This is probably my favourite non-JER story on Days ever, although I think he had a hand in it because he was still storyline consultant at the time.

Basically, the story was devised to give Eileen Davidson an extremely dramatic exit after being on Days for five years and playing five different characters simultaneously.

A dead body was found floating in the Blake swimming pool, and it looked like Kristen had killed herself. That's what the people of Salem thought, and still think. But was it really suicide? Laura or Susan may have murdered her...

Then the first twist occurred: Susan was really Kristen in disguise! Oh no..that meant Susan was dead...right?

Wrong! Susan was alive and well, being held in a Carribean fortress, mistaken for Kristen.

So who was dead? Sister Mary Moira? Nope, wrong again! Susan, Sister Mary Moira, and Thomas Banks had a long-lost quadruplet sister, Penelope Kent, who had been given up for adoption and grown up to be a British actress.

Through a series of twists and turns that included Kristen marrying Susan's lover Edmund, it turned out that Penelope had fallen into the pool, and Edmund, mistaking her for Kristen, held her head under water, drowning her.

Eventually, Susan escaped the fortress, reclaimed her identity, married Edmund, and sent Kristen to her imprisonment in the dungeon of the fortress, where she remains to this day. Susan convinced Stefano that "Kristen" was travelling the world with Elvis, when in reality, she and Edmund began their life anew in England with Elvis.

All of Salem still believe Kristen killed herself, and that includes Tony, her former lover.

Here's a link to a better story recap: http://www.bethsdayspage.com/days/killingpool.html

It was all Morrina. JER was never used as a story consultant. Which sucks. Because he was good then, and he would have made Morona's first year suck less. I agree this was a good story though.

I thought "storyline consultant" meant he had a hand in shaping and executing her stories.

I loved this story. Everyone in my office was watching Days then and I remember being off work that day and watching the episode. I called into work to tell them Kristen was dead, floating in the swimming pool. We were all so shocked! Great twists and still one of my all-time favorite storylines.

I thought "storyline consultant" meant he had a hand in shaping and executing her stories.

JER said on a few occassions that he would have been more than happy to help SSM, but she didn't call on him for help, not once.

I think during this storyline, Laura finally realized that Kate might have been responsible for being drugged up in the sanitarium for so long. Of course, she never pursued it. This was Laura's last big storyline before being dropped to recurring and phased out.

Too bad. I loved Laura's interactions with Kristen, Stefano, and Celeste. And Kate! It was fun to have a Horton fight the DiMeras rather than always a Brady.

JER said on a few occassions that he would have been more than happy to help SSM, but she didn't call on him for help, not once.

That's too bad. He could have helped her from going in the wrong direction (with Carrie/Mike and John/Hope).

The Killing Pool had JER written all over it, though. She must have copied his style for her first major storyline.

I remember thinking Laura was definitely the killer!

I agree. He was at the top of his game then. God knows why she wouldn't use him!

I LOVED this story. It had so many surprises-like the reveal that Susan was Kristen. That was a HUGE shock.

I remember thinking it was JER I guess it wasn't. Maybe if Morina accepted JER's help she would have never sucked up most of her run. Her only gems were Sami's execution and this story IMO.

I am with you KR-I thought Laura did it too. I miss JLB.

JER said on a few occassions that he would have been more than happy to help SSM, but she didn't call on him for help, not once.

thank god

That's too bad. He could have helped her from going in the wrong direction (with Carrie/Mike and John/Hope).

JER started Mike / Carrie. And John and Hope were bound to happen at some point, by some writer. Atleast she pulled out when she saw where audience opinion was headed ... unlike JER and Marlena & Alex, Captive Islands, etc.

SSM didn't pull out of Jope. It was going on full force when she was fired in the summer of 1999.

Yeah, the Killing Pool was good, but SSM made newbies the killer and victim. I thought that was such a cop out.

I remember this storyline, it was one of my favorites.

JER may have started Mike/Carrie, but he would have never made Carrie/Mike sleep together. Not then! He hadn't lost his mind then.

I am not sure where JER was taking Mike/Carrie. He loved Carrie and Austin so I doubt he would've screwed them over so who knows.

As for Jope, JER is not responsible for that. I remember he threw some hints out but he never did anything big involving Jope. I beleive it was Morina that started pushing that and it was still going after she left. It wasn't until C&B that Jope was finally put to bed.

I do agree with Toups, the ending was a cop out but it was a good ending that made sense. I love how the mystery unfolded piece by piece. I would not say the end disappointed though but I would've preferred the killer being someone bigger. The victim had to be a newbie otherwise Days would have to kill off Susan or Mary Moira because there way no way they were killing Kristen off permanently even though I did think they were at the time.

Sally Sussman Morina created and wrote Craig and Nancy Wesley at their original best before Chloe. Morina created Nurse Ali McIntyre and Greta von Amburg. She also created Nicole Walker and wrote the adult version of Eric Brady.

Towards the end of Morina’s run, it looked like Bo was slowly getting through to Hope and breaking Stefano’s Princess Gina hold over her. With Hope’s help, I think Bo was attempting to get the evidence to put Stefano away. Then Lorraine Broderick came on and had the real Princess Gina begin her plan of vengeance by setting Stefano on fire. Broderick was fired after a few weeks, and then Tom Langan began the never-ending story of Gina taking over Hope’s life.

It seemed like Morina had problems adapting to Reilly’s sci-fi and over the top stories, which was what Corday wanted to continue. I thought that I had read Morina departed the show due to the ratings not being the same as it was during Reilly's first run, and the producers wanting to focus on teen characters. She had negatives like Stefano’s implanting a chip in Vivian’s tooth and at times very slow movement of stories, but there were also positives.

Here are some highlights:

* The Killing Pool Mystery

* Nancy and Craig’s relationship and their crusade to prevent Mike from becoming the Chief of Staff, which leads to their teaming up with Ali who was obsessed with Mike. Ali’s slow descent into madness was both fascinating and creepy to watch.

* Mike and Carrie’s romance, which I liked. I think the problem that some Days fans had with this relationship was the big age differences between two established characters like Mike and Carrie. Also, the idea of Carrie cheating on Austin didn’t help.

* Franco pursuing a loveless relationship with Sami to avoid a return to Italy where he was marked for death by the mob, and Lucas’ quest to make Sami miserable by playing some juvenile pranks on the two. Kate learns of Franco’s plan, and uses this info to blackmail him.

* Franco killed on his wedding day by Lucas, and Kate using this as an opportunity to frame Sami for it. This sets the stage for the well-written and acted execution storyline, which garnered the Days writing staff a WGA award.

* Revisiting the Roman/Marlena/John triangle. Would have been more effective and better if Wayne Northrop was playing Roman, but he was on Port Charles at the time.

* John and Marlena’s wedding

I wonder what Days would have been like if Corday had hired Sheri Anderson to come back and co-head write the show with Morina.

SSM didn't pull out of Jope. It was going on full force when she was fired in the summer of 1999.

she wasnt fired. She quit over Tom Langan's meddling and push to focus the show on people she didnt want to (teens). Same reasons Lorraine Broderick ws fired.

and once the subsex bit was over, John returned to Marlena, and the rest of it was Bo trying to get Hope back.