Is the real Rafe finally free? Days of our Lives Two Scoops for the week of February 17, 2025

The week picked up where last week ended: New Doug walked into the Horton cabin and saw Holly standing there in a négligée, and she didn’t even bother to cover herself up. It is kind of getting creepy how she’s still in high school, and he’s like 27. And Tate is 26. Ashley Puzemis (Holly) is 24, so it’s no big deal for the actors in real life. But because we’re supposed to pretend she’s in high school, the New Doug attraction seems weird.

Johnny and Chanel are serious about wanting to adopt Tate and Sophia’s baby. Tate’s very happy about it, but they’re going to have to pass the Mrs. Choi test first and that might not be the easiest thing to do.

Alex opened up to Stephanie about how his mother would take him all over Europe while he was growing up, and he’d have the finest meals everywhere, and they’d visit wineries. It was an interesting little background tidbit for Alex, showing why he started off as an entitled brat. Of course, she had called him a snob which prompted the conversation, but this ‘getting to know you’ phase of their relationship keeps them interesting.

EJ went to Abe and Paulina’s to convince the mayor to reinstate him as district attorney. His obsession with the job makes me think that it’s a power trip for him, and while the mayor is the highest office in Salem, the DA has more power over criminal activities, and EJ can continue to cover up his shady business if he’s in charge. However, Paulina had the good sense to shoot him down and not make the mistake of rehiring him.

Tate and Holly finally danced between the sheets while New Doug was boo-hooing to JJ that he had revealed his feelings to her. JJ didn’t like New Doug at first, suspecting that he stole Julie’s diamond necklace. He even told New Doug that he’d been keeping his eye on him. They’re starting to bond as friends, and it’s going to be sad when the truth comes out about Doug’s misdeed, and that friendship will end up like yesterday’s trash.

Arnold, who continued to impersonate Rafe, had a particularly creepy scene. He sat next to Belle at a bar and started to come on to her. Even right from the beginning, his mannerisms were disturbing. Many people, including Gabi, are starting to realize he’s not really Rafe. He gave Belle a cock and bull story about how Paulina wanted Jada in the police commissioner position because she would do whatever the mayor said. Soon after, Belle was horrified when he tried to kiss her, which was simultaneously hilarious and creepy.

So, Philip’s moving into the Kiriakis mansion. This will start to make things more interesting. Sarah told Xander about the dire straights the hospital is in, and he suggested that Titan step in and save it. Good for Xander for being a nice dude and showing that he doesn’t solve every problem with brute force. I’m expecting some good hijinks now that both brothers are under the same roof.

Finally! JJ is going to help Jada prove her innocence! But uh-oh, Belle asked EJ to tell her if he’s up to anything that could ruin their relationship. He dodged the question, but she’s not stupid. In the middle of trying to get EJ to confess about his misdeeds, she got a call from Paulina who told her EJ was trying to get the DA job back. Belle then threw a drink in his face, which he deserved. But EJ admitted he fancied her, and after realizing they were going to fight for the DA position, they ran to the bedroom.

Meanwhile, at the Blake House, Ava - through her gag - screamed as loud as she could. Rafe heard it, but since he was also tied up, he couldn’t do anything about it. The Woman in White told him he wasn’t the only captive in the house, and he had a disturbed look on his face. Gering is really pulling off this double duty!

Brady told Kristen that child services had asked him a ton of questions. He warned her that if she was caught doing anything illegal, young Rachel would be taken away from her home. Kristen was worried but later received a vial in the mail. Thankfully, it wasn’t Digitalis, but it was a memory-erasing formula that she and EJ planned to use on Real Rafe and Ava.

Elsewhere, Javi revealed to Jada that Fake Rafe, or who they believe really is Rafe, slept with the stripper on the night of the bachelor party. That was a devastating blow, and poor Jada doesn’t need more grief to add to her list of woes.

Thankfully, Steve’s contacts managed to clean up the audio from Ava’s fateful call to Brady. They learned she was headed to the Blake house, and the two heroes arrived in time to free Ava. They didn’t believe her that the Woman in White was Rachel Blake at first, but eventually came around to it.

Rafe tried to convince Rachel Blake to free him, but that didn’t work. She left the room and encountered Steve, who captured her. He brought her to the police station while Brady took Ava to the hospital. I think little Rachel’s going to be in big trouble for assisting in Ava’s kidnapping, but you know Rachel Blake will just take the blame herself and say the young girl had nothing to do with it. Although…as I think about it, having little Rachel shaking in her boots because she might end up taken from her parents or, worse, end up in juvie would be a ‘scared straight’ moment for her. She would have to assess her misbehavior and start acting like a good person, not a vindictive little so-and-so.

In an exciting turn of events, EJ went to inject Real Rafe with the miracle serum, but Rafe got free and grabbed EJ’s arm. The two struggled, locked in combat, and Kristen entered, screaming, “No!” And that’s how the week ended. I’m mentally biting my nails, waiting to find out what happens next!

LOOSE ENDS:

This whole ‘Philip getting half control of the Kiriakis fortune because of his forged letter’ story needs to be made a little more interesting. While Philip was wrong for going with the forgery, he’s not wrong in realizing that Victor would have wanted him to run Titan. I’d like to see him and Xander become solid allies and true brothers before the secret gets out. Then they wouldn’t have that far to go toward reconciliation and Xander forgiving Philip rather than wanting to kill him.

Shawn and Jada ended up kissing. What is up with this dude? He’s been going around kissing every girl in Salem! He’s a character without a purpose who seems to kiss whoever crosses his path, like Chanel. Thankfully, those two didn’t sleep together, but it’s only a matter of time before he and Jada dance between the sheets. You know what’s going to happen before Real Rafe returns and tries to fix things. But unlike the Johnny/Chanel debacle, Jada won’t have been mistaken. She would really believe Arnold was Rafe, who was acting badly and treating her like crap. If she does sleep with Shawn, her dalliance would be forgivable.

Johnny and Chanel seem to be going way too fast. They went from learning that Chanel has to wait several months before attempting to conceive, to immediately wanting to adopt Tate and Sophia’s baby. They didn’t even have a moment to converse about what their possible options could be, and considering she’ll probably be good to go in a few months, what’s the rush?

In one particularly funny scene, EJ rushed up to the room in the Blake House where Rafe was being kept. He was glad Rafe was still there but was out of breath because of the flights of stairs he had to ascend to get there. But he carried Rafe there all on his own. Wouldn’t he have been even more exhausted when he did that? There was no mention of it when he brought the former commissioner there, so his line of dialogue here was just comedy for comedy’s sake with no thought to nitpicky details like what we fans think about

EXTRA SCOOPS

HOT

We’ve got a tie this week for the Hot List. Belle and EJ are pretty hot because even though she knows he’s up to no good, they can’t keep their hands off each other.

JJ and Gabi are equally hot as they try to navigate their relationship and are having so much fun doing so.

NOT

Tate and Sophia continue to be on the Not List, especially after they had sex. Now she’s thinking about New Doug. I’m glad she didn’t say his name in the middle of things because that would have been a senseless retread of what happened with Tate and Sophia.

LINE(S) OF THE WEEK

When Belle refuted Fake Rafe’s advances, he said, “You don’t have to be such a bitch about it.” Belle retorted, “No, you’re a bigger ass than I realized!” I guess they can get away with far more swear words on a paid streaming service than when the show was on the NBC network.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Watching Belle throw her drink in EJ’s face was truly satisfying.

Javi gave Leo a pillow for Valentine’s Day with the hilarious inscription: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me.”

New Doug read poetry out of Original Doug’s book of poems and gazed longingly at Holly. Still creepy. He stupidly admitted to her that he had feelings for her, and it seemed like she was about to reciprocate when Tate walked in. I think it’s the beginning of the end for Holly and Tate.

When EJ showed up at Abe and Paulina’s on Valentine’s Day, she looked like she had a smell up her nose, making me laugh out loud as she showed her loathing for the DiMera without uttering a word.

It was fun watching Abe take great pleasure in kicking EJ out of his and Paulina’s house.

EJ and Belle are getting closer, which makes me wonder if he actually has genuine feelings for her or if he’s just working an angle on some scheme. If EJ is faking it, then he should have been on Body & Soul because he’s a good actor.

It’s interesting to watch Sarah worry about Xander and Kate worry about Philip. The nature of their secret is different than most soap secrets because it wasn’t made out of malice, per se. What it’s doing is forcing the brothers to work together, and I think while Sarah wants to see them working in harmony and Kate wants the money, ultimately it’s high time that Xander and Philip evolved as characters and became real brothers.

It was truly hysterical when, after realizing they were going to fight it out for the DA job, Belle and EJ ran straight for the bed.

I’m excited to see if EJ and Kristen get to use their memory-erasing serum. I love it when the show dabbles in science fiction.

Oh, joy! We got to watch Belle and Shawn bicker with each other again. How fun.

But here’s my prediction: In the fight with EJ, Rafe will get injected with the serum and lose his memories of being kidnapped. Arnold will leave town, and Rafe will be found. But without his memory, he won’t be able to explain what happened to him, thereby making it harder for Jada and everyone else to forgive Fake Rafe’s actions. It’s going to be an uphill battle for Rafe to prove his innocence. But the one loose thread is Ava, who hasn’t had her memory tampered with…yet.

PARTING THOUGHTS

Things got super exciting by Friday, and I hope the trend keeps up. I was glad Ava got freed. Seeing people tied up for weeks on end without a bathroom break bothers me.

Steve always seems to miss out on the fistfights, and it would be nice to see him throw a punch or two every once in a while.

Until next time, DOOL-ers!