They alive, dammit!

It's a miracle! Marlena, Kate, and Kayla are unbreakable, it seems, as they've survived their mysterious malady. Though the serum came with a catch for Brady, and we also must wonder if the terrorized trio is truly out of the unwell woods. After all, in Salem, even secrets have secrets, and twists and turns have their own twists and turns. So, let's cautiously celebrate a speedy recovery in this week's on-the-mend DAYS Two Scoops!

Well, friends, we can extinguish the seven-day vigil candles we've kept lit for Mar Mar, Sweetness, and Kate. They're going to be okay. Fine. Swell even. And all in the blink of an eye. They could just feel the serum working immediately and, poof! A miracle.

Actually, we can blow out those bodega-bought flames and swap them for a nice, romantic-scented one. You know. The fancy candles. At least for Kate. Mama's on the mend and rather randy. She's a newlywed, after all. It's also her wedding night. So, go on and have some fun, Ms. Roberts-Brady (again).

So, yes. Our special Salem ladies seem to be just fine. And dandy. The serum was delivered, and it seems to be working. Yep. Yep. There's that. But...

Is this the end-end to the storyline? The real end!? Sure. They've been wrapping up rather fast these days as new ones are set up, but I feel the conclusion was anticlimactic, given the scope. There must be something more than migrating this to Kristen's latest bid for Brady. Right!?

Now. I doubt any of us thought these ladies would cross over to the big Soap Beyond. Or at least permanently die, but the wrap-up happened fast. Is this a zag when we expected a zig? Are they really healthy or just juiced a bit so Special K can keep stringing Brady along? Maybe it's because of the Halloween season, but I suspect this storyline will scare us with one more slasher movie lunge just when we think it's over.

While most in Salem aren't looking a gift horse, um, serum in the mouth, there is a lingering question for some. That is, "Who had the potion delivered?" We, of course, know the answer, but is the question that big of a deal?

I can't tell. Most believe it was Dr. Rolf, anyway. In any case, I don't think this secret is clawing its way out of the bag anytime soon. Kristen is all in on making us suffer for the long haul. This will likely work out perfectly, especially for Rachel, who won't be hurt at all when her family falls apart -- again. At least she has Step Granny Mar Mar for all her therapy needs.

While Kristen may have won the round right now, Chloe's clapback of, "You overplayed your hand, honey," was amazeballs. Sassy Chloe slays. In fact, I loved that she's not afraid of the big, bad Special K. You go, Chlomeister! Stay strong and smart.

Still, Brady was forced to break up with Chloe. She summed it up best with a baffled, exasperated, "What!?" That. Just that.

Actually, I'll go on. I get that Brady was doing a great thing for his stepmom, Kay, and Kate, but there's wiggle room. Kristen did not have to win-win this fight, especially had he looped Chloe in on the blackmail.

For starters, Chloe's been one of the best thinkers in Salem for a while now. She saved Brady from losing custody. Within a nanosecond, she shot down Li and Stefan by calling out their obvious secret agendas. She knew Kristen was trying to push Stefan on her. She knows what-what with her friends and gives them sage advice. Yep. She's smart. She's sassy. She's loyal. Let her in on this, Brady. They could battle Kristen together, even if appearing apart. I'm sure it wouldn't take long for them to get Ms. DiMera on camera, celebrating her victory. They could blackmail her back -- no jailtime for the rest of orchid treatments. Think, Brady. Think!

Instead, Kristen's moving in with Brady (and Marlena, John, Rachel, and whoever else is staying there at the moment). Ugh. I'm not looking forward to this. While I'll always love my Ms. Blake-DiMera, Smug Kristen is my least favorite flavor.

Conversely, can we get Megan back to slap some sense into her sister and then watch them take on the DiMera Boys Club for control of the empire? Ms. Hathaway's been groomed for that position long before Eej even existed. Find old clips. They're worth it. Megan's cool, calm, collected, and cruel, and she has a cackle that makes the Pheonix's bellowing belly laugh proud. No, really. She has one of the best baddie laughs ever. That bad apple didn't roll far from the tree.

Alas, we're left with three healthy ladies (yay!) and a miserable "Broe" (boo!). Though it was super compassionate of Nicole to let the Chlomiester cry on her shoulder for so long. I mean, really. I thought she'd never stop sobbing in all those few minutes until Nicole could change the subject to make it about herself and her doomed marriage. Best frands for-eva.

I've always liked the friendship Nicole and Rafe shared. Their relationship, though. Oof. That's a hard one to get behind. It was basically born out of cheating, so it's no wonder Rafe's riled up about Nicole's NOT AT ALL OBVIOUS attraction to Eric. It's sort of like that reaping and sowing thingy -- or cheaters worry about being cheated on, liars are paranoid about being lied to, etc. Looks like Ava never really needed to plot revenge on these two. She just needed to sit back with some Merlot and popcorn to watch the eventual implosion.

It's honestly hard to have sympathy for any involved in this love quad. Rafe, Eric, and Nicole are swimming in the de-Nial River, and Jada's watching all of this as an outsider who sees the trainwreck coming but has chosen to stay on the tracks. I get it, detective. Eric's a catch, but he's already been caught, and you're standing there with your arms open, waiting for him to fully fall into them. This "Maybe things will work out okay" crunched-up concerned face is not a good look for any of them.

However, I appreciated that when Nicole went a-knockin' on Eric's door and said, "I was hoping you were here," his retort was simply, "Well, I'm not at work." Savage burn, Eric. Savage. Well played, ex-padre.

Doc Rolf declared, "My most important work is kept off site." Well, now. Is it, Willy Helm? Is it? More important than dead-not-so-dead DiMeras and lifesaving seeds and serums!? As Sordid Lives' Brother Boy says, "Ohhhkaayyyyyyy."

This has me all shades of curious! My mind is spinning with ideas of what (or who!) Dr. Rolf could have on the slab. Though I stand firm expecting the use of Marlena clones in the near future. That's been brought up several times over the past few months. If this happens, will our favorite Doc doppelgnger, Hattie, stop by to save the day for her friends in Salem!?

On the topic of "Things That Will Surely Come Back to Bite," Johnny stated that E.J. writes down everything due to his concern of lingering memory glitches caused by his death-ish, resurrection, explosion, and marshmallow headedness. That's a brilliant use of history, but oh, yeah! "The Jottings-Down of Eej DiMera" will certainly be a page-turner when found. I can't wait!

I also can't wait to watch more of Johnny and Wendy. They're intriguing. Maybe it's more on her at this point, but I'm totally team whatever they're up to. She is a rockstar, as stated by her maybe soon-to-be-sister-in-law, and her friendship with Gabi is great, too. I think this squad could do some damage together.

Tripp and Joey also enjoy Wendy. Maybe a bit too much. They're fighting over her again. It started in Seattle and then globetrotted all the way to Salem. I get it, gents. She's awesome, but Joey should be careful. Tripp might punch him. He's two for two. Does Joey really want to risk a trifecta?

Seriously. I'm not condoning violence, but Tripp's response of, "You want to know how I reacted!?" followed by a punch to the nose was a straight up '80s action movie, mic drop moment. Sorry, E.J.

Nonetheless, was Tripp ever this trigger, err, punch happy before!? I don't remember him swinging first and asking questions later. Though I guess a little "flinging your possessed self out of a stained-glass window then being resurrected by your dad's dead best friend's spirit only to dump yourself because your wishy-washy fiance won't do it then move to Seattle to see your siblings and get into another love triangle and international intrigue" can change a person. Plus, I'm not going to risk my nose to tell Tripp to stop.

I did think it was truer to his kind nature that Tripp kept trying to check Johnny's wound and told him how to treat it.

Ava's back! Again, sorry, E.J., but this makes me happy. I simply love Tamara Braun. She's such a dynamic actor and brings it to every scene. And I think a possible Ava and Xander team-up might happen! Maybe!? That could be fun. It could also possibly change a certain recently reformed schemer's mind about rejoining the band. Hmm.

Yep. Gwen turned down doing terrible things with Ava in order to stay on the straight and narrow. She wants to make Jack proud of her. And after what she did to that pillow -- oh, yeah, and Abigail, Chad, and so on, too -- it'll be an uphill battle. I applaud her determination! Still...

Someone set up a Gwen Pool, right? Like a "Ghoul Pool," but we all bet on the date she'll do something sneaky and stupid by. My guess is around Thanksgiving. That way, if she's still living at the Horton House during the holidays, she'll have a "I hope I don't get caught" look on her face during the tree-trimming.

Or Gwen will cover for something sneaky and stupid Xander does with Ava. That would get her back in his good graces. There's that option. Stay tuned!

HOT I loved seeing all the Johnsons together! It was a pretty big deal to have them all in the same room at the same time. Even if it was a brief scene, touches like that make fans happy. Thanks, Team DAYS!

I also loved that Mr. Kate Roberts called Chad! That was heartwarming. I know they've had their problems, but Kate and Chad's relationship always makes me happy. I loved her "Love you!" as she kicked them out to get her wedding night started. Classic Kate.

NOT I'm already exhausted by Kristen living with Brady, and she literally just rolled in her bag of bad ideas. We need to take a strong shot of some sort of pumpkin spice spirits every time Special K states, "Rachel cannot stand Chloe." We'll consider it medicinal. A miracle cure, even! #PoorRachel

LINE(S) OF THE WEEK

Chad: "You're Kate 'Freakin' Roberts. You are a certified badass."

Jack (to Gwen): "If the pillow's consenting."

Chloe (to Nicole): "Wait. So, you fired him in an email? Were there no carrier pigeons available?"

Eric (to Jada): "Speak of the devil. I should probably do away with that saying here in Salem."

Kate might be in it for the win with this soapiest line ever, "So, Austin, your father-in-law is going to be your stepfather again." Ha! Loved it.

Jack and Xander's best mate hug was full of the warm and fuzzies.

The speed with which E.J. responded, "Your mother!" when questioned on where Johnny's temper came from was hysterical! And rather true. Sami's been known to explode a time or -- maybe -- two.

Seriously. Johnny needs to go visit his Granny Marlena. His out-of-touch-ness was terrible.

Tanner Stine is fitting in perfectly as Joey! When he rushed over to Kayla, he totally crushed that "baby of the family" vibe. Well played.

I loved the stubborn banter between Kayla and Stephanie over the Trinity Knot bracelet. Caroline would get a kick out of that, for sure. Though when they all turned toward Steve, that was hilarious, too.

Is it bad that I don't at all mind watching Stefan suffer? I feel for Gabi, but I feel like his frustrations are pure karma. Having people mess with you when you're not at your full faculties isn't fun, is it Steffie? #JusticeForAbigail/Gabigail/Etc.

I want to meet this Phyllis at the Salem Inn. I suspect she's friends with Fran from the FroYo stand. I bet they and the other managers of Horton Town Square businesses spill the best tea ever.

At least Li knows how fierce Gabi can be. Maybe he should heed his own warning. Dr. Rolf will be just an appetizer. Sorry, not sorry, Li. I'll start singing at the line, "He had it comin'" and Gabs can jump in anytime.

Though Li's "Ho, ho, ho," made me chuckle.

DAYS picks unusual moments to happen off-camera sometimes. Like, an entire plot revolves around the DiMera Enterprises CEO position, and we didn't see the vote that placed E.J. in and kicked Gabi out. The fallout was amazingly acted, but still. Weird.

Kayla and Tripp's partings of, "Doctor." "Doctor." were so darn cute! I loved this, and think my heart grew a few sizes.

I thought it was sweet of John when he told Chloe, "Good to see you." I appreciate how DAYS takes those moments to showcase smaller relationships. His scene with Stephanie was also nice a few weeks back. John really does know everyone. Though I guess when you've had as many identities as he's had and thought you were related to nearly everyone at one point, that'll happen.

I wonder what's wrong with Sydney!? Sami couldn't return to Salem because there's something amiss. Maybe she got stuck in the SORAS machine, and she's half tween and early-twentysomething. Like a Centaur, but with more Sami and E.J.-ness mixed in.

Oof. Jack walking in on Gwen and the pillow was so super awkward. There is a Saturday Night Live sketch of a music video parody performed by a faux-girl group called "Infinity + 5" that hilariously sums up the vibe. Just YouTube search "SNL Infinity + 5" if you're not easily offended by hilarity and enjoy the SNL-style humor. Bonus! There's a Charles Shaughnessy (Shane Donovan!) shout-out in it.

PARTING THOUGHTS

So, friends and fellow fans, that's it for October 24. Are you ready for Salem to get all spooky this Halloween!? Team DAYS typically tries to terrify us a time or two, and I'm totally ready! I have my safety blanket, a bottle of wine, and a bag of assorted mini candies, and I do plan to eat each and every one of them, thankyouverymuch, because, you know, that's what Abigail would have wanted. Should an ice cream social be added to the agenda? Maybe. Just maybe.

Okay. I may divvy out some of the deliciousness, but while I contemplate sharing my sugary stash, Laurisa will be back next week to share her thoughts on everything creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky, and all together ooky in the next startling Tales from the Twooooo Scoops! As always, thank you for reading, and "That's a fact." Tony

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