James Reynolds is doing great work.
Even though this Whitley/Abe plotline is extraordinarily goofy, Reynolds gave a fantastic performance on Days of Our Lives during the week of 6-05-23, selling Abe’s confusion, fear, and pain to an audience that might otherwise be impatient with this story.
Abe’s amnesia is par for the course for Days of Our Lives, and so are doppelganger stories, but the acting here makes it clear that it’s better to give Abe something to do than not use him at all.
Abe doesn’t remember much about his life — he believed Whitley’s claim that he’s a retired ice cream store owner, which suggests he doesn’t remember his life as a cop or his marriage to Lexi any better than his newer romance.
Yet he is clear that he HATES sausage and seems to know that he’s Abraham Carver despite not knowing his biographical details.
He also doesn’t seem to question why he wasn’t given his clothes back before being taken home from the hospital or why he doesn’t seem to have any options besides remaining in his hospital gown day in and day out.
Plus, Whitley is hell-bent on cutting Abe off from the outside world, unplugging the cable so that he can’t hear his name on the news, and offers evasive non-answers when he talks to her about his past or their alleged life together. Unless Abe’s ability to reason has also been damaged, he should be suspicious of Whitley.
Younger Abe [on TV screen]: I am committed to making things better for our children and our children’s children. I humbly accept this position as mayor.
Abe: That’s me. I’m the mayor.
These inconsistencies dampen the story’s appeal, making viewers eager to get past this. But Reynolds’ acting elevates the silly story to the point that it’s enjoyable.
It would help if we knew what Whatley’s motivation was. She’s quirky and weird, suggesting a Misery-like obsession with Abe. Fortunately, Abe chose not to sleep with her while he was still confused, and she didn’t push the issue, but what’s her deal?
Is she obsessed? Is she trying to protect Abe from Colin? Or does she have a more sinister motive? No one knows.
Coming face-to-face with Paulina shocked Whitley, though no one realized that the two women looked anything alike. I was hoping Paulina would put two-and-two together, but that didn’t happen so far.
Even if Days of Our Lives went down the well-worn path of no one believing Paulina’s claims, it would still be progress forward, and we needed that after Rafe walked away without discovering Abe was in Whitley’s apartment.
However, the campy pseudo-soap opera Whtiley left Abe with (side note: how many people still have a VCR?) worked well as a lead-in for Abe to discover an important truth about himself.
When the “network” cut in with a special report showing Abe’s acceptance speech in 2008, using actual footage from Days of Our Lives’ past was a nice touch.
This was a great use of history.
Long-time fans probably remembered the scene, while Abe was shocked to realize that he was the mayor of Salem. Not only did he learn something important about his identity, but he also realized that Whitley had lied to him about his past.
When Whitley comes home from work, will she be able to talk her way out of this? Or will Abe recover more of his memories before she gets home, realizing he is a beloved family member to many in Salem?
Coilin’s story ended abruptly in the meantime — or did it?
Colin broke into Talia’s apartment and attempted to attack her, then settled for taking her hostage when the cops showed up. This Colin/Talia sequence was scarier than most such scenarios on Days of Our Lives.
Colin was unhinged, and it was hard to tell if Talia was going along with him to keep him calm or truly believed the poisonous lies he’d told her about Chanel.
Talia’s anguished cry for help after berating Chanel was particularly masterful, and Raven Bowens did excellent work depicting Chanel’s terror after all was said and done.
But when the police burst in on Colin hurting Talia, his attempt to take her hostage ended abruptly. Colin immediately let Talia go and surrendered, which seemed strange.
All that build-up only to surrender the second the cops showed up? I felt like Colin must have something else up his sleeve.
Technically, he did. He had one last-ditch effort to escape again that went nowhere. So it appears Colin is headed to prison, but could we finally be rid of him?
Jada: How’s your arm? Do you need any meds?
Talia: Can you stop worrying about me, please? I’ve caused you enough trouble already. Honestly, I don’t know how you even let me stay here.
Jada: How many times do I have to tell you? You are my sister. I love you. What did this guy Colin do to you to make you feel so bad about yourself?
Talia: What did he do? Nothing.
Jada: Talia, he messed with your mind.
Talia: Yeah, because I let him.
Jada: But as soon as you realized what he was going to do, you turned him in. You should be proud of yourself. Even the newspaper is calling you a hero. You know, I really think that’s going to help your case.
Talia: No! Jada, I am not a hero. I was scared of him. He was furious with me. Even for that one second, when he asked me to go away with him, my heart, it was pounding. And I thought maybe he might forgive me for turning on him. And I was relieved. I was so relieved I got, like, this adrenaline rush, you know? In that moment I was scared, in that instant, I almost went with him. What is wrong with me?
Or will he meet up with Orpheus in jail? All Salem needs is for those two unhinged vengeance-seekers to become friends!
Jada did a great job of offering Talia support, though Talia shouldn’t evade accountability for her part in this mess either.
Jada is right that Colin abused Talia. It was psychological for the most part but turned physical at the end, and Talia did horrible things while under his control.
But it wasn’t like Talia was brainwashed, even though it may have felt like it to her.
Just as drunk drivers can’t use their intoxication as an excuse for hurting others while behind the wheel, Talia shouldn’t be able to get off scot-free because she was addicted to Colin’s attention and willing to do whatever he demanded to keep him in her life.
Should Talia’s emotional state be considered when she’s eventually sentenced for her part in this? Of course. And if she flips on Colin, testifying against him despite his threats, that could also mitigate her sentence. But the DA should not drop all charges because Talia was a victim too.
It’s not as if she is being charged with attempted murder for pushing Colin off the rooftop, in which case she’d have a viable self-defense claim. She poisoned many innocent people because Colin said to, and that’s a serious crime that cannot be excused.
That said, Jada is right that Talia needs therapy. Whether or not she goes to jail, Talia’s at risk of falling for Colin 2.0 if she doesn’t get a handle on why she allowed the first one far enough into her life to control her behavior like this.
As it is, Talia seriously considered going on the run with Colin after everything he’d done to her, and that’s a gigantic red flag that can’t be ignored.
Jada and Sloan’s confrontation was unnecessary and annoying. Sloan was right about one thing: Jada needs to stop seeing Talia as a victim.
Of course, Sloan could also benefit from taking her own advice. Constantly harassing Paulina and Chanel didn’t make Sloan a love-to-hate character; it only made her insufferable.
And after learning how far Colin took things, Sloan should end the vendetta for once and for all and acknowledge that her parents’ behavior played a role in what happened to them.
Sloan’s hands also are unclean in another way: she substituted her DNA for Eric’s to ensure that the paternity test came out negative for him.
There are a lot of problems with this scenario, solidifying Days of Our Lives’ insistence on making up their own reality.
As many viewers have noted, the DNA test should have picked up on the fact that “Eric’s” sample came from a woman. (Of course, biology is complicated and some women don’t have XX chromosomes, but that would be about ten steps too far of an explanation for Days of Our Lives.)
It’s equally frustrating that EJ didn’t ask to run his own DNA sample to be doubly sure the child is his.
He’s over the moon right now because he’s wanted a child with Nicole and loves being able to rub salt in Eric’s wounds. But he’s a master schemer who is undoubtedly aware of the shenanigans surrounding DNA tests in Salem!
The best that can be said of any of this is that Days of Our Lives subverted its usual DNA switch trope by having Sloan provide an inaccurate sample rather than someone blackmailing a lab tech or changing results in the computer.
But since EJ is allegedly the father, Eric will likely turn out to be. What’ll happen to Eric and Nicole’s new relationships, then?
Eric and Nicole have had a zillion chances to reconcile, and it always turns out the same way: Nicole does something underhanded, and Eric berates her for six months to a year while ignoring his own flaws.
Nicole wisely realized after the last go-around that she and Eric’s feelings for each other aren’t enough and that the two are toxic for each other. Please let it stay that way no matter who the father of her baby is!
It’s a good thing EJ is preoccupied with the baby drama. It keeps him away from the other silliness at the Dimera Mansion.
Is this story of Megan trying desperately to get Dimitri to marry Gwen supposed to be comic relief? Megan is a great Dimera, but this plan is silly.
Dimitri: Yes, Mother, I am aware there is a time crunch. But I’m not turning 40 tomorrow. I’d like to, you know, explore my options.
Megan: What options? You’re not seeing anyone. And that last romantic encounter you had with Billie Reed was al an act. Am I correct?
Dimitri: You don’t see how crazy this is, do you?
Megan: Well maybe a little crazy’s what we need in this fortuitous situation. Dimitri. That inheritance money is rightfully yours. And let me let you in on a little secret. I have big plans, plans that require significant funding, so you need to put a ring on her finger.
Dimitri: But why this woman, Mother? I’ve only known her for two minutes. I don’t know anything about her.
Megan: Well, let me bring you up to speed. She is smart. She is successful. She is beautiful. And she has a delightful accent that will be a wonder to wake up to every morning. What more do you need to know?
Dimitri: Oh, I don’t know off the top of my head. Do you have a priest in mind for the ceremony? Or maybe we go with an Elvis impersonator. Oh, and you know what would be helpful is knowing whether or not the bride-to-be is single.
Dimitri came off as intelligent, or at least having common sense, while Megan became an overbearing mother who kept pushing this ridiculous plan on him.
I was surprised the story went this way. I expected Megan to disapprove of Gwen while Dimitri fell hard for her. Instead, she’s treating Dimitri like a rebellious 14-year-old because he doesn’t want to marry a random woman he barely knows!
Meanwhile, Megan is also delusional enough to believe she will use Harris to further her plan — which is still short on details and only involves dominating the world in some fashion.
These scenes were brilliantly juxtaposed with Harris telling Kate he is not interested in being a hired hitman — something which is a redux of the Xander/Ava story and also something Harris probably won’t stick to.
So let me get this straight. You have the killer instinct, but you want me to do the killing?
Harris
At least Days of Our Lives has found something for Harris to do, and Roman’s balanced attitude toward him is also much easier to take than Steve’s insistence on hating Harris.
It’s also more enjoyable than the stupid Wendy love triangle, so there’s that. So far, this triangle consists of Johnny being flakey and Tripp being smug and annoying.
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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.