But when the morning comes

Between Ben's confession and Eric and Nicole's confessions of love, the Salem night sizzled, but when the morning came, the craziness hit the fan! Now it's Nicole's neck on the line and the hunt for a mad scientist. Let's grab a bagel and some caffeine and have some coffee talk while we discuss DAYS in this week's Two Scoops!

Congratulations, Eric and Nicole fans! The couple you've rooted for since they Rollerbladed into your hearts in the '90s finally expressed their love and got together. Okay. A fair precursor to my gushing: yes, Eric and Nicole were wrong to sleep together before telling Brady they want to be together, and there are generally a lot of maddening things about this storyline. She cheated on him. He betrayed his brother. I'm fully aware, but I must say, Eric and Nicole got together, you guys. *swoon*

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, I've heard...she ran to him in the rain. In the rain, no less! They had some Notebook levels of smoldering intensity. It was romantic. It was sweet. It was steamy. It was honest. It used the couple's tortured history all the way back to Nicole marrying Lucas for money over Eric's love. Yep. It was all there, including the flawless chemistry between Greg Vaughan and Arianne Zucker. So, yes. Eric and Nicole got together. And it's poised to last less than 24 hours. Boo.

Sadly, the Eric and Nicole spectacular is like lounging on a boat you've wanted to purchase your entire life, and on its inaugural voyage, you accidentally cruise into the Great Pacific garbage patch. In this case, that patch is Brady. That guy. I want to feel for him, but...

Brady. Brady, Brady, Brady, Brady...Brady. He's resorted to name-calling, victim-blaming, shaming Nicole about Tate, and blackmail. I get his anger, more so his hurt, but he's missing the most important fact. He was right about Eric and Nicole's feelings for one another. He was right! Isn't being right the most important thing? Can't he just rub that in their faces like any sore winner and move on? But I digress...

While, yes, Nicole and Eric betrayed him (and to be fair, he betrayed her by trying to get her fired), most of my sympathy was lost for Brady when he brought up Nicole's porn past. You know, her "porn star" past. You know, that one movie she was drugged and forced to do when she was a teenager by her disgusting father that only people who want to degrade Nicole and a creepy Canadian named Scooter seem to remember. Yep, that past. An obligatory "bitch" or "slut" is sadly par for the course even in 2017, it seems, but victim shaming and blaming makes someone a grade-A asshat. So, enjoy your new title as "Asshat Supreme," Brady, because it's likely to be the only one you end up with as your reign as Titan's CEO is probably going to last as long as a "love of your life" does -- a few weeks, and it will end badly. So, sure, Brady Black, you win. Victor and Deimos are so proud.

Marlena said it best. She quipped, "[We] can't control who we love, just how we behave." That can be used a lot of ways in the entire Brady/Nicole/Eric scenario. And if anyone knows about the effects of an illicit affair, it's Marlena. She got a reminder for years every time someone said, "Did you hear what Sami did now?" But I digress...

Ultimately, I feel this storyline got away from the writers, and it's horrifically damaged the characters involved. While "Eriole" always seemed like an end game for Eric and Nicole, it wasn't really a happy ending for anyone. Anyone. They betrayed Brady. While saying "Don't confuse gratitude with love" is a fair point, I really hate this predicament because they cheated, which was wrong, but everything else about them is right. It's always been Nicole for Eric, and, while Nicole was with Deimos and later Brady, they both seemed like relationships of convenience on the writers' part rather than true love matches, which has made the character of Nicole look all over the place and has been a disservice to her character's growth over the years.

And it's not helping that Brady is flirting with the dark side, which I'm still on the fence about, but with real crazies like Ben, Clyde, Andre, and soon Dr. Rolf, Kristen, and Vivian around Salem, do we need another evildoer? More so, do we need another fallen hero so soon after Hope, Rafe, Joey, Eric, and so on were run over by the Higley bus? I liked rooting for Brady before, and now, not so much. But, again, I digress.

Not for nothing, but Nicole went over the laundry list of kind things Brady has done for her. He has moved mountains for her. No doubt. She should be forever grateful, but she also made risks to be there for him. She risked losing Holly (and did for a time) to be at his side and rub that miracle baby on his chest, which gave him the will to live, or something like that. They were in a relationship, you do things for each other, but keeping score shouldn't be one of them (nor should cheating, of course).

The point is, Brady is, err, was a nice guy. Sure, they threw in the "this is what you made me" malarkey, but, look, the same thing just happened to Gabi a few weeks ago. She was with Chad, knowing that Abigail is probably the love of his life, and Gabi was right. Chad chose Abigail, and Gabi bowed out gracefully -- sad, heartbroken, but gracefully. Heck, Gabi was even pretty graceful when she was put in the timeout chair in front of the entire congregation at Chad and Abigail's wedding.

Now, I'm not saying Brady should send them a congratulatory "You Finally Got Together!" Edible Arrangement, but dialing it down a notch would be a better look for him. I mean, Brady called "Eriole" from day one. How shocking can it be that they got together? Yes, he was betrayed, and that's not cool on Eric and Nicole's part, but, dude, you can learn a lot from Gabi.

LOOSE ENDS: Though J.J. should really learn to knock, that's not the point. His suspension has been lifted. He's seen the error of his ways. Hope will have to go harder on him because he's family. And I really want to sit near them during the next Horton doughnut night. Awkward.

I got it, ladies! Chloe and Julie should just use a portmanteau and combine "Chloe" and "Doug" to make the word "Chug!" If that's not the perfect name for a bar, I don't know what is. Sure, sure. It sounds like a frat/broey kind of place, but if Julie and Chloe can handle a little a lot of Axe body spray, they might make some money being so close to Salem U. In any event, I love, love, love these two dueling divas as bickering business partners, but we better get a payoff of hearing Salemites sing at the grand opening, too.

In "Will Might Be Alive!" news, Hope questioned Ben, which led to Kate questioning Clyde, which led Clyde to confess that Dr. Rolf claims to have raised Will from the dead. Hello! Yes, please. All of this was great, and I especially loved Marlena, Kate, Roman, and John's powwow on the situation, complete with a stroll down memory-chipped lane bringing up genetically engineered Rex and Cassie (for real, they were brought up), the chips in John and Hope's brains (Princess Gina, anyone?), and John's resurrection. I can't wait for more!

In other Will news, he appeared to a drunken Lucas again. Figment of Lucas' Imagination Will is sort of like Alive Maggie, urging him to get clean. He didn't listen, but I think Kate got to Lucas in a heart-wrenching scene performed to perfection by Lauren Koslow and Bryan Dattilo. It was an intense, raw scene. I think Lucas may have finally understood that the pain he feels for Will is the same pain Kate feels for him. Maybe he got it. He was a little blitzed at the time. Great scene, nonetheless.

John and Paul really do have the cutest father/son moments. There's the chitchatting about baseball. Tossing around a baseball. Coaching little league baseball. A lot of baseball things. And, of course, digging up the grave of his former lover/current fianc's deceased husband/ father's step-grandson. Ah, memories. Unfortunately, that one might not end up on Facebook hash-tagged "bondingtime," as Sami stopped them. Repeat: "Sami stopped them!" We have to wait until Monday to see how this pans out, but, hot damn, and welcome home, Sami Brady!

HOT It was a generally HOT week in Salem last week -- from the Eric/Nicole/Brady triangle exploding, to all the Will drama with guests Ben, Clyde, and mentions of Dr. Rolf, to Sami Brady returning (I adore you, Alison Sweeney; never leave again. Then, amongst all that was a totally touching scene between Marlena and Kate where they shared their feelings over Will. It was a short but powerful scene, and Deidre Hall and Lauren Koslow crushed it completely. Like, pass me a tissue, ladies. You win.

NOT Look, part of me feels horrible for Brady. He wasn't wrong when he said he's had his heart ripped out of his body twice. Ripped out literally and figuratively, that is. The part of this all that really boils my water is that I have always adored Brady and Nicole's friendship. They have been besties for a long time. It's always been organic, and you knew they had each other's back. Forcing them together romantically was an easy play for the former writers, which transitioned into the current writer's mess to clean up. But instead of back-pedaling, we have a very unlikeable version of Brady now and Nicole being weepy and defeated. It sucks. It sucks hard. I wanted more for Nicole's exit storyline and more for Brady, because, right now, I don't care if he leaves Salem, too.

LINE OF THE WEEK Claire (to Tripp): "Ah, you know. Typical Salem wedding. Crashed by an escaped murderer."

EXCHANGE(S) OF THE WEEK Clyde: "Still gorgeous." Kate: "Still a murderous, lowlife, lying piece of psycho trash."

Paul: "Okay. So let me get this straight. A psychotic killer, Ben, was told by a violent criminal, Clyde, who was told by a demented quack, Rolf, that Will is still alive. That the quack brought Will back to life." John: "Yeah. That about covers it."

RANDOM THOUGHTS By the way, how is Jordan? More so, how is Arthur the cat!? Maybe they should return to Salem sometime soon. It seems like Brady and Eric might be available. Oh, if she has another non-homicidal gay brother or best friend, she can bring him along for Paul, perhaps.

Steve shared one of Caroline's words of wisdom. She says, "An invitation is not an obligation." I have to remember that one!

As of Monday, October 16, there are only 76 days left of 2017. Will Gabi make it that long without being abducted again!? Stay tuned!

Ben said that "I killed three people in cold blood." Well, there's a dead midwife named Wendy that might want to comment on that. You know, if she could. Because she can't. She's dead. And Ben killed her, too. That's four. Though he's crazy and not that good at math, perhaps.

Ha! From now on, I'm just going to ask Claire to relay stories to me. She has a knack for it.

Chad and Abigail's bedtime banter was playful and charming. Plus, they ended up with grilled cheeses in bed. Who won last week? Chad and Abigail did!

Have we known Brandon has been living in Chicago this entire time? Since people in Salem go to Chi-Town like they go into another room, I think it's long overdue that we see Brandon visit Salem. Of course, that has nothing to do with Matt Cedeo's dreaminess. Nothing, I tell you! It would be purely for storyline reasons.

Damn! Abe moves fast. Hope already has a personalized commissioner nameplate on her desk.

John told Paul that Sami is "a loose cannon." Come on, John. Say that to her face! *insert evil laughter*

Not to sound like a Debbie Downer. Err. Not to sound like a Brady Black spewing out depressing facts, but Abigail might want to get that heirloom toy train that J.J. gave her that dates back to great-great-great gramps tested for lead paint. The more you know, and all.

OMG! I loved the cover of Hattie's Screen Idol magazine. Hilarious. Just hilarious.

Speaking of Hattie, here are a few of her zingers while talking to Adrienne (the real one). "Hey! I'm that bitch Hattie!" Regarding Roman, "My Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome." And, of course, I totally lost it at Hattie's impression of Anjelica's death. Again, just hilarious.

Though perhaps Hattie should help Adrienne out of her prison pickle. Maybe she could attempt to get a little immunity for herself, too. As a free woman, it would be easier for her to open a Mr. Roman fan club and post on her fashion blog. And that's a win for everyone.

PARTING THOUGHTS So, friends and fellow DAYS fans, that's Two Scoops for the week of October 16, 2017. If you listen closely, you can hear Laurisa warming up and doing hand-strengthening exercise while listening to "Eye Of The Tiger" as she prepares to Two Scoop the much-anticipated return of Sami Brady next week! And, "That's a fact!"

As always, thanks for reading! Tony

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