I like the idea of the origin of Asher, and Liam, in that they are just people who happen to be living in Salem and went to school with other characters.  They didn't come to get revenge, or for the infamous submarine service through Salem River.  It seems organic that there are people like Theo, Ari, Holly, and others who've known each other for years, because they all grew up in the same town.

Initially, I had mistakenly thought the Greene's were from Salem, probably because of Aaron and Tate's friendship.  But, obviously, that has been corrected by cannon.

Bravo! @JAS0N47 - your birth list is a gold mine.

Some of my favorite births facts from the list:

31. 2/21/95 (Episode # 7471): Philip Kiriakis (parents: Kate Roberts & Victor Kiriakis, through in-vitro fertilization of Vivian Alamain; born in a Salem Inn suite; delivered by Kate Roberts; first "Days" baby delivered by a woman)

A theme?

50. 12/21/16 (Episode # 12987): Holly Jonas (parents: Daniel Jonas & Nicole Walker, through in-vitro fertilization of Chloe Lane; born in a Lakeview Inn motel room in Chicago; delivered by Nicole Walker)

Also popular

27. 5/19/92 (Episode # 6772): Brady Black (parents: Isabella Toscano & John Black; born in room at St. Luke's Church; delivered by Dr. Marcus Hunter with assistance of Dr. Carly Manning)

40. 9/27/05 (Episode # 10153): Claire Brady (parents: Belle Black & Shawn Douglas Brady; born in a room at St. Luke's Church; delivered by Dr. Lexie Carver with assistance of Dr. Marlena Evans)

It is hysterical the lengths they will go to not birth at the hospital.

Except EJ, the weirdest conception story in DAYS history, born at the hospital like a regular smegular baby.

Maybe, I've been wrong all along.  DAYS is proof that birth is such a natural instinct, that women can deliver a healthy baby anywhere they want.

Edited October 22Oct 22 by j swift

Side note for @AbcNbc247 , why wouldn't Holly's testimony be enough to allow Chanel and Johnny to adopt?  There's no logical reason to wait for Sophia to respond.

Holly's the granddaughter of one of the richest families in town.  If she told CPS that she had been exploited in her dorm by Sophia.  She has proof it was Sophia, because Sophia used Holly's phone.  And, Leo would publish a story about CPS's mishandling of the case of the Fire Station Orphan.  So, cough up that baby, and let's free it from its stroller.

Edited October 22Oct 22 by j swift

7 hours ago, j swift said:

Side note for @AbcNbc247 , why wouldn't Holly's testimony be enough to allow Chanel and Johnny to adopt?  There's no logical reason to wait for Sophia to respond.

Holly's the granddaughter of one of the richest families in town.  If she told CPS that she had been exploited in her dorm by Sophia.  She has proof it was Sophia, because Sophia used Holly's phone.  And, Leo would publish a story about CPS's mishandling of the case of the Fire Station Orphan.  So, cough up that baby, and let's free it from its stroller.

I guess it's possible, especially because Holly was at the hospital. Then again, the biological father might decide that he wants custody.

Edited October 22Oct 22 by AbcNbc247

Welcome back, Mark! It's been a while.

I know people weren't fans of the Greene's but I always liked their dorkiness as a family and I'm curious to see what happens now that Mark is back in Salem, especially after the messiness of last year, both on and offscreen. On the one hand, I'm glad that we were spared something possibly happening between Mark and Leo but on the other hand, I feel like the actor and character got a raw deal and was just collateral damage in Ron's crazy ass determination to prevent Abigail from coming back. But with Ron gone, hopefully things will be different lol Mark going to work for EJ could be really interesting too. I wonder what EJ's mysterious research is going to be about.

Even though I'm not a fan of Jeremy being Thomas' teacher, I did like the conversation that they had today about Chad and Cat. Maybe Jeremy playing the peacemaker for Chad and Thomas could end up being the thing that prompts Stephanie to start warming up to him, which would be a much better way to use Stephanie than this whole book thing. And based on Jeremy's final scenes with Alex today, hopefully this means that we're gonna get a good Jeremy/Alex feud too. 👊😂

And yeah, Leo should not be the character that ends up investigating whatever EJ's doing at the hospital. I'm glad Rita threw him out. My hatred for him aside, the character who should be taking on EJ right now is Johnny. There's so much more storyline that can be mined for them and everyone around them if Days had decided to do that.

Btw, Wuthering Heights was one book that I never read when I was in school. Does the plot have any similarity to the EJ/Cat/Chad storyline?

11 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

 

Btw, Wuthering Heights was one book that I never read when I was in school. Does the plot have any similarity to the EJ/Cat/Chad storyline?

Cathy loved Heathcliff but could not marry him due to his low status. She married the wealthy and snooty Edgar who she did not love and died after giving birth. Heathcliff demanded that she haunt him for the rest of his life until he could join her.

I imagine EJ is Edgar and Chad is Heathcliff. So I am predicting Cat marries EJ to hide a Chad pregnancy 

Edit: On review I think EJ will be Heathcliff because he is vindictive and cruel, while Chad is the milder Edgar. I still think she's pregnant though. Sarah too. They don't do a dual sexual event unless there is a baby swap looming 

 

Edited October 22Oct 22 by brisbydog

EJ's logic in hiring Mark does not hold up to scrutiny.

Yes, Mark is desperate, and has shown a willingness to do as he is told.  But, Mark has also demonstrated that he not above changing test results to achieve his purposes.  So, he is not trustworthy

Note: Why doesn't Jeremy take off his jacket when he is at home?  And why is he discussing dating with Thomas.  Not only is the kid his student, given the way Thomas c-blocks his father, and trusts Rachel, he is not a reliable judge of character.

Edited October 22Oct 22 by j swift

11 hours ago, brisbydog said:

Cathy loved Heathcliff but could not marry him due to his low status. She married the wealthy and snooty Edgar who she did not love and died after giving birth. Heathcliff demanded that she haunt him for the rest of his life until he could join her.

I imagine EJ is Edgar and Chad is Heathcliff. So I am predicting Cat marries EJ to hide a Chad pregnancy 

Thanks!

It does kind of seem they're setting that up, even though I really don't want Cat to have a baby lol I'm still holding out hope for Stephanie

The TL:DR version of Wuthering Heights from my generation

In fairness, the pregnancy doesn't need to be literally adapted.  

But

Spoiler

what if Cat is pregnant by Chad, but agrees to be a gestational host for Johnny and Chanel, and then romanced by EJ during pregnancy?  Meanwhile, I don't recall much romantic interest from EJ when he and Cat lived in the same mansion at this time last year.  In fact, this time last year, EJ was mildly pining for Gabi.

98% of my spoiler is just supposition, just so we're cool.

Edited October 23Oct 23 by j swift

Kate Bush was my introduction to Wuthering Heights too...

I think she is pregnant and EJ pretends to be the father. She loses baby. Rolf puts Sarah's baby in her. Sarah ends up delivering her own child ala Vivian and Kate 

Edited October 23Oct 23 by brisbydog

Which then leads to the question: Does Tate know the circumstances of his gestation?

Now that Johnny knows how he was conceived, is it a domino effect of Tate, Holly, and Ari all learning about their personal history?  Certainly, the Salem PTA would remember the remarkable tale of Tate's womb displacement.  It could become a semi-annual staple where one kid in Salem reacts to the extreme events that lead to their birth every six months.  That's a good use of cannon.

Edited October 23Oct 23 by j swift

On 10/21/2025 at 6:33 PM, j swift said:

Bravo! @JAS0N47 - your birth list is a gold mine.

Some of my favorite births facts from the list:

Always happy to hear my research is enjoyed. Thanks!  😀

Marlena and her family were front and center today.

I liked how they all came together for Belle's birthday dinner. There were a lot of nice, dorky family moments. And they were able to discuss the things that they've been going through lately, throughout the episode. I'm glad that we got to see Tate's relationship with his little sister as well. I actually kinda like Rachel when she's not awful lol Brady also brought up a lot of interesting points as well, first with Tate and how Tate was dealing with the baby reveal, and his relationship with Holly. And then with Marlena, and how he feels he needs a career change but also wants to keep Basic Black going. Rachel's birthday gift to Belle was really sweet too 😊😊

But, where the hell is Aaron? We found out that he was the father and then he just disappears? We really should be getting his perspective in this storyline, along with Tate's, Brady's, etc.

I'm interested in seeing where Tate and Holly go from here as well, especially since Holly turned him down today lol

I also enjoyed Maggie and Xander's conversation and that Maggie was able to figure out that Xander was still keeping a secret from her and Sarah. I'm still not sure why they decided to have Maggie and Sarah believe for a while that Xander didn't beat up Philip, especially when they could've gotten just as much drama out of them knowing the truth from the very beginning, but whatevs. The performances make it all worth it. Paul Telfer proved, once again, why he won the Emmy. And I'm really looking forward to his and Sarah's scenes tomorrow. 

20 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Marlena and her family were front and center today.

I liked how they all came together for Belle's birthday dinner. There were a lot of nice, dorky family moments. And they were able to discuss the things that they've been going through lately, throughout the episode. I'm glad that we got to see Tate's relationship with his little sister as well. I actually kinda like Rachel when she's not awful lol Brady also brought up a lot of interesting points as well, first with Tate and how Tate was dealing with the baby reveal, and his relationship with Holly. And then with Marlena, and how he feels he needs a career change but also wants to keep Basic Black going. Rachel's birthday gift to Belle was really sweet too 😊😊

But, where the hell is Aaron? We found out that he was the father and then he just disappears? We really should be getting his perspective in this storyline, along with Tate's, Brady's, etc.

I'm interested in seeing where Tate and Holly go from here as well, especially since Holly turned him down today lol

I also enjoyed Maggie and Xander's conversation and that Maggie was able to figure out that Xander was still keeping a secret from her and Sarah. I'm still not sure why they decided to have Maggie and Sarah believe for a while that Xander didn't beat up Philip, especially when they could've gotten just as much drama out of them knowing the truth from the very beginning, but whatevs. The performances make it all worth it. Paul Telfer proved, once again, why he won the Emmy. And I'm really looking forward to his and Sarah's scenes tomorrow. 

I think very clearly they had them believe he didn't do it for a few weeks was so Xander and Sarah could make love and she will be pregnant. She dropped so many anvils about wanting a second baby this summer that I figured they were laying the groundwork for it. Let's hope she doesn't claim Brady is the father and we kick off another Xarah lie story. I'm so over it. I'm just exhausted with this year. First it was 5 months of her lying then 5 months of him lying. Surely there are other stories for them?

5 hours ago, brisbydog said:

I think very clearly they had them believe he didn't do it for a few weeks was so Xander and Sarah could make love and she will be pregnant. She dropped so many anvils about wanting a second baby this summer that I figured they were laying the groundwork for it. Let's hope she doesn't claim Brady is the father and we kick off another Xarah lie story. I'm so over it. I'm just exhausted with this year. First it was 5 months of her lying then 5 months of him lying. Surely there are other stories for them?

Oh God I hope not.

That’s so Ron-like lol and it’s been done to death with Sarah already. Plus, it would totally wipe out all the progress she’s made as a character, under the new team. 

All that guidance and advice that she gave Sophia would have been for nothing 

Tate came off today as a douche who is pissed his GF wouldn't have sex with him. Not a good look.