There were a few wrong choices today.

Lexie and Paulina's meeting showed us the first wrong choice. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed by it. Lexie being so standoffish and combative is just not a good idea. Whether it's an actor choice or a writer choice, idk, but either way, it's not working. And I don't think it's ever going to, unless it's going to end up playing into the storyline somewhere down the line. I've never been a huge fan of Paulina but I was on her side today. But I did kind of like how it was juxtaposed against Theo confessing to Abe that Paulina knew about Lexie. That reveal could lead to something interesting happening. James Reynolds continued to do a good job though.

Anna being the one to expose Gabi's secret to Philip was the wrong choice as well. It seemed very sudden and random and not built up well at all. Tony possibly stepping in as CEO as Dimera being the thing that prompted Anna to do it wasn't a good enough reason either. Maybe if they had had a bigger part in the storyline from the very beginning, I could get behind it, but with the way the story was written, I'm not a fan of how this reveal happened. I really, really think Theo should have been the one responsible for exposing Gabi, either intentionally or unintentionally. That's where the storyline really is, plus you could get a lot more future story from that. But I did like Philip's confrontation with Gabi, and I wish it had gone on a little longer. Hopefully, the fallout of this will continue in a later episode.

As for Gwen/Xander/Gwen... ehhhh. It was ok 😂

Happy (early) 40th Anniversary, Mary Beth Evans!

Today was a love letter to Kayla, Steve, their life together and their family. It's always great to get episodes like this that pay tribute to the actor, character and their history on the show. The flashbacks only make these episodes better. I'm so glad that we got to see clips of Steve and Kayla's weddings, their time with Benjy, and Stephanie's and Joey's births. They were also really sweet and dorky throughout the episode as well. And so were Stephanie and Alex, even though I hope that the conflict for them isn't over yet and continues for a very long time. I like that Roman was included in today's episode too.

Too bad that we're not going to see Joey and Tripp though. Or Tripp and Wendy's wedding.

And welcome back, Jack! It would be nice if you got to have scenes with your son too.

I thought that he did a good job today, but having him spend most of the episode with Gwen wasn't a good idea. Regardless of Gwen, he played such a big part in Kayla and Steve's history that he should've spent more time with them. The little scene at the end was ok, but it should've gone on longer.

Xander/Gabi didn't really fit in with the rest of the episode, but I thought they both did a good job today. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens in this storyline, especially since Gabi thinks Theo was the one that ratted her out to Philip.

On 5/20/2026 at 1:52 AM, carolineg said:

I don't think it's Nikki Crawford's fault either. It's mostly writing and the fact she's a bit miscast as Lexie or at least Renee Jones version of Lexie. She could be playing almost any other character and I would consider her very good.

I think in general that Lexie was always such a strange character to revive, especially without Renee Jones. Had they recast her back when Renee left it could've worked, but her death always seemed final to me. I don't think anyone was sitting around longing for her character to be back, especially without the OG actress. It's not like there's not enough DiMera's on the show or that Paulina / Abe had run out of storylines.

Spoiler

Since the actress has already wrapped filming it also seems like this is very much a temporary thing so it's not like they were committed in making this return work, which again, makes it even more bizarre.