Homecoming queen

It was nice to see the writers address the fact that birth-certificate Chad is actually a year older than real-life Chad. Congrats, Casey Deidrick, you may be the only character in history who was SORASed without changing actors.

Two. More. Years. Two more years!! DAYS was picked up for at least two more years. That means we can spend every day for the next 730 days (that's approx 520 more episodes) talking about who's back from the dead, who has amnesia, who's the real daddy, and all of the other absolutely essential soap-related topics. As someone who loves my hour of escape I get each day in Salem, I can't think of a better early Christmas present. Let the happy dancing commence!

JENNIFER First, those adorable boys from Glee rocked my world with their rendition of "Teenage Dream" and then Melissa Reeves comes back to DAYS. I don't know if I've had this good of a week in television since Ross broke up with Julie for Rachel. My TV cup runneth over! I swear, just seeing Jennifer makes me smile. I don't care if her storyline is "Jennifer's Search for the Best Sweater Vest in Salem." I will watch it and eat it up like the boat full of chocolate-covered ice cream. She's such an important character in Salem because viewers trust her. We've watched her since she was a kid and, let's face it, we all feel like we know her and root like crazy for her. Plus, it turns out that she does come to Salem with some secrets of her own. Sure, she needs to be there to settle Alice's estate and help Hope get her groove back. But, she's already dropping hints of "being free," and that has me wondering what awesome possibilities lie ahead for my Jen. For the record, I'm a Jack and Jennifer fan, but I'm not bothered at all by the explanation of their separation right now. Jack has taken mysterious breaks from Jennifer in the past. (Remember when he disappeared so Frankie could marry Jennifer so that after Jack "died" she wouldn't be alone?) The idea that he'd go MIA on his wife while investigating something is pretty "Jack." His goofball reasoning is one of his most endearing qualities. As long as he's back with Jennifer in the end, I'm totally okay for now. Jennifer is back in Salem, and all is right with the world again.

CHAD I don't know if the writers went back and fixed their mistake or if they had this planned all along, but I LOVED that they addressed the fact that birth-certificate Chad is actually a year older than real-life Chad. Congrats, Casey Deidrick, you may be the only character in history who was SORASed without changing actors. I'm also enjoying the interaction between Kate and Chad. We know that Kate is a mama bear, and I think she genuinely cares about Chad. I also believe that she cares for Stefano and knows that he would be good for Chad right now. So, watching her ever-so-stealthy get these two together is fun to see.

VIVIAN I want my own Gus. He's got that charming accent. He's cute to look at. And, he's so polite to not mention the stank that had to be coming off Vivian after spending days in that sarcophagus. That is, unless Viv outfitted said sarcophagus with one of those HEPA filter things, which I doubt she did. Nevertheless, ladies and gents, if you can get a man that good in your life, hold onto him with both hands. The time will come when you'll need that handsome, charming, strong-backed groupie to stuff your romantic rival in a coffin. I found it interesting that Vivian wavered just a bit in her commitment to revenge. Truth be told, Maggie respects Victor's marriage more than Victor does, yet she's the one suffering the wrath of Auntie Viv. I'm glad that even Viv realizes that Maggie is innocent in this whole thing. No one is going to believe that Maggie up and disappeared without saying goodbye and leaving instructions on how to water her plants. Brady, Victor, Philip, Nicole, and Kate all knew what Vivian's plan was for Maggie. I will be insanely disappointed if none of them realizes that it's no coincidence that Maggie and the video feed from the sarcophagus go missing at the same time.

ARIANNA Ari left her mom her rosary. Rafe got her car. Gabi got her jewelry and DVDs. E.J. got a Saint Anthony figurine. Brady got everything else. That fact should tip everyone off that Arianna's will hasn't been touched in months, thus the proof is not documented anywhere. Still, where there's a will, there's a death, and Arianna's is still unsolved. I'm not sure why Rafe was allowed to question the witness, since Rafe's neither an FBI agent nor a Salem PD officer at the present time. I started to wonder why Sami and E.J. were allowed in the room, but then I remembered that DAYS is now broadcasting in high-def and thus the show is fulfilling their moral obligation to let fans see the hotness that is Alison Sweeney and James Scott at least four scenes a day, and for that, I thank TPTB. The witness said that Arianna looked scared, but it didn't look like she was in pain. The car had an Illinois license plate. I'm totally starting a rumor here because I pay way too much attention to the show than any normally functioning person should, but both Rafe's fiance and sister have now died as the result of mysterious car accidents. If the writers wanted to build upon that, the foundation is there. That's all I'm saying. In other news, Gabi needs to invest in a helmet.

E.J. E.J. is at the end of his rope. He lost Sami, lost his kids, and he smashed a figurine of a saint, which either means seven years of bad luck or three ghosts are going to visit him in his sleep. Either way, he's SOL. I love that he wants to find the proof on his own, but I wish that he would be a little more DiMera about the process. All the arm flailing and phone slamming isn't going to go as far as bugging Sami's apartment or hacking into her e-mail. I hope that Stefano's "special project" involving Marco will yield some good results.

HOPE Ahhh, the plot thickens! Thanks to some super sleuthing by Ms. Manning, it turns out that Lee is a doctor. She was sent to the big house for hocking prescription painkillers to addicts and got caught. Apparently Lee is picking up where Dr. Baker left off as Salem's dumbest smart guy. The warden is certainly no dummy. But, I do think that she's broke. She has to be running some scheme for cash, and I can't decide what it is. Is she selling body parts on the black market? Is she getting paid to use prisoners as test subjects for a top-secret drug? And does she really have authority to throw Hope into solitary? It's all so soapy, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

RAFE and SAMI Rafe thought that the best way to honor his sister's memory is by marrying Sami right away. Hmm...Wasn't the last conversation that Arianna had with Rafe about him getting away from Sami? How exactly is going against her last wish the best way to honor her? Oopsie, I forgot that Rafe stands for Right About Freaking Everything. My bad. The good news is that Rafe and Sami are headed down the aisle sooner than later. I say "good" because that means Rafe can't be forced to testify against my Sami. Should he be compelled to squeal, she could easily face attempted murder and two assault charges -- and that's just in the last month! Sami must be kept around because any day now, I just know the real Sami is going to come back. I'm sorry but seeing Sami Brady jump into Rafe's lap and thank him for protecting her again is not the Sami that I know and love. Sami's perfectly capable of protecting herself. The writers have to give Sami better things to do than make impulse decisions and then marvel at how wonderful Rafe is.

NICOLE Not only does Nicole have proof that Sami shot E.J., but Nicole's got common sense on her side. Nicole rightfully pointed out that responsible mothers don't go around shooting people. Whodathunk that it would take a baby-snatching blackmailer to finally flick some sense into Sami? This means that the real battle will be between Nicole and Rafe. Personally, I'm excited.

At first, I couldn't understand why Nicole seemed scared of Rafe when he threatened to kill her. This is the woman who's messed with Victor Kiriakis, Stefano DiMera, E.J. DiMera, and Trent Robbins. I'd say their death threats are a lot more credible than the Boy Scout extraordinaire. It also bothered me that Nicole complimented Sami on her choice of mate right after the threat. But then I remembered that Nicole is a master manipulator.

Nicole has an uncanny ability to make sure that her enemies have more to lose than she does. Rafe is no exception. Rafe has to figure out how to take care of Nicole without costing Sami her kids AND without admitting to his family that he had a part in Arianna's death. That's not going to be easy.

Most importantly, Nicole's not scared to fail. She's picked herself back up numerous times. However, I've never seen Rafe not get his way. Yet, he's on the wrong side of the law for the first time (that we know of), and his normal bag of tricks won't work here. Let the games begin!

MELANIE, DANIEL, PHILIP, and CHLOE God bless Chloe and her little brilliant scheme. Just when it looked like Melanie was going to blow the whistle on Chloe's infidelity -- BAM! -- Chloe went into labor, forcing Melanie to deliver the baby. That trick is moving to my permanent #1 position on my list of "Ways to Shut People Up." We all know that Melanie is THE worst secret-keeper in present DAYS history (girl has no poker face at all), and she's certainly not good at accepting disappointment. Something tells me that she's not going to be able to be the only cranky one while Philip, Daniel, and Chloe are so happy. Of course, the big paternity switch is looming out there. I'm glad that it will take Stephanie and Caroline down a few notches when it comes out, but I do worry that Chloe and Philip will be able to play the victim card. As sad as it is that Philip held his own son and didn't know it, it's not like dimples didn't start this whole mess. Chloe and Philip shouldn't be able to deflect their own bad judgment onto other people, yet I worry that is going to happen.

LOOSE ENDS: Brady feels guilty about what happened to Arianna. He's having second thoughts about keeping Vivian prisoner. And now he's got to figure out what to do with the knowledge that there's proof that could send his stepsister to prison. I want Brady to confide in someone who isn't Nicole or Victor. Isn't it about time he phones his father? It's nice to see that Bo is working hard to find out who hit Arianna. I like it even more that the Salem PD is treating Arianna as "one of their own," since she did help them bring down a drug dealer.

Jennifer mentioned that she saw Max and Chelsea in London! WOOT! I hope she also has news of Billie's good recovery and upcoming visit to Salem. (please, oh please, oh please!)

HOT: Carly and Hope working together is all kinds of amazing. I love both characters, and I really don't want to pick sides, so I am thrilled that the writers have them playing nice. Additionally, great actors working together elevate the entire show. Kristian Alfonso and Crystal Chappell are two of the best. Finally, when we get to see two women being mature enough to respect how much the other means to Bo, well, it makes me want to run up and hug my TV. NOT: Peggy McCay is criminally underused at DAYS, so I'm glad that she's getting some work. But Caroline needs to stop mouthing off about things that she knows nothing about. Straight up. If I have to listen to her say things like "the world doesn't need another Kiriakis" and refer to Tyler as "the baby Philip threw away to strangers," I'll go bananas. I despise it when the writers make characters reinvent history to support their current actions. This is the woman who just a month ago threw monkey pooh at Maggie for hanging out with Victor. Now she's back to hating the man again and thinking she can play God with Victor's children. Not cool, granny Brady.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Brady (quoting Victor): "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

Honorable mention: Nicole (to Rafe as he's doing CPR on her): "Stop hitting me!"

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Maggie thanked us for watching 45 years of DAYS. Coincidentally, it was about ten seconds after we saw her shoved into a coffin and left for dead. And THAT, kids, is why we love our soaps! Is the average labor really 20 hours? At the end of Wednesday's show when Chloe screamed, "Is my baby dead?!?!" I thought to myself, "No, DAYS! Don't you do this!" Kate's jogging outfit wasn't complete until she threw on silver chain necklaces and fingerless gloves in a shade of blue that matched the awesome blue streak in her hair. Would we expect anything less from Kate? Love. IT! I like that since Kayla is in Africa she's completely incapable of relaying information. I guess they don't have Internet, phones, or snail mail outside of the lower 48. Someone better let Jennifer know to get Abby out of Spain before she's sucked into the vortex of silence! We're halfway through sweeps and there are still TONS of secrets to take care of. Tony will be back next week to see what becomes of our fair Salem. In my week off, I'll continue my letter writing / mild stalking campaign to convince Shelley Hennig to agree to take me shopping with her. She always looks so fabulous on the show!

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