Fancy meeting you here

This past week, Steve and Kayla tried to talk Stephanie into giving Max some space. It was, perhaps, the best advice they've ever given their daughter.

I'd like to meet the person who finally decided to have different characters interact. That genius has a huge bear hug coming his or her way from this Two Scooper! Although I have always loved Days, the one thing that used to bug me was that the characters didn't mingle enough. Even characters who were related NEVER seemed to share a scene together unless they were directly involved in the same storyline. Remember when the only two people that Sami ever talked to were Lucas and Kate? Remember when Phillip seemed to forget that he has five siblings? Those Days are long gone and I, for one, and doing a happy dance! I LOVE that the writers are having characters involved in multiple storylines at once. It keeps the storylines moving, the dialogue fresh, and gives the characters much more depth. Here's how it all worked out this week! JOHN, PHILLIP, and PAUL Paul was a very busy man. He started a fire, got kidnapped, and then got himself killed. He also set the table for some interesting drama between John and Phillip. Here's what we know: Paul started the fire because he wanted to knock John down a few notches and hopefully win points with Phillip. Unfortunately, Phillip was not impressed. John was even less entertained, so he called on his special lady friend Ava, to have Paul kidnapped and questioned. Both John and Phillip took phone calls about not letting Paul talk. By the end of the week Paul ends up dead and in the river.

Here's what we don't know: Who actually killed Paul?!?!? With Paul dead, it makes it even harder for Phillip to go down for the drug planting. But, it also makes it easy for John to figure out who really planted the drugs. My guess is that Ava actually ordered the hit; but Phillip will believe that he's responsible for Paul's death (an overzealous employee might have taken Phillip's orders a little too seriously). Of course, Phillip won't realize this information until after he falls in love with Morgan. Then, he'll have to struggle with telling the woman that he loves that he is responsible for her father's death. Dun..dun...dun!

MORGAN TOOT! TOOT! Time to get your tickets on the Phorgan train! All soap signs point to this being the hot new couple of the summer and I couldn't be more thrilled! Soap sign number 1: Paul's parting words to Morgan were a warning to stay away from Phillip Kiriakis. Soap sign number 2: Morgan came running to Phillip as soon as her dad left, cried on his shoulder, and asked him for protection. Soap sign number 3: Not only is there a built in love triangle with Chloe, but Nadia Bjorlin and Kristen Renton play off each other beautifully. Soap sign number 4: Be it a dart game or a kiss, we constantly see Phillip flashback to his scenes with Morgan. Add in the above drama concerning Paul, and Phorgan is on the fast track for soap love. All ABOARD!!

STEVE, KAYLA, and STEPHANIE This week Steve worried about Kayla worrying about the baby - again. Only this week it wasn't Joey. It was Stephanie. Steve and Kayla tried to talk to Stephanie into giving Max some space. It was, perhaps, the best advice they've ever given their daughter. Stephanie responds by telling then that she can take care of herself...a claim of which there is absolutely no proof what-so-ever.

One constant with the character of Stephanie (ever since the recast) is that she regularly makes bad decisions. Despite how great Shelley Hennig's acting skills are, there's only so much she can do with a character who is either crying, snooping, sulking, or all of the above. For my money, Stephanie is at her best when she's in a scene with Steve or Chelsea. I would like to see the writers concentrate the character's storyline around one of these two and work out from there.

MAX Oh my goodness! (Insert squeals and frantic clapping here.) Darin Brooks pretty much rocked my socks this week . It's official. We can stop fast forwarding through Max's scenes. Like many of you, I always thought that Darin had that X factor. For some reason, I was drawn to him and I thought that if given the proper storyline, he would hit it out of the park. We were so right. Max confronted the source of his paternal DNA, Dean Trent Robbins. It wasn't a big surprise to learn that Trent is Max's biological father, but it was a surprise to find out that there's so much more to this storyline. First, kudos to the writers for having Max make is abundantly clear that Shawn Brady is his REAL father. Max has a history with the Brady family and I'm glad that this new sperm donor doesn't get a shot at replacing the true "Pop". Second, those crafty writers are adding an interesting twist on this storyline and possibly introducing a second character who might share Max's DNA. Since we already know that Max has a picture of his biological mother, could it be that the girl in the picture turns out to be one of Trent's other kids? Trent's mother? Either way, it looks like Max is going to find out and I'm excited to watch!

The only downfall for this storyline is that we still have to sit through Max struggling with his genius brain power. While I get that Max doesn't want to acknowledge that he has something in common with Trent, it's not like Max was born with an extra limb or something. He has a talent that can actually do some good! I hope he takes Nick's advice and enrolls in some college classes.

DANIEL and CHELSEA I'm a little irritated that it took the writers so long to address the age difference between Chelsea and Daniel. But, leave it to our favorite southern belle to come right out with the brutal truth. I'm sure there were tons of fans cheering Morgan's every word. And, all I can say is, it's about flippin' time! Personally, I don't think that an age difference should be an automatic deal breaker, but I thought that Morgan's concern about Daniel's interest in Chelsea was completely valid. I know that I'd be a little nervous if my BFF announced that she's going on a date with a guy who just a few weeks earlier tried to leave town just to get away from her. Having said all that, I am glad that Daniel and Chelsea are going to go on a date because this storyline was starting to stall. I couldn't take much more manic make-out sessions from these two without some sort of a scene containing substance. I have very high hopes for this date. Not that Daniel and Chelsea will fall madly in love, but that viewers will finally get to see if these two have real chemistry. The writers are giving Daniel and Chelsea a fair chance and that's what has been missing in this storyline. At least now, we'll know if Dansea can make it. KATE Kate continued to insist that Daniel not be her surgeon. Not just that; Kate doesn't even want the man in her hospital room! I've obviously missed something. It seems odd that Kate came to the hospital LOOKING for Daniel but then balks on him operating on her. Why is she so anti-Daniel? The writers tried to give us a hint when Kate pointed out that Lexie would not want to operate on Abe. So, does that mean that Kate and Daniel are related or does Kate have feelings for Daniel?

I have to say that I do not like where this storyline is going. Best case scenario, Kate really blames Daniel for Chelsea's infertility and she doesn't trust him. Worse case scenario is that Kate and Daniel are related, thus Chelsea and Daniel are probably related too and we'll have to watch another incest storyline. Boo. Someone help me out on this one. What am I missing?

JOHN and MARLENA I didn't like John this week. I don't know what it is, but John seems a little....desperate? He's walking around like a mad man, having Ava kidnap people for him, confronting Bo and Hope in public. I understand that he's upset but this behavior is far out of character. Neither John (new or old) relied on others to get him out of situations. But, if John was the King of Chaos, then Marlena was the Queen of Cool. My jaw hit the floor when she told John that he needs to figure out who he wants to be with and if that means dating other people, fine. It's one of those decisions that makes perfect sense, but very few people can actually follow through with it. I think Marlena should take her own advice. So much of her life has been getting old John back, that I worry Marlena is not taking very good care of herself. I'm not suggesting that she go out and date other people (sorry Roman, you can put your hand down now). But, no woman should stay home and pine away for a man to make up his mind. I hope that we get to see more of Dr. Marlena Evans developing her business by helping out some of the struggling residents of Salem.

Maybe it's because I have no doubt that Jarlena will reunite, but I am loving this storyline! It reminds me of those old murder mystery shows (yes, I loved "Matlock" and "Murder She Wrote") where the audience knows right from the beginning who the killer is, but we watch intensely to see how the other characters are going to find out. Even though we know how the story is going to end, it's the journey that we find entertaining.

EJ EJ had drinks with Tony!! I love it when these two have scenes together. I was so happy to see Tony give EJ advice that I'll almost forgive Tony for what he said. Yeah...I said "almost". Really, I'm a little ticked. Tony suggested that the main reason EJ is so adamant about pursuing Sami is because Sami was the last "mission" Stefano gave to EJ thus, EJ sees Sami as a last way to please Stefano. Hold it right there! I'm not saying that there's not a lot of truth to what Tony said, but this conversation sounds waaaay to much like a loop hole that the writers are creating for themselves so that they don't actually have to resolve the Ejamicus situation. Not cool, writers! There's too much good acting, fan interest, and story history involved in the Ejamicus storyline to have it end with EJ saying, "Psyche! I guess I really wasn't that into her anyway. My bad." Don't get me wrong. I want this storyline resolved, but not by some lame re-write excuse. If they do that, the writers might as well just have Sami wake up and the whole thing was a dream. NICOLE I LOVED Nicole's storyline this week. Since her divorce is in the home stretch, thus her EJ interaction will be cut down, I wondered what the writers were going to do with Nicole. I was worried that my favorite little Tart-tini would be relinquished to Anna status- only showing up for the occasional comic relief. But, those sneaky writers gave Nicole a doozey of a summer storyline!

My girl Nicole isn't sacred of too much. But, something about Trent Robbins has Nicole shaking in her stilettos. She's so scared of Trent that she asked both Phillip and Ava for protection, but couldn't bring herself to tell either of them who has her so frightened.

So, the questions begin. First, how to Nikki and Trent know each other? We know that Nicole's dad was bad news, but could her mom have married another jerk at some point making Trent Nicole's step dad? We also know that Nicole did make a living in pornography. Could Trent be associated with the industry? Second, and more importantly, what could Trent possibly have on Nicole that some Kiriakis money and Vitali goons can't handle? Nicole has hella resources at her disposal, yet she doesn't use any of them. Thus, her secret MUST be good!

Finally, when are Nicole and Max going to join forces? I don't know why I never thought of this pair before, but they would make an excellent team! Max is very smart and Nicole is very savvy. Together, they could be very instrumental in getting Trent the Terrible out of town! SAMI While I am completely enjoying the fact that she has feelings for two men, I am royally ticked at the writers for somehow making Sami the one who is doing the chasing....again. Call me crazy, but I'm curious what it would have been like if both Lucas and EJ actually fought for Sami's attention by...I don't know...BEING NICE TO HER! Ok, so fine. The writers are completely unwilling to actually let Sami play the "other" role in a love triangle. That doesn't bother me as much as the fact that Sami isn't being proactive in any aspect of her life. She's letting other people (yes, I'm talking about you EJ and Lucas!) make decisions for her. Does she have to compromise with them about the twins? Absolutely. But when it comes to telling her where to live and who to love, Sami needs to stand up and tell the fellas to back off. Yes, the guys deserve some chastising for being such a bossy-pants, but we all know that Sami is more than able to take care of herself. This ain't Belle or Carrie. This is Sami we're talking 'bout! The woman is more resourceful than Google. She needs to make a decision, craft a plan, and move forward!

CHLOE You know, I'm starting to become a Chloe fan! I loved when she said, "I'm making a damn fool of myself, aren't I?" Ahhh....self awareness will get you everywhere with me Ms. Lane. Now I can completely root for you. I say you and I follow Nicole and Ava to Chicago for some Cosmos and shoe shopping. Whatda say?

Of course, I kid. (Like I'd intentionally walk around with someone that good looking. I'd start turning people to stone.) But, Chloe desperately needs a friend- and not the Phillip kind. I really hope that the writers give us more Chloe/Lucas scenes. From the previews, it looks like Chloe and Lucas will get thrown into the DiMera/Kiriakis storyline and I'm pumped to watch! The further Chloe can get from the "friends with benefits" storyline, the better. LOOSE ENDS: Abe and Lexie are awaiting the results of Theo's test. I remain cautiously optimistic that this storyline will be great! Renee Jones and James Reynolds are some of the best in the biz and I can't wait to see how they tackle this one!

Steph, Chelsea, and Morgan participate in a Midol commercial. I'm not going to admonish the product because I happen to be a fan, but Days is a bit overboard with the product placement. At this point, I say the actors should totally embrace it, break the fourth wall and talk right into the camera!

Nicole calls and orders booze. For DELIVERY. Dang! Salem is so cool. Pizza is the only thing I can get delivered to my house.

I want to strangle "treadmill Tina". Who's with me?

Extra Scoops: LINE OF THE WEEK: Discussing their divorceNicole: "We could put this to bed, right here, right now." Victor: "That's how we got here in the first place"

HOT: Usually the fashion is pretty good on Days, but the wardrobe department out did themselves when they put Deidre Hall in that amazing hot pink dress and silver necklace on Friday's episode. Proper credit should be give to Deidre Hall too. You have to project confidence if you're going to wear that strong of a color. Well done! NOT: EJ and Lucas. So let me get this straight, Lucas is testing Sami to see if she'll actually tell EJ to move out, even though he claims to be in love with Sami. And, EJ doesn't think there's anything wrong with trying to sleep with Nicole, even though he too claims to be in love with Sami. Boy, Sami is one lucky girl to have these two in her life!

Emmy Extravaganza: In case you didn't catch the Emmys (apparently some people have "real lives" and actually have plans on Friday nights....weird) Tony and I captured all the important details for you! While Days didn't snag any acting awards, it was far from an unsuccessful night. Head over to our blogs to read our live chat reactions to the show itself. And, then be sure to read our picks for Emmy Hits and Misses.

That's it, Days fans! I hope that you are enjoying all of the different character interaction as much as I am! Let me know what you think of the pairs, where you stand on the Ejamicus resolution, and who you actually think killed Paul.

Happy viewing! Laurisa

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