Let the games begin

We head into the Olympic break with Abigail's 'death', a fantastic Jack sighting, a new D.A., and one of the coolest new bromances this side of Steve and Bo. Let's discuss it all in this edition of Two Scoops!

As you may remember, a few weeks ago I flipped my lid over Jennifer's antics. Well, I can't say that things have changed. However, our lovely Soap Central editor, Lisa, pointed something out to me. Jen's behavior could be a sign that Jen's still deep in the throes of addiction, because -- shocker -- addicts make crappy choices. And Jen finding those pills hidden in Thomas's nursery (srsly, Doug and Julie? One job!) proves that Jen isn't at the place in her recovery where she could be the primary care taker for an infant.

But none of that should really matter anyway because Chad is an excellent father. I couldn't be more on Chad's side if he was offering me caramel sea salt chocolate to agree with him. He shouldn't have to prove that he's a good father. Jennifer should have to prove that he isn't. And she can't.

Plus, I think Abigail would be ashamed of Jennifer. Not only does Abigail love Chad, but Abigail was the woman who was going to stay with Ben, just because she thought he was the father of her baby. So, obviously, a kid being with his dad is important to her.

But I'm hoping all of this is dropped now that Abigail is "dead". After the way DAYS fumbled the ball with both Jack and Bo's "deaths", I found myself watching for the one skeptical character in this storyline.

I'm kind of surprised ghost Jack wasn't this person! He knows what it's like to have Andre mess with your life status. But alas, that honor looks like it's going to J.J., who won't believe his sister is dead until he sees a body. Smart kid. He needs to can that noise about Chad killing her, but at least he's been paying attention to how things work on soaps.

All of this begs the question, why would Andre want to fake Abigail's death? If she's alive, he could extort anything he wanted from Chad in return for her. But dead? Well, at least there's a cage and a dead bird who will get a new friend!

Moving on, are you familiar with those Wayans brothers parody movies? (Scary Movie, 50 Shades of Black, etc.) They would take a common genre and exploit the heck out of the genre's respective clichs. The resulting product is pretty laugh-out-loud funny.

That's exactly how I feel about Nicole and Deimos. I just can't take them seriously. From the face caressing to the "I'm still so overwhelmed" to the "I can't believe I shared my side with you", their dialogue is so heavy-handed and unfounded.

How has he fallen in love with her? "All those times" she came to his door trying to con him was about three times. Nicole and Deimos have only known of each other for a matter of months. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I always thought you were supposed to ask a girl out to dinner before you declare you'll father her children.

Look, I adore Nicole and want her to be happy. And, yes, she's always been desperate for love. She showed up in a wedding dress to Chloe and Brady's wedding just in case Brady changed his mind at the last minute. But this is ridiculous on toast.

Literally, yesterday she was crying at the Pub telling Dario that she (cue melodramatic voice) can't sleep without desperately reaching to the other side of the bed only to clutch back her empty hand to comfort her own broken soul! (end voice) And now she's boinking this joker? I'm ticked!

Nicole is much more nuanced than they're making her out to be. She's desperate; but she's not dumb. She schemed, but she never liked it that way. She wasn't vindictive. She schemed to survive or protect. She wasn't your one-upper schemer like Kate or Deimos! Nicole shouldn't be watered down to her least common denominator to make a romance work with a new character. Nope, you elevate him to her level, thankyouverymuch.

And that brings me to The Scene, or more specifically, The Moment. Right after Deimos pinky promised he wasn't after Nicole because she is Helena's doppelganger, he got out the Box o' Helena and creepily lovingly stroked her picture.

First impressions mean something. And my first impression of Deimos was that he's a weasel, hell bent on reclaiming his life from 30 years ago. That includes his life with "Helena" in whatever form it may take. So, I interpreted this scene to mean that he's still playing Nicole and using her to get his life back.

However, when I asked my buddy @Tony_S_Days about it, he thought Deimos was saying goodbye to Helena*. You guys, Tony is very smart. So now I'm questioning myself. How did you interpret that scene? Is Deimos playing a game with Nicole? Or is Nicole probably going to steal Chloe's baby now?

*In my dream of dreams, we'd get a GH/DAYS cross-over where Constance Towers does indeed play Victor and Deimos's Helena, or as we now know her, Helena Cassidine! The lady does have a type - powerful, Greek billionaires!

Speaking of those crazy Greeks, it appears that Victor is behind the Tate-napping. I'm a little underwhelmed, but not surprised. This is the same dude who snatched an adult Brady out of his own bed in the middle of the night. But in this case, a life isn't on the line. He just doesn't like Theresa because...she...um...yeah, she's done nothing to Brady. (John is a different story.) Victor's being a control freak.

Side note - So, Victor set up this elaborate scheme to punish Theresa for doing something to Brady. Yet, Chase -- the guy who raped Ciara -- sits happily away in a hospital where Ciara still has to see him. You want to interfere in your grandchildren's lives, Vic? How about you start with the one who actually is a victim of a crime?

But I am sad this will mean the end for Magic. It just has to be, right? There's no way that she'll forgive putting Brady and Theresa through hell and then trying to blame it on Summer.

Worse yet, I don't like that we see Vic doing nefarious things spliced between the scenes when Sonny -- the closest thing to we have to Salem's sweetheart -- saying that he'll do anything to protect his uncle Vic. I don't like it when Sonny gets hurt.

LOOSE ENDS Oh lord. Mama H marched into the police station and told Rafe's boss that another little kid at work was making it hard on her kid. Dude, Ro, if anyone ever deserved a "What da hell?" it's her.

As annoying as Dario's temper tantrums can be, I can't say that he's wrong for throwing them. Eddie came back for Paige, not for any of the Hernandi. Plus, coming back and saying you're sorry doesn't always erase the pain of leaving in the first place. So I'm glad Dario is scheming. It's like he's a real soap character again! Wahoo! Though, I will caution, Dario's goon clearly hasn't done his research on Eddie's kids. The last guy who abused Gabi ended up with a fatal bullet in the gut.

As I tweeted, Wilson will have a place in soap history that no one would ever take. As a DAYS fan, I'm very proud of that. However, I'm not opposed to seeing Sonny move on with Paul. I like Sonny and want to see him happy.

But, really, they don't need to force these guys together so hard right out of the gate. Sonny still hadn't gotten over the jet lag before everyone and their baby mama were all, "Ohhhh!!! You know Paul's here! And I bet he still like-likes you!" We get it. There's basically one other gay dude in town. Everyone knows where this is going. So, give Freddie Smith and Christopher Sean a chance to sell it (which they can!) rather than inject Red Bull into this romance pace.

Would now be a good time for the Claire Bear Fan Club Report? Good. First up, much as I love Belle, she's dead wrong. Carrying coffee for a recording artist is a career path if you want to be a songwriter. Not all of us have sisters who left us piles of money. Some of us had to take entry level jobs.

Second, I like Chloe and Claire together! Claire's clearly the second fiddle to Ciara. So, I like that the former Ghoul Girl can take another second fiddle under her wing.

Deimos is the reason that Maggie is in that chair to begin with. So, helping her walk again will just make him not terrible. It does not elevates him to "changed person" status. That's like claiming you should be awarded the key to the city since you repaid all of your back taxes. Stop it.

HOT

Hope deserves all the awards for not picking up Jennifer and throwing that self-righteous nutter from the second floor of the Brady house. I'm so glad Hope told Jen to go kick rocks for the Aiden part. And she called her out on wanting to punish Chad! Wait until Hope finds out what an asshat Jen's been to Ciara #TeamHope

While I'm at it, I have to throw some support Aiden's way as well. Are you kidding me, Jen? Using Aiden's deeds to further your own agenda? I wanted to start a slow clap when Aiden turned her down. #TeamAiden #SortOf

HONNORABLE MENTION Wow! I didn't think they remembered Philip was Claire's dad for a while! Yeah for remembering history!

NOT: Oh, sweet rolling Jesus. Maggie asked Caroline for a vision. I almost expected all of them to stand around her and start chanting like the fish from the Finding Nemo's Mount Wannahockaloogie scene.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Andre (to Aiden after they'd simultaneously broken into each other's rooms): "I'm surprised we didn't run into each other in the hallway" Yes, Andre is a soulless villain. But the gifted Thaao Penghlis plays into the camp. And Daniel Cosgrove is no slouch in that department either. He's got the Cheshire cat grin down now too. Don't hate me, but I sort of adore the Andre/Aiden bromance!

RANDOM THOUGHTS I wonder if Suzanne Rogers lost a bet with the wardrobe department.

I like that Marlena and Gabi hang out!

Jennifer better sue Gabi for custody of Arianna since JJ's been so preoccupied with finding Abigail.

If leaving you kid with a teen sitter is bad, then I paid for tons of things with terrible people's money.

I believe this Philip much more when he's not in a suit.

Wait, Thomas has a nursery this whole time? Why was he sleeping in the Horton living room?

Rafe, Hope and Shawn all dressed alike on Tuesday. Must be a Salem P.D. thing!

Congrats, Chloe! You know who the daddy is! Seriously, this is a huge deal for her. She didn't find out who her own dad was until she was a teenager. And, Parker flopped between Philip and Daniel several times before landing in the Jonas gene pool.

Speaking of, has Parker been to see Grandma Maggie in a while?

I like that Eddie kept the same maroon shirt uniform at club TBD.

I'll always like a Theresa/Caroline heart-to-heart.

Chloe hasn't even cut a record yet. How does she have so much to do?

For those of you keeping track, Belle is a lawyer, investor of a record label, and owner of a nightclub. Your move, Jay Z.

I hate to be picky, but um, Melanie and Brady were the ones who rescued Tate from Kristen. Theresa was actually taken prisoner and thus had to be rescued herself. (*At this point @Tony_S_Days would like me to remind you all that subsequently, Kristen then had to escape that Madwoman Marlena and jump out the window because Marlena was attacking her.)

As you all know, DAYS is off for the next two weeks for the Olympics. But, Tony and I have some special columns planned for you all! We hope you'll still check in and talk some DAYS with us during the break!

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.