Just a girl

What a week for the ladies! Chloe woke up, Anna returned, and Nicole lost her ever lovin' mind. Plus, Hope escaped, Gabi uncovered a scandal, and Abigail found another possible match. Let's have a girls' night in this edition of Two Scoops.

It's more important than ever that DAYS put its best foot forward. And that includes fans too. Maybe it's the pending cancellation rumors. Maybe it's the new year. Or maybe it's the fact that my baby slept through the night for three days in a row. But I found DAYS downright entertaining last week. And we can thank the ladies for that.

Let's start with the big reveal of the week -- Chloe's awake! Quick poll, how many of you immediately think, "I wonder if they have amnesia" as soon as someone wakes up from a coma? I thought for sure that's where this story would go.

But, no, Chloe is awake and alert and literally ripped herself out of her coma bed to go across town to talk to Nicole. Putting my disgust for Deimos aside, I could not be more Team Chloe in this storyline if Chloe personally handed me sea-salt caramel chocolates. And that's because I really don't see it as Chloe vs. Nicole.

I'm all for Nicole having a baby. Nicole deserves it after all of her heartbreak in the kid department. And you know what? Chloe is 100 percent, solely, completely responsible for making that happen. I got so mad when Nancy said that Deimos is going to get the credit for giving Nicole her miracle baby, because I know Nancy is absolutely right. And that upsets me on various levels.

From the start, Chloe had nothing but selfless intention with this baby. She had the embryo implanted because she wanted so, so much to give Nicole a baby. There is nothing in this for Chloe. Let me repeat that. There is absolutely nothing in this for Chloe. Since she did this without Nicole's knowledge, Nicole didn't even have to hand over a dime for any of Chloe's care!

And now, Chloe is in a tough spot. I can see how Chloe feels protective of Holly. Chloe carried her and nearly died giving birth to her. She's Parker's sister. And Chloe probably does feel a loyalty to Daniel. So it's hard to look at Chloe with the same tar-and-feather feeling of say...Nicole herself when she swapped Grace and Sydney. Can anyone look at Deimos and think that Holly is perfectly safe with him? No. Of course not. Deimos has proven over and over again that he'll go after his enemies' loved ones. All Nicole has to do is make Deimos mad, and Holly is the perfect target.

However, ultimately this isn't Chloe's decision to make. Holly is Nicole's kid. And Chloe needs to tell Nicole the truth. Then, Chloe needs to call up Eric or Brady or swipe one of Maggie's spare eggs and whip up Dr. Dan 2.0 or something to get Nicole away from Deimos.

And for the record, the fact that Chloe gave Nicole a child should not be undervalued. If Nicole holds any kind of grudge against Chloe after this, it will be an egregious displacement of perspective. Should Chloe have told Nicole right away? Of course. But Chloe gave Nicole a child. Nicole will have that child for the rest of her life. That trumps keeping silent about it for a few months. Bottom line, Chloe should tell Nicole. But Chloe shouldn't be vilified for it.

Also, I know I should be mad at Nancy, but I'm not. She always thought that Chloe should tell Nicole, but she was respecting her kid's wishes. I can't very well be championing Nicole getting to be a mom in one breath and then condemning Nancy for being a mom in the next.

The person I am mad at is Brady. In a genre where "first loves" carry too much weight, I would have expected Brady to support Chloe a little more. He straight up told her that he can't protect her, which may be true. But he has not tried at all. He snuggled up right next to Deimos even after seeing what the dude did to Philip. Brady's standards are in serious question.

But back to the ladies! Next, let's discuss Abigail. I need to know where I pick up my "Killer Miller" T-shirt because I so enjoy Marci Miller. I appreciate that she's not phoning in happy scenes. She's trying hard to play Abigail's new look on life, and that's making me take another look at Abigail.

I also like that Chad and Abigail are actually dating! I've never bought Chabby as the next great supercouple DAYS would like them to be, mainly because it seemed to build upon a foundation that wasn't really there. It was unfair that Billy Flynn and Kate Mansi had to jump right in and play the "Chabby: I Wish I Could Quit You" version. Abigail herself even admitted "normal" is not something they've ever done. So I like that Billy and Marci are getting a chance to correct that wrong.

But the Hernandi are making this interesting. I should back up a few weeks and say that I literally laughed out loud when Gabi and Chad exchanged "I love you's." Nope. Sorry. Didn't buy that one for a second. I do, however, completely buy that Chad's relationship with Gabi comes with an ease that his relationship with Abigail doesn't. Good or bad, Abigail has always come with issues. So I can see why he'd be pulled toward anything that's not that.

But the shock here is Gabi's not the Hernandi I can see messing up Chabby-land! I can't, in good scooper faith, not mention the delightful chemistry between Abigail and Dario. Could Abigail be preparing to be torn between Chad and another guy again? Is Chad becoming the Lucas to Abby's Sami? I honestly don't know, but I'm interested to see how this plays out. (Oh, and by the way, Chadsworth, if you're going to forgive Abs, Jen, J.J., and Laura, you really have no business being mad at Dario. Sorry, bud.)

Moving on to more fabulous ladies, Hope got sprung from prison thanks to Hattie, who is a downright genius. She smuggled Hope out of the big house without causing a lockdown or blowing up the town. In yo' faces, Orpheus, Clyde, and Xander! I'm still not quite sure how Stefano being alive means that Hope didn't still intend to kill him (or actually kill someone). But, I do know that Hope can't stay in prison forever. I'm interested to see who picked her up off the side of the road. Shawn left to go look for her about five minutes before she ended up there, so chances are he made it to her and managed to drive-through and pick up dinner on the way.

And, shocker of all shockers, Hattie was involved with Andre! Her "Alfie" is our "Andre." Please, oh please, if there are soap gods, let Hattie have a chance to confront Andre before this storyline winds up! After all, we now know where her money went!

Okay, for documenting purposes, let me see if I got this right. Apparently, Andre invented a spy software that can hack any camera at any time, a step down if you ask me, for the family that can erase and store people's memories on CDs, but what do I know?

Eduardo found out about it and rather than tell his ISA friends -- you know, to make up to civilization for unleashing the whole trio of terror on Salem last summer -- he decided to team up with his dumbest kid and shove it in some handbags.

Deimos, who just happens to be omniscient because, obviously found out about it and stole the software from the brain trust that is GDR. (I blame the holiday haze, but I had no idea they called their company GDR.) Andre put the pieces together and realized that Gomer and Goober let Deimos in and hightailed it over to the Kiriakis mansion to call Deimos a "bitch who stole [his] toys."

While that last line cracked me right up, this whole storyline is obviously to pass the villain baton from Stefano and Victor to Andre and Deimos. And the problem is they should have done it over something that has much more weight with audiences than this super-secret spyware.

LOOSE ENDS Carrie and Austin are back! While they were gone, Carrie expanded her law practice to be able to defend people in multiple countries, and Austin practiced wearing turtlenecks and speaking multi-syllabic words. Oh, and they had a baby boy!

I want Steve and Kayla to adopt me. They're great being there for Joey. I feel for Jade. The downward spiral when you lose a baby is not something I'd wish on my worst enemy. I also like that Joey feels like this is karma for killing Ava. Of course, they're bringing all this up so that when Steve and Ava's son shows up, he'll have a fresh conflict with Joey. But still, Joey totally got away with murder. I don't think Steve and Kayla even took away his cell phone privileges or anything. So it fits under the heading of "soap justice" for him to have some residual heartache from that experience.

You guys, it looks like Kate and Eddie may be on the way to splitsville. Who could have seen that one coming? I mean, they were solid for, like, weeks!

Ooof. Nicole and Deimos are engaged. Well, at least he didn't offer her another woman's ring this time. Also, the happier a couple is on DAYS, the harder they seem to crash. So, mazel tov, kids!

I hope that Drake Hogysten is having a healthy recovery. I miss scenes with John and his family. Bright side? It is nice that some other people get a share of the spotlight! I like seeing Paul involved in his place. I liked the guest spot from Shane. I think that the Steve/Rafe/Roman combo is fun to watch. And, of course, I love that Marlena can be the big-boss lady that she's meant to be!

Furthermore, I love the new sets they built for this storyline. That lobby is downright impressive and makes me miss Chez Rouge. And I laughed out loud at Marlena's "OMG" look when she saw the Stefano ringer (who, come on, is no ringer whatsoever).

HOT The fabulous Leann Hunley is back in Salem, and things are just a little brighter because of it! I adore her and Anna DiMera. The way she fiercely loved "[her] Tony" is a gem on DAYS. And I'm already wondering if the two are up to it again.

Anna's always been eccentric. But she seems a little extra loopy now. Maybe it's still my hope that Tony is alive, but could Anna's schtick be just that? To keep Tony "dead" while they dig up enough dirt to take down Andre? Tony would be a candidate for taking money from the DiMera bank. The fact that he's identical to Andre would make it easier in today's days of photo surveillance to pull it off. Plus, Anna was able to trail the team from Salem without them even knowing it. Someone who's just bat-pooh crazy wouldn't be able to accomplish that. Hmm...

NOT No, no, no, Rafe! You shut that noise down. 1. You do not yell at Shawn-D. It is not his fault that Hope escaped. 2. You don't tell Hope what to do and not let her in on the whole plan. 3. You have some nerve calling Anna a kidnapper when you kept two kids from their father, oh, and also left Anna on an island to die. Seriously, man! The year just changed, but it's 2017 -- not 2009.

LINE OF THE WEEK Marlena (to Anna): "Honey you're in an alleyway, in a foreign city, with a gun and your husband's ashes. Can you hear that as a cry for help?" It's official. I would watch The Anna and Marlena Show every day and twice on Sundays.

Honorable Mention Victor (warning Deimos): "Eduardo Hernandez spent years as an assassin." Oh, don't get my hopes up, Victor!

RANDOM THOUGHTS I kinda hope that Jade Michaels' aunt will turn out to be Jillian, who will make another appearance on DAYS to tell that jerky dad to stay away from Jade!

I find it a little hard to believe that the bilingual Japanese American who traveled the world playing baseball is suddenly intimidated by a menu in a foreign language.

I'm living for Hattie's warm-up exercises before the "rumble."

Thomas' bassinet (which he's entirely too big for) looks like a fort I'd build as a kid. I mean that as a high compliment.

Dario has some nerve telling Gabi to support her "real" family, since neither of those men have been around for Gabi in years, and Dario just started speaking to his "real" dad about five seconds ago.

Let's think of all the things Agent Raines could find searching the pub -- Caroline, Joey's childhood, directions to Roman's home, a plaque finally explaining whose flag is hanging on the wall... What else?

Unless Nicole is on life support, I strongly doubt that this is the last engagement ring she'll ever have. That isn't the only engagement ring she's had in the last three months.

Hat tip to Nicory from the comments section last week. Well played, my friend. So very well played.

So, they're just going to leave that angel memorial up, huh? Okay then.

Gabi's teal jumper was everything to me.

Shouldn't Deimos have a sample of Holly's DNA from either of the paternity tests he forced Chloe to take?

I love the new look of TBD! Nice work, Hernandez men!

Since Maggie is so good at picking out new couches, there's one in the Horton living room that needs to go right away if not sooner. Leave Alice's chair right where it is, though.

Sometimes I worry that two different people who don't talk are writing the show. On one hand, there's Carrie making up the lie that Anna escaped from a mental institution in order to get a laugh out of us and take Anna home. On the other hand, Abigail is supposed to be dealing with the very real repercussions of escaping from a mental institution when she wasn't mentally stable.

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