DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[AbcNbc247]

Definitely.

 

I accept some things that may happen offscreen, like a big twist in a particular story. But rewrites and additions into a story that happened years ago don't really work. It seems JER was banking on the idea that fans wouldn't remember.

 

They did lol

[Khan]

 

Exactly.  Which is why I don't agree with merging Kate Roberts' history with that of Dr. Kate Winograd's.  Doing so makes Kate's history far too contradictory and convoluted -- and that's not even including the ridiculous backstory of her being Stefano's prostitute.

 

My theory: Sheri Anderson intended Kate Roberts to be Austin and Billie's long-lost mother, but Lucas would have been either Curtis' son as well (she was pregnant when Curtis beat her and dumped her on the side of the road), or the product of some affair with another, more sympathetic guy.  It was JER, therefore, who muddied the waters by making that other guy Bill Horton and tying their affair into Laura's mental breakdown.

 

At the VERY least, he could've written that Bill and Kate had hooked up AFTER Laura had been committed to the sanitarium, and Bill had left Salem.  Bill could've even told Laura, in her catatonic state, that he'd fallen in love with another woman; that they were going to have a baby; and that, because of Curtis, the two had planned to leave and start a new life far away from her abusive husband (thus prompting Curtis to nearly kill her and separate her from their children).  That way, you achieve the same results (namely, the revelation of Bill and Kate's affair/Lucas' conception, and the effects it had on their families) without contradicting what viewers had witnessed back in '79.  But, nah, JER just took the hacky way out.

Edited November 14, 2020 by Khan

[beebs]

Which I also think explains a lot of viewers' trying to connect Kate Roberts to Kate Winograd. They want it to make sense to the history they saw and maintain that goodwill toward the show and its writers, even if the writers aren't extending them the same courtesy in return. 

 

These shows grossly overestimated the lengths they could abuse the audience's trust. But I can't say I'm totally shocked. They had reason to believe, this being an example, that the viewers would follow regardless. 

[titan1978]

I’m a big fan of using pockets when a character was not onscreen to add to a backstory we did not see.

 

Bill’s involvement with Kate should have been after he left and Laura had been institutionalized.  I’m less concerned about the SORAS required for Lucas than the weird continuity patch of merging the original Kate into the new one.

 

One of the reasons the Nikolas story worked so well on GH was that we had the missing years, and when Laura returned, she was frightened and not her feisty self.  She was traumatized, and she did hide from both Luke and the Cassadines goons at first.  It fit the narrative they told pretty well, including the death of Lesley being caused by Helena retcon.  It also fit her history of breakdowns and her desperate love for Luke.  She left Nikolas behind for selfish and unselfish reasons.

Edited November 14, 2020 by titan1978

[Paul Raven]

I agree, suggestions that Bill and Kate hooked up after Laura was committed makes more sense on a number of levels and doesn't alienate long term viewers. So frustrating when writers sabotage the story...

 

Getting back to Harrower's tenure so far.

As mentioned earlier she took over and faced the same issues that Marcus had encountered with the three couples happily settled. 

Harrower realized they needed shaking up so her approach was

1. Bill/Laura. She looked into Laura's past (her mother's mental issues) and used that to delve into Laura having 

issues of her own. From reading synopses it seems a rather sledgehammer approach with Laura acting way out of character and family and colleagues not noticing until it was too late.Maybe the day to day treatment was more nuanced?

It seems from the outset the story would culminate in Laura being committed and Rosemary Forsyth dropped.

So I guess the feeling was that Laura had run her course and Forsyth was expendable. Seems a sad ending for such an important and well loved character.

And where did this leave Bill? Judging from the episode counts for the second half of 79, Bill was averaging one or two days a week and there didn't seem to be much interest in him dealing with the loss of his wife and struggles as a single father. So maybe the long term plan was to drop Bill (as happened later).

Maybe it would have been better to kill off Laura, rather than Bill being in limbo. Had he been given another love interest the writing would have to have been strong for him to garner audience support for a new romance while his wife was stashed away. 

At least as a widower that would have cleared the way for a new romance. Bill could have just as easily got involved with Liz Chandler as Neil.

2. Mickey/Maggie

Harrower's approach here was to backburner them and give them little conflict. So not much to say here.

 

3.Doug/Julie

The big story here was Julie's scarring and turning away from Doug. It kept them front burner and lead to divorce but the motivations seem muddled. Doug and Julie had been impetuous before in their actions eg Doug marrying Addie,Julie marrying Bob but that was years before as obstacles to get together. Doing the same thing once they were happily married never works as well. Doug's motivation for marrying Lee also seemed half baked.

 

Of course it's easy to look back and judge. Do others agree or feel Harrower did what needed to be done?

 

 

[beebs]

Honestly @Paul Raven , I find Julie's motivations incredibly frustrating and out of character. While I'm not yet at the point where Doug would marry Lee, I find Julie's insecurity really bizarre, though I suppose in a time of trauma, you could be very vulnerable to a trusted family member's manipulation. And it seems from what few episodes we have to work from, that EH's day-to-day writing was fairly strong, so maybe the motivations just don't hold up as well without the actual episodes to delve into?

Let's see how things develop from here, as we're now around halfway through Harrower's run.

 

AUGUST!

 

Okay, so Tune In Tomorrow gave some details SOD seems to have glazed over from July, so I'll try to sneak those in if SOD doesn't add those into their August summary.

 

 

 

 

So basically Bryon (who is apparently Doug's half brother but they're both played by Bill Hayes and Byron just looks a little older) is dying and is married to Lee, who hopes he kicks the bucket soon (charmer from the start, I see). Steve is convinced Byron and Doug are related, and this is what prompts Byron to buy a ticket to Salem. Doug gets drunk after Julie ditches him to get her own apartment to mope alone in, and fills Neil in on the fact he was raised an orphan and his real name is Brent Douglas. Desmond, Byron's lawyer, later convinces Doug to meet with Byron. Steve and Lee get on like a house on fire (too bad the same can't be said for Steve's sister, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

 

Byron arranges a phone call with Doug, who is stunned when he realizes he's actually talking to himself his brother! Byron, so overcome by the realization he's finally found his brother after so many years, insists Doug come to see him straight away...and then dies about a minute later. Oh well. Desmond calls back to tell Doug that Lee preferred a private service, but the burial will happen in West Virginia, and Doug is more than welcome to come to that.

 

Doug makes the arrangements to head to West Virginia, and consults Mickey about looking further into his family tree. Mickey thinks it's a rotten idea, which would just lead to more upset than answers.

 

Lee, meanwhile, contacts Steve, and tells him she wants to buy back some of Byron's jewels that were auctioned off in Paris, because they have "sentimental value". Seems Steven was facilitating their sale or something that effect. Lee asks Steven to hold the jewels until Byron's estate is settled. Too bad she can't afford to buy back the jewels anyway, it seems. Lee then finds out Byron "only" left her a condo on Park Avenue, a limo, and a $35k/year income (for reference, that's like getting $125k/year today, tough life!), and is livid. She gets even more enraged upon hearing that Byron changed his will last minute to give most of it to Doug and not her. She plans to fight the will, despite it being airtight, and despite the fact she risks being disinherited entirely if she DOES dispute it!

 

 

 

 

David tells Julie about Doug's ordeal, hoping she'll emerge from her dimly-lit sad apartment, but Julie doesn't DARE open the lines of communication with Doug. She apparently "loves him too much" for that. End this dumbass story now, please. God.

 

Doug gets desperate enough to talk to Jordan about coercing Julie into therapy, and it works, as Jordan manages to convince her the Hortons put him up to it, instead of Doug. He starts to open the door to Julie's world, just a crack, and tells her he believes she may be just as scared of the operations being successful as of them failing (they're evidently setting up Jordan as a spoiler for Doug and Julie, then).

 

But Julie's not quite over Doug yet, as Steve finds out when he starts talking s#!t about Doug to Julie, who snaps back that if she ever starts thinking like Steve does, she'll hate herself more than she already does.

 

Jordan employs some reverse psychology, taking the skin graft operation off the table (if only in Julie's mind), and goes over the events that led up to Julie's accident. They realize that Julie can't get over the terror of the moment she caught fire, and Jordan shakes Julie forcefully, and shouts at her "The rest of us see the same scar and it's not nearly as horrible to us as it is to you!"

 

What a way he has with the ladies, no?

 

Doug wins this month's Biggest Dumbass In Salem award, deciding to use Hope as a bargaining chip to stop Julie divorcing him. He decides to tell Julie if she walks away from Doug, he'll take Hope away from her too. *headdesk* Doug, Doug, Doug.  SMH.

 

Julie is persuaded by her landlord, who insists she's beautiful despite her scars, to pose for a painting of his. Watch out, Julie! The last two times you posed for paintings, you nearly got shot, and then had some woman hit on you. This probably won't end well for you, especially when dayplayer characters are too entranced by you without provocation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve is back being a slime again, this time arranging to smuggle a carton of canes containing diamonds back to the US, on the promise he doesn't make like Trish and start hiding them under his desk or any such nonsense. Once they're back at Chez Julie's, Steve tells Maggie they're only worth about $250 each...Maggie then sells two of them...one to Trask (of course), and one to Alice.

 

Steve does another weird thing, when he buys Mary a glass figurine, much like the one Chris bought Mary months ago after he smashed one at her house, and bought one to replace it (remember the gift that Mary returned and gave Chris the money back for?). Steve purposely leaves the gift in a precarious place so that it inevitably falls and smashes. His motive?? ....Iuuhhnuh! They...never explain it, actually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda is freaked out because she just found out she got knocked up by Chris, and is terrified Greg won't let her go through with the divorce. She also worries that if Chris finds out about the baby, he'll beat the s#!t out of Greg for holding things up. She decides to go to Chicago and hope Greg doesn't have another hissy fit this time, and maybe THEN she'll get her divorce. 

 

She goes to Greg, and once again can't get through to him, eventually breaking down and revealing her pregnancy to him. Greg does the math and apparently SOD failed to mention that Amanda also slept with Greg while he was in Salem? Kind of...important to bring up, guys. Get it together? Anyhoo, Greg insists the baby is his, and once again ignores Amanda telling him she's in love with Chris and wants to divorce Greg, saying she should move back to Chicago and he and Amanda can raise the baby as theirs.

 

Beebs' note: Who the Hell would want anything to do with this arrogant jackass? In all the years I've read about him since he joined this show, he is the most bullheaded, arrogant, patronizing a$$hole I've ever encountered and I have spent an inordinate amount of time wishing someone would just punch him dead in the face!

 

Chris, sick of Gross-ass Greg, goes to Chicago behind Amanda's back, and confronts the smug son-of-a-b!tch. Only to find out that Amanda's pregnant, with Greg's child (in Greg's deluded mind). Chris calls bull$#!t, and vows he'll be back.

 

 

 

The ridiculous dayplayer story with Don's client Trask and Marlena's patient Lester ends when Marlena arranges for Trask to meet (and be emotionally manipulated by) Lester's son, Arthur. Don is pissed when he finds out what Marlena is up to, but it works...somehow. Trask sees how much Arthur loves his father, and is moved when he discovers that the embezzlement has been to help out poor schoolteacher Mrs. Lowell. He offers to drop the charges, and provide her with the funds she needs as long as Lester stays in therapy with Marlena. Isn't that sweet?

 

Not long after, Marlena tells Don she's pregnant (uh oh). They ominously set this one up with Marlena telling him that the baby will be "our gift to each other, and a lifetime reminder of our love for each other!"

 

 

Riiiiiight.

 

 

Sam returns to Salem, and complains of kidney trouble and pressure in her back. Neil thinks it's just a milk infection (I meant to type "mild infection", but since I cracked up at my exhausted typo, I think I'll keep it and you can all laugh with and/or at me). We all know that's never the case on a soap unless there's about to be a headwriter change. Things also apparently didn't work out with Joanne's lawyer, Jerry, as Sam is apparently complaining to Marlena about a guy named Phil she's seeing. Oh well.

 

 

 

Bob buys Stephanie a swanky new car as a reward for all her hard work at Anderson. But Stephanie, still suffering from flashbacks and trauma related to the crash that nearly killed her, is terrified to drive. Without revealing too much, she tells Bob about her phobia of driving. Bob convinces her to renew her license, and to take short trips to get used to being behind the wheel again. Her animosity toward Bob diminishing by the day, Stephanie is beginning to debate revealing her true identity to Bob.

 

Linda responds to the news of Stephanie's gift by buying HER OWN $12,000 ($43k) land yacht, explaining to a livid Bob that it would look incredibly uncouth for a married man to have his secretary driving about in a nicer car than his wife. Bob asks what kind of game Linda's playing. Linda responds innocently, eyes aflutter, "whatever do you mean?"

 

 

 

 

Marie feels guilty for having time on her hands, apparently. And spends a lot of this time feeling like she needs to atone for her great sin of unwittingly falling for her brother and such. She has a glass of wine with Doug one night, and recalls her "wild days" (I would call Marie a lot of things, and wild is NOT one of them, but okay), and proceeds to faint. Some nuns can't hold their alcohol, I guess. Doug calls Neil to have some tests run on Marie. Marie wakes up, pale and weak, muttering to herself about forgetting her sins or they'll never be forgiven. Even for Catholic guilt, this is EXTREME!

 

The next day at the hospital, an overdose patient is wheeled in, reminding Marie of an apparent accidental LSD trip Marie took at a party that we've never heard of until now? Apparently someone slipped it into her drink despite the fact she was on the show around the time LSD was becoming a thing and literally never saw this? Guess it wasn't just Reilly who messed with history. Anyway, Marie starts having a crisis of faith and asks God for a sign that she didn't just join the convent to escape her ridiculous life (I have news for you, Marie...)

 

 

 

Miracles do happen! Margo grows a spine! She calls out Mike for his endless late nights working at Doug's Place, and his unnecessary exhaustion. She tells him she'd rather sell the house than see him kill himself trying to pay it off. When she asks how in debt Mike is, he admits he took out a high-interest loan from Earl. Margo suggests asking the family for help, but he doesn't want them to know how deep he is. Margo decides she's getting a second job to help pay the loan off, because she's fed up of Mike's nonsense.

 

Margo then goes to Trish and asks to "borrow" one of the diamonds she found under Trish's desk so she can pawn it to pay the debt off. Trish agrees, so long as neither Mike nor David find out about any of it. Back home, Margo asks who Earl is, Mike insists he's "just a businessman", and that nothing illegal is going on WHATSOEVER. Mmmhmm...suuuuuure. Margo gives the diamond to Earl as collateral, in exchange for Mike not having run errands for him anymore. Convinced the diamond is "hot", Earl wants it duplicated.

 

 

 

 

Shocker! Alex is chairman of Magnis Corp., whom Phyllis traded the Anderson shares with Neil for. Alex joins Phyllis in Salem, but they keep their relationship on the down-lo while in Salem, and allows Neil to steal kisses, thinking he's winning her back. Alex wants to get insider info on Anderson ahead of their manufacturing deal with them, and hopes to buy Lakewood Psychiatric Hospital. He asks Marlena to head up the new hospital, but she needs to talk it over with Don first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quieter month, and once again, SOD seems to drop hugs chunks of the stories, leaving me to have to fill in missing bits from Tune In Tomorrow, so I apologize if there's anything disjointed about how it's written. I do feel Elizabeth Harrower's run, for all its many flaws, is so far much stronger than Ann Marcus' run. It's less reliant on typical corny soap tropes to keep the action moving, and it connects up the cast a lot better than Ann Marcus did, and are far more rooted in history and the characters, but I do find her stories are a bit heavy, and not especially subtle. Some of her motivations are also a little dubious, and I REALLY don't think Doug would be so desperate as to risk harming Hope to get Julie back in such a weirdly vindictive way. It just doesn't work for me.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by beebs

[Khan]

 

Agree.  If nothing else, Laura's death would have freed up Bill to pursue a real romantic relationship with Kate Winograd.

[AbcNbc247]

I still find it hilarious that the writer who broke up Doug and Julie was SSH’s own mother.

[Franko]

I couldn't agree more. It's so much fun when everyone shares their thoughts.

 

It never stops being hilarious to me that this is EH's own daughter she's writing for.

 

You'd think he'd be all over the idea of Julie suing University Hospital and/or Bill for Laura's malpractice.

 

Birds of a feather, I guess. Neil could probably read Alex like a book.

 

This is what makes me so mad about the Laura story. After all she and Bill meant to the show for nearly 15 years, they receive such a downer ending.

 

I don't know a thing about family law, but since Hope is Doug's biological child, doesn't it mean that if he keeps his nose clean, he's always got more of a right to her than Julie?

 

Seriously. #TeamChris by a wide margin.

 

Well, as long as Marlena's entering motherhood with both feet on the ground ...

 

Days of Our Lives: the compelling story of an up-and-coming actress with kidney stones.

 

Bob, Bob, Bob ... at this point, why don't you take Melissa (and maybe Stephanie) and run?

 

Please say Marie was wearing her habit while drinking with Doug. I see they're setting the table for Jessica's arrival. IMO, she (like Mike and David) will be at least 10 years older than necessary.

 

For all Harrower is doing wrong, I'll concede that she's writing the show better than Marcus did.

[Paul Raven]

Never really sure what Harrower had in mind for Jordan. There was a hint of an interest in Marie but nothing came of it.

Meanwhile Marie moves to the front burner...Lanna Saunders was one of my faves, bringing so much to the role.

I hated the fact that she was given the awful back story of a S&m/druggie affair and a possible murder. Also hate that old trope that events that happened in the past involve people who randomly cross paths again years later or have a connection to a small town miles away.

Hardly the basis of a grand love story but Lanna made Marie a real character and engendered sympathy.

Maybe the original plan was Alex/Marie/Jordan with the latter two endgame.

As the story goes on we'll see some odd events and story directions.

 

Steve is another character that had no real purpose or direction.He was recurring throughout his stint which says something. The opportunity was there to make him the black sheep and cause all sorts of trouble as a part of the Horton family but he stayed on the fringes.

The whole diamond smuggling story was abust.

 

Final thought. As I said I loved Marie/Lanna but bringing in a 40 plus character on a show that was top heavy with older folks seemed a dumb move at a time when the youth move was big in daytime.

Maybe Sandy Horton would have been a better choice?

[victoria foxton]

Salem Strangler -1981   https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=417796836044290  

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Edited November 17, 2020 by victoria foxton

[beebs]

Do you know if they ever explain when the events Harrower has inserted into Marie's backstory are pre-or -post 1965? Because it's not really clear, and it seems like a major shift in personality for Marie from what she was when the show went on the air. I absolutely love Lanna Saunders, myself, but this story already seems a little bit "WTF?" to me.

 

ETA: From what Tune In Tomorrow tells me, she had an affair just before joining the convent? So basically, filling in the gap between when she left town in '68 and returned a nun in the 70s? Interesting. TBH, I'm a little less bothered by that than I was before, but considering what you've described@Paul Raven, I'm still less than enthused.

 

 

We're on September, aren't we?

 

 

Linda's got it in for Stephanie, and decides she'd rather have Steve, of all people, take over Stephanie's post at Anderson. She talks up Steve to Mary (her new bestie, it seems), and hires a PI to tail Stephanie, certain that she'll find what she needs to bury Stephanie before she gets too close to Bob (again, ick). Mary makes the suggestion to Bob, who passes it onto Stephanie to hire Steve in the PR department, hoping that his presence will be a welcome distraction for Mary, who's still down over losing Chris. Mary is now even more downtrodden after being informed that Amanda's baby is very likely to be Chris'. Steve accepts the position, handing the reigns of Chez Julie to Maggie.

 

Stephanie continues to be Julie's only friend, and confides to Julie that she's worried by the news that Alex now owns the hospital where Stephanie had her surgery after the accident. Stephanie seems certain that Alex wishes to expose her. Stephanie makes Julie promise to never reveal her true identity to anyone. Julie agrees, as long as Stephanie does no harm to Bob. Stephanie, her heart having grown three sizes, agrees.

 

Alex wastes no time in using the info he has to intimidate people, sending Stephanie a letter with a photo of Brooke, noting how SIMILAR they look, and how they should meet!

 

But this information doesn't make it to Linda's PI, who turns up nothing. Linda is still not beaten, however. She theorizes that if Bob and Stephanie end up sleeping together (ICK ICK ICK), and Bob tries to put Linda out, she will have the perfect neutralizer for Bob's PI file on her after her affair with Neil. Good look with that, Linda!

 

Phyllis also sees something a little more than professional between Bob and Stephanie, and warns Bob that, yeah, he's still cute, but he ain't THAT cute, and if Stephanie is interested in him, it's more about the money and status than his dashing good looks. She also notes that Stephanie is more than talented and ambitious enough to run Anderson all on her own.

 

David, sick of Stephanie's backbiting stemming from her bitterness at their breakup, asked Bob to transfer out of her department. As a result, Linda suggests Steve replace David in the same position, which Bob takes her up on. Linda, of course, knows what a manipulative little s#!t Steve is, and hopes having Steve be taken under Stephanie's wing will backfire, and put Stephanie out of a job.

 

 

 

Sneaky Lee enters Doug's dressing room at Doug's Place, and introduces herself, stunned by his resemblance to Byron (I should hope so, or else DAYS has one hell of a makeup department). She lays on the heartbroken widow act thick as texas toast, hoping to woo him out of some of his inheritance. And what an inheritance it is! $5 Million+. In 1979 money! Doug, being the bleeding heart he is, is more concerned about Sneaky Lee's relatively meagre inheritance. Don't worry, Doug. She's after the whole thing.

 

Doug has, by this point, given up trying to push himself on Julie, but makes a point to remind her that by divorcing him, she's cutting herself off from Hope as well (which seems kind of odd because Hope is still her sister...so....it's not like she's completely without access or cause but...go off, I guess). Hope comes home from summer camp and immediately asks Doug about where Julie is and when she can see her. Doug tells Hope the truth, that they're divorcing. Hope immediately blames herself, and Doug reassures Hope that Julie just needs time to herself for now.

 

Jordan, in another session with Julie, contends that by not getting the skin grafts done, she's punishing herself for marrying her mother's husband and finding happiness with him. This is apparently a step too far for Julie, and OUT Jordan goes! Therapy over!

 

Hope, desperate to see Julie, finds out where her apartment is and goes to visit her. Julie won't open the door, and tells her to go away (??!?!). The small child runs off crying. It's a wonder Hope isn't more screwed up than she is, tbh. Then again, character nuance generally went out the window on DAYS after 1983, so...

 

Hope, establishing her stubborn streak early in life, sneaks over to Julie's again a few days later, and parks herself at Julie's door until Julie lets her in. Julie, petrified Hope will be horrified by Julie's burns, is reticent to open the door, but ends up inviting her stepbabysisterdaughter in. Hope, instead of being scared of Julie's scar, notes that it's "just a mark", and that Julie's still beautiful. Julie is overjoyed by being told the obvious by children.

 

Lee and Doug go to dinner, and Lee continues the wounded widow act, calling Doug her "one link to happier times". Doug, the old sap, invites Lee to move in with him temporarily. After all, she is his brother's wife, it's the least he can do. WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Doug is in the running for Dumbass of the Month for a second month running. Doug isn't ready to let go of Julie just yet though, despite even Lee's urging.

 

 

 

Amanda tries to prove that Greg isn't her baby's father by visiting Tom, and asking him to determine when she conceived. Tom, however, says that, because it's 1979 and we don't have your fancy pants DNA tests yet, he can't tell her with any real certainty who's baby it is until after the baby is born.

 

Chris tries a different approach, and visits Don to ask what legal rights he has if, in fact, the baby is his. Don tells him that, because Greg and Amanda are still married, Chris has no legal right to the baby, and if Amanda tries to divorce Greg, he has a significant legal advantage over her, and could easily contest it.

 

Amanda, stressed to the gills about having to stay married to and potentially raise a child with Greg the Git, wakes up the next morning with horrible stomach pains, and thinks she's going to miscarry. She immediately calls Julie, who, for the first time since the accident, forgets about how "terrible" she looks and rushes to Amanda's side, insisting she contact Tom for tests. 

 

Tom runs the tests at UH, and tells her she won't miscarry, but that there's a problem and he's going to call Greg. Amanda won't hear of it, but, once again, the d!ckhead's her husband, so he needs to know (everyone, please remember what your parents told you: Yes, your face WILL stick like that if you hold it too long). Julie, suddenly getting her brain back in working order, advises Chris to stay away from Amanda while this is happening, as Greg will blame Chris if anything goes wrong, and that Amanda "needs the protection of Greg's name". I don't know what that means, but it sounds important in a chauvinistic, of-its-time way. Chris, as many others do, tells Julie to keep her nose out of everyone else's business, and that the baby is his, and he won't be kept away. Etc.

 

Julie, upset by Chris' outburst, and still emotionally fragile, turns back to Jordan for comfort. Jordan is proud of her for forgetting about her face for five minutes, and tells her she reminds him of someone he loved and lost in his past. They're definitely trying to insinuate something between Julie and Jordan.

 

Jordan warns Julie she better do those skin grafts soon or she'll run out of time. Julie doesn't want to do another surgery. Jordan tells her it's because she's afraid of what would happen if the surgery was successful. She counters that she's actually afraid of her loved ones' piteous reactions if the surgery fails. Jordan urges her not to stay stuck in the rut she's currently in, encouraging her to move forward, to free Doug and survive alone (presumably with him instead).

 

Doug, however, won't let go of the past, and uses Byron's inheritance to buy Julie a house (as you do). She won't sign the deed, claiming she doesn't want attachments, and wants to be left alone. Jordan tells Doug he needs to let go of Julie, claiming he's clinging to a past that acts as a roadblock to Julie's emotional recovery. Jordan sees Julie's recovery as being tied to her freedom from her past (I wonder why he would think that).

 

Julie makes her decision: She'll have the surgery, but in San Francisco, and asks Jordan to accompany her. Jordan is elated, and notes that the surgery is far more likely to be successful, as it's a partial surgery, only on her arms and chest, not her face. As it is far more liable to take, a successful surgery would be a huge confidence boost for Julie. AND IT IS! No more scaly boobs for Julie! Now, Jordan's next objective, get Julie to get the grafts done on her face.

 

 

 

SO MUCH FOR THE BABY! It's moot because the pregnancy's ectopic, anyway, and Amanda needs to abort ASAP or bad things will happen. Marie tries to comfort her, but Amanda just sees the pregnancy as a waste. Greg finally sees sense and agrees to a divorce, conveniently just as they find out while performing the abortion that Amanda had ovarian cancer and they had to perform a hysterectomy on her. 

 

Chris tries to be supportive, insisting they can adopt, but Amanda sobs to Marlena about being an "incomplete woman", and laments having to go through an early menopause. Julie stupidly tries to get Amanda back together with Greg, because he apparently realizes he was a shite husband now, and he'll never do that ever again, he promises. Julie thinks Chris is all wrong for her and their backgrounds are too different and that it'd never work. (Shut up, Julie. Go back to whinging about your face!) Amanda tells her she actually has a deep-rooted love for Chris, and wants to be his wife...and then changes her mind about five minutes later, telling Chris that he has a need to have his own kids, and The Incomplete Woman can't give him that, so she'll go back to Chicago and suffer being Greg the Git's arm candy for the rest of her life. Chris tells her he despises her for making him fall for her and then taking it away...then tells her not to forget he loves her. Boy, make your mind up!

 

Amanda then tells Greg she wants to go back to Chicago with him, and he promises her the moon, the stars, and, I'm sure, also a fern and a pay raise as well. They shlep off to Chicago together, never to be heard from again.

 

 

Margo hears the news about Amanda, and nags Mary to go bug Chris to maybe comfort him, hoping they'll reconcile. But Chris bites Mary's head off, telling her she's wasting her time. Ouch!

 

 

 

 

 

Earl is persuaded by Margo's gift of a diamond, and frees Mike to take the promotion with Anderson...kinda. He still has to work an hour minimum daily at Doug's Place still. So much for freedom.

 

 

Durant's guy goes to pick up the crate of canes from Chez Julie, only to find that there's two missing. OH S#!T! Maggie sold two! Steve lets Maggie have it, and Maggie is immediately suspicious, wondering whether Steve is doing some backroom dealings on the side. "I know what a deceitful person you are," Maggie tells him. Steve is livid, threateningly demanding the canes back immediately.

 

Steve gets one cane back from Alice (no specifics on how he manages this), but Trask, for once, isn't lurking about Salem. Instead, he's off in Europe on holiday! Desperate, he immediately overplays his hand and visits Trish, demanding she turn the diamonds she stole over to Durant. Trish plays dumb, and Steve threatens to expose her whereabouts to Durant. Trish counters that if he does, she'll expose him in return. He pleads with her, saying it's a matter of life and death. Trish responds by scrounging together $1000 to give to Margo, hoping to buy back the diamond from Earl. Margo gives Earl the money, but gets a duplicate in its place, not knowing any better. Better stick to funeral planning, Margo.

 

Simpson, Durant's henchman, tells Steve that Durant is holding Steve directly responsible for the missing diamonds. Steve, feeling the heat, continues to badger Trish into giving up her diamonds to get Simpson off his back. He then promptly changes tactics, phoning up Lee, and trying to coax her into working with him to try to bilk Doug out of his inheritance, to try to get his hands on some cash to put Simpson and Durant off.

 

But Simpson is too impatient, and breaks into Chez Julie to try to get the diamonds from the safe. Maggie, out with Bill while Mickey's away on business, just happens to be popping into the shop to pick something up she left there during the day, hears a sound in the back room, and pulls out the gun Steve kept in the desk drawer for protection. Simpson, when confronted, grabs the gun and struggles to get it out of Maggie's hands, but gets shot instead, and despite Bill running in to resuscitate him, Simpson dies.

 

Maggie admits she didn't intend to use the gun, and reveals the gun was Steve's. So Steve gets pulled in for questioning. Steve denies knowing Simpson or any reason why he'd be lurking about the shop looking for jewels in the safe. The lieutenant doesn't buy a word of it.

 

Steve then goes back to Trish's, and demands she keep quiet to the police about what she knows, or he'll get her put up on smuggling charges. Trish finally cracks to David under the strain, and admits she gave Margo the $1000. David confronts Mike about the money (with more than a hint of lingering insecurity between the two regarding Mike's past affections for Trish). Mike has no idea what the Hell David's on about, since Margo hasn't told him about any of what she's been up to. David doesn't believe him. Mike confronts Margo, who confesses the whole story to him, leaving Mike's ego bruised because he feels she doesn't trust him to meet their expenses...which...you know...he can't (oh the insecure men of the 70s, more concerned about their pride than common sense). Mike storms out like a two year old, and Margo sobs.

 

Lee isn't budging either, so Steve tries to put pressure on her, telling her that if she doesn't agree to their little scheme to get newly-wealthy Doug to buy the Carmichael emeralds for her, he's gonna sell the emeralds he's holding at Chez Julie's on her and keep the money. She asks Steve how she'll pay Doug back for the purchase, and Steve insinuates that Lee pay him back in the bedroom. He also makes it clear that it would work to Lee's advantage as well to follow Steve's plan, as Doug buying Lee this jewellery would irritate Julie so much, that she and Doug would never reconcile. Dumbass Doug dutifully buys the emeralds, recalling how much Julie loved them. He begins to delude himself into seeing shades of Julie in Lee, and falls right into Lee's trap of the lonely, needy widow. Fool.

 

 

 

 

Don takes a job at the mayor's office. And we don't hear another word about it.

 

Don hears from Sam's agent in LA that Sam collapsed on the set of the show she's been working on. Marlena finds out, and wants to be on the next plane out, but has been dealing with some pretty bad morning sickness, and Don's against her going. They agree to have Neil check on her to make sure she's up to flying. Neil finds Marlena is slightly anemic, and recommends Marlena take it easy with work, and avoid stress. Like, you know, visiting her sister across the country who can't get it together and locks people in rooms and threatens them. That kinda stress.

 

 

 

Phyllis once again asks Neil for a divorce, but the answer is the same. Neil won't give her a divorce so she can marry a scumbag like Alex. He even goes so far as to threaten to contest a divorce action, naming Alex as the cause of the marriage breakdown. Neil knows Alex wouldn't like the publicity. Phyllis knows Neil has her number, and walks away in a huff.

 

Mickey, hearing that Magnis Corp. is not in especially good financial shape, warns Phyllis that the deal she's putting together with Neil for a stock trade is a bad one. He instructs her to wait, as if Phyllis sells her share in Anderson, Bob no longer has controlling interest.

 

 

 

 

Marie, now recovered from her incredibly low alcohol tolerance, befriends a 17-year-old runaway working in the hospital cafeteria, named Cathy. SOD tells us that Marie "knows what trouble a young girl can get into." Apparently, while Marie was in New York, she was lonely as hell and got hooked up with Alex, who would beat the hell out of her. Yikes!

 

Marie asks Maggie to take Cathy in, but Mickey doesn't want to...at first. He then relents, reasoning that anyone that Marie likes must be worthwhile. 

 

Alex meets Marie in Jordan's office and gets handsy (with a nun in a habit! Alex! You scoundrel!), but Marie is horrified, vocalising her disgust with Alex's "sordid lifestyle". Alex reassures her that he's more discreet now, and has a new image that he doesn't want spoiled, and so encourages Marie not to say anything about what went on between them.

 

 

 

Bill and Marie visit Laura at Bayview. Laura tells them she doesn't see Ghost Mom anymore, but is still erratic and oscillates between sweet and loving, and angry and vengeful. Bill is frustrated, admitting it'll be a long road for Laura's recovery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Amanda story seems cut short. I wondered if Mary Frann had a project on the go that she needed to leave the show for, but she didn't land another big job until the next year, so I wonder what caused the story to end so abruptly, especially since it was obviously set up to be a substantial Chris/Amanda/Greg triangle story there. Lord knows, Amanda's newfound confidence and agency quickly went out the window as soon as she became The Incomplete Woman. What a disappointing end to another major character.

 

It really does feel increasingly like they were trying to put Julie and Jordan together. I don't really know whether that would've worked or not, but it had potential. Certainly as being the one to rebuild Julie's confidence after Laura's psychosis-related destruction of her self-worth, it would've been interesting to see, but I get the feeling it didn't go anywhere from here.

 

There are hints, moreso in TIT than SOD that Maggie and Bill are spending more time together at this point, hinting at more tension between Mickey and Maggie, with Bill once again the third in the triangle with his brother. I don't know how that would've come to pass, nor do I think I would've been down with it, honestly. 

 

Steve is being used a lot more, but this story with the Box O' Canes is dumb as hell. I expect by Christmas, he'll be wearing cement shoes or something to that effect.

 

Not liking the increasing sidelining of the Anderson story either. A sign of things to come?

Thank you for this. That story was really the shot in the arm that DAYS needed to stay on the air, and it's wild to see the bridge between old and new DAYS so effortlessly merged in these few short scenes.

[victoria foxton]

@beebsNo more scaly boobs for Julie!

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@beebs WOW!! Maggie blew away the Simpson dude. Never knew that.

[Paul Raven]

Re Bill and Maggie. that would have been a difficult one. Had they had Maggie growing close to Jennifer (which would have been in character) it might have thrown Bill and Maggie together but to go any further would seem too much considering what went before.

Years later they teased Chris and Maggie but again nothing happened.

[Franko]

I would love to see Linda, Phyllis and Mary's reactions when the truth about Stephanie finally comes out.

 

This part of the story bugs me probably more than it should. Maybe it played better than it reads, but I just don't like the idea of Hope soothing Julie's ego.

 

I read that too fast, as "scary boobs."

 

Amanda deserved better. Jury's out on Greg.

 

Mickey and Maggie's first question to Cathy better be, "So ... what's the whereabouts of your mother? C'mon, don't jerk us around, we had a bad experience we don't wanna repeat."

 

The Box O'Canes story feels like a last-ditch effort to make Steve work as a character. As for the Andersons, I wonder if the writers were starting to come up with the Chandlers at this time ...