What's really going on here?

Has Sami's return really been a giant decoy? Is there a bigger "villain" here? And is Eve's descent into madness something you buy or not? Let's get to the bottom of all the bad guy plots in this edition of Two Scoops!

One of the best things about a character like Sami Brady is that hardly anyone is indifferent to her. She moves the emotion needle. She gets a reaction. Personally, I adore her, but that's neither here nor there. As I watched this week in Allie's storyline, I started to wonder, is Sami Brady nothing more than a huge, grand, mother of a distraction?

Everyone dumping on Sami here feels more like muscle memory and less like a truly earned plot point. Is Allie's adoption any of Sami's business? Not on the theoretical level. However, Allie sorta, kinda, pretty much made it Sami's business when Allie campaigned for Sami's ex-husband to adopt the baby. The nuances of the relationship between Sami and Rafe, not to mention Rafe and Allie's twin brother Johnny (it's still weird we haven't gotten a mention of him!), make me give the side-eye to Allie's "I do what I want" stance here. But everyone in Salem is too conditioned to throw cake (see what I did there?) at Sami.

And the chief cake thrower was, and it always has been, Nicole. I refuse to believe Allie has no knowledge of the history between Nicole and Sami. Cozying up to Nicole, asking Nicole to be her birth coach, throwing out "Aunt Nicole" in Sami's face literally two minutes after Ericole...I think Allie knew exactly what she was doing there -- in regards to both Nicole and Sami. In fact, I'm wondering if Allie knows exactly what she's doing when it comes to everyone.

They've been laying the groundwork for Allie being a mess for years. Lucas had to relocate to another country at one time to attempt to keep Allie from self-destructing too much. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago when she manipulated her grandma for money so she could show up on her (let's face it, easy mark) uncle's door with a pile of baby daddy secrets and then asked anyone who would listen to lie to Sami about the baby. And everyone did exactly what Allie wanted.

For his part, Rafe admitted that he was never comfortable adopting Allie's baby, mainly because of David. He owned his decision. I hope everyone in Salem heard that, because clearly people think he's incapable of thinking for himself. Anyway, as soon as he was out, Allie didn't miss a beat. When Rafe tried to offer his comfort, she countered his, "I'm so sorry --" with a, "Not sorry enough to want my baby!" It was a small line, but it suggested she might be more skilled than we're giving her credit for when it comes to emotional manipulation.

Later on in the week, she dropped the whopper of a judgmental line in regards to Will, "I don't know how you could keep something that big from someone you love!" Yikes. At the very least, you kept your pregnancy a secret from your whole family. More than likely, that line could come back to bite you when we get the baby daddy reveal.

Bottom line, I can't help but feel there's way more to this story. If everyone wasn't so distracted by Sami the Shiny Thing, we might have seen it sooner.

Meanwhile, in New York, Shawn once again proved he's the best cop on DAYS as he called up Chloe to get the possible scoop on Eve. (Hi there, Chloemeister! How are things?) I loved that they used the same restaurant and set from the Last Blast Reunion digital series. I liked the nugget of using Chloe's friendship with Eve as a beat here. It's a little tough to get that much character development that happened off-screen delivered in a few lines by a character who, at best, observed this change in passing. But, still, awesome to see Chloe! Don't be a stranger!

Also, I loved Claire being there for Ciara again. Watching Claire fiercely support her friend is much more consistent with the Claire we first met. I'm looking forward to Claire getting to face off with Eve, especially since this means Eve had been setting Claire up for failure this whole time -- and for a possible additional mental break.

Thanks to Chloe's tip and Claire's ability to Google, Hope and Ciara rescued Ben. Eve and Vincent managed to clean up that warehouse in record time -- an impressive task, considering Eve's wardrobe was not built for furniture removal. Ciara and Ben reunited. And I'm sure everything is fine here. Totally fine.

LOOSE ENDS: Speaking of things that are fine, Sarah and Xander are back together! I ship this couple -- almost as much as I ship the Jack/Xander friendship. Xarah makes each individual character better. I prefer them around each other than I do almost anyone else, especially if this means we get more of Lindsey Godfrey's Paul Telfer impression.

I know I shouldn't, but I get the urge to send the tickle monster after Sonny every time he gets grumpy. I can't help it. He's too darn cute! Also, this guy forgave his husband for killing his mother, so it's hard to take this argument too seriously. Well, that, and when the likes of "We're not getting your sister's baby because of you! You blew it!" are part of the conversation, I just have to giggle. There's the soapy goodness I know and love!

Gabi is pulling things over on Chad way too easily. This is looking like child's play to her. He can Elmer Fudd all he wants, but that wascally wabbit is still going to get away. I don't think teaming up with Gwen was his best judge-of-character move, either. Kate was right. Chad needs Kate. Plus, I would love a Kate/Gwen scene right about now.

HOT I laughed out loud at Lamon Archey's performance when Eli found out that he and Lani were having twins. From the revelation that, yes, twins does mean two, to the fact that, yes, they each probably will eventually need a bed, it was all sitcom dad perfect. I'm so glad the babies Elani are safe! Let's keep it that way!

NOT: Kassie De Paiva will always be a welcome addition to any television show I watch. She's basically Mary Poppins to me, practically perfect in every way. However, this whole storyline is just a huge miss for me. It's equal parts disturbing and way too thin.

Where'd she just whip up this devoted mad scientist? Is Eve dating Vincent? Does she have a big pile of Deimos' money she threw at him? Why does she even need him? Haven't we already established that if Ben goes without therapy and meds again, he'll relapse? Why all the dramatics?

Also -- and this has been a huge sticking point for me with Eve when it comes to anything Paige -- Eve was a horrible mother to Paige. Awful. So, every declaration of "My Paige-y" rings horribly false. Even if I could grant her the pass of a mother suffering the worst thing a mother can suffer, there's utterly no way I can reconcile that with this woman being totally fine killing another mother's daughter.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Hope: There's no record of Eve flying to Salem, at least not under her own name. Claire: "Huh. Must have used her broomstick. Well played, Claire Bear.

RANDOM THOUGHTS Did they have two of those wedding dresses? Or, did they tape these scenes before the explosion?

Allie (to Rafe, hours after giving birth): "Can you come see me? I'm in the maternity ward." You know, you can never be too obvious when expecting a Salem police officer to track you down.

Remember Kayla's old house from a few years ago? It was that cool shade of blue. I liked that one.

Texting Rafe, "It's not too late to change your mind!" was a ballsy move out of someone who is so adamant about not meddling in Allie's adoption.

You guys, Hope is a Power Ranger. Did you see that flip?

I hope Steve really means all this "changed man" and "love of my life" stuff. Kayla gave up a solid, good dude for him.

I wonder what happens to all the suits Lauren Koslow wears.

While Sami was explaining to Eric that Nicole's been using Allie's pregnancy to bash Sami, DAYS cut to Nicole, wearing a snake print dress. Coincidence??

They literally had Roman play the role of someone no one wants around. That's a little meta, no?

Just throwing this out there -- maybe Eli and Lani can put a second crib in literally any of the rooms of the Martin house that Eli apparently still owns?

As I've said before, it's very strange Johnny hasn't been mentioned or shown up in Salem yet. Apparently, Li is in the market for some blood DiMeras. Is it time for Johnny to return?

That's it for this week! Tony will be back next week to pass the collection plate around for baby boy Horton's future therapy needs. It takes a village! Laurisa

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