A new Hope

Were she twenty years younger, all of the lightheaded spells would mean that Maggie's pregnant with a miracle baby. Unfortunately, Maggie's condition seems to be far more dire.

It's no big secret that I thought DAYS majorly whiffed when it came to February "Sweeps." (I had to put that word in quotations because it just doesn't seem appropriate for me to use that word in conjunction with the programming that DAYS aired the first two weeks of the month.) Still, from the better-late-than-never category, DAYS managed to deliver a respectable opening for the month of March. Nielsen may not take notice. But I did. And so should every DAYS fan.

MAGGIE Were she 20 years younger, all the lightheaded spells would mean that Maggie's pregnant with a miracle baby. But since Maggie isn't of child-bearing age (not to mention she's reached her quota of kids that need her guidance), I fear that Maggie's condition may be something more dire.

For those of you who are new to the show, Maggie and her brilliant portrayer, Suzanne Rogers, both live with a condition called myasthenia gravis, which is a rare muscle disease. Suzanne has been in remission for years. So, it will be interested to see how the show handles this storyline, as every indication is that Maggie's condition is coming back. Personally, I'd watch the divine Ms. Rogers recite the alphabet if it meant that she stays front and center of Salem. This new storyline can't miss if she's a major part of it.

SAMI, EJ, and RAFE I've long since given up being interested in this storyline go-round. But, this week I actually reached a new level of annoyance.

This next statement might guarantee me a table in hell, but here goes: I am sick and tired of watching Sami and Rafe grieve for "their" daughter. It occurred to me that all their mentions of "my little girl" and "these flowers reminded me of Sydney" feel horribly disingenuous because no matter how much either of them wants to refer to themselves as Sydney's parents, neither of them technically parented Sydney. At all. Ever.

Sami gets a little more of a pass because she did carry Sydney and give birth to her. So, I can concede a connection there. But Rafe didn't know Sydney for squat. And if the writers would have just made Sami and Rafe's main motivation the fact that they want to get Sydney back so that they can get to know her because they never got the chance, I'd buy all of it. But they didn't. So, I don't.

Here's hoping that now that Sami knows Sydney is alive, she'll change her tune. Just because you gave birth to a girl doesn't automatically make her your daughter. Just ask...

MELANIE and CARLY Melanie was super-pissed at Carly and I don't blame her. The fact that Carly was trying to protect Melanie is little consolation, considering the life that Melanie had to endure with Trent. And anyone (*cough* BO!) who is brazen enough to suggest that Melanie got the lesser of two evils by getting Trent instead of Lawrence needs to be strangled with his own badge. So, I totally get her hate towards Carly.

But, I don't get why Melanie seems to be hellbent on supporting Vivian. Because she helped Mel pick out a wedding dress? Puh-lease. Melanie is not that dumb. In fact, the writers are smart enough to make Mel see right through Stephanie. Yet, Vivian gets a free pass. It just doesn't add up.

While I'm at it, I have a hard time jumping on the Carly Is The Bad Guy Express. Yes, I agree 100% with Daniel that Carly cannot play the victim card for 20 years. But, I adhere to the Gospel of Vivian, which clearly states that Viv is a bad-arse mother...well you know the rest.

So while Carly may be a fool, it's nothing compared the danger that Vivian presents. Just because Carly did a crappy job of protecting Melanie doesn't mean I don't think Melanie legitimately needed to be protected.

But back to Melanie. She's still shot. She's still angry. And, she's planning on testifying against Carly. I have a feeling that will change soon. The last time Melanie was in a courtroom, she testified for Nick, and that was after he stalked Melanie and dangled her from a balcony. Gunshots are like love pats compared to what this redhead has been through.

DANIEL Oh how the times have a-changed. I spent the last year trying to hide my brain every time Daniel came on the screen. Because if I dared to try to make sense of any of his actions, surely, I would have ended up cowering in the corner, curled up into a little Scooper ball, rocking back and forth while rambling off nonsensical statements about the Horton family tree.

But that feeling is gone now. I agreed with everything that Daniel did this week. Shawn Christian's performance was pitch-perfect. Daniel is happy, angry, scared, and hurt all at the same time. Better yet, he has every right to each of those emotions, which makes it so much easier to watch.

My favorite moment was when Daniel told Carly that he could have taken on Lawrence. Daniel does have Victor in his corner, so Daniel might have been right. I kind of wish we would have gotten to see Shawn Christian and Michael Sabatino go toe-to-toe. All that would be missing would be the black and white cowboy hats.

Make room on the Daniel Fan Bus. I've got my foam #1 finger and I'm ready to board.

STEPHANIE and NATHAN I feel bad for Nathan. He's crazy about Melanie. He told her so and meant it. Yet, she still married someone else. And while I wish he wouldn't have spent the weekend with Stephanie, I can't really fault him for trying to move on. It does seem like the normal thing to do.

Stephanie, however, confuses me. I don't blame her for trying to land herself a good-looking doctor. And I'm actually a little excited to see Shelley Hennig try her hand at playing the bad girl. But, I never thought Steph would put up with a guy who didn't give her his undivided attention. (She broke up with Philip and Max {gulp/*cringe*} for way lesser reasons and both of those guys loved her to pieces.)

It doesn't matter if the girl Nathan's into is married. It only matters that the girl Nathan's into isn't Stephanie. Call her a strong woman. Call her a princess. Either way, she's one of the few characters I'm surprised to see settle for second place.

THE TEENS Here's the thing -- Chad and Mia have crazy storyline depth between the two of them. He was on drugs. She gave away her baby. They both were teen parents. Their daughter died at infancy. If the writers wanted to, they could really dig in here.

Instead, they have them playing the "now that someone else has my boyfriend, I want him back" game. It actually waters down these characters. This storyline is so beneath them and stupid that it makes me angry. Furthermore, the two characters who I actually like a lot -- Will and Gabi -- are getting side-dished so the writers can feed viewers this reheated storyline slop.

Indulge me for a few suggestions for storylines that are actually character driven, rather than just paint-by-number plot points: What happens when teens who've had to deal with adult-level drama try to go back to being regular kids again? Wouldn't Gabi wonder if Chad is going to expect her to sleep with him too? Wouldn't Will worry that Mia is more experienced than he is? How will Chad and Mia deal with their new partners' expectations/fears? Is it even possible for them to go back to being kids again?

I'm not sure of the answers, but I'm darn sure that watching any of those storylines would be a huckuvalot more interesting that watching Mia roll her eyes and use the word "played" to an obnoxious excess.

LOOSE ENDS

Anna got her five million dollar payoff from EJ for her assistance with Sydney's "kidnapping." It's going to take way more than that to make me stop missing Leanne Hunley if this means her time on DAYS is coming to a close.

Arianna and Brady fought about Nicole for the kazillionth time. I'm tired of this. I'm completely on Arianna's side. I know that the writers are setting up for Nicole's return, but this is getting ridiculous. Well intentioned or not, Nicole lied to Brady for months and had more than a hand in hurting his completely innocent nephews and niece, as well as his not-so-innocent sister. The fact that he's not the least bit burnt by that is hard to believe. As mad as he gets at Victor and Philip when they do bad things, you'd think he'd be a little resistant to the idea of paying Nicole a visit.

Justin is going to represent Carly. He's doing it partly because he thinks Carly is innocent and partly because he doesn't want Bo to be unoccupied long enough to go back to Hope. Either way, I'm just excited at the idea of a possible courtroom drama!

I was thrilled to see Hope offer to work with Bo on Carly's case. Not only do I love cop Hope, but this may mean that a soap lady is going to fight for her man by showing him what he's missing, rather than being an annoying, scheming shrew. THIS is the Fancy Face that I can get behind!

Extra Scoops:

RANDOM THOUGHTS I like Casey Deidrick's new haircut.

Upon hearing that Stephanie is dating Nathan, Philip calmly replied, "A Horton?!? Grandma Brady is going to love that." Ahh...how quickly we all forgot about Jeremy. (Not that that's a bad thing!)

I LOVED seeing Arianna go visit Melanie. Girlfriends are an endangered species on soaps, so it was nice to see two non-related females actually getting along.

Philip and Chloe genuinely are friends and their interest in each other is purely platonic. But the fact that the two shared scenes three weeks in a row makes me wonder if the writers are starting to pre-heat for Phloe 3.0 just in case.

It was so nice to see Carly and Rafe share a scene! I almost forgot that they knew each other. And I have to say that Rafe's snark plays much better against a gal who can match his passive-aggressive level and snark back.

I wonder when Philip is going to tell Melanie about the son that he gave up for adoption as a baby. It might help her see that giving up a biological child isn't an easy decision. For that matter, I wonder when Mia might share her story about Grace with her old roomie, Mel.

HOT In just the small bite that we got this week, I'm already impressed with Molly Burnett and Shawn Christian's father/daughter chemistry. The actors are delightfully entertaining together, and better yet, they have a great storyline to play! Here's hoping that we can soon add Daniel/Melanie to the long line of endearing father/daughter pairs like John/Belle, Bo/Chelsea, and Doug/Hope.

NOT Hey Chloe, you just found out that the man you love had his life turned upside down; his career may be in jeopardy and his best friend has been lying to him about the fact that he has a daughter for almost 20 years! What are you going to do? Why, make it all about yourself, OF COURSE! Step one: Confront the best friend before you have any idea what you're talking about. Step two: Stomp your foot and pout because you didn't bear the man's child. Step three: Make your man feel guilty as hell about step one and two. Nice going, Chloemeister!

LINE OF THE WEEK Victor (to Vivian, on the idea of helping Bo send Vivian to jail): "I would become father of the year for helping Bo. And you would move into a big house with a lot of scary, horny women."

Fasten your seatbelts because we're just getting started. Tony's back next week to cover it all with you. He'll be busy too. Not only will we get to see more of the fallout from Mel's paternity secret, but we're soon to welcome some old faces back to Salem. One of those faces is the gorgeous Arianne Zucker. And the other is the fabulous John Callahan. I told you that finger twitch had to mean something!!

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