DAYS: Discussion for the month of November

[Cat]

ITA! I guess I am on Team Nicole, too, even though I have been rooting for Sami to find out the truth. This is payback and justice because Nicole deserves to be punished for what she did, however sad her reasons. And Sami deserves to have her real baby in her arms.

However, thanks to Ari's acting (she really is a Lead actress, right up there with Ali Sweeney. These two actresses could easily share top billing on Days and their hatred could power more SLs for years to come), I empathize with her and her actions. Nicole was CRAZY with grief and desperation. Not saying what she did was right, but she had essentially suffered a breakdown and was not in her right mind. Swapping Sydney with Grace was her way of halfway righting the wrong in her deluded mind.

Added to the fact that she fell in love with that baby immediately for the baby's sake and not because she was her entrée into the DiMera family. Those scenes with the baby really solidified the humanity in Nicole.

All this has made an interesting contrast with that other mega baby-swap story of the current decade, the one on AMC/OLTL. I remember AMC working *SO* hard to make us sympathize with Babe, making us believe that the Carey women were some kind of saintly angels, sacrificin' their happiness for the wellbein' of others. It fell horribly flat and made me hate them 1000 times more (even though the luminous Alexa Havins worked that SL so hard). Here, on Days, I never felt like I was being overtly manipulated by the writers to wuv Nicole -- though I know logically on some level I must have been! It's just that the writing never flinched from what Nicole did and the web of lies she spun frantically to hide her misdeeds. Arianne Zucker never flinched from it, either. Even yesterday, with the truth out, she grows increasingly desperate and picks up a household object and threatens to kill Sami if she tries to take Sydney away! AMC would never have dared to paint Babe=Love in this light! It's like Days trusts the audience to recognize that the whole situation is not 100% black-and-white -- and trusts even the Team Nicole fans to say "Well, at least the truth is out now and Sami is going to get her baby back." Cannot cannot CANNOT wait for EJ to find out! They better not drag it out another whole week like they did with Sami!

I'd also like to sing John Aniston's praises as Victor. JA is my "pet" actor on this show, kind of like Suzanne Rogers is to jp. Victor is not florid and Darth Vader-evil and amazingly fun to watch like Stefano (and that's why Joe M and John A are such complimentary actors). But he is wily and clever and logical and in his own way an absolute truth-teller. He doesn't need to lie and cover stuff up like Stefano who revels in secrets. He just says "You don't need to know that" or he owns up without trying to backtrack or justify what he did, like last week when he told Bo he was the one who called the cops on Carly. He knew Brady was playing him yesterday. I love that the writers never try to make this international kingpin look like a naive idiot.

[Ann_SS]

I am a huge Victor fan also. John Aniston rocks! I love the "you are a fool" look that Victors throws at his clueless family members. He is unapologetic of his various crimes and misdemeanors which makes him fun.

[NorrthCafe]

Cat, you're singing my tune. I once loved Sami, but can no longer stand her (post-EJ) and I've still been hoping she gets her baby back sooner rather than later. Nicole was crazy with grief for her own child and believing that Sami was just giving Sydney-Grace away, rather than let EJ raise her, was too much for her. I'm glad it's over. I also want Nicole free of EJ and happy with Brady, again. It won't happen, I'm sure, but a soap fan can dream.

[DRW50]

Everyone else already said this so well, but I am definitely impressed with how they managed to make Nicole so sympathetic. I guess it helps that Sami also wanted to hide her baby and that Sami has a checkered past, which she acknowledged, but they also never made Sami out to be the villain. They left it up to viewers.

I think it also helps that no one outside of Stefano ever knew the full extent of what Nicole did. It wasn't like with Babe, where you had characters who were once seen as moral voices for the audience, like Tad, aiding her against people who were supposed to be like family to him.

I know some fans were upset with how often characters would defend Nicole after EJ threw her out, but none of them just how far she'd gone.

What probably helps the most is that Ari always played Nicole with full belief in her actions. She also played her with a great deal of pain, and shame, mixed with determination.

[soapfan770]

Another good show today with EJ learning the truth from Nicole, Carly opening the door to see Vivian standing there, and Bo walking in on the hug between Justin and Hope. Can't wait for the Carly/Vivian scenes tomorrow.

[aMLCproduction]

I concur Days was great. Once again Days is setting the standard for daytime. Only this time, it's for traditional soap telling and not the outlandish JER style of storytelling which lots of soaps tried after Days's surged in the ratings(90's). Who would have guessed that Days is far superior in storytelling than Y&R?

I FEEL SO BAD FOR MIA!!! I don't get why people are feeling sorry for that loser Nicole.

Can't wait to see Viv and Carly tomorrow

[DRW50]

JER did have some traditional soap style storytelling the first time around. I think a lot of stuff went very wrong the second time.

[aMLCproduction]

Like which storyline?It was all overshadowed by buried alive, possession, underground Paris Susan banks, etc.

[IMissAremid]

Wasn't the Carrie/Austin/Sami/Lucas quad fairly traditional storytelling?

[aMLCproduction]

Hmm, more than likely

[Ann_SS]

I liked this episode more that yesterday's reveal. Sami bonding with Sydney was adorable. Rafe is a bore, but Sam is so over the top sometimes, he probably exactly what she needs.

Nicole's explanation of why she did it sounds so ridiculous.I lost all sympathy for her. Mia has my sympathy.

I thought EJ was going to kill Nicole. I can't say I blame him. It was a realistic touch that Nicole was arrested.

After the Carly tension, I hope the plan is to pair Justin with Carly. I like them and I can't take another adultery story.

Nadia Bjornlin is beautiful.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I hated Hope's lameass excuse about Bo not calling her and telling her about Carly not being extradited being a source of anger for her towards Bo. Really? That's a big problem for her? Why the hell does she need to know about that situation immediately? It's none of her business and I'm sure Bo would have told her anyway later on.

[Toups]

Great post, Cat! I never hated Nicole because of Ari Zuker's awesomeness. Ten years ago, if you told me that Ari Zuker would become of my favorite actresses and I would love Nicole, I'd think you were so crazy! Gary Tomlin has worked a miracle with this character.

And the great endings of each storyline continue and continue. You make people want to watch the next episode - the tags are very important to soap opera watching. You had FOUR key tags today: Bo/Hope/Justin, Carly/Vivian, Chloe/Mia, EJ/Sami/Cydney. This is how you write soap opera!

What I thought was brilliant was to have Nicole watch Sami bring EJ his daughter, while being arrested.. That's just beautiful soap opera writing.

[dc11786]

I would have agreed, but Carly is the reason Bo wouldn't let Hope and Ciara return home. Now that the immediate danger ('the murder' has been caught) seems to have passed, Bo should have called to let Hope know that Hope and Ciara could come back to their home. Reckell manages to make Bo's controlling persona likeable, but Bo needs to be in charge of the situation, which is always the problem. He really doesn't consider Hope as much as he should.

Funny, I thought Nicole's explanation made perfect sense. I must be a lunatic. I understand E.J.'s anger, but Nicole did switch the babies for him. Nicole wanted E.J. to raise his child and she did give him that opportunity. It wasn't like Nicole didn't love Mia's baby. Nicole helped bring that baby into the world, and I think a lot of the audience dismissed her connection to Mia's child because she gave it away. Not in every scene, but there were multiple moments throughout the baby swap where Nicole really showed her concern for Grace. She always hated the fact Sami was keeping the baby locked away in the convent and not looking after it herself. Later, when Grace die, which was a terrible tragedy, Nicole felt enormous amounts of guilt and went against E.J. to help Sami.

Maybe because I've watched day after day, but I do feel incredibly amounts of sympathy for Nicole. Everything spiraled out of control.

After reading the Patsy Pease interview, I've felt incredibly uncomfortable with the way E.J. has been manhandling Nicole. While Nicole isn't pregnant, Zucker very visibly is. I cringed when E.J. was grabbing Nicole by the throat. I don't have much sympathy for E.J. in general. He has always came off rather brutish, and I don't see why he has the massive fan base that he does online. Am I missing something?

If you haven't seen the episodes where Nicole loses the baby she was carrying, you couldn't possibly understand. Nicole went through hell before the baby switch and it was understandable, not justified, why she did what she did.

[aMLCproduction]

WHAT ABOUT MIA?! What Nicole did to her is a shame. Mia has gave up so much for Nicole. Again I DO NOT FEEL for Nicole. She's played GOD with too many lives!

Women lose babies all the time. Do they go flip mode and kidnap other peoples baby? NO! Nicole is selfish. SHe has no right to play with the lives of so many people. She can cry me an ocean. SHE STILL HAS NO RIGHT!!!