upset Sami at her wedding shower and when he realized what he did he got on his knees and wiped away her tears. Or when he came in to her hospital room and found her freaking out and they both let down their walls for a short period of time while EJ helped Sami breathe and calm down. And I would argue that EJ was actually quite fair when he confronted Sami about the forged amnio and gave her an out saying he wanted her to tell Lucas there was a 50-50 chance he was the father. Yet Sami said that Lucas would leave her if she did that, so rather than do the logical thing and tell the truth instead she chose to seduce EJ and make him think she wanted to marry him all so she could go along with some stupid murder plot.

Finally, even if you weren't convinced by the scene, there was a moment before Sami and Lucas's honeymoon when Sami told him she had lied about the kid being his where we got EJ's epiphany that led to the change we see in him now. We saw EJ flashing back to Sami's seduction and him realizing that she had played him once again about her wanting him and the baby being his and while he was devastated he admitted to Kate he still loved her and always would. That's when he realized he would have to change his ways. That is certainly more of an explanation that we have gotten for some of the big changes to other characters.

[Keith]

Aremid, I've been no big fan of the rushed LUMI reunion. I think that Sami and EJ should have been explored far longer. Lucas should have bee removed from Sami's orbit for a while. But, what's done is done. And the same goes with EJ. I don't like either case, and feel that their characters have suffered as a result.

[Andre]

Anyone who thinks his crimes have been washed over hasn't watched today's episode yet. Marlena and Sami discussed the rape, the fact it did happen, and the fact she had a gun to her head -- and they discuss how they want revenge.

[Keith]

Yeah -- and it's about damned time.

[Skin]

I don't agree with EJ's crimes being glossed over. If they were then we wouldn't hear Sami telling EJ every time there together that he raped her. Nor would we see The Brady bunch constantly looking for ways to put him behind bars. How many times has the Brady bunch played "kick the EJ" these past few weeks literially as well as figuretively. I don't agree. Moreover I very much disagree about EJ's 180 character change. Yes his character has changed several times. However I think it's been realistic and gradual. All of his changes have made sense due to the various storyline changes over the past few months.

I think that's the big problem with this whole rape/bargain sex storyline. The fact that Sami only thought about Lucas's reaction and that pretty much seemed to be her main problem. How Lucas would feel, how Lucas would react and how Lucas would leave her, ect. Sami sure as heck didn't have a problem going toe to toe with EJ various times. She many times would go over to his place or she would be alone with him for various amounts of time and not be worried or scared at all. I just can't imagine a rape victim wanting to be alone with her rapist for any reason for any amount of time in an enclosed room. She even had EJ in her bedroom. She drove to a cabin to be alone with him. There are jut so many things wrong there if they were going for the rape storyline. She is simply to close to him and around him too much for this to be plausiable. It's a sticky situation no doubt. I don't believe Sami wanted to have sex with him. But I can't see her as a rape victim because I just can't buy her spending so much time with him. It boggles the mind. I just can't wrap my mind around Sami going over to his apartment. If this is a rape storyline then I don't think it was written well. Sami's reaction to EJ as her rapist just doesn't make sense.

I also can't see how EJ would see it as rape. Sami even came on to him and was affectionate with him while she was scheming to kill him. Sami feels more then comfortable being around EJ. In his apartment, meeting him at remote cabins, and being in an intimate setting such as her bedroom. Alone no less.

I don't see it as a 180. I think EJ changed when Sami and Lucas married. I saw it as that was the situation that softened him and made him change. I also think that it was his feelings for Sami that made him go up against Tony and Tony's action's have made him see that he wants to stop this fued that he has no idea why he is fighting. Sami's life is in danger as well as his child's. I think that's what made him change. I think that's realistic. Sami was never in real danger before.

I agree

I agree. EJ mostly just hounded Sami about the baby's paternity. It wasn't until after Sami tried to kill him that he scared her by injecting her with some type of substance to pay her back for trying to kill him. But we always saw that EJ wanted Sami and wanted to be a family with her. Which was why he started to change for her. Which was why he was so sad when Sami faked those amnio results and told him he wasn't the dad.