The week began with a belly laugh. When Leo interrupted Fake Rafe and Jada’s wedding at the “speak now or forever hold your peace” part, Paulina yelled at him because he keeps interrupting ceremonies like Jude’s christening. For a brief second, Leo had a smile on his face as he contemplated her words, as if it just occurred to him, and then said, “I know.” He then continued until Javi stopped him from revealing the secret that “Rafe” slept with the stripper, but I gritted my teeth as I knew things were gonna get worse.
At the altar, Fake Rafe got a text from EJ and told Jada that he couldn’t marry her. She took him aside and in true soap fashion they were literally a few feet from everybody attending. They talked in lower voices as he told her she was not the woman he thought she was. Yet, many guests gasped at this. I hate when soaps do this. “Hey, I need to speak to you in private. Let’s go three feet away from these people so they don’t hear our private conversation.” Happens all the time. The horrified looks on the guests’ faces were priceless.
Belle mentioned to EJ that it’s just a matter of time before Hurricane Sami blew through town. Sami’s name was mentioned a couple of times this week. Could it indicate her possible return? Belle found herself at EJ’s on a pretense, and she finally gave in and the two kissed and danced between the sheets. She must be a glutton for punishment.
Shawn showed up at the wedding and said he had the info accusing Jada of being corrupt with him. Poor Jada got dragged away for questioning in her wedding gown. Another fun day in Salem! Jada's pretty much above reproach, so making these charges stick is going to take some doing.
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Arnold did a great job of pretending to be an upset Rafe in front of Leo and Javi. He said he was going to go figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Then he walked away with a grin on his face, and while I wouldn’t consider him evil or sinister like EJ, he's certainly amused by his own deplorable actions.
Abe figured out that former nurse Whitley was behind the poisonings and was really Mr. X! He went to Bayview to confront her. She not only referred to another soap site but also mentioned superfan Jason32, which was a spoof of a real-life Days of Our Lives superfan Jason 47 who has a website dedicated to the show.
Hattie visited Bonnie in the hospital and hilariously asked her to run lines. Bonnie could barely talk, and she just gave her a wide-eyed look. Judi Evans should get an award for her hysterical portrayal.
The entire cast of Body & Soul received a new script that killed many of them off. They were all mad at Leo because they thought he was behind it. What they didn’t know was that Mr. X had tainted the scripts with poison, and as characters were passing out one by one, the villain was putting a large X on their headshots. I thought this was going to lead to another Melaswen-style storyline, especially since Leo pitched it as a possible B&S story.
Abe finally figured out that ex-nurse Whitley was the perpetrator! He realized in the tainted scripts that Seth’s character was killed off by carbon monoxide emissions from a faulty space heater. That’s how Whitley’s husband died. Plus, Charlemagne’s cat Sasquatch stepped on a gun and shot her through the heart. Whitley was obsessed with cats. So Abe put two and two together, which was a nice touch, although the reveal and the capture of Whitley should have happened across several episodes, not one (See my thoughts about that in Loose Ends).
As characters were passing out all over Salem, it created pandemonium as there weren’t enough ambulances and EMT workers to take care of all the calls coming in. In one scene, Hattie passed out at Leo’s, and he just stood there looking at her, not knowing what to do. He then freaked out when he realized she wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse, but that could have been due to him wearing gloves indoors. It turned out she wasn’t dead.
Abe confronted Whitley, who explained that she poisoned the cupcakes and the scripts and caused Bonnie to fall down the elevator shaft because she didn’t like his reboot of Body & Soul. She argued that she had to clean house permanently starting with Bonnie. Somehow, she committed her crimes from Bayview and her excuse was that she was behaving so well that the staff stopped scrutinizing her every move.
Whitley further explained that she sprayed all the scripts with an experimental drug that had a toxic side effect. The drug is so lethal that if the liquid came in contact with human skin, it would cause immediate death. Whitley was going to throw the liquid poison at Abe, but thankfully, Paulina came in and stopped her, and I cheered.
After he was saved, Alex kissed Stephanie and then realized he had to break the news to Joy that he was dumping her for Steph. At that point, we see an unconscious Joy lying by herself in her room. It looked as if she died because no one was with her when she passed out from touching the script, and I felt her passing would have been a nice touch to the story that seemed to have gotten rushed at the end.
Meanwhile, Julie told Chad that therapy with Marlena won’t work because it’s not going to solve her problem: Doug is gone. But Julie promised to be kinder to Cat because she understood the predicament Cat was in when she was under Clyde’s thumb. Juie promised to not be so critical, and while I understand her anger, it’s nice that she could grow as a person and realize Cat was doing what she had to do.
Elsewhere, Cat was gushing to Felicity about Chad. The young girl easily figured out that Cat “likes him” likes him. I’m sure I said it before here, but you know Cat and Chad will eventually have a thing, and romance will blossom, and then Abigail will truly return from the dead, causing a major triangle issue.
Kristen tracked down Ava to the Blake house in Aremid. The Woman in White came in and revealed that she was Kristen’s mother, Rachel Blake. I have to admit that I thought it was too obvious for it to be her and it should have been someone else. Nonetheless, it’s going to make for some interesting stories moving forward.
LOOSE ENDS:
![Days of Our Lives' Joy unconscious. | Image Source: Peacock](https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg?w=190 190w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg?w=720 720w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg?w=640 640w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/3d84b-17390332592164.jpg 1920w)
I thought Joy was going to end up being a loose end, and they wouldn’t find her until next week, when she’d certainly be dead.
Just as Abe started to realize he knew who the villain was, Mr. X put an X on his picture. Why does he have a headshot?
This leads me to my frustration with the Mr. X story. They wrapped it up in one day! There was no game of cat-and-mouse between the police and Whitley, no hunt to scour all of Salem and look under every rock for a clue as to who the perpetrator was. Most importantly, like with the cupcakes, no one died. Joy’s the most expendable character (next to New Doug) and could easily have been a victim of Whitley. With Leo wearing black gloves for seemingly no reason, it looked like the show was going to be setting up a fun murder mystery, but alas, that never happened.
With no one dying, the story's conclusion was anti-climactic.
I’m sorry, but even though Arnold impersonating Rafe is fun, especially as you can see the glee in Galen Gering’s eyes, it would be hard to pretend to be someone else with their loved ones. Even in the brief times they kissed, Jada would have known right away that he wasn’t the real Rafe. Yeah, yeah, 'willing suspension of disbelief' and all that, but without a plausible explanation, it sometimes takes me out of the story.
EXTRA SCOOPS
HOT
![Stephanie gazing at Alex. | Image Source: Peacock](https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg?w=190 190w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg?w=720 720w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg?w=640 640w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a34f7-17390333304025.jpg 1920w)
Now that Alex and Stephanie are back together, they’re climbing the Hot Spot charts this week as well.
Johnny and Chanel are back together, making the list, and while they’re heating up, we only got a little bit of their reunion. Let’s hope Johnny doesn’t screw things up again.
And EJ and Belle are steaming things up once more. He’s using her, and she doesn’t care. The way they look at each other has sparks flying everywhere. They won’t last, but they seem to work as an unlikely pairing.
NOT
![Jada and Fake Rafe's non-wedding. | Image Source: Peacock](https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg?w=190 190w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg?w=720 720w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg?w=640 640w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/0ffde-17390334415032.jpg 1920w)
There weren’t many contenders for the Not Spot this week. Okay, ALL the couples were catching fire…except Fake Rafe and Jada. His deception of her makes me really uncomfortable and worried for Jada and the real Rafe’s future. I’d hate to see Rafe finally escape, but no one believes that he’s the real deal, prolonging his separation from Jada.
LINE(S) OF THE WEEK
![Days of Our Lives' Leo and an unconscious Hattie. | Image Source: Peacock Days of Our Lives' Hattie trying to run lines with a convalescing Bonnie. | Image Source: Peacock](https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg?w=190 190w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg?w=720 720w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg?w=640 640w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/d25fc-17390335132498.jpg 1920w)
Ex-Nurse Whitley tells Abe, “On SoapTwitter you can find anything you want.” He told her she tried to kill Bonnie, which Whitley said didn’t work, adding, “The next thing I know, Soap Hub is reporting that you brought on Kayla Johnson!” According to sources, the real-life outlet was on set that day.
Kate referred to Kayla as Dr. “‘Sweetness’ Johnson.”
Hattie went to visit Bonnie and brought, “Bonbons for my Bon-Bon.” When Hattie realized Bonnie couldn’t open her jaws to eat, she ate the chocolates herself, getting a smidge on her chin.
Leo was talking to Hattie, when he thought she was dead, and said, “Why did you have to come in here so angry like that? You probably stroked out from all that adrenaline! Well, either that or all that sodium and cholesterol caught up with you.” From all the pork rinds they’d been munching on.
Leo was talking with the emergency services on the phone and said, “Do you realize I’m with Charlemagne Delacroix?” He paused and then said, “No, that is not a Chicago Bulls draft pick!”
Another Leo one: He says to Hattie, “I don’t think I realized how much I adored you until I thought you were dead.”
At one point, Kate confronted Xander about his and Philip’s desire to take over DiMera Enterprises. Xander told her, “I should’ve known Phillip would go blabbing to his mommy.”
The Woman in White referred to Ava’s son as ‘Trapp,’ and Ava retorted, “Tripp, you old bat. It’s Tripp.”
RANDOM THOUGHTS
![Days of Our Lives' Hattie trying to run lines with a convalescing Bonnie. | Image Source: Peacock](https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg?w=190 190w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg?w=720 720w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg?w=640 640w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/a37c2-17390336496908.jpg 1920w)
Instead of talking with her lips closed, this week, poor Bonnie was able to speak through her teeth. It was hilarious yet sad at the same time. Perhaps she could get a job as a ventriloquist?
Remember how I explained in a recent 2 Scoops that the killers in Italian giallo films always wear black gloves and so did Mr. X? Well, Whitley had to put gloves on before applying the poison to the scripts because contact with human skin was instant death. I like how, while it was an homage to those great movies, there was also a rational explanation as to why she was wearing them. However, that doesn’t explain why Leo was wearing black gloves indoors for no reason later in the week.
I love how all the headshots that Mr. X was crossing out look like they were taken by the same photographer, including Abe! It’s possible that they were, but it’s more evident that the pics were made expressly for this storyline. They should have just had the actors use their own real headshots, which would have seemed more authentic.
When Abe confronted Whitley, he said, “It had to be you.” Of course, the song with that phrase as its title came immediately to my mind, and to Whitley as well who said it was one of her favorites. The song was composed in 1924 by Isham Jones, with Gus Kahn writing the lyrics. It Had to Be You was later made popular by Frank Sinatra and sung by many crooners over the years. The song has appeared in several films and TV shows, including a Looney Tunes parody of Sinatra singing it in 1946’s short, Book Revue.
Leo said what many Days of Our Lives/Comic Book fans think when they see Hattie: that she’s a “Bizarro version of Marlena.” Bizarro is a Superman villain who looks like a distorted, mirror image of the Man of Steel.
I love that Hattie keeps calling Leo ‘Lenny.’ I maintain it’s funny every time.
The show did a great job of condensing things by having the EMT’s deliver the antidote to some of the victims, rather than having everyone crowd into the hospital. That kind of thing is reserved more for primetime medical dramas. But it was funny that it happened to be the same EMT guy for every visit. I guess that’s why the hospital was so bogged down, because they’ve only got one EMT guy!
One thing I really love about Days of Our Lives is the fact that often times characters will have something to do that’s not relevant to the stories at hand, and it gets done off-screen. For example, JJ and Shawn had to appear in court for a criminal case. It had nothing to do with any storyline but just makes them feel like real people who have lives. It reminded me of why Quentin Tarantino’s dialogue in his movies work so well. In Pulp Fiction, hitmen Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) are getting ready to kill someone and are just talking about their lives and what’s going on, not advancing the plot with their dialogue. Spectator newspaper articles are the same way that exist in the world of DAYS without being major plot points.
It looked like the show was setting up another secret because Alex and Steph realized no one had talked to Joy. They ran to her and got her to the hospital, where she was given the antidote to the poison just in time. But to spare her feelings, they didn’t reveal they were back together. I thought it was going to be something weighing on Alex’s mind as he turned into Peter Brady and tried to date both women at the same time. But, Joy saw them kissing at the end of the week, and so she could either accept it and move on, or plot her revenge.
PARTING THOUGHTS
![Days of Our Lives' Kristen looking at the Woman in White. | Image Source: Peacock](https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg?w=190 190w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg?w=720 720w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg?w=640 640w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://statico.soapcentral.com/editor/2025/02/6d4cd-17390337346552.jpg 1920w)
As I mentioned, although I thought having the Woman in White turn out to actually be Kristen’s mother was too obvious and should have been someone else, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens next. Especially since she’s such a bad influence on Rachel. Who knows, she could still be the ghost of Rachel Blake.
Thanks again for joining me this week, DOOL-ers! Until next time!
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