DAYS: Sami/EJ Spoiler

[Roman]

Days actually had a story where a character was raped, and after a long, hard road in therapy, finally admitted that she climaxed during the rape.

Groundbreaking material.

Now imagine that same story in the hands of the current HW.

Garbage.

[brimike]

Roman, I'm shamed beyond belief to ask this - but which story are you referring to? I don't remember that at all! It HAD to be Bill Bell telling it, no?

[Roman]

Back in the 70s, and yes, BB wrote that story.

THAT is the Days I remember........great, compelling stories based in reality. Not this BS.

The previous writing team would have done wonders with something like that, as BB and his staff did.

The current team? They couldn't write an episode of Justice League without f-ing it up.

[VirdenEMT]

This is the biggest reason I have quit watching Days.

I will NOT watch a woman fall in love with her rapist.

[DaysFanatic777]

Was that Bill and Laura? I think it probably was. They waited forever to unite them after he raped her in the hospital closet. THAT was a tortured storyline. It was brilliant and had the world watching and talking.

I remember Marlena getting raped. It was brutal and heart wrenching, and her performance struck a perfect balance. It put her on the map, and women wrote the show to tell what they had been through.

This show tackeled issues like this with both grit and class. It was told to be realistic and somewhat in-your-face, but written with the intention to both inform and entertain. This show helped educate women to value themselves in a time when the world was just ready for such a message.

Now, get raped by an attacker, and it's ok, it didn't matter. Do a striptease for him a few months latter when your husbands in jail. That really teaches value. This crap isn't worth thinking about. It's a shame that the show that Ted, Betty, and Bill built is reduced to such rubble.

[brimike]

The AMAZING thing about that story was that they STILL got mileage YEARS later when Mike (i.e. Weiss) and Jen were grown-ups. GREAT stuff, all around. I will ALWAYS hate what Bill did, but thanks to that storyline, I never turned on him completely as a fan-to-a-character. I hated the action, but never whole-heartedly hated the character of Bill Horton.

THAT'S what EJ and Sami should be.

Even the die-hard "yes-it-was-rape" fans understand that it wasn't your "typical" (oh God, I'm opening myself up to flaming) rape where a man attacks a woman to prove something to himself or because he's self-centered. Sami and EJ's rape was not, for example, the same kind of situation that Alan and Sami's rape was.

HOWEVER...

it's still rape, but in this case, the kind of grey area you can get MONTHS of story out of with EJ and Sami. It's the reason why Jake McKinnon was NOT a worthless character after he raped his wife on AW. Or why Jack Devereaux was still salvageable after the Kayla rape, when after months of putting off consummating the marriage, he had had enough and truly believed in his soul he had "earned" this (which he had not, for the record). We, as fans, could HATE the act, but the storytelling was strong enough that we could still understand why the attacker-in-question didn't "get it" once they were confronted with the truth.

I still remember one of the most powerful moments of my soap viewing - Jake finally realizing that what he -- for MONTHS -- had considered good old-fashioned love-making between a husband and wife, was what the wife he loved considered (and rightfully so) RAPE. I remember him lying in his hospital bed, tears streaming down his cheeks, saying "No... I would never do that... I couldn't... oh my God, I *did* do it... I'm a rapist... oh God, I'm a rapist" (my words, not actual dialogue)

That's an AMAZING moment. I still hate him for what he did, but watching that on-camera? Made it a real STORY.

Eh... you get my point. It's all there with EJ and Sami - I just don't get why anyone would ignore it.

And that's my last post on this - what's done is done. No point in beating a dead horse.

[Roman]

You know, it was a HUGE deal when character was sexually assaulted back in the day. It made mainstream news, because they knew that the daytime shows could tell a compelling story.

Now?

Like brimike said, this issue gets white washed so they can please a fan base again.

[DaysFanatic777]

It took almost a decade from the actual rape for Bill and Laura to get together. For years the distant stares between Bill and Laura across the room from each other let the viewers know this story wouldn't just die. Flannery was gold as Days Laura. She went crazy, sure, but you understood why, and you kinda felt like her hysteria was natural.

They worked Bill and Laura together through the blood transfusion storyline with Mike. The horrible secret came out years later when Mike needed his real fathers blood after an accident. It was if by the act of saving Mikes life, he gained some sort of redemption. Mickey went to the sanitarium and Marlena was introduced as his doctor. Brilliant times, and very inter-woven.

I hate it for people who didn't get to see that, or Kayla deal with Jacks assault, or Jenn deal with Lawrence. The show took the time to peel back layers and tell a story. This show was good again just four short months ago...what could have been. It was on it's way.

I WON"T watch as Sami sleeps with EJ, and Marlena gives the twink and the ok. She's also a victim of this crime (the show has forgotten that), and would never encorage this.

The whole thing makes no sense, even by Days standards.

BTW: those who say Reilly was no better or worse than Higley; when Alan raped Sami, she didn't seduce him. She shot his #@%* off. Rape is rape, it's no different with EJ. Say this or that about chemistry, but it all boils down to bs.

[VPCandy]

About Time!!

[JackPeyton]

Question...

Qhere was then lutrasge when sami raped austin? because he was paired with her. no not at first, but she enver paid for raping the guy. and he did really fall in love with her after a few years.

[XxTaraXx]

I can't believe I was excited for James Scott to come on this show.

I despise the character of EJ.

If Alan weren't dead...would Sami go seduce him too?

[Ryan]

That depends on whether people consider what Alan did to Sami rape. Though it fit your standard definition of what rape is, I'm sure there are some that will say it was a "seduction". You know, that bullshit.

But the truth is, if they had chemistry, I'm sure DAYS would go with it. It's not like there's this high standard for morality at that show.

[electrorat]

Are Sami and Austin still together? No, because no one could take them seriously as a couple.

The viability of the character of Austin was severely damaged by having him hook up with his rapist.

Sami is playing Austin to EJ's old Sami in this storyline. It's a shame to see a legacy character totally destroyed in order to pimp EJ. If EJ was really the rich, layered character that JS' fans make him out to be he wouldn't need to destroy Sami to have a solid place in the show. The reality is, without Sami there's no need to keep the bastard around and everyone knows it. The character was meant to be killed off over a year ago and if Hogan hadn't had such a crush on James Scott he would have been.

[Shawn]

Alan isn't dead. Sami just shot his junk off.

[dragonflies]

I doubt it cause Alan didn't need propped 24/7 like EJ does.....

Complete and total WORD!!!!