When it comes to Nicole, I feel quite differently. Whether it's the writing or Arianne Zuker's interpretation of the character in her performance, I feel absolute sympathy for Nicole and if there's anyone I hate in this storyline, it's Sami. The beauty of DAYS, in comparison to other soaps, is that people get to stick around a lot longer. DAYS hasn't done a 'Who Done It?' since The Killing Pool of 1998.

ITA about Nicole. I feel a lot of sympathy for her, even when she acts like a moron. She's a messy character, in a good way.

DAYS has done several 'Who Done It?' murders since then, though: Colin Murphy (2002-03) and Trent Robbins (2008) off the top of my head. Plus the nine months dedicated to people being offed by the serial killer. I do agree, though, that they tend not to bring on disposable villains and kill them off as quickly as most other soaps do. The Trent thing was pretty rare for DAYS.

Oh, and I think EJ is still a viable character, but they have certainly crossed the line into villainy now. There's a lot they can do with him, but he's no longer a character who can play as just a romantic lead. Any love story would have to be very complicated and slow, and it can't be with Sami.

Edited December 8, 201015 yr by Michael

ITA about Nicole. I feel a lot of sympathy for her, even when she acts like a moron. She's a messy character, in a good way.

DAYS has done several 'Who Done It?' murders since then, though: Colin Murphy (2002-03) and Trent Robbins (2008) off the top of my head. Plus the nine months dedicated to people being offed by the serial killer. I do agree, though, that they tend not to bring on disposable villains and kill them off as quickly as most other soaps do. The Trent thing was pretty rare for DAYS.

That's a great way to describe Nicole, she's a messy character, in a good way. A Hot Mess!

Lord, I didn't even remember those storylines...shame on me...or shame on the sh*tty writing. I didn't consider the Serial Killer Storyline a 'Who Done It?'...I considered it a 'Serial Killer' storyline (LOL soap semantics!)

This isn't a spoiler nor a request for one, but does anyone else think that Sami wasn't actually the one who shot EJ? He was asleep the whole time, his head already on the pillow-my hunch is that someone had already shot him and Sami was set up. I'd bet the farm that there were actually blanks in the gun that Sami fired. Question is, Whodunnit?

ETA: OMG! Wouldn't it be just FABULOUS if the writers used this as a way to write Anna in again, just like they did when they shocked us by making her Sydney's kidnapper? Oh, that would just be TOO delicious!

Edited December 9, 201015 yr by juniorz1

OMG anyone else find that Sami/EJ/Johnny scene at the beginning to be kinda hard to watch. That was just to much! Have to admit I felt bad for Sami on that one. Man EJ is serious about this, wouldn't even let Sami touch him! I get his anger but wow he could have at least let her talk to Johnny instead of just ripping him away from her.

BRAVO! I've never been a big fan of Lauren Koslow or her version of Kate, but I must say, I've come around this past year. It helps that they're no longer writing Kate as obsessed with her kids and their happiness. I also think the pairing with Mascolo has invigorated both character and actress.

Oh HELL YES to this! SIT DOWN Maria Arena Bell and Hogan Sheffer, because many of the reasons I used to love Y&R are now the reasons why I'm LOVING DAYS. The characters are so richly drawn and three dimensional now- these actors must be THRILLED after years of horrid characterizations and storytelling. I just LOVE the subtleties like the pained look on Nicole's face as Johnny was yelling for Sami- just a few years ago, Nicole would have had no compassion for Sami, as her hatred for her was priority one and the show insisted in shoving it in our faces, even at the expense of Nicole as a character.

The same goes for Kate. A few years ago, NO WAY would Kate have warned Sami that EJ was going to leave town with her children. Her hatred for Sami would have trumped everything, even her own life experience and history. There's a richness now in all of the characters that the writing simply never allowed for before and I have to say it's amazing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again- as a long-time Santa Barbara fan, it does my heart good to see Gina Gallego and Robin Mattson acting together again. But I LOVE the role reversal- Gallego's warden is clearly in charge of the operation, while Mattson's Lee is the weaker, more sympathetic character. Gallego has put a thousand percent into what little she's been given, though the story actually started getting good this week (probably what Alfonso was referring to in an interview she gave about a month ago). I shudder to think what the one dimensional and severely overrated Stacy Haiduk would have done in the part.

My only minor quibble is I wish this team would find yet another creative way to write Leann Hunley's Anna back into the action. I adore her and she largely helped hold the show together in the beginning of the year, when many had thought it lost it's way (the Sydney debacle, after all ,did begin to drag).

To take a page from DaytimeFan and Seinfeld's David Luchner(Cary Elwes)- Do I miss Deidre Hall's Marlena? Of course I do. Do I appreciate that the absence of her, John, Kayla, and Steve has turned CoupleDAYS into a truly ensemble show? You bet. As a fan and viewer since 1982, is this the best DAYS has ever been? Quite possibly.

Soap rags (I'm looking at YOU, SOD & TVGC) be damned! Days of our Lives has easily been the most consistent and well written soap for all of 2010, bar none. I have a feeling Michael Logan is going to agree.

100% agree.

The show isn't perfect but, to me, it's the most satisfying hour of soap you can get. It's basic soap opera. The show has the perfect balance in it's cast of young and old. The writing has been steadily improving since August. I do think the show tried to do too much in November. It was too frenetic. It was still good but some stuff was rushed and could've used more focus. This month has been solid. Every episode. I just love the way everything is coming together. We are getting good, character-driven soap every day. So many scenes focusing on character history and motivation/emotion, especially the Stefano/Kate stuff. What Stefano did to Kate yesterday was so in keeping with both characters. The way Stefano/Kate has crossed over so wonderfully into Vivian/Victor/Maggie.

As for today, another fantastic show. Even the Rafe/Sami/EJ/Nicole stuff is so good now. I just love the character rich scenes we are getting all over the place (EJ/Nicole, Sami/Rafe, Vivian/Stefano, Stefano/Kate, Victor/Kate). The show is so much better when it doesn't try to fit too many stories and characters into one show like it was last month.

The Stefano/Kate scenes of the past 6 episodes are the best written scenes I've seen on any soap this year. The dialogue is solid and so in tune with the characters. Just fantastic and LK has been AMAZING.

I also love how open Nicole is with Brady now and how he's going to help and support her. Keep this up, Days.

The more I think about it, the more I think I'm onto something with this whole Anna shot EJ theory. Last we saw her, she was on the run from EJ, trying to turn him in while saving her own hyde and staying one step ahead of him. It would make perfect sense that she would want him dead, if only for her own piece of mind. And,

with Christie Clark returning in February for no apparent reason

, the theory makes perfect sense. I would just LOVE it if it were true. Plus, we'd get more Rafe/Anna, a dynamic that I much enjoyed. Galen seems to come alive in scenes with Leann and I kind of thought they shared sort of a naughty chemistry.

I just think this regime likes using Leann and clearly, they weren't done with Anna after her last run. Hmmmmm.....

The show has def gotten better recently. If only they could get rid of Rafe/Sami/Melanie/Daniel then the show would even be better. Those 4 are IMO the weakest part of the show at the moment.

why is Days teasing me? I always loved Victor and Kate and I hated when they split. LOVED their sceens yesterday. Maggie's got some competition. I hope Kate and Victor do getcloser and this makes Maggie and Stefano jealous, enough to want their respective loved ones back. This could be a GOOD quad if done right.

Vivian is LOVE! OMG she is so awesome. She's annoying but in a fun way. I love how irritated she makes all the characters and her revenge is gonna be so enjoyable. Im surprise she is so willing to accept Gus back considering he left her in there as well before changing hismind

Ej is such an a-hole. I cant beleive he's willing to hurt the kids just to hurt Sami. So wrong

Edited December 9, 201015 yr by Cheap21

The Kate/Stefano scenes in the Dimera gardens were excellent. Joe Mascolo and Lauren Koslow did truly beautiful work. This is a soap romance where I can FEEL it. The tension, the passion, the sadness. The full spectrum. There is a sensuality to their performances that I think is unique.

Victor and Kate are also gold...but I prefer them as friends.

Vivian is annoying me and NOT in the good way. I hope Louise Sorel starts playing things more seriously soon. It's getting tiresome.

Loving Nicole. Sami is annoying me, she seems pathetic. Alison Sweeney has devolved into a terrible on screen cryer.

Sweeney has always been a terrible cryer. That awful scrunch of the nose she does ugh.

I'm curled up with my comfy blanket and awaiting the goodness the vets in Days are being given. Stefano has finally met his equal and he's not sure what to do now, Vivian is straddling the fence between being ridiculous and menacing, Kate has reached the point where she will bend no more for a man, Victor is trying to keep everyone he cares about safe, Maggie is torn between what she thinks she should do and what she feels, and Caroline is finally showing herself to be a woman of convenient conscience. Compared to these 6 the other characters on Days are just so…. young.

why is Days teasing me? I always loved Victor and Kate and I hated when they split. LOVED their sceens yesterday. Maggie's got some competition. I hope Kate and Victor do getcloser and this makes Maggie and Stefano jealous, enough to want their respective loved ones back. This could be a GOOD quad if done right.

To me, Victor (and men like Victor and Stefano) is (are) best when he's with women like Kate or Vivian - he's still able to be that ruthless man, who can manipulate, kidnap or kill and generally do bad things. Those type of women understand and can navigate through that dark world. Whenever Victor ends up with Maggie, he won't be able to do that anymore. Victor becomes neutered. And Maggie shouldn't be someone who accepts Victor's thuggish behaviour.

Maggie isn't nearly as good and pure as the many think she is - she's just been neglected for so long that most don't see her as anything other than too moral for Victor. I don't think Vic will be that ruthless with her on his arm, however Maggie isn't the driven snow either and she's done a few things along the way that haven't lived up to her own high standards for others.

Toups, I agree with you - about 20 years ago. But not now. Victor isn't the evil force he was once upon a time, he's mellowed, he's got family, he's known loss, and he's closer to the end than the middle. Certain pairings that are fabulous now wouldn't have worked before, just as certain pairings that used to work in a different epoch don't work today.

I'm curled up with my comfy blanket and awaiting the goodness the vets in Days are being given. Stefano has finally met his equal and he's not sure what to do now, Vivian is straddling the fence between being ridiculous and menacing, Kate has reached the point where she will bend no more for a man, Victor is trying to keep everyone he cares about safe, Maggie is torn between what she thinks she should do and what she feels, and Caroline is finally showing herself to be a woman of convenient conscience. Compared to these 6 the other characters on Days are just so…. young.

Agreed! The characterization for these six is wonderfully strong. Compare them to, say, Nathan -- who I do like, because I find Hapka charming and he seems like a nice young man and all -- or Stephanie or Daniel or Chloe and there's no contest. Some of it is just the accumulation of history, but the older characters are just drawn so much more three-dimensionally.

Sweeney has always been a terrible cryer. That awful scrunch of the nose she does ugh.

Not true, she was fantastic when grace died.

She plays it very OTT tho, and as it is written. Thats the issue.

I'm curled up with my comfy blanket and awaiting the goodness the vets in Days are being given. Stefano has finally met his equal and he's not sure what to do now, Vivian is straddling the fence between being ridiculous and menacing, Kate has reached the point where she will bend no more for a man, Victor is trying to keep everyone he cares about safe, Maggie is torn between what she thinks she should do and what she feels, and Caroline is finally showing herself to be a woman of convenient conscience. Compared to these 6 the other characters on Days are just so…. young.

I agree, but its compared to these characters the others are so one note.

To me, Victor (and men like Victor and Stefano) is (are) best when he's with women like Kate or Vivian - he's still able to be that ruthless man, who can manipulate, kidnap or kill and generally do bad things. Those type of women understand and can navigate through that dark world. Whenever Victor ends up with Maggie, he won't be able to do that anymore. Victor becomes neutered. And Maggie shouldn't be someone who accepts Victor's thuggish behaviour.

See, i prefer my couples to shape and change eachother, nut just accept eachother as is. Victor is Maggie shows a different side of him, but not an out of character side. I like that, a lot. Esp after seeing him in relationships with Vivian and Nicole. Kate on the other hand is a perfect match for victor, on the opposite end of the spectrum that Maggie is. A Stefano/Kate/Victor/Maggie storyline would be amazing.

Vivian just needs to go.