Anything goes in Salem in 2015

A new year means new beginnings for Salem. What pairs rang in 2015 with a kiss and what pairs are headed for trouble? Find out in this week's Two Scoops.

Happy 2015, DAYS fans! It's a new year and a new beginning for DAYS fans -- including me!

You see, I've watched DAYS since I was in junior high. And this is the first time in that entire run that I don't have a hands-down favorite on the show. I lost my favorite couple (Ejami), villain (Nick), and diva (Kristen) all last year. So, like Paul, I'm basically a free agent. And I'm ready to listen to offers.

Sure, I still love some of the classic vets -- Kate, Maggie, Abe, and Victor (of course, always Victor!). But it's been different watching DAYS these last few weeks. I don't have to devote a good 80% of my emotional willpower to hoping that the show gets over itself and just puts E.J. and Sami together already! (Sorry, old habits) So there's a new, fresh perspective. Let's dive in to the new year and see what happened!

It was delightful to see John and Hope reunite. I like that the show's kept these two brainwashed besties in each other's orbit for so long. If Hope would ever need someone with connections to investigate claims against a certain boyfriend of hers, it's nice to know that she could count on John.

But the big John reunion was John and Marlena. True, there really wasn't a whole lot of suspense when it came to them. Of course she was going to say yes. Of course they're going to get back together. So let's get these two back on track and perhaps moved on to solving some exciting mystery! I'm just throwing this out there: E.J.'s murder is still unsolved. And one of the killers happens to be one of Marlena's patients.

Speaking of DiMeras, I very much enjoy new Chad. Sure, it's a bit hard to get invested in Chad and Jordan, knowing that Jordan is leaving the show. But, if Chad is playing Jordan, he's playing me too. And neither of us would be the first gal drawn to a bad boy who confesses his past mistakes and claims to be a changed man.

It's clear that DAYS is trying to fudge history a bit so that Chad was a controlling jerk before. That's not at all true, no matter what fairytale Melanie and Abigail would like to spread. And if Chad wanted to come clean with Jordan, he'd fill her in on his deceased daughter and how he feels responsible for his mother's death. But all the revisionist history is in the name of making Chad bad, and I'm okay with it for now. Billy Flynn is delightful as the sly liar who may or may not have a heart of gold. His chemistry with both Molly Burnett and Kate Mansi bodes well for Chad's future.

As for Mel's present, well....I like both Mel and Brady a lot! But I'm just not sold on them as a couple yet. Having her behave like a babbling middle school girl with a crush on the starting quarterback didn't exactly make me forget about their substantial age gap nor believe that Mel and Brady could be emotionally compatible.

In fact, Mel's never seemed more immature than in this visit to Salem. Last time she arrived, she was a teen who'd lived in a foreign country and made scheming her way of survival. This time, she asked her daddy to do her Christmas shopping for her. Honestly, I worry that they've reverted Melanie's character development back years so that she could fill some of the Sami role -- only she'll be playing Sami from 1998.

One thing I do like is the Paul/Will/Sonny situation.

But Sonny, love him as I do, shocked me when he emptied out their joint personal bank account to pay for his business expenses. And that comment about how he was the one who made most of the money? Come on, Sonny. That's just dirty pool.

But the twist coming may be that Will is the one who cheats with Paul, not Sonny. And I'm okay with that. One, it will keep Will and Sonny on-screen, which is a good thing. Two, I have no doubt that Will and Sonny will make it out of that okay. Sonny got his Horton ornament this year. I'm taking it as a sign that they'll be just fine.

But for now, Paul gets the call. His backstory is rich and, thankfully, very consistent with what we know about Sonny. And I believed his breakdown when he learned that he couldn't pitch anymore. For whatever reason -- most likely a combination of his culture and his profession -- Paul's lived a life where his only happiness comes from his job. I can see why losing that (and his shot at $20 million) would make him a little distraught.

It's the same stress I feel each time DAYS tries to force Eric and Serena together.

Man, her entrance has been heavy-handed. First, everyone in the Brady family fell over themselves to sing the praises of the girl they met once and never mentioned again. Then, she told us that Eric used to be some sort of insatiable Romeo, despite the complete gentlemen we've always seen him be with Nicole, Greta, and even Serena "Who needs pants?" Mason. With all that hero worship and lover's talk, I was worried for a minute that Serena might be the female Daniel.

But then Serena crumpled up that card from Nicole, and things started to get good. They got really interesting when she opened up that safe and mumbled something about a secret. So, while I'm not at all invested in Serena and Eric, Serena and Nicole could be interesting.

After all, Serena took all of about five seconds to figure out Nicole. And it's because Serena is the exact same. Think about it. The gal did move halfway across the world when she learned that Eric -- the non-priest flavor -- might be available for some pie again. So, yeah, I'd say that's on par with breaking into a hotel room on the "Crazy Things Gals Do to Get Close to Eric" list.

I do worry a bit that Eric may fall into the rut of the beautiful but dumb guy in the middle (See: Reed, Austin). It might not be the worst time for Eric to join that basketball league with Lucas just so Lucas can mentor Eric on the fine art of dealing with...um...passionate women.

LOOSE ENDS Clyde's been able to fool a lot of people in town, but he may just have pushed his luck a bit too much by hiring Aiden. Remember, Aiden's BS-o-meter went off when Aiden met Nick, so I think this could get interesting.

Melanie and Gabi's scene was surprisingly nice! But again, I have to wonder why Mel's okay with forgiving Gabi, but Chad is the one with the "dark side." Last time I checked, he wasn't the one who left her blindfolded and gagged in the basement with a crazy dude.

I really do feel bad for Paige. It's not her fault that Eve and J.J. are self-destructive knuckleheads. However, in her next relationship, I would suggest that Paige refrain from threatening to come over to the guy's house and pound on his door. Then again, she did break into his bedroom to try to seduce him, so she might just have an issue with appropriate reactions.

Okay, small gripe that the show should have seen coming -- it's really unbelievable that Daniel couldn't fix Paul's shoulder. The dude put Jennifer's heart back in her chest with basically duct tape and a paper clip.

I thought it was funny when Jennifer told Daniel that she'd lied about liking his purple tie. These are the types of Dannifer scenes that I'd prefer. Please and thank you.

A little Christmas from a few weeks ago:

I got a bit teary-eyed when Sonny got his Horton ornament.

Did Gabi get un-ornamented? I know that Chloe broke hers, and they never replaced it. But that shot of Gabi's broken ornament in the box seemed very Goodfellas: The Horton Edition.

As I tweeted, had the episode aired before the Golden Donuts were due, my best style would have gone to baby Ari for her reindeer/snow moose outfit. So cute!

I absolutely adored Doug and Julie's return for Christmas. From Hope shooting Julie (deservedly) exasperated looks each time Julie admitted that more news "just slipped out" to Doug having the talk with Aiden about being a former con man, I thought it was an excellent use of their character history. And the comment Julie made about being out of practice when it comes to lying was hilarious.

My mom called to ask who that little boy with Kayla was. I explained that was Kayla's son, Joey, who apparently had finished making all the cookies/hot chocolate and thus was finally allowed to come out of Caroline's kitchen.

HOT Roman found out that Rafe had kept the truth about Gabi's crimes a secret and was forced to take Rafe's badge. Roman really had no choice. He'd had this same scene with Bo, Hope -- heck, Abe's had this same scene with Roman. It's basically a rite of passage for the Salem P.D.

I always understood Rafe's decision to help Gabi. But the problem was that from forging Grace's birth certificates to obstructing justice during Arianna's murder investigation, Rafe's played with the law for years without a single consequence for it. So, this clink in Rafe's armor is good for his character. Rafe himself even said that he needs to stop playing God -- which, had he been a regular Two Scoops reader, he would have known years ago.

I also like that Chad was behind it. It's a juicy move that proves that Chad isn't just the DiMera we have since E.J. and Stefano aren't around. Rafe/Jordan/Chad seems a lot more balanced than Rafe/Sami/E.J. ever was. I can honestly see Jordan ending up with either of them.

NOT Much as I like Kate and Chad together, it was hard to watch her lecture him about being fooled by a significant other when Clyde has been playing her since the second he saw her. Also, it was a little rough to take her accusing Chad of faking a brain tumor to get a girl when she unearthed Clyde for the sole purpose of breaking up Rafe and Jordan.

LINE OF THE WEEK Brady: "Chocolate makes everything better." Keep saying smart things like that, and 2015 might be your year, Mr. Black!

RANDOM THOUGHTS Man, I love Rory. His inappropriate timing is kind of the best.

Congrats, Roman! You got custody of the community office this week! Remember to turn in your key when you check out.

I loved that the Brady Pub put out Christmas tablecloths.

Wait a minute! Did Gabi say something nice about E.J.? No wonder they keep that gal locked up.

Good on you for apologizing to Maxine, Dr. Dan!

Ben sure picked up on the "He's a DiMera" line pretty quickly. Who's your father again, Benny?

Only Nicole could interpret "Get out of my house" as "Why don't you make a fire and take a seat by it?" I kind of love her for that.

+20,000 points to Will and Sonny for having two trees up in their apartment

I liked Nicole's white and gold dress. Still, I'm a little sad that the DAYS cast didn't get all dolled-up to go to the mayor's New Year's Eve ball.

Who is the mayor now, anyway?

Anyone want to chip in and buy Derek a scotch after his shift? Poor guy is having a crappy week.

I love that Eric bought his grandmother French Champagne as a birthday present.

My wonderful cousin basically won Christmas with this gift.

In case you missed it, @Tony_S_Days and I put together a list of the best worst of DAYS for 2014. You can read the list here, or you can listen to us talk about it with the ever-charming @DanJKroll here.

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