Salemites never say die!

Salem's under siege! Abe's down! And Joey's still missing! But in the wake of terror and tragedy, Salemites shine as heroes attempting to save the day. Put on a red cape and soar into this week's DAYS Two Scoops!

A few months ago, my DAYSathon binge at the end of the week felt like a never-ending story of grief, gloom, and head-scratching character goofs. The past few weeks, however, episodes have flown by. I wanted more! That's a positive sign as we continue on with "DAYS the Reboot Part 10: No, Really, This One Will Stick."

In addition to most characters finding themselves again, this "Salem Under Siege" storyline had me on the edge of my seat. Like, I bought the whole thing, but I only need the edge. The overall feeling in Salem is suspenseful but hopeful, due to characters vowing to overcome. There's heroes and villains. Action and adventure. A little humor. And an attempt at romance, but we'll get to Deimos and Nicole later. So let's talk about the "Hits" of last week.

I love the good vs. evil aspect of it all. DAYS is at its best when Salemites are faced with opponents rather than characters being deconstructed into depressing, devastated souls in horrid storylines that would make Requiem for a Dream look like a rib-tickler. And right now, we have a pu pu platter of goodies. Well, of baddies, but I digress.

Orpheus, Clyde, and Xander are still reigning in delish terror. Kate can't stop herself from scheming. Aiden is on a roll with his sketchiness. And, while not seen last week, Andre is always looming around Salem, ready to kick up some dust -- though it could be considered a "miss" not to wind Andre up and set him loose on the "Trio of Terror." He's always kinda gung-ho to kill someone, but, again, I digress.

Because we have such interesting baddies again, our heroes have becomes characters we can root for...again. I'm lovin' the teamwork between John and Steve. They've still got it. I mean, John tuck-and-rolled! The man still puts the "A" in action even after all these years. Rafe, Brady, and Sonny need to stop hanging around talking and watch how it's done. Just saying.

But the guys aren't having all the fun! I love that Kayla, Marlena, Kate, and the gang aren't sitting at home, as instructed. Sorry, gents, gone are the days of Lois needing Sups to save her. These sisters are doing it for themselves again, and I love the return of the "Girl Power!" More, please.

More so, everyone is working together. Groups of characters are crisscrossing, and that's fantastic to watch. Even the baddies are sort of working together, in a bickering, dysfunctional way, which, let's be honest, is kind of hysterical.

Sadly, last week wasn't all hits for the good people of Salem. Well, technically a bullet hit Abe, but that's a bad thing. Clyde was taking aim at Aiden, and Abe accidentally walked into it. A week ago, I would have said I'm sorry he missed, but Aiden and Hope's cat and mouse was intense intermixed throughout the rest of the drama. We'll get to that later.

As for Abe, he's in bad shape despite Kayla and Marlena's valiant efforts to save him. Do I think Abe will die? Nooooo! But I do think there'll be some high drama until then, and I'll enjoy the character intermix in the meantime. Theo and Ciara's friendship was back in true form, Kayla and Marlena shined in their jobs, and Theo brought up Brandon (and Lani), and that's not a bad thing at all.

But with all the "Hits," we definitely had some misses last week. Let's start with my girl Claire. Sorry, please put down your tablets and pay attention. Yeah. That hurt my head.

I've adored her since she was the sassy, sweet sidekick to RoboJohn. And loving her as much as I did, I didn't know if I'd accept a teenaged Claire, but Olive Rose Keegan won me over. I'm a fan. But within the past few weeks, Claire -- the levelheaded member of the Teen Posse, who's typically smarter than most of the adults in the room -- kind of has this late-blooming teenage rebellion thingy going on, and it's not the best look for her. As Britney might say, Claire's not a girl, but not yet a woman. So I see Claire's struggle, but when she was literally held at gunpoint and still decided to roam around Salem, I have to call foul.

That's not without saying I didn't enjoy Claire and Paul! It was fun to see them together. And get that man a cookie for his efforts. Claire was certainly a handful to babysit, err, protect. Did Paul fail at his task? Well, she was abducted, but ultimately, Claire was okay, and she was gagged for a minute, soooo... no harm, no foul?

Also, am I the only one wanting Hope and Rafe to get into the game? For two celebrated detectives, they seem to be spending a lot of time in that room at the police station. It seems like a waste of resources, especially since Hope has a huge vested interest in the case. You know, since Hope is Claire's grandmother, too. Which leads me to kvetch...

I'm still unsure of why Hope and Claire's connection seems so casual. That's irked me for a while now. And, really, Kristian Alfonso and Drake Hogestyn have a longstanding, charming friend chemistry. It would make total sense if one of Claire's grandmothers who is, err, was a badass detective teamed up with Claire's grandfather who is freaking John Black: Man of Action. Total miss, writers.

Finally, it was hard not to scream, "Come on!" to the Salem P.D. just a bit. I don't blame Abe for his blowup. Granted, being a career cop until recently, you'd think Abe would understand the shortcomings of Salem's Brainiac boys in blue, but that didn't stop me from being impressed by his fiery side when he went all cray-cray on Hope and Rafe. I think we need to start using his name as a verb. As in, if someone schools you, one could say, "You've been Abed." But I'm getting off topic yet again...

Come on, guys, Clyde literally walked through Horton Town Square. Like, strolled through. Really, guys. Nothing? It's not like a hat and a vest is really that much of disguise, especially when they're instructed to look for men that look like the mug shots who maybe wearing disguises. Sheesh.

At this point, am I the only one who kind of suspects the Trio of Terrors secret evil lair is in the basement of the police station? Yeah, maybe it's time for Shane and the ISA to venture to Salem and team up with Black Patch to take these suckers down. Sorry, Salem P.D., you tried-ish.

LOOSE ENDS: Snap! The paternity test results are in, and neither Deimos nor Philip (obviously) is the father of Chloe's bundle of mister. This went from "Who's the daddy?" to "No, really, who is the daddy!?" I'm intrigued, but I'm not ruling out that Kate got there a little earlier than she claimed. It would be a win/win for Kate, really. Deimos would be distraught that he's not the daddy, and Philip would be furious at Chloe for not telling him the baby daddy truth from the beginning. So far, Kate is the only winner. Still...

If Kate really didn't get there in time to switch the tests, did someone else, or is Chloe really hiding a baby daddy? I don't think Caroline and her mad hacking skills have stakes in this game, so I think it's safe to eliminate her as a suspect. Laurisa shared an interesting suspect with me, but I'll let her share that with you next week. I also thought, is Sonny or Justin playing Deimos? I'm just not sure!

More so, if the tests weren't switched, who is the daddy!? Based on Chloe's reaction, he would either have to be someone worse than Deimos or someone who had an affair with Chloe, but she doesn't want to hurt them by divulging. Meaning someone she cares about who maybe has a wife or significant other. Hmm. Just, "Hmm!"

And from "Snap!" to "Double snap!" Aiden knows everything about Hope and Stefano. Every. Thing. Daniel Cosgrove and Kristian Alfonso rocked that reveal scene. Aiden's casual approach, whispering in her ear combined with Hope's look of utter shock were brilliant. And aside from Aiden knowing, we know nothing yet as to where this will go. It was a game of cat and mouse, and Aiden's cat was batting Hope around like a little pink stuffed mouse toy. Since Daniel plays sinister well, this should get interesting!

I see Sonny mastered in "Mixed Signals" while he was in Paris. I get his hesitations to jump back into the dating world, but his and Paul's potential pairing is written on the wall. Everyone in Salem from Gabi to Philip is shipping them. It's seems likely to happen at some point. And at this point, their googly eyes followed by Sonny snapping into cynical mode and Harry and the Hendersoning Paul is getting a bit redundant. Both of them are interesting characters individually, so the will they or won't they isn't that much of a draw for me. It's like a peanut butter cup. I like chocolate. I like peanut butter. Are they great together? Sure. Are the good on their own? Sure. So, let's either cup them, cut the idea, or couple them up with other ingredients, mmm'k, writers?

HOT

In addition to all the grand heroics and action, I was glad we got a glimpse of the real Jennifer Rose! I missed the smart, compassionate Jenny Bear of yesteryear. Her talks with J.J. and Chad were true to what Jennifer used to be, and I hope we see more.

Jennifer was right by telling J.J., "It wasn't Chad's fault" and that he was "really reaching" for ways to place the blame at Chad's doorstep. And she was also right to advise him not to spend his time blaming and embrace the good. Yes, that is how the Jennifer I remember would act.

And speaking of "good," Jennifer and Chad's scenes were just that. They started off a little uneasy but bloomed into a nice chat between two people who love and miss Abigail. Chad was super sweet to offer protection for Jennifer, and she was hilariously skeptical on accepting it first. More so, Jennifer was full of wise advice that Alice could be proud of such as, "Time goes on, Chad, and so do we, and so do you," and "Keep moving, keep living."

Yes! THAT is the Jennifer I know. Welcome back! Now, if she would just, perhaps, replace the sofa in the Horton living room, a little more balance may be restored to the force.

NOT Srsly, Deimos and Nicole? Like, literally, nearly everyone in the Kiriakis family and most of their friends, neighbors, casual acquaintances, and I'm pretty sure several actors from a touring production of The Fantasticks are staying at the mansion, but they still decide to get jiggy with it in the living room? Maggie does not need to roll in on that. Ick. Just ick. I guess Sonny wasn't home at the time, or else he might have changed his stance on things being quiet in the house. But, aside from that "ick" factor, let's discuss the rest of the reason this NOT applies...

No, no, no, no, Dirty D, you do not get to slut-shame Chloe. At. All. I can't (but can) believe he had the gall to do that considering within months he's been with Chloe, Kate, and Nicole, all the while drooling over Dead Helena's pictures. More so, he was willing to marry Kate and offered Nicole the, um, coveted position as his sidepiece. I'd say that's pretty skeezy, Mr. Deimos. But let's not stop at his slut-shamming...

Nicole consoling Deimos over the fact he's a wittle sad because he learned a baby he wanted to be his isn't rang hollow considering the loses Nicole has suffered. It was a miracle she was able to get pregnant, and losing those children devastated Nicole to her core. Sad is sad, but let's get a little perspective, Deimos. The entire scene just felt exploitive of Nicole's history and made Deimos seem like Veruca Salt exclaiming, "I want it now!" Oh, what I wouldn't give for this bad egg to go down the garbage chute into the furnace.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Sonny (to Paul): "Friends don't want friends to get shot."

EXCHANGE OF THE WEEK: Claire: "The Wi-Fi here is dead." Paul: "But you're not. Let's keep it that way."

RANDOM THOUGHTS I laughed out loud when John called Roman and said, "Roman, John Black." I wish Roman was like, "Oh, THAT John. I was thinking it was the other John who shared my memories and life calling me from your phone. Thanks for clearing that up."

Philip's hair has had more reboots in the last few weeks than DAYS has.

As bratty as she's been the past few weeks, I still loved John and Claire's scene.

When Deimos said to Nicole, "It's amazing how far we've come," I had to hold a hand to my ear to stop my eyes from rolling out.

Did anyone else think "Batman and Robin!" during Brady and Sonny's scenes?

J.J.'s character needs a lot of work, but he was downright charming when Gabi expressed her happiness over his romantic gesture and he replied, "That's what I do." Well played, Junior.

Technically, Claire and Xander are related! Victor is Xander's uncle and Claire's great-grandfather. That makes Claire and Xander, well, I can't do that math, but they're related in some convoluted way.

Yep. Of all the Sonny and Paul scenes to pick from, the one where Paul basically hit on Sonny at Will's graveside the day of the funeral would be the exact same one I'd pick, too. Good job, writers.

It's good to know that Clyde and Jeremiah keep in touch.

Since we didn't get Vivian back as the mastermind behind the Tate-napping, could she pretty please be the mastermind behind Orpheus, Clyde, and Xander? The one supplying them with goods and intel? Pretty please, writers.

Oh, Orpheus! He must not have been paying that much attention to Claire. If he'd really been stalking her, he would have known to end his selfie video with duck lips.

PARTING THOUGHTS So, friends and fellow DAYS fans, that's Two Scoops for the week of October 3. Laurisa will be back next week with a "Where's Waldo" book to teach the Salem P.D. how to spot people in plain sight. And, "That's a fact!"

As always, thanks for reading! Tony

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