DAYS: Discussion for the month of November

[soapfan770]

Goodness watching the show now so I'll keep it brief but just had to comment that the dialogue between Carly and Vivian is so catty and well written!

Carly: "After all what's a pre-mature burial amongst friends?"

Vivian: "I just wanted to shoot myself"

Carly: "Ohhh so let me do it for you!"

Vivan: "So why don't we bury the hatchet?"

Carly: "With me holding it."

Later on Vivian makes some wonderfully bitchy remarks regarding Hope's interior designs!

[PhoenixRising05]

It is Higley staple (although Sami being exposed in 2003 under her was well-executed) but I doubt she has enough influence to affect the execution at all, especially with Tomlin and Whitesell there. Even if she did, Tomlin is on the floor so he would do everything he can to make it have the impact it needed to. He and Whitesell are all about big, over the top, campy moments of classic soap impact like that. Perhaps it's the acting choices that are bringing down the stories or scenes for some. I can see that because sometimes we all have in our mind how we want a scene to be and, if the actor plays it differently then we had hoped, the story or scene takes a hit.

I do agree with JackPeyton in that the execution has been fantastic for this story and pretty much all others since around March or so. Before that, it was a bit inconsistent but that is why I feel as though Higley hasn't been present since then. I don't feel her influence at all.

I should also say that Tomlin and Whitesell most likely would've went the over the top, big event reveal route had the show had the budget to do it. If this were a few years ago and Tomlin and Whitesell were on the show and came up with a story like this, things would've been different. I think that is why the show took the approach it did with the baby switch and several other stories. They knew coming in that they couldn't afford a huge "big party" reveal so they chose to reveal things in parts, which I think worked so much better anyway because it suited the story and allowed every beat to be played. We got to see all the reactions and the show got the most out of it.

As JackPeyton said, this is not over. Some of the things being mentioned will be played. The aftermath has just begun. As for Carly and Vivian, it was played out the way it should've been played. It was a cat and mouse game. It wouldn't suit the characters or their dynamic if it were played another way.

[DRW50]

Can someone tell me when Nicole and Chloe became friends, and if Chloe ever found out what Nicole did to her during the time she had her car accident? I never liked that story very much anyway, when I sometimes watched at the time, but given the way she was with Brady and Chloe then, it's kind of hilarious they both became her close friends, even as they rarely speak.

[quartermainefan]

Mark Hapka as Johnny DiMera

I like Mark Hapka for some reason. His character is sort of blah but he has charisma a little.

[KevC1980]

Days really is great soap opera right now. This baby switch saga has been revealed seamlessly. All the right characters have been involved and it's trickled into to some unforgettable scenes. And we still have more confrontations to come between EJ/Stefano, Nicole/Mia, and Nicole/Brady. Also we have Chad's reaction as well..

I loved today's show. Vivian and Carly's scene were a treat. Best line was Vivian commenting on Bo, Hope, and Carly as a menage-a-tois. That was absolutely hilarious. As was pretty much all of Vivian's dialog. Louise Sorel is a legend and I'm so glad to have her back on the show. And I love this Carly storyline. Can't wait to see what they have planned for this group going into next year. It's pretty awesome that Bo, Carly, Justin, Hope, Vivan all get to share a storyline together. That hopefully will also include Victor!!

I thought Mia's reaction was perfect today and Taylor S did a great job. I'm glad she connected all the dots and realized why Nicole made her hold Grace when she was dying. Also I've really enjoyed Chloe's role in this reveal. I've really enjoyed her character this week.

And finally Ari Zucker is amazing. I know I sound like a broken record, but the lady deserves all the praise she is receiving. She has turned this baby switch storyline into one of the most memorable storyline in the past 5 years.

[Toups]

I felt nothing when EJ had those scenes with Cydney today. Dude threw her out when he thought she wasn't his. Since all EJ seems to care about his blood, then he shouldn't have a hard time forgiving Nicole, since afterall, if it weren't for her, he wouldn't have been raising his biological daughter.

I wish the Chloe/Mia/Maggie scenes took place in another setting. I was a bit distracted by the background people "not noticing" anything and were acting all normal. Some chick was crying her eyes out and nobody was looking at her! LOL It was like, the show couldn't afford to take down the set or something.

I thought Taylor did a good job too. She's very good at crying. I just wish she would be better in "normal" scenes where it looks like she needs 10 cups of coffee to wake her up. But she's young and has potential.

Loved that clip of Mark Hapka as Johnny DiMera - Mark is awesome. I agree that Nathan needs more oomph to showcase Mark's talent.

[DRW50]

Toups I know what you mean about some of the sets. I have the same problem with Vivian spending so much time in the local coffee klatch. WTF? I just have to write that off as understandable budget issues. I hope we will at least get some scenes of Chad snarking on her bizarre wardrobe, and Vivian cutting him down to size.

My favorite scene in the reveal was when Rafe walked in with Sydney, and Sami was crying and crying, and Nicole was crying and crying. It really hit home for me that both of the women in this story are victims, although Nicole has done many, many bad things to keep the baby lie going. They never try to twist or damage anyone to make us pity Nicole. AZ just makes it happen, along with the writing always letting us see Nicole's point of view. There is never any, "I'm doing this to make that nasty Sami pay" type of writing. Nicole genuinely does love and want the best for Sydney. It's just her idea of what is best.

[soapfan770]

Another good show today I must say. Yes Zuker is really strong as Nicole I liked the scene where she called Chloe. I felt sorry for her because she has lost everything, and I think Zuker adds to that. I see Nicole as being consumed with guilt and knowing what she was wrong, yet on the surface she tries to justify her actions even though deep down she knows there is no comparison. I didn't find the Vivian/Carly scenes underwhelming either. I wasn't expecting any explosive fireworks between the two, and I found the humor supplemented the tension between the two of them.

They sort of became friends when Nicole was "helping" Chloe deal with those accident scars and what not and then Nicole gave Chloe the flesh-eating disease after sneaking into surgery with a contaminated scalpel. Only Sami had proof Nicole was behind it all. Brady dumped Nicole because Victor told everything and both Brady and Chloe realized that Nicole had been manipulating Chloe into leaving town without telling Brady she was alive.

Then last year when Nicole came back and revealed she was still legally married to Victor she moved into the mansion where Chloe was staying as a guest of Phillip and they bonded over how much Victor hated them and how neither one snagged Brady in the end.

[NorrthCafe]

Carl, I've been hoping for Brady and Nicole since Brady returned and first started helping her. EM has done an amazing job showing us that there was something between Brady and Nicole that surprised even him. Those longing looks! Ah! Nicole needs to wake up and realize that she's allowed EJ to abuse her, emotionally, and that her lack of self-esteem made her believe that she deserved it. Short of a prison record, EJ reminds me of her father. Both men have made her feel like she's nothing, that her body is theirs to do with what they will. she would never be able to get either of them to love her the way she deserves because both are incapable of real love.

By the time Ej started grabbing her, yesterday, I just wanted her to give him one good round house kick, but no. The writers would never let that happen. She kept taking it when he grabbed and tugged on her. I can only imagine Nicole standing over Ej's worthless body wishing death on him too (remember the scene of Nicole's dying father)! Ej can't go fast enough for me.

[DRW50]

Thanks. So Chloe just got over all that with Nicole?

I never understood why they went so far with that scar story.

[SouthOfSoap]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=r0E15HGXyUM

This is when I got on aboard the Bricole train.

[JackPeyton]

Wow... really?

Im sorry, but i feel if most men found out their wives faked a pregnancy, bought a baby, and passed it off as theirs they would throw them out too.

[NorrthCafe]

SouthofSoap, great clip! They are exactly what you would expect a real couple to be. Brady loves (if I can say that) and accepts Nicole for who she really is. Ej is written as a man who seems to feel that no matter how low he goes, he's still a better person than Nicole and that she's not worthy of his half-wit love. Brady is written as a man who knows that they're both flawed, and that they can still she the humanity in one another. 'You need someone who loves you just for who you are, not as part of some prepackaged baby deal'... Ok, I'll admit it... that junk still makes me SWOON! I'm on the Bricole train and the damned writers had better keep it on track! The best of all worlds? Bricole, with Ej waking up and realizing what he's thrown away and never being able to have Nicole. It would be a bitter disappointment for me to have the writers ever pair them together again.

JackPeyton, I can understand Ej being angry, but if he was meant to be viewed as an even halfway decent person, he would have at least been conflicted, or let go of Nicole, not Sydney. He wanted a child he claimed to love with his whole heart (just minutes before, mind you) out on the streets without regard to where she went. What kind of love is that? What kind of man is he? Wasn't Sydney just an innocent victim?

[JackPeyton]

No, i dont think he should have been conflicted. He was angry, hurt. He had been betrayed, lied to, used, manipulated. He wasnt thinking about Sydney at all, and really why would he? At that time she was nothing to him. I dont think it takes away from the love he had felt for her before, but when he learned what Nicole had done and that Syd wasnt his, he shut off.

Im not saying what he did was right, but understandable.

The whole ej/nicole/brady thing is simple. Ej never loved Nicole. She was always his second choice. He settled with her, knowing he couldnt have Sami, and only because she was prego by him. Brady does love Nicole, but look at what she does to him? I think its great that all this time Nicole had true honest deep love but was blinded by her obsession with EJ. I hope when she wants brady back he has moved on and doesnt give her a chance after all she has done to him.

[NorrthCafe]

I think it was a soulless act on Ej's part. Most parents would be hurt, but wouldn't walk away from a child they loved (or claimed to have loved) just because the other parent lied. You'd think EJ would have worried more about who the parents were and if he'd lose his daughter because of Nicole... NOPE! Sydney was just someone else's child - in an instant. That's just unreal to me. He believed she was his flesh and blood. Did he ever really love that child? The writers should have had Nicole (or someone) hammering that point home regarding the kind of man Ej is.