Family ties

Move over, Cain and Abel! Deimos Kiriakis is in town, and big bro Victor isn't havin' any of it. At all. Though the House of Kiriakis isn't the only one whose family ties got a little more tangled -- John has new parents (again)! Let's untangle the new family tree histories in this week's Two Scoops!

Picture it, my parents' living room, 1990. A tween me and my fellow Knots Landing-obsessed bestie settle in to watch Nicollette Sheridan's latest venture, Lucky Chances. I mean, Paige Matheson starring in a TV movie based off a book that was written by "Alexis Carrington's" sister? Yes, please! That had us written all over it.

So, we watched for three days. And amongst other reactions, I was staggered by the stars on-screen. There was Nicollette, of course. Leann Hunley -- Anna DiMera! -- was there, too. It was when I first fell in love with Anne-Marie Johnson, who I'd catch up with later on Melrose Place. I adored this sweet, stunning brunette I'd never seen before who turned out to be some chick named Sandra Bullock. Eric Braeden and Michael Nader!? OMG, yes! And the costar of the saga was this swoon-worthy, talented actor who played Gino Santangelo. His name was Vincent something or other, or as my friend called him, her future husband. Needless to say, we both fell in love with Vincent Irizarry that day. And now he's on DAYS!? Um, lemme just repeat, "Yes, please!"

So, do I love Deimos yet? Vincent is definitely bringing his special brand of charm and powerhouse acting to the role. I'm intrigued. Very intrigued. Deimos is coming in like a hurricane. His alliance with Philip is also a win...if for no other reason than it gets Philly away from Belle, but we'll tackle that later. More so, Vincent and John Aniston scenes? I can live with that!

As for the always-been-there, yessiree history between these brothers, err, half-brothers, it breaks down like this: Thirty years ago (um, okay), Vic was engaged to Helena. Y'all remember her, right? Deimos was 20 and hot for his half-bro's fiance. Big D seduced Helena, and they did it. Like, apparently a lot. Four days before Victor and Helena's wedding, she left him and then was found dead at the bottom of a cliff the next morning. Vic blamed Deimos, and he was sent to jail forever. By "forever," I mean until last week or so. Now, Deimos is free and totally made peace with Victor during his time in prison. He's made so much peace, he's plotting revenge and using Philip to do destroy Victor. I can live with that, too.

Aside from the insta-relatives and wonky timeline aspects of it all -- and let's face it, if that's a turnoff, you shouldn't be watching soaps -- I'm ready for this brawl. Deimos appears to be a worthy adversary for Victor and a solid "next generation" bad guy with strong family ties. He could be the Kiriakis family's "Andre," as long as they avoid the same massive mistakes they made with Xander. And excuse me while I pour some Tsipouro on the ground for that fallen homie...unless Deimos can get him sprung, of course (and yes to that!).

And while we're on the insta-relatives bandwagon, John met his newest bio-mom. She was dressed like Thelma Harper and sounded like Blanche Deveraux. And she gave him quite a sob story...

John's father was a Korean War vet. A Marine. He died a few weeks before John was born. Oh, John's newest "real name" is "John Robicheaux" from Baton Rogue. What? They couldn't have just made his last name "Doe" and get it over with? Anyway, so dead dad, poor mom, she sold him to some friends of friends who then died in an automobile accident while on their way to the nickelodeon to see a picture show (or not). He was then put in an orphanage where the Alamains adopted him. And then, you know, old story -- boy gets sent to private school where he's believed to have drowned and is trained to become a world-class assassin.

Well, I'm glad they're keeping the Alamain aspect. I kind of like that John and Vivian are connected. There's that. Otherwise, Ma Robicheaux was kind of a wash. She let this bad son of a bitch, Vadim Constantine, drug John's tea. John knew about the tea, faked a pass-out, kicked said bad son of a bitch's butt, and told off the old lady. Though I wish he'd threatened her with "Shady Pines, Ma!" I've never liked John more.

So now John has a box full of his father's war medals, hopes that his dad was better than his mother, and decided to take down the entire assassin prep school syndicate, perhaps with Eddie Hernandez riding shotgun. I'm down to get this party started. I'm interested to see who pops into this storyline next and if Vivian is secretly the Head Mistress of the school. Fingers crossing in five, four, three...

LOOSE ENDS: Aww, I forgot how much I like Brandon Beemer! It's really nice having him back as Shawn Douglas. I'm glad he'll be sticking around Salem, especially if that means more father/daughter bonding between Shawn D and Claire. They were super cute together. Bope's little Sailor Man seems like a great dad, for the most part. Bo would be proud!

Though I'm going to give Shawn D some tough love, since Bo is dead and Hope is a bit loony at the moment. He needs to stop blaming himself for Belle cheating. Points, he took responsibility for not always being emotionally available for her. That does suck, but she's the one who jumped on the first available guy (again). Her reaction to his actions isn't his fault. I've always liked "Shelle," but if the writers are hellbent on another Shawn/Belle/Phil triangle, I'd rather he move on to greener pastures and let Belle stroll down the sleazy side of Memory Lane with Philly. In fact, I'm going to put out a nice spread and arrange a mixer for Shawn D and invite Lani, Zoe, and Nicole.

Conversely, I don't think Belle is wrong for sleeping with Philip this go-around. She was handed divorce papers and all. She's pretty much a free agent sans signing on the dotted line. YOLO, gurl. And she could surely do worse than Philip. Though I do think Belle was a total a-hole for blowing off Claire for a Vegas booty call. Maybe that fierce mama bear thingy skipped a generation. So, sorry, Kate and John's Mom, you two now have some competition for the "2016 Mother of the Year Award."

I'm not opposed to things heating up between Rafe and Hope, but I need a little bit more time before they lock lips. I mean, seriously, a few weeks ago, she killed a man because of what he did to the love of her life -- the love of her life that died in her arms a few months before that and the day after her new husband almost killed her and died himself. Lady needs to give the lady parts a rest before moving down to Rafe Town. Even Hope claims she's not ready to move on, so let's listen to Fancy Face on this one for a bit longer, writers, so we can really enjoy "Rope."

In the meantime, Rafe can hang out with Roman and Lucas. They can give him pointers on how to survive going so long between love interests. I'm guessing lots of cold showers.

Speaking of Roman, I kind of love that he's been on so much lately. I've always liked the character and his bond with Hope. More so, I love that Roman -- a known chump at times (SEE: Roman pines for Mar Mar for, um, like, 30 years) -- is totally onto Hope's lies. He loves her. He's worried. And he's certainly making it known that he'll be there for her. I actually want her to open up to him. Ro Ro was Stefano's original adversary and constant victim. I want to see Roman's reaction to all of this, yet part of me also thinks we don't need another fallen moral compass, so I'm a little torn. What da' hell.

Holla! Justin showed Hope some compassion. That's an improvement for Justin and his douchey D.A. 'tude. There's that. Otherwise, Hope is still kind of a liar. And a killer. And a very bad crime scene cover-upper.

Though Hope isn't the only one guilty of poor crime scene cover-up. If missing the blood-stained statue wasn't bad enough, Rafe's "years of experience" is surely more suspect, since he slowly drives past the dumpsite on his way home from work each night. Has this guy never watched Criminal Minds before? You don't keep "trophies," and you don't revisit crime scenes. That's unsub 101, dude. Anyway...

Andre's already figured it all out and is a step away from Stefano's body. The good part: this storyline is moving along. The bad part: Chad is going to have to eat some crow, and I'm worried he'll end up in Andre's clutches just when he and Jenny Bear are getting along so swimmingly. Methinks Jen wouldn't take too kindly to Chad helping Andre seek revenge on her favorite cousin.

I know Chad and Abigail are in a little love bubble and that they're new parents, but, A. they might not want to leave preemie with health issues, Thomas, in the care of his injured, pill-popping groggy granny who's not supposed to lift more than five pounds. And B. they might want to move his bassinette from the foyer, since it's winter. Seriously, that baby bed thingy is like five feet from the front door. Still, "Happy Chabby" kind of makes me smile, and at least Thomas is by the exit should they need to make a hasty escape.

I'm super-duper shocked that Dr. Dan is in a morgue. Shouldn't he be in a boulder-sealed cave in Jerusalem with throngs of sobbing people outside of it, singing "Candle in the Wind"? In any event, Eric went to pay Dead Dr. Dude a visit. Though I'm pretty sure three weeks is a long time to hold onto a corpse, I'll forgo protocol if it means watching Greg Vaughan's brilliant performances!

Brady is having dreams/visions/memories of Nicole because he now has Dr. Dude's heart. Isn't that special. Ugh, it's pure soap schmaltz at its worst. Like, seriously, it's a 10 out of 10 on the "Soap Scale" of soapiest storylines a show can do.

While I give the writers a big yet uneasy "You Tried, Gang" thumbs-up that they included super shrink Mar Mar in there to give Brady some, uh, legit reasons for his Nicole visions, I'm hoping this storyline is buried as soon as Dr. Dan is. True. That might be in another few weeks -- or months -- but let's hope it's sooner rather than later because this one stinks worse than Dr. Dan's three-week dead body.

More so, do former flames Brady and Nicole really need that reason to rekindle things? They've been great friends for years, sometimes with benefits, and have dated several times. I'm sure Dr. Dude's death would give them even more common ground to bond on. To have the catalyst be that the guy's heart is in Brady now is kind of lame.

Yes, yes, and yes to the speech Motivational Dream Fun Nicole gave to Drunk Grieving No Fun Nicole. Let's always remember that feisty and fun version of Nicole, Nicole -- the one who took challenges -- and the occasional baby -- but was always endearing and a survivor.

Side note, as much as I loved Nicole's pep talk to herself, I couldn't help but think they missed the chance to guest-star Valerie Wildman as Fay to take sad Nicole to task and help her remember her feisty, fab self.

I'm just putting this out there, but an Abe supporting Nicole scene wouldn't be such a bad thing, either.

Finally, kudos to Kassie DePaiva and Wally Kurth! They perfectly captured every awkward moment in the blunt "talk" between Eve and Justin. I hate those "where do we stand?" conversations and have learned the response, "Can't we just Netflix and chill?" is not popular, but I digress.

It's not shocking that Eve and Justin don't have longevity, considering the worst casting news ever about Kassie, yet I'm glad we got that scene. It wrapped things up nicely. More so, it was an honest reaction from both characters to where they are in life at the moment. Though if Eve wants to commiserate over a few cocktails, Ms. Thang can certainly give me a ring.

HOT

Vincent Irizarry and Brandon Beemer in one week!? I'll take those odds. Add in that Nicole is becoming feisty again, Greg Vaughn's general amazingness, and more Roman, and there's a lot of win there. For the threepeat, "Yes, please!"

NOT I know it helped Nicole get her fight back, but, seriously, "WWDD?" In case you're wondering, that's "What Would Daniel Do?" My guess: get it into a hospital gown then invite it to dinner.

LINE OF THE WEEK John (to Marlena): "Strange. But my whole past has been like that."

EXCHANGE OF THE WEEK Justin (regarding Hope's confession): "Do you believe her?" Roman: "About as much as you do."

RANDOM THOUGHTS I will always and forever hate this casting news. And Kassie's leaving on Groundhog Day. Is nothing sacred anymore!?

Damn it. Furthermore, Kassie and Vincent Irizarry won't get to work together. Something tells me they'd be magic.

Nice! Paul found himself a cute date. Though I'm worried DAYS is going to "Matt from Melrose Place" Paul. It's not 1994 anymore, gang. #justsaying

Eduardo and Rafe's scene was a nice step. In fact, I'm warming up to Eduardo lately. I like his bromance with John, and I think if Rafe learns Eduardo's real past, they could form a bond...or at least Eduardo and his shady connections could help Rafe out of a certain pickle.

Philip wasn't wrong when he told Claire that "you can't will your parents back together," but hearing that from your mom's rebound guy kind of takes the shine off that good advice.

Thanks to Ciara, I can now say I'm going to "kick back" instead of "hang out" with friends.

Despite some side-eye feelings I have about the timing of Rafe and Hope, Galen Gering was all shades of adorable as Rafe kept turning around and offering multiple goodbyes as he left Hope and Ciara.

What was Shawn D studying in Maine, by the way? You know, selfish Shawn D who had to better himself and go back to school, abandoning Belle in the process. Someone send this poor gal a casserole already.

I really wanted Hope to say to Belle, "Thanks for the help with my case! Not for cheating on my son, but with the law stuff. Just that."

Chase wants to project the Star Wars saga onto the wall while they enjoy their kickback? Good man, Chase. Good man. What time should Laurisa and I be there? We'll be bringing bean dip, Scotch, and a newborn.

The color green needs to send Kassie DePaiva a "thank you" card for making it look so good. Kassie plus that dress was a total win.

In other fashion news, I loved Theresa's sweater.

Oh, Philip! I don't think Belle really needs to have more fun. That's kind of how she got into trouble in the first place.

Sorry, Lani, but "That's not right" is kind of on the Salem city seal.

As chic as they are, Jen's heels might not be helping her back.

It's amazing what they're doing with prosthetic legs these days. Would you agree, Philip?

Hope told Roman, "I know where you live." How about filling us in, Hopers?

I mean, if Philip and Belle are going to be bumping uglies, I'll take those Gladys Knight tickets off their hands. Sorry, Claire, I'm on your side here, but why let good seats go to waste?

What the show didn't tell you -- that picture Paige drew for Eve was made weeks before her death. Guess who wasn't so gifted after all?

PARTING THOUGHTS So, friends and fellow DAYS fans, that's Two Scoops for the week of January 25. I can't help but wonder whose family tree will receive a makeover next week! I'll get an eraser and some pencils just in case there's another change. And, "That's a fact!"

As always, thanks for reading! Tony

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