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| Sami& Gabi at Ari's Christening (Photo: nbc.com) |
a near-death experience,
a beatdown, or
a dead man coming back to life.
Days of our Lives really likes to play with time and setting in huge storyline events. If you ask yourself, "What is the worst possible time and place for this to happen?" then DAYS responds with..."St. Luke's Church."
Over the years, it has been a tradition that a big reveal or any key event in a storyline happens when the audience least expects it. Therefore, a lot of things that could go wrong do go wrong in a church. However, it has been so common for the irony of having bad things happen in a sacred place, that now the audience does expect it.
There is no such thing as a wedding uninterrupted or a christening that ends happily. You see the irony: this is supposed to be a merry and holy event, but something sinful and tragic always happens. In Salem, the main church is St. Luke's; This is where all the drama takes place. (Most recently, Arianna Grace's Christening)
Many of the events and secrets involve sins and violations of the Ten Commandments. At Arianna's Christening, we saw Abigail stare at the one about "Adultery." Gabi's conscience was plagued by the one stating, "thou shalt not kill," before her victim walked through the door. Others include "bearing false witness," "stealing," "taking the Lord's name in vain," and "honoring thy father and mother"(paternity reveals- who is thy father?).
So, we know that Ari's baptism involved murder, adultery, and deception (bearing false witness). On the same day(supposedly), a year ago, Nick and Gabi's wedding fell apart when Chad objected and prompted Will to reveal that he was the father of Gabi's baby. Nick was trying to steal Will's baby: that's a sin too.
Read a detailed account in A"Big Reveal" is a Big Deal.
So, there we've got lying, stealing, the honoring-father question, and a disregard for the sanctity of marriage. (that last one's a little weak: this is Salem, and Will for obvious reasons.)
Another Christening that went horribly wrong is the famous Phloe one-night-stand reveal in 2010 that led to one of the many twists for little Parker. Right at the end of his baptism, Caroline and Kayla burst in exclaiming that Daniel was not Parker's father because of Philip and Chloe's indiscretion. This led to two divorces, a paternity swap, and a old lady's stroke. Now, that's a Baptism! Complete with adultery, lying, the honoring-father question, disregard for marriage vows, a medical emergency, and to top it all off, Dan tried to beat Phil with a crucifix. If that's not taking the Lord in vain I don't know what is!
The other church event that seems to warrant drama and upset is a wedding. Almost every church wedding is met with unholy irony. Let's go in chronological order to name a few big ones:
In 1992, Isabella gave birth to Brady Black in the middle of her wedding to John. A happy occasion, but not really a proud moment for the parish.
Before Sami had a wedding of her own, she ruined her sister Carrie's in 1995 when she fainted and announced she was pregnant with the groom, Austin's, child. The sanctity of marriage is clearly present at the time, but this wedding's real sins are revealed at Sami and Austin's wedding two years later. Will's true paternity is revealed as are Sami's lying, stealing, and father switching schemes. Once Lucas holds his son, Carrie and Austin get married, so there was some happiness there.
In 2005, Philip Kiriakis and Belle Black have their wedding at St. Luke's. However, Shawn D, who had been kept away from Salam and still loved Belle, decides to crash the wedding. Literally. He drives his motorcycle through the stain glass windows in the middle of the ceremony, showering the guests in shattered glass. With a white dress stained in blood, sins committed at this tragic union include bride stealing and potential murders.
In keeping with Sami's terrific history with weddings, her wedding to Lucas in 2005 ends in Kate revealing that Sami had been masquerading as "Stan." An interrupted ceremony with a man peeling his face off to demonstrate Sami's lies causes yet another failed wedding for Miss Brady. But that's not the only exciting thing that happens: after Lucas calls off the wedding, Sami's sis and maid of honor, Belle goes into labor and gives birth to Claire right there in St. Luke's.
If that wasn't enough, when Sami reluctantly marries EJ in 2007 the groom gets shot in the back with a bullet from Sami's son, Will. The marriage was brought on by blackmail, so there's lying in addition to the attempted murder. Will definitely wasn't honoring his step-father that day...
Finally, the most recent wedding was probably as sacrilegious as you can get. In November 2013, Brady and Kristen were to be married by Father Eric when mommy Marlena played a scandalous sex tape before the ceremony. The entire congregation watched a steamy visual of Eric, the priest, and Kristen, the bride, going at it.
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| Eric, Kristen, & Sami watching the sex tape (Photo:tvsourcemagazine.com) |
And then Victor said, "Let's watch it again!" Only Mr. Kiriakis can inject humor into a situation as tense and serious as this!
Brady started beating up his brother in his ceremonial robes. Eric realized that Kristen had drugged and raped him. It was hard to watch as Eric thew those vestments on the ground, shuddered as he knelt against the altar, and yelled at his mother. Because it looks like he broke his vows, Eric has been suspended from the priesthood and his future is still unclear now in February. A public sex tape in a church at a wedding involving the bride and the priest has got to be the most unholy event that has ever taken place inside St. Luke's.
In addition to all of the situational irony, there may also be some verbal irony in the name of the church. In the Bible, St. Luke went with Paul on many journeys and was loyal throughout Pau's imprisonment. DAYS's culminating storylines could reflect the journeys and a few of the incidents resulted in imprisonment (Shawn D, Lucas) or they should have.
Luke's Gospel is the only one that shares the stories of the Annunciation to Mother Mary and the Prodigal Son. This could reflect the many mothers who lied about their children's paternity. Also, the son who does wrong could be any of the sons who have sinned in this church, and then got off scott free as the prodigal son got rewarded. Also, Luke's preaches that we should be open to all hope in God's mercy. After all of these tragedies, there seems to be some level of forgiveness...unless it's evading retribution or revenge.
Luke is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons. Many of the characters that were involved were doctors. Dr. Tom Horton was the patriarch who started it all; Dr. Daniel's life changed at Parker's baptism; Dr. Marlena delivered Belle's baby and played the sex tape, Dr. Lexie was involved in many of the medical emergencies, and Dr. Cameron let Gabi's secret slip.
The writer's probably did not go that deep, but it's interesting!
One thing the writers did do was arrange for big drama to occur in a supposedly peaceful place. Next time the St. Luke's set is being used, expect there to be some irony in those happy moments.
