Heroes, hospitals, and hostages

Hope knows that Bo is hiding something. She figured it out partly because she's a good detective, and partly because Bo lies about as well as a 5 year old with chocolate all over his face.

Bill Horton and Kate Roberts must have had some heck of an affair. Not only did he father her child, but apparently he arranged for her to have her very own private wing of Salem Hospital for just her VIP guests. Lucas, Phillip, and Victor all managed to acquire rooms this week. Don't worry though; everyone is going to be just fine. That's what I keep telling myself. And, since you're along with me for this column, that's what I'm going to tell you too. Why? Because Salem has it's first next-generation good guy.

PHILLIP Every city needs a hero. Gotham City has Batman. Metropolis has Superman. Now Salem has Phillip Kiriakis. The dimpled one might as well have donned a cape last week when he flew in front of Morgan to take a bullet for her. At this point, I'd donate money to get the crusader his own Batmobile. Yes, dear reader, Phillip Kiriakis is my hero too. He's what the character of EJ should have been. He's a guy who matures into a wonderful leading man despite his evil roots; and, although he may relapse into those bad genes once in a while, he has a strong leading lady who always pulls him back to the good side. He even did the impossible and made hospital bedside confessions seem like they weren't the most overused tactic in soap opera history.

First, Bo turned a 180 and realized that his baby brother might not be such a bad guy. Bo is ready to go after John Black DiMera, guns blazing and personally, I can't wait to watch these two Kiriakis brothers in action. They're a half step away from figuring out that John planted evidence. But, when are they going to figure out that Paul is still alive?

Second, Chloe's speech to Phillip was awesome. Chloe is slowly becoming one of my favorite characters. I know. I know. Trust me, no one is more surprised than I am! But, the fact that she's completely aware of her flaws just makes me want to jump in her corner. She told Phillip that she'll always be his friend and that it's just not in the cards for them to be anything more. You know what else? She'll be just fine. (more on that later)

Finally, and best of all, Morgan surprised herself when she told Phillip that she was falling in love with him. But wait, it gets better.... he seems pretty pumped about the idea! I certainly hope that this means Phillip is actually falling for Morgan too. I think it does the character justice to develop a soft side at the same time he's developing the Mr. Ruthless-Business-Monster side. Accept for Phloe: Original Recipe, Phillip really hasn't fallen in love with anyone. (Sorry Phelle fans, Belle always seemed more like an obsession/prize to me.) So, I like the idea of Phillip really falling for someone and learning what it's like to feel loved back. I think Morgan can do that. Thus, I'm a card carrying member of the Phorgan Fan Club. They represent what Days is so lacking- a good love story that brings out the best in both characters with no love triangle added.

JOHN, AVA, and PAUL Holy Two Face, Batman! John sure turned into a villain fast. Let's recap. First, Ava gets a fax that she's not going to be deported and that her judge is the same Judge McPayoff that John took care of earlier. Then, while celebrating John's hairy chest, I mean Ava's good news, John tells Ava that no one knows what actually happened to Paul Hollingsworth. Finally, he takes a stunned Ava down to the DiMera dungeon (take a left at the in-ground pool, just past the brainwash chamber) and introduces her to one Paul Hollingsworth who has risen from the dead!

Got it? Me either. Here's the scoop- Ava's men were the ones who threw Paul in the river. Luckily, John's men were following Paul and fished him out to give him a second chance at life. Grateful for John's...um...good Samaritan act...Paul agreed to play dead while John frames Phillip for Paul's death. John made Paul send the package containing the money, note, and tape recording to Morgan in hopes that Phillip would be locked up (yeah right, like you can cage the Batman!) for Paul's murder. Problem is, as Ava so promptly figure out, Bo intercepted the tape and hid the evidence.

I really like that Ava said she felt sorry for Morgan. After all, Ava knows what it's like to have a not-so-father-of-the-year. I also like how calm and cool she was when John let Ava in on his little resurrection plan. This is one mafia princess who knows the ropes.

But, one problem I have with this storyline is Paul himself. I just don't feel sorry for the guy. Paul put himself in this whole position when he took a bribe from John. The writers didn't develop Paul's character enough for me to really invest in how desperate his situation may or may not have been. So, from where I sit, there was no reason for Paul to make the bad decision that started this whole mess other than the fact that he's a wimpy wussy-man. Obviously, Morgan got her guts from her mother.

The final thing that rubs me the wrong way in this storyline is listening to John blabber on and on about "family". By that, he means the side of his family who brainwashed him, not the side of his family who actually loves him. John's a Brady too! What about that family?!?!? Someone get John some chowder, pronto!

BO and HOPE Hope knows that Bo is hiding something in the Hollingsworth investigation. She figures it out partly because she's a good detective and partly because Bo lies about as well as a 5 year old with chocolate all over his face. To get some advice, Hope called Doug, who was NOT wearing an Uncle Sam costume, and met him for coffee. She asks if he would break the law to protect a family member. Doug references his past (nice move, writers!) and says, yes, he would break the law to protect a family member. (Remember Hope, kind of like the time that you conspired to smuggle money to your son, Shawn, when he kidnapped Claire? It would be sorta like that.) Anyway, by the end of the week Bo comes clean with Hope about hiding evidence to protect Phillip. Hope also learns that Ava might be the one who sent the anonymous email to the station. I hope that next week Hope tells Bo she'll stand by him no matter what so that Bo can stop worrying about loosing his wife and start going after Two Face John! When Phillip gets out of the hospital, he's going to need someone to play the role of Commissioner Gordon to his Batman.

KATE, DANIEL, and CHELSEA The Rewrite continues to suck the life out of two characters at once. I don't think I have a category bad enough for which I can throw Kate into and that makes me so mad because I really like Kate! But in this case, she either needs to stop going after Daniel or she needs to "man up" and tell Chelsea that she's got some competition. Regardless of whether or not Kate was aware of Chelsea's feelings for Daniel when she slept with him, Kate definitely knows of Chelsea's feeling for Daniel now! Yet, that doesn't stop her from telling Daniel what a kind person he is and how that drew her to him in the first place. (Funny, I thought it was the large amount of tequila Daniel had imbibed.) I'm looking forward to Chelsea throwing the wrath of the Bradys in Kate's direction. I'd LOVE to see Caroline go after Kate for hurting Chelsea.

Also, Daniel is moving closer to my bad list too. If he really wants to be with Chelsea but knows that he can't resist the scent of Kate-the-magnificent, then he needs to keep himself away from Kate. That means, stop talking to her in private and asking her opinion on what apartment to buy. Once Batman finds out that this joker bedded his mom and his niece, Phillip is not going to be very happy with Daniel either.

VICTOR Will someone please lock Victor's door? A padlock, a combination, heck one of those retina scanners, I don't care! But, between Chelsea, Kate, and Bo people need to stop going into Victor's room. I don't know what part of Daniel's warning not to upset Victor translates into "Come on in, take a seat, and tell Victor some monumentally disturbing news. Those machines will keep him alive!" While we're at it, please cure Victor soon so that John Aniston can have some actual lines of dialog. He needs to wake up and kick some John Black DiMera butt!

NICOLE and TRENT Now it's time for some tough love. Do the writers not realize what a gem they have in James Scott? I'm really wondering because they seem to be trying to avoid giving the guy a shot at a great love story. They tainted his chemistry with Alison Sweeney by having EJ corrupt Lumi. Now by not making a clean break from Sami, Ejole just isn't working for me either. I was never a big fan of "boy scout" EJ, but I can't even begin to stomach the sloppy mess he is when he's with Nicole.

What EJ is, however, is the Best. Lawyer. Ever. He got the Kiriakis law team to agree to a huge divorce settlement with Nicole when she wasn't even LEGALLY MARRIED to Victor. Now that I think about it, Nicole owes Kate 5 million dollars since technically she never married Lucas either. Anyway, Nicole is however married to Dean Trent Robbins. She married him while she was in college. Apparently her "daddy issues" caused her to marry the one man on the planet who was meaner that the father who made her do porn. One day, Nicole got up and left and didn't look back- not even to sign divorce papers. Now that he's back in Salem, Trent's blackmailing Nicole to spy on Max. When EJ hears all this, he offers to help Nicole by calling his former racing buddy/daughter of the man he tortured and brainwashed/ Max's girlfriend to track down Max's mission. I'm sure Steph will be glad to hear from EJ.

I'm a little disappointed that the big secret is that Nicole is married to Trent. Part of me wonders why she doesn't just file for divorce from Trent and take his money instead of Victor's. Part of me wonders why she didn't enlist Victor's help in the first place. I think he'd jump at the chance to get Nicole out of his life and keep all of his money. Finally, part of me is just flat out disappointed that Trent, a character with so much potential, is reduced to a prop for two couples that bore me anyway- Ejole and Stax. I sure hope I'm wrong and Trent is brought back to the forefront soon. MAX and STEPHANIE I few weeks ago I announced to the world (ok, the 10's of people who actually read this column...hi mom!) that Max Brady was now officially off the Fast Forward list. His new storyline with Trent was just what I always wanted for Darin Brooks. Then a funny thing happened- as soon as I wrote that the soap gods decided to smite me and ship Max off to a different continent where he has no choice but to interact with his current niece/girlfriend. Darn. Max and Stephanie did finally made it to Melanie's town and learned that she's sort of a spoiled party girl who uses her good looks to get guys to do what ever she wants. Hmm.....sound like anyone else we know? Maybe a certain ex-race car driver turned Bootylicious Barbie? Yeah, I thought so too. Speaking of Stephanie, gosh darn that Shelley Hennig! Her with her shinny hair and amazing blue dress. Because of her, I really want to like Stephanie. But the problem is that every time Stephanie is in a scene with Max, all evidence of an interesting storyline evaporates into thin air. I really liked Stephanie's scenes with the bartender and with George. She was funny, charming, and caring. Yet, a few minutes later, she's back talking to Max and I slip back into my "wake me up when this is over" trance.

Someone else should have gone with Max to France. My personal choices were Nick or Nicole. Nick would have been a great geeky sidekick, and I'm sure that genius Nick speaks French. Nicole could have va-va-voomed her way through all these Frenchmen; and she shares Max's desire to take down Trent the Terrible. Either character teaming up with Max would have kept this storyline more along the lines of good guys vs. bad guys. Instead, this storyline is trending more towards incest, I mean love, conquering all. "Love" That's what I meant. MARLENA Marlena is working her way back to my good side. While I was less than thrilled with the way she tore into EJ for blackmailing the customs official (this was the same woman who just tired to blackmail Rolf, right?) at least Marlena gets bonus points for defending a daughter not named Belle. Better yet, Marlena told off Trent for line jumping and being one of those cell phone jerks. My husband would love her!

SAMI and EJ Sami and EJ bonded while playing with the twins. EJ told Sami that she, Ali, and Johnny are the most important things in the world to him. Sami apologized for fighting with EJ and tells him that she thinks he's a great father and that she won't stand in the way of him being with Johnny. Then, EJ dropped another tough-love bombshell on Sami. He told her that Lucas has a negative effect on both of them. When Sami is around Lucas, EJ gets jealous and Sami starts acting like she's constantly trying to prove herself to Lucas. The truth of the matter is that EJ is absolutely right. And, it's not Lucas's fault. It's coming down to being Sami's fault for not dealing with the situation. I don't think that Sami realizes how much control over the situation she really has. I also don't know when she'll figure it out. But, I do know that until she does, the writers will keep dangling Ejami in front of us. Not only do EJ and Sami have great chemistry and storyline potential. But, they've proven that they can point out each other's flaws without blackmail involved. I hope that Sami takes charge of her life soon, one way or the other, and we get to see some real progress from our favorite ex Mrs. Reed-Roberts-Walker-RobertsHorton-DiMera. LUCAS Lucas stepped up and became his own hero this week. While I'm a little sad that we were denied any scenes of Lucas in jail, I'm glad that his release from prison is also a release from Lumi- for a while. Lucas told Sami that they needed some time apart because their relationship was just too hard to deal with. Gotta say, Lucas is making a lot of sense. For what it's worth, I don't think that Lucas can blame it all on Sami because he is just as moody as she is. But the two of them, at least at this point, do not bring out the best in each other. Furthermore, Maggie, Roman, and Marlena all need something better to do than meddle in Lucas and Sami's relationship!

As Tony and I have said repeatedly, Bryan Dattilo needs to be given the opportunity to infuse his comedic personality into a storyline. I am not saying that Lucas and Chloe are bound for supercoupledom, but there are tons of opportunities for Lucas to be funny when paired with a girl who brings him Redbook, car magazines, and 2 pounds of pistachios as a "get well" present. Here's hoping that Lucas takes Chloe with him to the Horton cabin. Something about Lucas and Chloe trying to "rough it" makes me giggle.

LOOSE ENDS: Nicole told EJ that no one has ever been this nice to her before. Hmmm....I'm pretty sure she said the same thing to Eric Brady and Brady Black. Victor said he could get his hands on as much of Phillip's unusual blood type as Phillip needs, but then balked on saying how or from whom. Maybe Phillip has another sibling? My choice would be Ava. It might help explain how Martino could really treat Ava so bad. Something about drugging his own "daughter" never sat well with me, but I could understand it if she wasn't actually his biological daughter, but a product of Mrs. Vitali's affair with Victor. Did anyone else notice that Ali and Johnny suddenly look nothing alike? I mean REALLY don't look anything alike. I realize that different fathers means they would not be identical, but I'd think that they'd at least be the same age.

Nicole and Chloe played nice- again! That's three weeks in a row. Yeah! Keep it up, ladies.

Eddie makes sure that his weapon's permits are in order. Ohhh.....good thing that he has standards! Because shooting someone with a gun permit that wasn't registered would be a bad idea. Shaw and Belle are in Fiji teaching Claire how to fish.

Extra Scoops: THE HEAD WRITER The word is that Dena Higley resigned as the head writer of Days of our Lives. While there isn't any official statement from Days, NBC, or Higley, rumors have been swirling around that Higley and co-executive producer, Ed Scott have gotten along about as well as Marlena and Stefano. I can honestly say that I've enjoyed some of Higley's work and I wish her well whether that means staying in Salem or moving on. My big concern is that there's more drama going on behind the camera than in front of it! I'm tired of hearing about the questionable climate that surrounded certain actors' firing and then rehiring. I don't like reading former Days actors talk bad about the soap after they leave. I'm irritated that the network releases statements two years ahead of time that they probably won't renew the soap. When that many things are going wrong, it makes me wonder what the real problem is. It's my sincere hope that Days gets its cumulative act together and starts putting out more of the great TV that made it one of daytime's longest running soap opera. Besides, I have enough real life stress to worry about! Quit messing with my soap! Thanks. : )

HOT: Morgan. I can't wait to see her go after John again. Not only was John mean to her father but John got her dimplelicious sidekick shot! I'd watch out, JBD. The last dude that ticked off this chick ended up drugged and dead in her basement. Plus, she's kinda dating Batman. NOT: The misuse of Nick Fallon. I know that Blake Berris hasn't been readily available lately (he's been pulling double duty shooting "The Starter Wife") but is that really an excuse for making Nick a side character who's only useful when it comes to computers, science, or questionable web practices? Tell me I'm not the only one who was a little creeped out by the way Nick was infatuated with Premier Party Girl's blog. Nick needs a new storyline, fast.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Nicole's response to Trent's demand that she get info out of Caroline: "Oh yeah. We're best friends. We play bridge together. I'm sure she'll open right up to me."

Honorable mention goes to this tragically ironic correspondence between Stephanie and George: George: "See that guy over there in the white shirt? (pointing to Max) That's the type of guy that Melanie would like." Stephanie (look of disgust) "God, I hope not!" What's the matter, Steph? Do you have a problem with the idea of family members dating? That's it, soapers! We're done with another week. I told you that every one was going to be fine. Tony will be back next week to guide you through another week in Gotham City. Questions to ponder in the mean time: What kind of cell phone plan do the Johnson's have that Steph can text and call from France with no regard for the insane $100/minute charge? Did you like Morgan's fantasy about Phillip? And did any one else hear John call EJ "Elvis John"? The guy has more names than anyone on the show!

Happy viewing, Laurisa

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