Ladies' night

The writers have been setting the stage for Crazy Hope to kill Bo for a couple of weeks. Can Bo be Hope's hero and her victim at the same time?

This was a fabulous week in Salem. Two major storyline bombs exploded, stealth style, and their effects will be tons of fun to deal with over the rest of the summer. I just love it when my favorite soap still surprises me! Let's take a look back.

CRAZY HOPE and REGULAR BO The writers have been setting the stage for Crazy Hope to kill Bo for a couple of weeks. Yet, I was underwhelmed with her plan to poison and burn him. It's sooooo Ejami circa 2007. The writers could have done a better job coming up with an original devious method of death.

But the thing that caught me off-guard is that Bo saw Crazy Hope attack him. He's already identified her and, if Carly and Daniel stay out of his way (and let him talk!), Bo can do it again. I can't wait to watch the fallout of this storyline. My brilliant partner, Tony, summed it up best last week, when he wondered, "Can Bo be her hero and her victim at the same time?"

I know that Bo can. Though, as someone who firmly believes that Hope is completely responsible for her own level of misery, I'll be mega ticked if Bo just shakes his head and gives Fancy Face a big, welcome-home bear hug. I am crossing my fingers and toes that the writers have Hope deal with Hope when all of this is out in the open.

This storyline's basic premise -- a sleep-walking killer -- is silly. Yet, Kristian Alfonso has sold it in bulk. We watched her craft Hope's plunge in such a way that we actually felt sorry for the bad guy. So, imagine the cornucopia of wonder Kristian could serve up if given the opportunity to bring Hope back, not just to Bo, but to all of us Hope fans too!

Bottom line -- don't just put a bow on the end of this story, writers. It will cheat Kristian out of some good work.

E.J. and SAMI Sami and E.J. are getting along and taking family pictures together. With all due respect to Safe fans, I'm enjoying every minute these two great actors and characters share on-screen. The pairing created a layered storyline for each character -- and that's something to be happy about!

Sure, Sami is in denial of her feelings for E.J. But, even at their best, her feelings aren't as strong as his. That's what I like about this storyline. I've spent nearly two decades watching Sami chase after men who push her away. It's about stinking time that Sami is in charge!

And as for the secret, I feel like I'm repeating myself, but at the end of the day, I can't say that what E.J. did to Sami was an inappropriate reaction to what she did to him. When it comes out, Sami's a big girl. She can take a hit. That's what I love about her.

For his part, E.J. is a hot mess. James Scott is getting to play the charming leading man and the nervous villain all at the same time. E.J.'s a DiMera and gets DiMera-size mad. Yet, the only thing he was more passionate about than making Sami suffer, was how much he loved Sami. Those two things shouldn't go together. Yet, James makes it work because Sami's always been E.J.'s Achilles heel.

CHLOE and DANIEL Not a whole lot of progress here, unless you could Chloe's countless ways to dodge a direct question. I might actually try some of them, if I had the Nadia looks to pull them off!

I love that Daniel finally yelled at Chloe and walked out on her. His frustration with Chloe equaled my own. Plus, Daniel still managed to avoid becoming a complete dope, despite that being the logical place for this storyline to place him. He gets triple word points for that.

A savvy feedbacker brought up a fun topic of discussion -- Carly can't say anything about the paternity of Chloe's baby because of patient/doctor confidentially. I can see the writers using that as an out. However, I can't buy it and here's why.

First, the knowledge of Chloe's affair was not something that Carly learned in a patient/doctor capacity. She learned that walking to her own apartment door. I don't see how that would be protected, but I could see where an argument could be made. So, here's reason number two.

I have a good friend who works in a doctor's office and she informed me that medical records can be discussed between staff members. It's basically in place so the doctor can tell his front desk staff, "Turns out, Mrs. Smith tested positive for strep throat today, so please throw away the magazines in the waiting room that she touched" without getting into HIPAA trouble.

So Carly would be okay to discuss the blood type of Chloe's baby with Daniel because they're on the same medical staff. And, there's no rule prohibiting Daniel from accessing Chloe's records.

Here's my big problem with the paternity test. How can Carly run it without Daniel's permission? Doesn't she need to get a sample of his DNA? Can she just access that information? Are we going to use the ol' hair from a hairbrush trick? Where's Rafe when we need him??!!?

RAFE Oof. Sami might as well have walked into his office this week wearing a sandwich board that said "TELL ME THAT YOU WANT ME BACK," and I still don't think Rafe would have budged. If the writers would dig a little more into Rafe's past and let me know where his control/trust issues come from, I would love it. But since they don't, I have to wait until they show me something about Rafe that makes sense within the established context of his character. That thing was Tiffany.

I know that Rafe isn't interested in the FBI junior butt-kisser, but the idea of Rafe with a younger gal makes a lot of sense. The writers had to retard Sami to the juvenile status in order make Safe work the first time. Personally, I hated that look on Sami because I despise when strong soap ladies suddenly become weak and helpless.

However, a slightly younger/wide-eyed, yet ambitious woman would naturally have a weakness that is organic to her character. No sacrifice needed. I've joked about the idea of Stephanie and Rafe before, mainly because I thought their annoyingness would cancel each other out. But, now I'm starting to wonder if the pairing would have merit based on what we've seen from both characters. Give it a minute and think about it.

STEPHANIE and NATHAN In order to kill some time before Philip and Melanie break up, Stephanie and Nathan decided to move in together. I can't wait to go to their housewarming party. After a thrilling round of awkward giggling, we can all watch Stephanie brush her hair 100 times before she goes to bed. Party favors of spray-tan for everyone!

CHAD, KATE, and STEFANO As far as bad weeks go, I'd say that Chad is pretty much at the top of the list. First he found out that his mom was a hooker. Then she fell down during a fight they were having. Next he rushed her to the hospital only to learn that she was suffering from aneurisms and one of those suckers burst in her brain and killed her. To top it all off, his "dad" was a total butthead to him. If I were Lexie, I would have given D.A. Jerkface a piece of my mind.

And that brings me to the puzzle that is Chad Woods. I'm taking a wild guess that Kate knows that there's an unclaimed box of "It's a Boy" cigars in the DiMera basement. The question is: which DiMera?

I hope it isn't Stefano. I would have a hard time believing Stefano "I need an heir" DiMera would actually not know about a long-lost child. I also can't believe that Kate would keep THAT big of a secret from Stefano.

E.J. and Tony are interesting possibilities. Madeline could have been a gift from Stefano to either of his sons. That seems like something Stefano would do.

E.J. does have a thing for older ladies who used to be DiMera hookers. And, I have to admit that the idea of Sami's son being involved with E.J.'s son adds another level of awesomeness to the make-believe Chad/Will storyline that I've crafted in my head.

Tony is less likely since he was on an island for 20 years. But I get a little giddy thinking of the storyline opportunities if Anna were to come back and teach Chad about how his dad was one of the truly good DiMeras.

Still, either option would mean that Kate is still keeping an heir out of Stefano's grasp. Kate may be ballsy. But, she's not stupid.

That leaves Andre. The evil DiMera cousin and a call girl seem like a pair made in Rolf's Lab Heaven. It also gets Kate off the hook(ish) because in the hierarchy of DiMera heirs, cousins are low on Stefano's priority list. Just ask Brady Black.

VIVIAN, VICTOR, and MAGGIE I adore Victor and Maggie. I love how she breaks through his conniving charm without losing her own wits. Maggie has her temper in control, which is going to drive Victor a little crazy. Unfortunately, it's also going to drive Vivian crazy...err...crazier.

Vivian conspired with Gus to "get even" with Maggie. People in Salem didn't like Vivan when she went after Carly, and Carly wasn't nearly as popular as Maggie. I worry about Auntie Viv should she go after Aunt Maggie.

LOOSE ENDS: Brady told Nicole that he wasn't ready to jump into a new relationship so soon after his breakup with Arianna. Yah, I'm sure that'll stop Nicole.

Baker ruined his chances with Crazy Hope by calling 9-1-1 and screwing up her BoBQ. Well, as much of a chance as he had with a man-hating, crazed, she-beast. I like Baker a lot and want him to stay around. But I worry that he'll end up taking the fall for the muggings. Hope was on drugs. What's Baker's excuse?

Melanie sure seems to be mentioning babies a lot. I know it's the writers' tactic to make Philip squirm, but I can't help but wonder if Philip ever told Melanie about his slow swimmers. Either he did and Melanie is the most inconsiderate wife ever, or he didn't and that's one more reason why this pair isn't believable as a couple. I can't even blame this one on the writers' selective amnesia, since they had Philip mention to Chloe JUST LAST WEEK that he and Belle had problems conceiving.

HOT: The Bo/Crazy Hope confrontation scenes were amazeballs. First, I loved that Bo finally let Hope have it for taking Ciarra and walking out on him. More love to him for pointing out that he begged her to come back and scoffing at the notion that he didn't try hard enough. Right on, Bo!

NOT: I yelled at Chloe for it two weeks ago, so I have to be fair. Here goes: Philly, I love ya, but there's no way in the world you can blame Vivian for your romp with Chloe. You even have less of a leg to stand on (heh) because Vivian didn't tamper with your love life! You made the choice to sleep with Chloe rather than confront Melanie and Nathan. No one was stopping you or providing you misinformation. Throw a tantrum all you want. But I don't buy it.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Maggie: "Come on over, Victor. I'm looking for a good spreadsheet." God bless you, Suzanne Rogers, for being able to pull off that line and still seem classy.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: I loved watching Stefano stand up for Lexie when D.A. Woods started to insult her. I don't care what anyone says. There are benefits to having a mafia dad.

There's no way that Bo would keep pictures of Hope up in the house after Carly moved in. Did Crazy Hope restage the house when she disarmed the fire alarm?

Does anyone actually know what a hospital's Special Coordinating Administrator does?

The DAYS big wigs returned from their vacation to Moron Island and made this call. I'm coping with losing a truly gifted actress by telling myself that maybe the rest of the Hernandez family will follow suit and leave Salem too. Of course, I have no proof. Just delusions and wishes. And, isn't that what being a soap fan is all about?

I don't know what I hate more -- seeing my parents fight or seeing Kate and Stefano fight. Please, please, PLEASE don't mess with my favorite evil couple! (BTW -- that would be Kate and Stefano. My parents are lovely, non-murdering people.)

And with that, our time has come to a close. Tony will be back next week to make sure that we all have plenty to talk about over next weekend. In the meantime, did you ever think that E.J. can successfully defend Arianna? What do you think Nicole's code means? (Is it too much to hope that it's the key to finding Ava Vitali's secret location?) Who do you think will end up being Chad's father? And, more importantly, who do you think should be Chad's father?

What are your thoughts on ? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.