Days of our Lives Recap, April 21, 2025: EJ wakes up

On Days of our Lives today, Monday, April 21, 2025, Susan visits EJ, Xander confronts Alex and Stephanie, and Philip and Belle commiserate.

Today on Days of our Lives

At the Kiriakis mansion, Sarah was on the verge of telling Xander about her role in the cover-up. Stephanie and Alex arrived to get theater tickets from Justin, which put a stop to Sarah’s confession. Xander informed the couple of Philip’s deception and ranted about the betrayal. He quickly realized that they already knew.

After putting together that the affair lie had really been about Philip’s fraud, Xander grew irate. He demanded to know why both Stephanie and Alex had kept the truth from him. Stephanie claimed she’d kept Philip’s secret to avoid bringing more pain to the family. Alex backed her up and attributed his decision to wanting to maintain the harmony between Xander and Philip.

Alex also knew the stakes were high because of the DiMera takeover. Xander was having none of the excuses. He called both Stephanie and Alex “selfish cowards” and lit into Alex for still dismissing him as an outsider black sheep who didn’t deserve to be a Kiriakis. Alex took the abuse. He sympathized with Xander as someone who had also been deceived.

Alex intervened, though, when Xander verbally attacked Stephanie. He reminded Xander that only one person was to blame as Sarah looked on, alarmed and guilty. When Xander insinuated he could no longer work with Alex, Sarah finally spoke up and tried to calm her husband down.

Xander stepped away to take a call from Wei Shin. While he was gone, Sarah profusely apologized for roping Stephanie and Alex into the lie. She pledged that she would prevent Xander from firing Alex by revealing the truth about her own deception. Alex advised Sarah against adding to Xander’s rage and sense of betrayal.

By the time Xander returned, Alex and Stephanie had departed. Xander said he’d had to talk down Shin and bemoaned the prospect of being forced to work with someone who had betrayed him so badly – Philip – in order to keep the DiMera takeover intact. Sarah’s guilt intensified.

Stephanie and Alex returned to his apartment and ruminated over the day’s events. They consoled themselves with kisses.

At Marlena and John's place, Philip visited Belle and divulged his fraud scheme to her. She was less than happy with her ex-client, but Philip assured her Xander knew that her hands were clean. Philip beat himself up for getting mixed up with Vivian Alamain and asked Belle if she could forgive him. Belle conceded she’d be a hypocrite for judging Philip when she had overlooked much worse deeds where others were concerned.

Belle's comment piqued Philip’s curiosity, so Belle opened up about her feelings for EJ. Philip comforted Belle and affirmed that no one had a right to judge her feelings, especially Sami, given her own complicated relationship with EJ. The talk turned back to Philip’s predicament. Since Belle was DA and couldn’t represent Philip any longer, she encouraged him to contact Justin.

At the Brady Pub, Kate and Rex had a mother and son chat. After briefly discussing Rex’s daughter Emily, Kate chastised Rex for believing her capable of murder. Rex argued that Kate had a motive. Besides, he’d also suspected his dad. Roman joined his wife and son at the table and asked what they’d been discussing. Before Rex could respond, Kate interrupted and sent Roman on an errand.

Kate didn’t think Rex should tell Roman about his suspicions regarding both his parents. Roman would be hurt. Rex thought about it and then agreed. Kate reiterated that Roman wasn’t capable of hurting anyone that way, even EJ.

Later, Philip came to see Kate and to unload about Vivian blowing up his life. Kate couldn’t believe Vivian would sabotage her chance at scoring a big payday. Philip believed Vivian thought it more important to put him in his place. He regretted making Kate part of his scheme. Kate reminded her son that she hadn’t known from the beginning.

Kate still believed Philip had a rightful claim to Titan. Philip lamented that the opportunity was likely gone forever. He’d be lucky if he didn’t end up in jail, or worse. And he hadn’t wanted to add to the collateral damage by outing Kate or anyone else involved in the lie. Philip genuinely feared what his brother would do if he ever found out the full truth.

In Kayla’s hospital office, Roman stopped by for an intel gathering session with his sister. When he asked for an update on EJ, Kayla was wary about Roman’s reasoning that he wanted information for his grandchildren’s sake. She would only tell him that EJ had been placed in a coma to give his body a chance to heal. Kayla also mentioned that Susan was visiting EJ. She wouldn’t dismiss the quirky woman’s power to rouse her son.

In EJ’s hospital room, Susan expressed her disbelief that someone had shot her beloved Elvis. She took EJ’s hand and compelled him to reveal who had hurt him via their psychic connection. After a few moments, Susan gasped and said she could feel EJ reaching out to her. Kayla interrupted the session, to Susan’s chagrin. Susan was certain that “evil” had been present in the room.

After Susan talked with EJ again, she insisted that he’d heard her. Kayla suggested that perhaps they should awaken EJ from his coma. She gingerly explained it was a medical process after Susan attempted to coax EJ to wake up by using a hypnosis method she had learned from “Dr. Marlena Evans.” Kayla wanted to leave the decision to Susan. After another interaction with EJ, Susan confirmed she had gotten her sign and gave Kayla the go-ahead.

Belle soon arrived. Susan was happy to see her. She could sense how Belle felt about her son. Belle eventually admitted the truth. Susan encouraged Belle to express her feelings to EJ.

Belle approached and sat beside EJ. She confessed her love for him. The activity on EJ’s monitor picked up in response. Then, to Susan and Belle’s amazement, EJ slowly opened his eyes.

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