Next generation!

The 'obsession-with-a-Brady-woman' torch has officially passed down to the next DiMera generation.

Wowwww...EJ is a really, really cool villain. I almost hate to say it because I don't want to like him...but I do. He's evil and he's smug but he also has a charming sincerity that sucks you in. He's so much better a character now than the gentleman-race-car-driver role he played early on. I think he has exceptionally poor taste when it comes to his affiliations (in and out of bed) with Kate Roberts however. Blech! At least he did a convincing job at denying any involvement in rescuing Lucas. Not that Kate seemed all that convinced; the suspicious old shrew. Much as his scenes with Kate make my finger itch for the FF button; on the other hand - his scenes with Sami make me want to rewind and watch them again. The fireworks flew when she visited EJ at the police station and she told him to leave her and her family alone. I couldn't help but smile when EJ said that he could never hurt the mother of his child (was he just fishing or does he all ready know that she's pregnant?). I also smiled when she told him that if he ever came near her again, she'd kill him. And I agreed with EJ, she sounded serious! ;) Something tells me that Sami isn't going to be able to get rid of him as easily as she thinks. EJ seems determined to make a happy family with her; like it or not. Yep, the 'Obsession-with-a-Brady-woman' torch has officially passed down to the next DiMera generation. I hate to admit it but...I can't help but be excited to see where this is going. Don't get me wrong. I am a die-hard Lumi fan! After all their years of hardship - all I want is to see them married and happy together. But part of me is finding the interaction between EJ and Sami to be mesmerizing and I don't want it to end. I still say that the storyline would be better if Sami just told Lucas the truth. And if not him...what about Marlena? Now that Sami is pregnant - wouldn't it make sense that she would tell her mom about the rape and her fear that it may be EJ's child? TPTB are missing a golden opportunity to pull Marlena in to the storyline here. Sami needs someone to confide in and why shouldn't that person be her mother? Plus; now that Marlena has her brains back, she could easily point out the fact that EJ is as obsessed with Sami as Stefano has been with herself. The other upside to telling Marlena is that when the truth finally come out (cuz you know it will); Sami will have at least one person on her side that knows and (more importantly) believes Sami's side of the story.

Did I call it or did I call it? Like I said in my last column...it wasn't long before Sami discovered that she had conceived a baby on the fateful night that she slept with Lucas and was raped by EJ. But whose baby is it? And is there one baby or two? Please let it be twins, please let it be twins! I've never wished so hard for a certain thing to happen in a storyline in ages! I think it would be the coolest story ever if Sami were to end up pregnant with twins - and that each child was fathered by a different man. I hope that more so for Luca's sake than anything else. He was so happy and so sweet when he found out that Sami was pregnant...I don't think it'll be very fair to him if he doesn't at least get one child out of the deal. LOL. For those of you who didn't know...Alison Sweeney has confirmed that she is expecting a baby in real life as well. Congratulations Ali! I'm glad that TPTB have found a way to work this pregnancy in to the storyline (remember her first pregnancy and the whole "Stan/Sami" storyline? Yech). I'm curious about how they'll handle her maternity leave however. Just in case the writers haven't thought of anything yet; I'll offer them a suggestion. Rather than some stupid thing where "the truth" about Sami's rescue of Lucas comes out...and everyone hates her...and she leaves Salem for a while... What about having her kidnapped by EJ before or after she gives birth and then Lucas has to find and rescue her? I'd like that story so much better. And while we're on the subject of suggestions to the writers; please, oh please please PLEASE can't we see Sami just tell the garshdarned truth for once? I don't understand why she doesn't!!! EJ held a gun to her head and forced her to help him escape; then he raped her in exchange for helping to rescue Lucas. There's no reason why she should be scared to tell Lucas, her father or anyone else the truth. They will understand! It would have been so refreshing if she had just blurted out the truth that time when Lucas asked Sami to trust in their love and tell him whatever was bothering her. [Funny story; During that scene - I was kneeling in front of the TV yelling "tell him, tell him" and my 3 year-old son came in to the room and said "tell him what Mommy? I didn't do anything" LOL] So... though I am stuck like glue to this storyline; I want Sami to do the exact opposite of what is expected of her and just break down and tell Lucas the truth all ready. Is that too much to ask? Is it? I don't think so. Not after every stupid thing we've suffered through with Samantha Brady. I know that it happened last week but I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention Sami's touching monologue to John as he lay in the hospital bed. For those of you who may not know their history...Sami's apology to John has been a loooooooooooong time in coming. She has treated John so incredibly despicably over the years (not even counting the stuff she did as 'Stan') and through it all; John has loved her and protected her and taken whatever hot crap she dished out to him. It's about time that she sat up and realized how badly she has treated him in the past and how wonderful he's always been to her. In a lot of ways; he's been more of a father to her than Roman has. Thanks Hogan for righting this long overdue wrong.

What the hell happened to Chelsea? Qwua-Ptch (that was the sound of a whip...yeah, yeah; I'm a girl. I can't make shooting noises either) Did you guys get whiplash with the sudden change? I did too. Chelsea was being so sweet to everyone that it made my teeth ache. Frankly; I'm on the fence about her new attitude on life. It happened so fast that it's going to take me some time to get used to it. I think that Abby and Nick feel the same way too. As a total aside - I admit that what bothers me the most is that TPTB can make Chelsea do a complete personality 180 in the space of a day or two and Sami can't learn from her numerous mistakes and tell the gosh darned truth for once! Okay sorry...but we're talking about Chelsea. The upshot of Chelsea's new attitude is that she's actually being nice to Nick. Who I just love by the way...I have to throw that out there...he has been such an excellent addition to DOOL. Back to Chelsea...time will tell if this personality transformation sticks but at the moment she seems all gung-ho to start school, do something with her life and be a better person. She claims to be moving on from Dr. Shane Patton (who you know she's bound to run in to very soon) and seems to be seeing Nick with new eyes. Two kisses in the span of two days? Nick seems extremely affected by the 'new' Chelsea. I didn't see much chemistry between the two before now but Chelsea's new and softer approach with him has made me warm up to the idea of a Chelsea/Nick coupling. Now if only Abby could get a life. Well; at least she has finally stopped hounding Nick to tell Chelsea about the lonely splicer thing. Which is a good thing because not only I am bored stiff of that storyline; I was getting to the point where I dreaded seeing her face onscreen.

Riddle me this: You're on the run with your daughter. You're running from your ex-best friend who has used his money and power to influence the justice system and remove your daughter from your custody. The police are hot on your tail and you are just miles from the border, which naturally = freedom. The man driving your get-away truck is urging you to hurry and he has to be talked in to stopping long enough to get coffe and juice. Wait....here comes the question part...after all this: Do you stop and take the time to call said ex-best friend and taunt him about the fact that you have almost crossed the border? HUH? I don't get it? Was it just me? I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Shawn is a total freaking idjit. Seriously. WHY did he have to call Philip? That was so...immature, stupid, pointless and basically a total waste of precious time. If I was on the run, and I reeeeeeally felt the need to call the person I was running from? I think I'd wait until I safely crossed the border. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

Being Canadian...I am very curious whether or not it's true that there are secret enclaves along the border that support draft dodgers. I'm going to guess that the storyline was a total fabrication (since most of DOOL's stories are not reflective of reality) but I'm still going to look in to it. I've never heard of that and something tells me that the media would be all over that if it were true. Then again...if it is some kind of underground thing - perhaps we'll never know. Aside from that; Stephen Nichols rocked it out of the park with his portrayal of Patch this week. I thought he was so great when he acting all strange in the truck and Belle and Shawn were looking at him like he had sprouted another head that stared speaking Japanese. LOL. Too funny! And I got such a kick out of him when he climbed in to the back of the truck and started throwing boxes out the door. He reminded me of the 'Hulk' with all the crazy screaming that I half expected him to rip off his jacket and grow huge biceps. Last we saw of him; he had leaped out of the back of the truck to try to draw off the cops. Clearly it worked since Belle and Shawn made it across the border to safety. Which reminds me...Victor said that Belle and Shawn are in Toronto right? The nearest border crossing to Toronto is at least a good hour's drive (I should know...I work in Toronto). Belle and Shawn are in the woods somewhere; how are they going to get to Toronto? Oh why do I bother thinking about this stuff when it's just a Soap.

Mimi had the funniest line this week. She asked Bonnie and Connor for an explanation of the bones in their backyard and as Bonnie opened her mouth, Mimi said "don't put on your tap shoes mother, I've heard enough of your lies to last me a lifetime". Oh lordy - that was a good one! That had me laughing for hours. For those of you following this storyline (and I admit that I am only just barely doing so); it turns out that the skeleton belonged to Mimi's father, the late Mr. Lockhart. Spoilers predicted this event so I wasn't too surprised. I'm also not buying Connor's plea of innocence in the whole matter. I can't say that I'm all that interested really, but at least it should get the Lockharts out of town for good.

SPOILERS/SUMMARY for the week of Feb. 5:

• Willow claims to be expecting Shawn's child.
• Shawn winds up in jail in Canada.
• E.J. has a job for Lucas.
• Steve attacks E.J. after he remembers a traumatic event. He undergoes hypnotherapy, remembering E.J. was there when the DiMeras tortured him.
• Shawn, Belle, and Claire head to Australia. Claire becomes sick, and the ship's doctor notices her (fake) passport doesn't have the proper stamp.
• Kate is stunned to realize Sami is pregnant.
• Sami figures out Kate set her up and switches the fake documentary with a surveillance tape of E.J. and Kate having sex.
• Philip offers Willow cash for access to Shawn's baby.
• John reacts to Marlena's kiss, and she opts not to move him to the long-term facility.
• Coming up: Billie is conflicted over her involvement in E.J.'s messy life.

Random...As mentioned by Melissa last week; Cady McClain has been let go from AMC. I echo Melissa's comment that Cady would make an excellent addition to the cast of Days (she's an awesome and passionate actress) but I admit that most of me is hoping that she'll return to the role of Rosanna on ATWT. Paul needs her back! ...

Reader Feedback: Thanks to everyone who wrote in! I love reading your comments and feedback about the show and this column - so keep them coming!

From Ryan:"Hey, maybe the reason Steve is having these episodes is to distract him, Kayla is the real assassin and to help her get away with her secret identity Steve was implanted with these episodes to help Steve (who would be the first to notice something was wrong with Kayla) noticing what's going on with her".

From Tanya: "I totally agree about the Lockhart storyline, what a snooze!! But like yourself, i am so excited about this Brady/DiMera baby! This story could go so many different ways (and you KNOW Sami won't tell Lucas the truth). I see another wedding in their future, ending with a DNA test and annulment from Lucas!!"

From Lynn Johnson: "Just a few ideas....Bring in Jed Allen as Mickey, we need a Mickey. Have Doug and Julie return and run the Blue Note and be the staple for the young ones to turn to. Bring Brady back to run Basic Black, since it seems no one is at this time. He could be a rival to his Grandfather Victor. We also need a permanent Doctor at the Hospital, could this now be Kayla??? These are just a few holes that need to be filled. Any thoughts???"

From Tabitha: I agree with you totally about the Billie and Nick thing. It isn't repulsive. He is an adult. And it shows what women can resort to when they are down on their luck/love. Billie has been through so much. She deserved at least a glimpse of happiness. And I think that it has made Nick a better person. It seems to have attracted Chelsea to him in the past few days. Keep up the good work!

From Donna:"Let's not forget that Benjy was the one who reluctantly handed Steve the tarot card of the Devil. Makes me think that Benjy will be do something even more sinister to Steve. As for Sami's twins, RIGHT ON! If one does get kidnapped by EJ...what if that one is really Lucas'...the "good" child who would be raised as a DiMera and the "evil" child as a Roberts/Brady. Now there'd be enough storylines to go on forever! They'd be certain to cross paths in the future."

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