Runaway Rachel encounters…a Lady in White: Days of our Lives Two Scoops for the week of January 20, 2025

This week’s Days of Our Lives was full of fun and mystery! Leo finally put the pieces together that the mendacious Kerry was Lady Whistleblower and went to confront Kerry while he was in bed with Javi. It took a little bit to convince Javi because crafty Kerry was refuting all of his claims easily. However, clever Leo got Kerry to trip up and accidentally admit that he had not only broken into Leo’s hotel room but put spyware on his laptop to keep up with the latest Body & Soul gossip. Thankfully, Javi kicked Kerry to the curb but it doesn’t look like it’s the last we’ll see of him. But good for Leo for solving the case and putting an end to Kerry's maliciousness.

Later, there was a moment where I shouted out, “Oh s**t!!” That was when Bonnie accidentally took a header down the hospital elevator shaft, which had been set up for a B&S scene. I’ll admit to thinking there was a tiny bit of hilarity when I thought back and recalled the awful sound of her crashing at the bottom, but that quickly faded when the gravity of the situation came to light.

Sarah, meanwhile, keeps saying that Philip forged the letter claiming he’s the Kiriakis heir apparent out loud, and once again, Xander walked into the room at the tail end! What is up with her? I suppose a way soaps could get around that would be to have us hear the characters’ thoughts instead of them saying it out loud. But then, several stories wouldn’t be able to advance if the secret hadn’t been revealed. But come on, there are other ways to have a secret come out.

I was happy when Stephanie finally put Philip in his place and told him to get lost. He’s a whiny punk, and I hope when the truth comes out, Xander gives him the beating he deserves (without going to jail). Philip got all high and mighty last week when Xander wanted to bribe DiMera Enterprises away from its owners, but he had no trouble using a forged letter to stake a claim on half the Kiriakis fortune. However, he and Xander are making an honest attempt to work together, so hopefully, that takes.

The fun continues as Arnold, who looks like Rafe, makes EJ’s life a living hell. He and EJ concocted a convoluted story about why he had been MIA and why she finally found him coming out of the secret-not-so-secret room, so he slept at their apartment. Don’t worry (as a newly (somewhat) moral EJ did), he didn’t touch Jada because she was working all night. She gets home to find him in a “Kiss the Chef” apron and shorts, which was hilarious. She got called away, and just as she was about to kiss him, EJ came to the door. What timing that guy has! He’s been able to thwart Arnold’s every attempt to get physical with Jada, even almost supernaturally.

Getting back to Bonnie, major props should be given to Judi Evans. Poor Bonnie’s laid up in traction, and her face is all bruised and purple, with her jaw having been also damaged in the fall. Upon first seeing her laid up was not funny, by the way. She looked terrible! But despite her jaw issue, she continued to talk without moving her lips! Some of it was a tad unintelligible, but for the most part, she did a great job and could be hilariously understood! It reminded me of an iCarly episode where they gave an award to someone who could sing without moving their mouth. In fact, I had coincidentally just seen it the night before I watched this DAYS episode!

Later, while Stephanie struggled with not telling Jada the truth about Philip, Jada asked her to be her maid of honor. I cringe just thinking about the fact that Rafe is actually Arnold and this wedding seems to be moving forward. This is especially worrisome because instead of paying off the guy and sending him back to Argentina, EJ realized he could use his Rafe impersonator to his advantage. He’s going to dig up dirt on Jada and have “Rafe” expose the information, thereby getting her fired. What a scoundrel!

Elsewhere, we saw hands with black gloves, a black ski cap, and a trenchcoat put a big red X on a pic of Bonnie! This does not bode well for the citizens of Salem. It’s an homage to Italian giallo films, which I will explain later in the Random Thoughts.

Leo and Javi made up and danced between the sheets. At one point, Kerry walked into the room, pulled out a gun, and shot Javi! Of course, the Kerry part was just a dream, but it illustrates how Leo’s subconscious races with thoughts of worry. And with a mysterious person out there offing people, he should be worried.

Finally! Steph and Alex admitted that they didn’t want to break things off. I like these two together, and even though he once shut her phone off when Kayla died, Steph’s gotten past that, especially since her mom is still alive. These two have a long road ahead of them, but he’s got to break things off with Joy first. It shouldn’t be too much of an issue because they’d agreed things were just casual between them anyway.

Jada arrested Kerry for breaking and entering and the spyware shenanigans, but he basically talked his way out of it. I can’t stand the guy, but I give him points for his clever use of admissible and non-admissible blah blah blah that he threw out there and Jada couldn’t refute. She’s basically got no proof of any wrongdoing. However, the dude wears a grey trench coat and ski cap, just like the mysterious person putting X’s on photos. I’m gonna call him Mr. X for now because I can’t refer to him as “the killer” since he hasn’t actually killed anyone yet. And “the almost-killer” is just too clunky.

At one point, Leo is hanging out with Javi in Gabi’s kitchen, and Kerry walks in, causing Leo to nearly jump out of his skin. I’m glad they didn’t do a flashback to the dream because the parallel was evident, making it hilarious. Kerry demanded his sweatshirt back from Javi and gave Javi his key back. At first, I was upset that he just barged in, but if he had a key, then, oh well.

Some time later, we saw Mr. X pulling out a photo of Alex. I must admit that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. The scene was very effective with creepy music playing, and I became genuinely concerned for Alex’s safety. I don’t know what X has planned for Alex, but it’s probably not going to be pretty.

One thing I had forgotten was that Rachel and Tate are siblings. It wasn’t until Tate started pouring his heart out to Marlena about how he’s at his wits end trying to follow every lead he can think of to find Rachel. It was a touching moment between grandmother and grandson, and Leo Howard did a great job. He’s got a lot on his plate lately with Rachel and impending fatherhood. He was totally believable as being worried sick over his sister, and the actor should be commended.

Of course, circumstances have forced Shawn and Belle to work together. Snore. The whole Rachel running away thing has them in a tizzy, and the two compared notes and decided to follow up a lead together. Can’t they have these two form other romantic relationships first, let that go on for a year or so, and then have forces bring them back together? I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but they have almost no chemistry and need to go on and evolve a little further as characters before getting back together.

It was interesting to see Ava try to talk some sense into Mrs. Choi, even suggesting that Tate and Sophia give up the baby for adoption. But her words fell on deaf ears. It seems that Mrs. Choi is going to force Sophia to take care of the baby. A better solution would be for Mr. and Mrs. Choi to step in and be the main caregivers, with Sophia also participating. The three (and with some assistance from Tate) could raise the child, but Sophia would also be able to go to college. It seems that Mrs. Choi is purposely setting her daughter up to fail as some kind of “lesson”. She needs to find a ladder tall enough so that she can climb down from her high horse and actually be a reasonable parent/grandparent. Common sense is what’s needed here.

Runaway Rachel entered an old house in a town called Aremid with sheets all over the furniture. It seemed like the perfect setting for a classic old dark house scenario. There, she meets a Woman in White, played by newcomer Roslyn Gentle. The Woman asked Rachel why she was trespassing in her house. Rachel explained she read about it in a book and produced Kristen’s old scrapbook from when she and her brother Peter were kids. Rachel explained that she was named after her grandmother, Rachel Blake. Perhaps this Woman is Blake? It’s unknown at this moment, and it seems like it would be too obvious a choice.

The Woman is a wonderful teacher/mentor because she advised Rachel to get Ava out of the way! She has Rachel call Ava to lure her to the house. Rachel calls and begs for help, so Ava, of course, goes to the house. There, the Woman and Rachel each have a hand on a candlestick and conk Ava over the head, knocking her out! The Woman is apparently a very hands-on teacher.

Cat had a nice conversation with Marlena who’s been too wrapped up in the runaway Rachel story to give any thought to letting Cat be her new assistant. Meanwhile, Chad convinced Julie — who still can’t sleep well — to go see Marlena. He brings her there, and it’s an uncomfortable moment when they walk into the office and see Cat. But Chad and Cat have a nice talk. Chad had just come off a conversation with JJ who had been giving Chad the business for associating with Cat. Chad told him to go chase himself because he could hang out with whoever he wanted. Good for you, Chad! You know they’re pushing Chad and Cat closer together so that down the line, when they’re a couple, Abigail will truly return.

EJ tried to console Kristen about Rachel. Kristen realized her scrapbook was gone and said it was all she had left of her mother. This kind of points to the fact that the Woman in White might very well be the original Rachel Blake, sans scars. Kristen even admitted that she was faking it when she told Brady that she believed Ava wasn’t the reason Rachel ran away. In fact, she blames Ava for it. She’d already started cooking up a scheme to get rid of Ava, and I’m sure that once Rachel is returned home, Kristen’s going to kick her scheme into high gear. Watch out, Ava!

It was a touching scene later when Julie opened up to Marlena. Everyone’s been telling Julie she’ll get past Doug’s death, but Julie doesn’t want to stop thinking about her erstwhile husband. Every moment of every day is heartbreaking for her, but she felt she should be allowed to be sad and going to a psychiatrist was a waste of time. However, Marlena talked her into at least trying one session to see if it works or not.

EXTRA SCOOPS

HOT

Alexander and Stephanie are starting to steam up. He admitted he slept with Joy because he thought she’d moved on with Philip, and she admitted she was with Philip because she thought Alex had moved on with Joy. Steph offered to quit her job with Body and Soul because she’d rather be with him than work on the show. It was a very cute moment, but then Joy interrupted them. Alex told Steph they would continue their conversation, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing what happens next.

NOT

Cat and Chad have lost their momentum and although she admitted to Marlena she has feelings for him, she’s suppressing them because she knows they’re inappropriate. It would be nice if these two could get on track, but they’ve got a rough road ahead because everyone else in town hates Cat, and she knows it.

LINE(S) OF THE WEEK

Bonnie and Hattie said they were like Oprah and Gail, or Thelma & Louise. But Hattie said, “Didn’t they go off a cliff?” and Bonnie said, “Did they?” The reference, of course, is to the 1991 film Thelma & Louise starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. SPOILER ALERT: the film is over 30 years old, and you should really watch it before reading further…but yes, the two drive off a cliff at the end of the movie.

Justin’s so angry about Bonnie’s situation that he said when he was done suing B&S, it would stand for Bonnie and the Beautiful, an obvious not to fellow surviving soap, The Bold and the Beautiful.

After the Woman in White and Rachel conked Ava on the head with a candlestick, the woman said, “That was even easier than I thought!”

RANDOM THOUGHTS

It’s hilarious every time Xander walks into the Titan office. Phillip looks terrified and is expecting Xander to kill him.

Bonnie read the word mendacious in a B&S script and didn’t know what it meant. As used earlier in this article, it means “liar”.

Jada said Talia was on assignment with Doctors without Borders. That seems to be the go-to excuse for soap opera doctors who need to be off the show for a while, or need some backstory to explain where they were. DWB is a group of doctors who provide emergency medical care to those in need all over the world, usually in countries that have little to no infrastructure.

Mr. X’s appearance is an homage to Italian giallo films. Giallo means “yellow” in Italian, with gialli being the plural form. Giallo films made in Italy in the late 1960’s and 1970’s were based on or inspired by cheap crime-thrillers and mystery novels in paperback form that had yellow covers. Many elements include the killer wearing black gloves and a trench coat. Directors that have become synonymous with gialli include Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, and Dario Argento.

Abe trying to talk Kayla into joining the show to replace Bonnie was absolutely hilarious. You could see on her face that she was horrified at the mere thought of it, and dreaded it. Thankfully, Kayla’s going to pinch hit for Bonnie.

The original Woman in White was played by Pat Delany. She had been disfigured because of an explosion and was held captive by Stefano, which drove her insane. She tortured Jennifer but later helped her out. Ultimately, this Woman died in an explosion with Stefano. But he survived, so the chances of her also having gotten away unscathed are good. However, the current Woman in White doesn’t have any scars, so she may be someone else entirely.

There was a fun scene where the Woman in White showed Rachel a really old phone and let her use it to call Ava. I remember those kinds of phones and still have many old-fashioned telephones in my collection.

The Blake house is located in the town of Aremid (Read that name backwards for a fun surprise!).

PARTING THOUGHTS

This was a fun week in Salem despite poor Bonnie’s plight. I’m glad that that show has been able to get away from plodding, draggy stories and seems to have picked up the pace. I’m definitely looking forward to what happens next!

Until next week DOOL-ers!