DAYS: Monday, Oct. 1

[IMissAremid]

Monday, Oct. 1
DAYS OF OUR LIVES

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DOOL Classic Clip o' the day: Lucas tells Sami she's "dirt" after Brandon leaves her

Today on DAYS:
-Lucas pleads with Sami not to end their marriage
-Stefano fills in Kate on the deal he's brokered
-Steve seeks to confront Stefano for Benjy's death
-Andre shows up at the pub with an explosive surprise for Sami and EJ

Discuss.

[brimike]

RE: Bryan Datillo Rage Watch '07

I was worried in those first few scenes, but wow, did BD come through when the tears sprung. I don't know if this is Ed Scott, or Noel Maxam or Kathy Foster's doing, and I don't care. I'm loving every second of it. Not to sound like a broken record, but he's really a character I can love again at the moment.

[YRBB]

Wow, caught a little bit of DOOL today and it really is better! The dialogue, the acting, the lighting! It even looks like Y&R now!

[IMissAremid]

What a terribly frustrating episode.

Though the technical improvements are still brilliant, the characters I like best got screen time and I think the actors are giving it their all, the show pissed me off A LOT today and it all had to do with the writing and the high horses they had Lucas Roberts and Bo Brady riding on throughout the episode.

Starting with Bo...

Um, Bo? You do know that Benjy wouldn't be dead if you had just let EJ willingly donate his liver to Stefano right? That if you hadn't tried to arrest EJ on bogus charges to halt the surgery that Benjy wouldn't have been gutted for his liver, Benjy wouldn't have been so angry afterward he tried to kill Stefano and thus Andre wouldn't have retaliated by killing Benjy? No? You didn't know that, Bo? Neither do the DOOL writers apparently since they didn't let EJ point that out. Ugh. SO SICK OF THE WHITE-HATTING AND THE BRADY SANCTIMONY. More than anything else this Brady-DiMera feud storyline has disappointed me in that it hasn't allowed the Bradys to be at fault for anything ever but only reinforced this show's worst habits in scapegoating the DiMeras for all of the problems of everyone in Salem.

Now for Lucas...

I know I've bitched about this character a lot in the past but today was the first day since Ed Scott took over that I found my seething, burning, overwhelming hatred for Lucas Roberts rising back to the surface.

First of all, I get that Kate deserves to be disowned, but why is it that they have to have Lucas disowning Kate for something she had nothing to do with (Stefano's arranged marriage for Sami and EJ) rather than the show giving viewers the satisfaction of seeing Kate getting sweet comeuppance of her being disowned and retaliated against following the reveal of her machinations earlier this summer to blackmail Nick to make EJ look like he was the father and almost get her grandchildren aborted? Because seeing Lucas disown Kate for something she didn't do and without the knowledge of the really awful thing she did in blackmailing Nick isn't satisfying and just makes me think Lucas is a douchebag the same way I did when he shoved cake in Kate's face for the picture of EJ and Sami at the wedding that was all EJ's doing, just as I thought he was a douchebag for the way he put his mother in the situation of thinking she needed to turn to Stefano for money because Lucas had sabotaged her company by turning the SEC onto Mythic and driven her to bankruptcy. Of course Kate forgave Lucas because she has unconditional love for him, as screwed up and controlling as that unconditional love is, but once again we have her reward for opening her arms and heart to her son being a door slammed in her face. Ugh.

My objections to Monday's Lumi scenes are not really so much having to do with Lucas just showing anger or wanting to convince Sami to stay with him (although the yelling being back as much as it was and the VANdetta rather than VENdetta did grate a bit). I actually had a lot of high hopes for this scene based on the spoilers but I had those hopes dashed because of the way they have Lucas going about pleading with Sami, the way they are setting up this dynamic to make Lucas the saintly righteous victim and Sami the clueless, fickle girl being seduced by the big bad DiMeras. It's the same crap they did with the Santeen story with the Bradys/church as the saintly righteous victim deigning to forgive the clueless, fickle girl that was Colleen seduced by the big bad DiMera and it's obnoxious. I hate seeing Sami this way just as much as I did Colleen.

It's also disingenuous for the writers to completely ignore Lumi's history and try to pretend like Lucas has always stood by Sami in the past and put those words in his mouth with Sami NOT challenging that when that is so far from the case and he has humiliated and abandoned her MANY times in the past and in a much more rash, heartless and devastating way than what Sami is doing now as she considers leaving him to do what she thinks she has to do to save her family. It's hypocritical and total BS for Lucas to act like what Sami is doing putting her family before him is something he would never do when time and time again (Franco Kelley framing, Will doll, etc...) Lucas put his mom before Sami and despite him doing so she has not held that against him. Seeing Sami just absorb all this hypocrisy and BS from Lucas without her calling it out just makes me want to vomit, because even if EJ spews a lot of the same sort of hypocrisy and BS from time to time, Sami calls him on it every time. And as a matter of fact that is one of the things I love most about EJami.

What I hate about Monday's episode is I feel like we are back to getting Sami as the Stepford wife in terms of how she is talking about her feelings with Lucas and I hate that they have set up this dynamic in the story so that of all times they have to go and show Sami having feelings for EJ NOW so that if Sami decides to marry her rapist to try to save the lives of her family that she will be VILLIFIED by 50 percent of DOOL fans when she is doing one of the first selfless things of her entire screwed up, self-centered life as they will extend all of their sympathy to put-upon poor, poor Saint Lucas.

I know a lot of people feel horrible for Lucas for Sami thinking of leaving him, but I don't. I can't. For one thing, I can't figure out whether Lucas actually believes his wife that she was raped and I don't get the sense that if he ever felt sorry or supportive of what she went through that he still does. I don't get the sense that he appreciates what Sami did FOR HIM in saving HIS life. Because one second Lucas is throwing the rape in Sami's face and the next he is accusing his wife of having feelings for her rapist. If he does believe she was really raped WOW that is really insensitive to keep bringing up this trauma over and over and also insensitive to screw with her head that way of accusing her of being in love with her rapist. And if we are supposed to think Lucas does NOT believe Sami that she was raped then they should just have Lucas come out and say it because it would be a really powerful and emotional scene and it would be logical given all of Lucas and Sami's trust issues past and present. Of course, that wouldn't allow the show to continue to let poor, poor put-upon Saint Lucas tug at our heart strings, but I think it would be a lot more true to Lucas's character and if Lucas did doubt Sami that she was raped at this point I would understand it.

I mean I could have dug the Lucas and Sami scenes on Monday *IF* instead of Lucas continuing to demonstrate how Sami having submitted to sex with EJ affects HIM and whining about how Sami considering marrying the man she slept with only to save his worthless, ungrateful life would affect HIM and hurt HIS feelings that Lucas expressed more concern about how Sami going forward with that would hurt HER and had made his case for Sami not going along with the DiMera's terms because the Brady family doesn't deserve her sacrifice after all the ways they have cast her out in the past and it isn't worth it to live her life trying to gain their elusive approval because at least that would be recognizing who Sami really has been at her core in the past - a selfish, badass bitch - and at least that would have someone pointing out the Brady's sanctimony. But nope, Hogan is obsessed with the Bradys being the good guys and his vision of Lumi as this fairy tale supercouple they never were and Sami as this watered down weepy heroine so that to complete her "redemption" she apparently has to continue to do penance for all of her past sins by being a selfless martyr for her family in marrying EJ the same way she was a martyr for Lucas when she submitted to sex with EJ in that car back in December.

It's just AWFUL and sexist as hell IMO what they are doing to Sami this way in that in her "redemption" at no point has she matured enough to have given up any of her pathetic desperation for approval or built up any more self-esteem, which was truly the root of all her mistakes in the past, but instead she's simply gone about trying to get approval by being this selfless martyr to her family and Lucas rather than through scheming, which at best results in her coming across as totally out of character and a bore, and at worst comes across as her being a phony hypocrite flooding the screen with her crocodile tears now about how much she cares about Lucas and her family given the many ways that she had so cavalierly and coldly and vindictively screwed them over in the past when they stood in the way of her getting what she wanted.

I want my anti-Brady back!

p.s. Why was Stefano in the hospital?

[MichaelGL]

BD and AS rocked during their scenes at the pub today. Hm is it safe today to say that BD did the best of his career today? I thought so.

I enjoyed Bo today, and I am loving how much airtime James Reynolds is getting.

Kate and Stefano intrgued me today. I did wonder why he was in the hospital though.

Great acting, directing, and dialogue today. A good solid Monday episode for me.

[PhoenixRising05]

It was a very good episode.

BD is so much better under ED. The whiny attitude is gone and the maturity level has increased so much. I enjoyed his scenes with Kate and Steve, Also, love the Stefano/Kate dynamic. Loved AS and BD in their pub scenes. Great stuff!

I enjoyed Bo today too and seeing Abe again was great. I also liked how Steve duped the guard. Clever. Good ending with Steve and Stefano.

The Roman scenes were exciting, especially the end with the bomb strapped to him. Thaoo was great again.

All around a good start to the week. Hopefully, the intensity level can maintain at this high level.

[maconrich]

The show hit me as ok, some parts better than others. I didn't turn it off, so I guess that's saying something (altho I did have to turn the sound down during parts so the neighbors over the mountain didn't have to be subjected to it).

I'm now positive that I don't like Bradbury's writing *at all*. She seems (still) off on the history and the characters personalities, and after watching writers get these things down so well, it's frustrating to have a day where things are turned upside down. Maybe Days could give a heads up before the show so we could at least be prepared for the crap she writes!

I love most of the characters that were on, but was really only happy with Abe, Steve and Andre (and a more or less with Stefano). The one shorter scene where BD was close to tears was also good. The rest of the pub scenes were, as IMissAremid indicated, somewhere out there in left field. Lucas was doing his banshee wail and everything was Me, Me, Me - with Sami doing her bowing down to make him feel better. Sorry, but her dad is her main concern and I can't see any reason that wouldn't or shouldn't be the case or why it wouldn't be understood. The fact that their years of history was reversed with lucas acting like he was the one who'd been trashed over and over again by Sami was just plain warped. I can see that he might feel that way - the fact he's a self centered jerk isn't new - but it would have been nice if Sami had stood up for herself. I also agree that stupid boy should get mad at his mother over real things - I love to hate Kate and would much rather see her take the fall for something she's done, not something based on an assumption.

Don't care for Bo when he's written as a punk. I like him and always have, but not when he's so high on his horse he can't even see the ground. Liked his scenes with Abe and it's actually been great to see Abe getting more airtime. Loved Andre showing up at the pub with Roman and his lines were great and delivered with perfection (as always). I seriously love Andre - he sure can wake up a scene!! Steve continues to be classic Steve, and I was torn between rooting for him or for Stefano in that last scene. Sadly, I know if punk version of Bo or stupid lucas had been in the same situation, I would have rooted for Stefano all the way and most likely would have been shouting for Andre to show up and remove the trash.

Bottom line, for me, the show had more potential than came through, and it cemented my feelings that Bradbury shouldn't be writing for Days.

[Ponz]

I couldn't disagree more about Bettina Bradbury. I think she grasps the characters pretty well and writes snappy, intelligent and heartfelt dialogue. She's the best scriptwriter on staff by a mile, IMO.

BD was terrific in this episode. My heart was breaking for Lucas.

[DaysForever]

Great, solid episode all around.

Could we please get a synonym for the word "vendetta?" Or in Bryan's case, "VANdetta."

[IMissAremid]

Bettina is really hit and miss for me. Sometimes she has done really brilliant things like the Brady-DiMera family meetings episode, but I get a pro-Lumi vibe from her scripts the same way I get a pro-EJami vibe from the scripts penned by Jodie Scholz. I wish the show would get all the SWs on the same page so this triangle would stop giving me whiplash.

And while I think Bettina is very skillful in a lot of her dialogue and pop culture references, I do agree with you maconrich that she is not up on DOOL history as much as some other writers and I *HATE* the way she writes Sami so weak and emotional and one-note in all of her scenes. I don't feel like Bettina gets Sami at all although she seems to get Lucas pretty well.

[Ryan]

Ok, I'm not finished watching the episode, but BD has me crying. I have NEVER scene Bryan take the material to heart the way he did on Monday's episode. His projection was SO great, and as a lifelong fan of Lucas & Sami, my heart was just breaking.

More to come!