At the point they wrote the stuff that's airing, they thought Drake was coming back. Given his diagnosis, though, it seems very strange and even tasteless to have done another "John is under deep cover and has left Marlena alone" thing. Just say he's away on a mission and have Marlena go visit him a few times. 

14 hours ago, carolineg said:

I don't mind Doug 3 in theory and am liking him so far.  I think his introduction was very clunky.  The way they explained Robert, Dougie, Doug III was just confusing.  Like @Khan replied the show covered most of the bases, but it wasn't terribly clear.  I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about Days history and I still had to check some sites to get more details.  I think it may have been easier if Hope/Julie/Doug had some contact with Dougie throughout the years to at least bridge the gap for viewers and make it easier to believe Julie would take his son in so readily.  And honestly it's just very confusing to hear Doug/Dougie/Doug III all in the same episode.

I get that the show wishes to keep Doug alive in some fashion, but this is a story that should have been told while Bill Hayes was still alive and able to work (and not before reuniting Doug with his son first).

Lord, I hate to see how they'd handle Tommy Horton's death and Thomasina Horton's introduction, lol.

5 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

I was complaining about the way they've handled John's absence & saying why I thought the important ISA mission was a bad idea & someone challenged me saying just what would I have done differently. And, I said that I would have had John have a mysterious disappearance, perhaps he had been kidnapped, or perhaps he had had an accident & then had amnesia & didn't know who or where he was, etc. but the point would be that there would have been no contact & there would have been concern, then alarm & a search would have ensued. I realize this is tangential at best to what you're asking about Catarina & about Abby but it seemed to be the first time I've thought it made sense to post this. 

I mean, we all know how Ron is.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he just ran with the first thing that came to mind, without thinking it through, in order to keep Abigail dead

2 hours ago, carolineg said:

I agree that Caterina story was a horrible re-write.  I don't mind they are tying it up just to make it clear John did nothing wrong.   I do blame Ron for A LOT, but I assume he was buying time hoping Drake's health would improve and wanted to wait to make any decisions on new story for John.  Considering the private nature of his illness, I am willing to cut the show some slack as we really don't know how long Drake was dealing with this and how the show had to write around it.

It's very difficult to watch without John/Drake, but I assume we are moving into the final arc for John soon.😭  From what I read Drake was aware they were going to kill John off before he passed and agreed to it.

Yeah. I agree 

I’m glad that John’s been absolved but I just don’t see why AnnaLynne McCord’s character had to be related to Caterina and Konstantin 

I also am pretty massively in favor of cutting slack. I'm also both pleased & surprised that Corday ran the ending stuff by Drake, surprised because I think it was the smart move to make & pleased because I also think it was the right thing to do & showed respect for Drake. Now, I really am ready to do this thing. What I read said early 2025. We need to say goodbye. Watching these Johnless scenes with Marlena is excruciating. 

@AbcNbc247 I am eager to see today's episode to understand why the Greene kids are back in Salem so soon.  Are we never going to see the Mother again?

And, (my eternal question), does this mean that Katherina was living in Salem for a while and never got in touch with John or his family to thank them?  I mean Doug III's mobster found him in a week, why didn't John and Katherina ever run into each other at the market?

Man these Chad and Julie scenes discussing grief, were INCREDIBLE. This is the stuff I watch soaps for. I can’t get over how strong SSH is to play this material after her real loss.

SOOO GOOD!!!

1 hour ago, Antoyne said:

Man these Chad and Julie scenes discussing grief, were INCREDIBLE. This is the stuff I watch soaps for. I can’t get over how strong SSH is to play this material after her real loss.

 

2 hours ago, j swift said:

@AbcNbc247 I am eager to see today's episode to understand why the Greene kids are back in Salem so soon.  Are we never going to see the Mother again?

And, (my eternal question), does this mean that Katherina was living in Salem for a while and never got in touch with John or his family to thank them?  I mean Doug III's mobster found him in a week, why didn't John and Katherina ever run into each other at the market?

Looks like the eternal questions gonna have to go on for a little longer. No answer today 😂

Cat said she came back to look after Felicity. Aaron is still in Canada with their mother.

Edited January 10Jan 10 by AbcNbc247

Liking Doug the 3rd

Too bad Aaron is in Canada, He was starting to grow on me

Liking The Sarah/Stephanie friendship

SSH was amazing. Chad and Julie were the best today

Interested in Cat Greene going forward

Surprised Doug told Holly everything.

Phillip is scum garbage!

Doug😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

1 hour ago, Antoyne said:

Man these Chad and Julie scenes discussing grief, were INCREDIBLE. This is the stuff I watch soaps for. I can’t get over how strong SSH is to play this material after her real loss.

Yes they were good too. Forgot to mention it.

26 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Looks like the eternal questions gonna have to go on for a little longer. No answer today 😂

Cat said she came back to look after Felicity. Aaron is still in Canada with their mother.

Did Cat say that Aaron had enough credits to graduate early, or was she referencing Mark?

Because (a) what med school would allow Mark to earn a degree if he committed fraud while on residency? and (b) are they keeping Aaron away for storyline purposes?

Spoiler

aka Sophia's pregnancy

I am glad that Doc is hiring an assistant.  Between Leo and Alex, her clients tend to just barge in when they need to see her rather than making an appointment. 

Julie is great with both Chad AND Doug III.  I appreciate that she is a much more modern figure than Alice ever was.  And much of her wisdom is based upon her own mistakes.  However, I think it is a missed opportunity for her not to mention how she coped with the loss of Scott and David. Because she is truly alone in the world, especially given how she was raised with such an extensive family.

I don't know if I'd say Julie is alone in the world. Yeah, her husband and son have passed, but she has Eli and Lani and their kids, Hope, Shawn, Ciara, their children, Jennifer and her family, Maggie, Marie, Steven... she's a widow, but she isn't alone just because she's one of the last surviving members of her particular generation.

38 minutes ago, Michael said:

she's a widow, but she isn't alone just because she's one of the last surviving members of her particular generation.

You'll have to forgive a bit of hyperbole, it's been a looooong week

15 minutes ago, j swift said:

You'll have to forgive a bit of hyperbole, it's been a looooong week

Fair! I'm only defensive because I feel like Julie's emotions are about the only thing that does make sense lately.

I do wish they'd connect her easy acceptance of NuDoug to how readily she took in Eli upon learning of David's death. 

1 hour ago, j swift said:

Did Cat say that Aaron had enough credits to graduate early, or was she referencing Mark?

She was talking about Aaron.