Welcome to the '60s

After months of anticipation, the fiftieth festivities are beginning! The boys are heading back to town, the Martin Mansion is ready for the gala, and Hope's all dressed up for a wedding. So grab your best vintage garb and let's pre-party together in this week's Two Scoops!

Damn! You know it's a party when Maggie breaks out the lemon bars. If she brings a dozen or so this way, I'll provide the bubbly. Well, sparkling cider for her because I don't think she can be her own sponsor, but I digress.

More so, I'm going to have to agree with most of the Salemites who said that despite the heartbreaks of the past few weeks, we need something to celebrate. We definitely do. In fact, if it weren't for Hope marrying the guy that wants to murder her, a lot of last week would have been fun, err, fun-ish when compared to the past month or so.

Last week was also sort of a setup week. Storylines are coming to a boil, and there was some massive party planning all marching toward the end of Friday's show. Characters started to get ready for the gala and Hope's wedding. I'm in. I love a good party, especially with a 60s theme. I'm not only a soap nerd, I'm a history dork, as well, so this is really exciting, you know, in a nerdy, dorky kinda way. So, in honor of the fiftieth (and the first week in forever that didn't make me sob), I'm going to run down fifty random notes from last week in no particular order...

To start, Shawn Douglas is home! I simply adored the looks on Kristian Alfonso and Jason Cook's faces when they reunited. You could tell the actors were genuinely happy to see one another. I can't wait until we can add Martha Madison's Belle into that bear hug. Claire needs to hurry up and recover so they can come home.

Bo and Chad must be related somehow. They both seemed to go from near death to alive and mostly well without missing many beats.

I don't think I could have loved Abigail's "It is that way" speech to Hope more if I tried. She kind of hit decades of DiMera bashing on the head. Well done, Abs! And well done, Hope, for picking up what she was putting down.

If you're keeping score, Brady is going to be Dr. Dan's best man. I'll take this. They have an established bromance. Though I hope Dr. Dan and Nicole don't put Eric in charge of the guest book, as he may depress people arriving for the wedding.

Marlena and Chad continue to make me happy. They're one of my favorite unexpected friendships in recent DAYS history.

Nicole reigniting Theresa's feisty side is pretty spectacular. Even with her recent adoption of a Stepford persona, there was no way I was going to continue to believe Jeannie-T would be that passive toward Kate. I like where these three are headed.

I really wish Abe had responded, "That's Mayor Carver to you!" when Joey was being a punk.

John better come back from his super special assignment with an alive Will or Kristen. Otherwise, John missing the gala and wedding is kind of lame, considering he's John Freakin' Black. You know, one half of one of the most popular supercouples in DAYS history.

Though I did love all of Marlena's reactions to John leaving. The anger, the concern, and, finally, that hug right before he walked out the door. Damn you, Doc, I kind of got misty.

With Shawn-D's homecoming came the obligatory "Hope has to explain every heartbreaking detail about Bo's departure and why she chose to move on after several years." Considering Hope and Shawn-Douglas seemed to be in contact, I'm not sure why this part had to play out on-screen. We need to watch Hope going through that explanation again about as much as we need another person stating how much Theresa has changed. We get it on both accounts, dear writers.

Nice! Aiden got to party with his best friends some people he knows well enough to share a drink with. Then he got drunk and wigged out. He didn't blow his super-secret evil plan, but he did raise some red flags, just not red enough for Hope to say, "Let's think about this marriage thing some more." Stay strong and keep your hand at the level of your eyes, Fancy Face!

I'm kind of loving Rafe right now, especially when he uses his snark on Justin. When he told him (and I'm paraphrasing), "It's not for me to say if I think Chad's guilty, it's not my job, I just bring you evidence," I cheered. And so, I enjoyed the look on Justin's face when Rafe said that. Well played, Rafe.

Hearing Bo say "Fancy Face" will never get old.

I really do want to know what Lani is hiding, but I'm still holding out hope that she's Abe's long-lost daughter with Nikki Wade. Then again, long-lost children don't seem to be faring well in Salem these days. Just ask Paul. Oh, wait. He's not around at the moment. Ah, he's probably just in the proverbial "other room," putting something back into the closet.

I don't know why Ben and Abigail are always fighting. They have a lot in common. They both have great arms and an obsession for Chad.

I'm glad that Eric is finally thinking a lot about Will and not his missed photo job at Basic Black.

Speaking of sadness, Eve might be hollow on the inside, but she's totally mourning in style. I'm still not sure about her "Thank you" to Justin, but I secretly didn't hate it, either.

I still think this entire mess with Aiden would have been much better had they made him Peter Blake. I'd buy a DiMera getting revenge on a Brady quicker than I'll buy a guy with gambling debts ready to marry and murder his bride because the town baddies threatened his son. Regardless, I'm sure non-Peter Aiden could confide in Hope, Rafe, or Roman, and together they could bring down Andre and Stefano for blackmail.

The Martin Mansion is beautiful. Though I'm still waiting for my invitation, Jules.

Abigail bringing up Cameron was a great nod. The writers did their homework. Nicely done.

Also nicely done was the respect toward Will. Marlena's excuse for not being at the festivities is legit, and I adored that Roman and John spoke about Will. Now if Roman had only been there from the moment Will was discovered dead...

Oh, oh! And Carrie and Austin were mentioned. For a brief moment, that is.

Billy Flynn is about as great as great gets. His scenes where Chad woke up and later at the police station were heartbreaking. Get this man an Emmy, already!

Speaking of Chad waking up, umm, Justin reached new levels of douchery by insisting he be hauled off to jail while still being hooked up to machines. I'm surprised Justin didn't suggest they simply bring a baggie to pick up the pieces if any fell out of his fractured skull along the way.

I know Ben is a bit bonkers, but telling your fiance we'll have to wait to inherit a fortune when one of your rich relatives die isn't exactly the way to her heart. At least he admitted he hated himself for what he's done. There's that.

Marlena cried, "I can't lose one more person that I love." I'm with you, Doc.

I know Bo was chased around and eventually taken hostage, but riddle me this -- why didn't he just confide in Hope to begin with as to the true nature of his mission? You'd think that Bo would have trusted her with the truth, since Hope is A. his wife and B. a detective. She gets paid to solve crimes and be discreet. That seems like a no-brainer to me and would have avoided all this recent ugly.

As a vintage clothes lover, I can't wait for this gala to begin! I already like the outfits I've seen.

The grin on Shawn-Douglas' face after he asked Hope, "Are you ready to have a teenage boy running around the house again?" was priceless. So amazingly good to have Jason Cook home in Salem.

I also liked the scene were Paul was introduced to Shawn-Douglas as his brother-in-law and they had a beer at the pub while getting to know one another. Nevermind. That was in my head. I hope Paul has better luck meeting his sister, Belle, soon.

Something seems different about Ciara, but I can't put my finger on it.

I'm also a misty-eyed sucker when they bring up Zack Brady. I miss that tiny man.

The scene between Hope, Caroline, and Julie was just all shades of uncomfortable. I could have done without that.

Another win by the writers -- Belle sending Hope one of the necklaces they recovered from Puerto Rico while they were teens!

Stefano mumbling as he was wheeled off was hysterical.

Daniel Cosgrove is certainly rocking his role right now.

The following exchange was pretty hilarious: Caroline: "It's Tod from the Hi Jinx in Chicago." Tod: "Mrs. Brady?" Caroline: "Yes, that's me, sweetie."

With that, I'm pretty sure Caroline's favorite show was Cougar Town.

From Hope's perspective, she's simply moving on with the man she loves, but this is one of those times it's hard to be an audience member "in the know." Still, I'd have much rather seen Aiden be one of the good guys and Hope be genuinely torn. It would have given Kristian, Peter, and Daniel such good material to work with and respected both fan bases a lot more.

If I need bad news broken to me, I really want it to be from Steve. His straightforward, yet hilarious delivery is like a spoonful of sugar making the medicine go down.

Bo definitely needs to buy Steve an Edible Arrangement when they get home.

Dayumm! Eric was throwing back the shots at the bachelor party like a pro. And by "pro," I mean a lifelong lush. Somewhere while that was happening, I think Maggie's Spidey Senses were tingling.

Doug can still deliver a great toast! Though Kayla's was pretty magical, too.

I'm really dying to know what Sami has found in Switzerland! Read that as: it better be E.J.

Amazing DAYS news: Smithsonian museum shines spotlight on DAYS; soap's stars kick off unveiling of iconic artifacts

More amazing DAYS news? Sure! DAYS officially trumps GH in ratings; becomes third most watched soap, bumping GH into last place!

And keeping with tradition, Laurisa and I put together our annual event, "Halloween in Salem!" Click here for a spooky good time!

For better and/or worse at some points, Bo and Steve's adventures/misadventures reminded me of an '80s action movie. They fought bad guys, escaped being chained in a gas-filled chamber, blew up a building, and took off on a banged-up plane that was flying into a storm. All the while, they have ex-wives at home, fed up with their antics, yet knowing they're fighting the good fight, so there's still love there. There were cheesy one-liners, hilarious exchanges dipped in Velveeta, deep thoughts while in inappropriate places, and quick recoveries. I was just sad that neither Bo nor Steve exclaimed, "Yippee ki-yay, mother---er!"

HOT

Thank you for the much needed laughs, DAYS! The bachelorette party provided a great dose of comedy. While I cracked up over Caroline's feisty proclamation that she would take Hope's lingerie if Hope didn't want it and Caroline's overall excitement to see the stripper, I thought Jennifer's few lines made the party. Her exuberance over giving Hope her gift as well as her eagerness to play party games was brilliantly played by Missy Reeves!

NOT It rings more than a little hollow to hear Julie even speak about Will's death. After all the shade she threw at him on her crusade to praise poor, misunderstood St. Nick, she should be embarrassed to even speak his name. When she started on the "Will would never want to deny a joyous celebration," at the bachelorette party I almost threw up my lemon bars. For one, I'm pretty sure Julie isn't an expert on Will's wants and needs. Will wanted to have a happy life with Sonny while sharing joint custody of Ari Grace with Gabi, but Nick tried to prevent that, but it's okay. Nick was troubled. Ugh. Too little, Jules. Way too little and way, way, way too late. Then again, maybe Julie made amends with Will before his death, and we didn't see that. After all, she was probably so upset by his passing that she couldn't even make it to the funeral. I repeat, "Ugh." I just can't with Julie right now.

LINE OF THE WEEK Theresa (to Kate): "You want coffee? Get off your ass and get it yourself! ... You may wear Prada, but if you think I'm going to be the Anne Hathaway to your Meryl Streep, you're dreaming, honey."

PARTING THOUGHTS So, friends and fellow DAYS fans, that's Two Scoops for the week of November 2! We've waited and waited, but the time has finally come! DAYS is turning 50 on November 8 (with the anniversary episode airing the 9th). Laurisa and I are putting the finishing touches on our golden anniversary celebration column, so be sure to follow us on Twitter so you can join the party as soon as it starts, and, "That's a fact!"

As always, thanks for reading! Tony

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