Halloween may be over, but there’s still something evil in the air.
No, it’s not the Devil this time (hopefully not, anyway!)
But it might as well be since Charlie’s ghost encouraged Ava to be evil on Days of Our Lives during the week of 10-31-22.
Charlie’s ghost is one of the sillier plot devices Days of Our Lives uses nowadays, and that’s saying a lot. After all, Rolf resurrected Stefan four years after death and brainwashed him to fall hard for Chloe instead of Gabi!
Still, amnesia is a typical obstacle for a soap couple, even if the supernatural aspect is unique to DAYS. Charlie’s ghost acting as Ava’s anti-conscience isn’t.
Charlie’s ghost appears only to Ava, saying the same awful things he said in life about how she’s too attached to Tripp and is trying to be someone she’s not to please her golden child.
But when Charlie was alive, Ava stood up to him. Now, he seems to have power over her. Why?
She almost abandoned her ridiculous plot to get revenge on EJ by kidnapping Susan for ransom after receiving a series of texts from Tripp expressing concern about her. She changed her mind because dead Charlie said so.
Talk about a waste of an hour! These unnecessary scenes established a relationship between Ava and Charlie that didn’t exist while he was alive and accomplished nothing that couldn’t have been done by Ava talking with herself after she got Tripp’s messages.
These scenes also fell flat because Tripp was off-screen and only communicating with Ava via text. If Days of Our Lives wanted to set up a battle in Ava’s head between the good brother and the evil brother, they both should have been face-to-face with her.
Ava’s plan is ridiculous anyway. Why does she need to kidnap Susan, who only popped back into Salem a few days ago, to get revenge on EJ? WOuldn’t continuing to turn Johnny against his father be a better form of revenge?
If she is going to kidnap someone, Johnny or the perpetually off-screen Sydney would be better choices. 99% of the time, Susan isn’t in EJ’s life, and while he cares about his mother, he’d be far more deeply affected if one of his children were taken from him.
And why hire Xander? This seems risky, especially since he doesn’t want to disappoint Sarah by returning to a life of crime. Besides, Kristen has far more experience with kidnapping Susan.
Supposedly, Kristen puts family loyalty above everything, but she’s never cared that Susan is EJ’s mother before, and she can pretend to be her in a pinch.
This disappointing story has only one purpose: to cause trouble between Xander and Sarah. He ran off to do the job when Sarah asked if he was doing anything illegal.
That means that eventually, she’ll discover what he’s been up to, become furious, and storm out. The writers can’t seem to think of any story for them besides this. Enough already!
Sarah also visited the penthouse to check on little Rachel’s tummy ache.
These scenes did little to soften Rachel’s image as a spoiled brat. She got sick because she ate a ton of candy that she didn’t have permission to eat and didn’t bother to thank Sarah when Sarah gave her the sunglasses afterward.
She’s already proven herself to be a mini-Kristen, so I wasn’t sure she even had a stomachache. She could have faked the whole thing to manipulate her parents into getting along.
Kristen’s overreaction didn’t help, but at least she cared enough to put her animosity with Sarah aside long enough to get Rachel checked out.
She even offered to pay her. Sarah’s refusal to accept her money was understandable but somehow also came off as petty or at least ill-thought-out.
Kristen offered an olive branch, but she doesn’t do that often. Sarah should take advantage, especially since Kristen may change her tune after the Susan-napping.
Kristen and Li’s plan is also going to fall apart soon. Too many people are onto them, and sending Rolf away isn’t going to accomplish much in the way of stopping them.
Wendy makes a good PI and is probably in the wrong business. She should join Black Patch instead. That way, she’d be doing her job when she spent all day sneaking around and making up stories about what she was up to.
As it is, she seemed like yet another employee who did no work whatsoever. And why could she go home in the middle of the day for this clandestine meeting with Johnny?
That said, I hope these two get Ned Granger to talk (why, why, why does Li have to be stupid enough to use the same disgraced pilot who helped transport Abigail and Sarah to the island to make Rolf disappear?).
This stupid plot needs to be exposed once and for all, and I want to know whose side Wendy will take when the truth comes out.
Johnny: We’d better get you over to Dimera Enterprises if we’re gonna find out what we need to, if we’re gonna find out whether your brother brainwashed my uncle.
Wendy: Oh, Johnny. Bet you say that to all the girls.
Johnny: Come on. Don’t you think, if they screwed with the man’s mind they deserve to pay for it? Right?
Wendy: We don’t know what they did.
Johnny: That’s what we’re trying to find out! What? What’s bothering you?
Wendy: You know, I started all this to get leverage over my brother, to force him to get me a job, but now that I have the job…
Johnny: You want to back out?
Wendy: No. I still want to know what he’s capable of.
Johnny: Well, I don’t need to find out what my father is capable of. I know what he’s capable of. What I need is to prove what he did to Stefan so I can bring him down.
Wendy: You see, that’s where you and I are different. You hate your father for what he did to Tripp’s mother.
Johnny: Yeah, and to Stefan and Chad and whoever else gets in my way.
Wendy: But I still love my brother! We’re still family
Wendy is loyal to Li despite the crappy way he treats her, but Gabi is her friend, who she greatly admires. When Wendy gets proof that Li helped wipe Stefan’s memories, all hell will break loose — and Wendy will be caught in the middle.
Stefan might also discover and expose the truth, probably just as Gabi is about to say her I dos. (Isn’t it always that way on Days of Our Lives?)
Despite his protestations, he appears to be recovering some of his feelings for Gabi. He won’t allow EJ to talk negatively about her, and he was jealous when he learned she was going to marry Li.
Their banter over the cake samples was full of flirtatious double meanings, and Stefan looked upset when Li finally arrived and kissed Gabi.
Li’s lateness resulted from his involvement in Kristen’s latest scheme.
Remind me in the future not to have these types of business meetings in hallways.
He gave in to Kristen’s threats and created a position for Chloe, which Chloe took without any understanding of what her job duties will be because she wanted to stop working with Brady.
What a ridiculous setup! Now Chloe is working with Stefan, doing God knows what, and it only took a few tears and about 30 seconds worth of conversation for her to kiss him.
The normally smart Chloe is bewildered about Brady’s behavior when Kristen literally told her it would happen before it did. Put two and two together and figure out that Kristen is blackmailing Brady, Chloe!
Brady’s attitude post-breakup is annoying. He told Chloe it’s over but keeps trying to tell her what to do now.
Brady: After what Stefan did to Abigail, I’m worried.
Chloe: You’re worried? That what, after the loss of you I’m incompetent to run my own life?
Chloe’s justified in feeling Brady is being overcontrolling and condescending. After they argued over Stefan, he did it again, trying to convince Chloe that the only reason she was being given a promotion was that Kristen didn’t want them to work together.
He’s right, but that’s beside the point. The message behind his words was that Chloe was not qualified for her new job and that she was too stupid or incompetent to realize Kristen was manipulating her.
His obnoxious attitude is probably what drove her to take the job. Who wants to spend their work life around a judgmental ex who acts like you’re still together but won’t tell you what’s really going on?
The rest of what’s going on at Basic Black isn’t much better.
I’m unsure how Alex got in charge of Bella Magazine or why Basic Black is submitting photos to it. Basic Black is a Dimera property, and the magazine is a Titan one.
Nor do I understand why Eric and Nicole have to do whatever he says the second he says it. It should be up to them whether to agree to model for the magazine, and they can always withdraw their agreement if they feel uncomfortable.
Alex became the latest person to gush over how Eric and Nicole have the “it” factor. He literally forced them together by firing Brady as a model and asking Eric to wear the suit and take “smoldering” photos with Nicole.
This is going to cause trouble, but it shouldn’t. All Nicole has to do to get ahead of this is call Rafe and tell him she hadn’t had a chance to talk to him about work before this happened, but she wants him to know she and Eric were asked to model together for the cover of the magazine.
If she does that and Rafe blows a gasket, that’s on him; she’s been honest and aboveboard. But that won’t happen; she’ll keep it secret to create manufactured drama that could have been easily resolved by her opening her mouth.
On the other hand, Jada is talking when she should be keeping her mouth shut.
There was no reason for her to tell Rafe that Nicole came to her apartment to get Eric for a work meeting or that Eric took photos of Nicole.
A normal person might have commented that they didn’t get to drink coffee before work and left it at that; Rafe didn’t need all those details.
Jada is acting like a middle schooler, and it’s not innocent despite her repeated claims that it is. She is jealous of Nicole, so she’s doing this for one of two reasons.
Either she wants to get revenge by interfering with Nicole and Rafe’s relationship, or she’s hoping Rafe will force Nicole to stop spending time with Eric.
It’s manipulative as hell, and it needs to stop.
What do you think, Days of Our Lives fanatics? Why is Jada gossiping about Nicole and Eric? What did you think of little Rachel’s tummy ache? And do you like Charlie’s ghostly appearances, or do you wish he’d go back to where he came from?
Vote in our poll below, and then hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button to share your thoughts.
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If you’re eager for even more Days of Our Lives chat, check out the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion, updated every Sunday!
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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.
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