A fitting farewell to Doug: Days of our Lives Two Scoops for the week of December 2, 2024

The week opened with a flashback of a young Doug Williams getting ready to leave prison and head to Salem. In the present, everyone began gearing up for his funeral. There were many characters reminiscing about him, so the week was chock full of flashback scenes, delighting DAYS fans everywhere. We had some old characters return after several decades of being absent. This included Liz Chandler, who also sang at Doug’s funeral, and her rival Marie Horton, who still held a grudge against Liz for stealing her man nearly five decades ago.

We also got to get reacquainted with Steve Olson, Julie’s brother. He had a sordid criminal past as a jewel thief and con artist. But he claimed he had changed his ways, and Julie believed him. He entered and exited through Julie’s bedroom window, apparently as they had done as kids, and there was a fun charm and sibling chemistry between them. Julie’s spirits were clearly lifted upon seeing him, and we hope he returns in the future.

We also got the return of Lucas Horton, Ciara Brady, and Shawn Brady, who’s still a sad sack. Apparently he’s been in Hong Kong working for DiMera Enterprises. Ciara had her second baby as well, and Lucas was, well, Lucas — obnoxious, opinionated, and annoyed by everything.

As funeral-time arrived, Liz and Marie agreed to temporarily bury the hatched to honor Doug. Julie delivered the eulogy at Doug’s memorial which was very similar to her real-life eulogy for his portrayer and her husband, the late Bill Hayes. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as everyone celebrated the extraordinarily long life of a man who touched everyone with his love, kindness, and compassion.

Ciara manages to open the time capsule where they discover papers, baby shoes, and other mementos, as well as Alice Horton’s diamond necklace that she never wore. Of course, the priceless necklace goes missing and everyone agrees to clam up about it so Julie wouldn’t have another reason to be upset.

Later, it turns out a newcomer in town, the new Doug Williams, was the one who swiped it. We have no idea what his intentions are, but really? Stealing a priceless heirloom while the family grieves the loss of a loved one? That’s just scumbag material, and this guy better have a good excuse. He’s got a baby face that might endear him to some, but that will only get him so far before he’s revealed to be a thief.

The new Doug Williams was born Douglas McLain. His birth father was named Dougie, an IVF baby whose mother was named Rebecca. The story is really convoluted, but as far as I can tell, the original Doug was involved in a surrogate program and had no idea Rebecca was pregnant with his child. Through a series of biological parent mishaps, Doug found out he was Dougie’s father and allowed the kid’s adopted father, Robert, to change Dougie’s name to Charles. It’s unclear where “Charles” eventually went in 1979, but this new Doug is the grandson of the original Doug. Confused? So am I.

One of the biggest things we were eagerly awaiting was the return of Hope Brady. She totally missed the funeral because Bo had moved his finger last week and she was hoping he’d wake up. Sadly he didn’t, but she made her way back to Salem to join the family.

Meanwhile, new Doug coerced Ciara and Lucas to keep mum about the missing necklace because the family didn’t want to upset Julie. Seriously, they take this guy’s word for it on the missing necklace and his claim to be a Williams? How about a DNA test, folks?

Meanwhile, pathetic Shawn had an encounter with Philip who expressed his condolences. The two managed to cool down their rivalry to the point where Shawn shocked Philip by telling him he hoped Philip manages to wrestle control of Titan from Xander. Speaking of which, Xander went to Stephanie to talk her out of doing positive PR for Philip. His approach angered her so much that it backfired and she became more determined than ever to help Philip take Titan.

Meanwhile, Chad and Cat are in Vancouver while Gabi and JJ are also there, pretending to check into a hotel as Mr. and Mrs. Chad DiMera. The clerk gave them a letter from Clyde telling them he’ll send more instructions in the morning. While Cat expresses she’s upset that Chad’s more concerned about his dead wife than her alive (or maybe dead) mom, he gets a call from Jennifer informing him that Doug died. Simultaneously, JJ gets a call from Jack about the same thing, and he and Gabi are saddened by the news.

Did we mention that Eli and Lani also returned? It’s always fun to see them, but nothing ever happens because their visits are always short-lived. With cucumbers on their eyes, Lani, Chanel, and Paulina chatted and Paulina made Chanel open up about Johnny’s behavior. Lani shared her own sordid history with JJ and Eli, and Lani would later visit the grave of her and Eli’s dead child, David Abraham.

Joy accepted EJ’s offer to leave town with a sizable sum of money, setting her up for life. He’s also going to take care of her contract with Body & Soul. For some unknown reason, she informs Alex of this, and he advised her to take EJ’s offer and shove it. Then, Alex furiously made a beeline to the DiMera mansion to confront Johnny about it. Perhaps Joy did that subconsciously, knowing that Alex might blow the whole thing up and that she wouldn’t be bound to her agreement with EJ.

Of course, the week closed out with Chanel walking in on Alex and Johnny arguing about it. They’ll most likely claim it was something to do with the show-within-the-show, and she may hesitantly buy it.

Back in Vancouver, Gabi let JJ sleep in the same bed with her, but with NO hanky panky!

LOOSE ENDS:

The opening of the time capsule was really dumb. Apparently, Ciara can now pick locks and open them when no one else can. Really? They couldn’t bring it to a locksmith? Heck, the thing is decades old and most likely a simple mechanism that could easily be picked. And there wasn’t much in it beyond baby shoes and a diamond necklace that just so happened to disappear. Of course, everyone suspected Steve Olson because of his criminal past, but once again, as happens on soaps quite often, he was too obvious a suspect to be the thief.

EXTRA SCOOPS

HOT

Gabi and JJ sleeping in the same bed opens the door for them to potentially rekindle their relationship. There’s definitely chemistry between the two, and if he stays in town (and they survive facing down Clyde), they should pursue a fresh romance. Gabi’s been through a lot, and with Stefan out of the picture, she’s not beholden to anyone. He’s single also, so why not?

NOT

Shawn and Belle. I’m sorry, but who really cares? They need to pull the plug on that relationship, and that’s exactly what they did, agreeing to call it quits. Shawn’s such a sad sack, and it’s hard to watch him. And Belle’s drier than toast. She adds nothing to the stories. Put the two together, and you’ve got the Whiners who do nothing but moan about how their lives suck. Nobody cares! They each need to leave town once again, or if they stick around, Dr. Rolf should give them personality transplants.

Oh yeah, and So Belle tells her kid OVER THE PHONE that she and Shawn are getting divorced! Seriously? Who does that?

LINE OF THE WEEK

Leo, after finding out Steven was Julie’s brother when Lucas and Ciara were confronting him says, “Is everyone in this town cousins?”

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Having so many characters return for Doug’s sendoff was wonderful. We got to see characters that haven’t been on the canvas for decades, as well as ones who’ve only popped in and out of Salem a few times in the last couple of years. They’ve set things up by reintroducing an old feud and a character with a shady past, and Doug would have loved every minute of it.

New Doug also brings some mystery to the show with his purloining of the diamond necklace. Hopefully, it doesn’t turn out that the necklace could power a machine that could wipe out the planet and is simply a family heirloom that needs to be recovered. Despite New Doug’s convoluted history (which Julie explained a couple of times), he seems very interesting, and it would be nice for them to expand on his origin tale and clarify exactly where he came from and what he’s doing in Salem.

Leo was sitting in Horton Square and overheard Steve Olson talking to the monument. Steve admitted that the necklace tempted him, but he resisted falling back into his old ways. Leo struck up a conversation with him and admitted that at one time, he was a gossip columnist whose job was to lurk around town, sniffing out scandals, but he doesn’t do that anymore. The two had a wonderful conversation, and it was nice to watch these two outcasts find a genuine connection. Leo was hilarious when he admitted to Steve that he was desperate for friends.

Probably because sharing your innermost with non-judgemental strangers is cathartic, Steve told Leo about his criminal past, especially when he hid cocaine in canes that were being sold in Julie’s antique shop. “So they were co-canes,” Leo hilariously quipped. After Lucas and Ciara accused him of stealing the necklace, a cheesed-off Steve stormed out of the square, but not before telling Leo that his own son was gay and a nice man and that the two would like each other. That was a nice touch and illustrated that Steve’s a kind man at heart. He’s something the show needs and should become a recurring character.

Joy’s planning on leaving Salem is for the best. Yes, Johnny made an egregious mistake by sleeping with her, and EJ made her an offer she could hardly refuse. Can’t ONE secret stay safe on a soap? As always, people need to stop talking about secrets out loud or telling people because that only begs trouble. Joy seems like a nice character, and she just thought Johnny was some random dude and didn’t realize he erroneously thought Chanel was cheating on him. Now she feels bad, and because she stupidly told Alex about her tryst with Johnny, that secret is most likely going to get out, and Johnny and Chanel will be kaput.

It’s really too bad because they’re a great couple.

And seeing Marie…I almost fell out of my chair when I saw her! I didn’t remember her from DAYS because I didn’t watch it back then, but I definitely recognized her as Lucy Coe’s Aunt Charlene Simpson on General Hospital!! It’s been a hot minute since I thought about some of those late 1980s GH characters, and it was nice to see her here.

PARTING THOUGHTS

Stephen’s exit was sad. But who is this new Doug Williams, and why does he have the necklace from the time capsule? Why does everyone freak out when he introduces himself and rant about the fact that Doug is dead and he’s not Doug? I think a more appropriate response would be, “Oh my, that’s the same as my father/uncle/grandfather, etc., who just passed away!” Obviously, he looks 70 years younger than our Doug, and so couldn’t possibly be him. (Well, this is Salem, so anything’s possible.)

OUTRO

Until next time DOOL-ers!

Days of Our Lives can be found on the Peacock streaming service.