Don't Forget

"You wanna forget dad? You wanna replace him with this joke of a relationship? Fine. But just don't ask me to respect it."

JJ Deveraux called out his mother on Days. He admitted that he is infuriated at her being able to jump into a relationship so quickly after the death of her long-time love.

Jack and Jennifer have gone through the soap opera ringer. Although they became a supercouple and shared many romantic and happy moments, it seems as though they could not escape tragedy. A brief look-back at the couple's history reveals more bad times than good (all leading up to Jack's tragic death).

Interestingly, after almost two decades in a tumultuous relationship, filled with love and heart brake, and then more love, Jennifer moved on rather too quickly.

JJ did not JUST criticize his mother; he ALSO criticized Days' storyline.

Many fans were understandingly upset by the demise of an unstable, but beloved character. Everyone expected Jennifer to be in mourning. Therefore, her love-life would be put on hold.

At first it seemed as though Daniel would respect her mourning period. But as we all know,  respecting someone's space makes for boring daytime!

SO, naturally, after the whole fiasco with Nicole, the Dannifer ship set sail once more! Yay!

But, wait...didn't the love of her life just die?
Oh, no. Don't worry. We are using the excuse that, "Jack would want me to be happy."

Days of our Lives, like many soaps faced with the aftermath of having to kill off a major character, try to play the progressive card. We are all about the future. We are moving forward and are not dwelling on the past.

HOWEVER, most of the best soap opera storylines, including Days', are based on dealing with or dwelling on events from the past.

JJ brings storylines about teenage rebellion, drugs, mom-son tension, and children-based relationship problems,  by revisiting the emotions surrounding his father's death.

In fact, many Days' deaths inspire other storylines. They usually involve the fallout or the aftermath in the lives of people who were close to the person who died. Characters' reactions to deaths evolve into stories of their own.

One of the most heart-braking death's on Days was Zack Brady's. As Hope Brady screamed in disbelief and agony, clutching Bo's arm until she wailed at the top of her lungs in the middle of Salem University Hospital after Lexi informed her that her youngest son was brain-dead, those of us watching at home felt our hearts break and reached for tissues.

Zack's demise, however, was the beginning of a storyline that would tear a family apart. Hope would go on to blame Chelsea and blame Bo for her son's death. Chelsea would later gain back Hope's trust when she saved Bo's life by donating part of her pancreas.

Ciara's birth would bring both happiness and bad memories for Bo and Hope. Their relationship would constantly be suffering from the old wounds from Zack's death. Somehow, he always was the source of their marital problems. Even six years afterwards, in a session with Marlena in 2012, Bo and Hope admitted that the "Zack issue" had never been resolved.

In 2010, Hope had even gotten addicted to medication, became a serial killer, nearly had an affair,  got sentenced to prison, and escaped from prison( while uncovering a conspiracy), all originating from issues surrounding Zack's death.

UNLIKE JACK, Zack's death was not forgotten.

Another plot-important death was the supposed murder of Tony DiMera in 2009. Now, Tony has been off and on the show for almost thirty years, ending when he fell off the staircase on the pier and was skewered by a sharp, broken pole after a fight with Philip Kiriakis. Days made sure that Tony would be remembered!

Thus, Stefano started a DiMera-Kiriakis war!

The war between the families officially began when Stefano accused Philip of murdering Tony. Stefano ordered a hit on the young Kiriakis and his shooting stirred up a lot of drama.

The DiMera-Kiriakis feud consisted of turf wars, hit men, business project theft, culminating in a truce in 2011 when Maggie got shot in the crossfire.

Even Will's blackmail is a good example. EJ, Stefano, and Nick have all blackmailed Will about his shooting EJ in 2007. Will's past actually came back to haunt him!

 EJ recovered and now he and Will are on good terms. Seriously, it's old news, six years ago...and yet we are still talking about it!

JJ is determined to ensure that his father's death is not forgotten. Like Zack Brady, Tony DiMera, and many others, his passing should generate stories and not simply be accepted as part of the past.

So, soaps may be pressured to keep things fresh and move on to new storylines. But the most entertaining, are those that are rooted in past events.

Besides, JJ has a point!

"You mourned dad for, what, eight months before you jumped into the sac with this guy?"

Take some time to dwell on your past, Jennifer. It may lead to some great plot twists!

 Because Jack Deveraux refuses to be forgotten.

Thin Line Between Love & Hate

Question: Why do we all like Vargas? He's not a nice guy...he's not a veteran character...he's not related to anyone we love....he's not a positive asset to Salem...WHY then?

Answer: Because he's against Nick. And we like characters who are enemies of characters we hate! Simple as that.

But that seems kind of odd, doesn't it? Do we really hate Nick that much that we'll like anybody who opposes him? ...Yup.

How did we come to dislike Nick so much? When he first was up for parole, many people wanted to give him a second chance. That's one of Days' big themes. SECOND CHANCES. We remembered the Nick Fallon pre-prison.
The sweet guy who Chelsea dumped for Daniel. The guy who was buds with Max. The guy who took in foster children he didn't know and helped support their mom. The genius who created an alternative fuels project. The guy who tugged on all his relative's heartstrings when he took responsibility for his actions and went to prison.

This Nick Fallon is who we felt for when he came back. Unfortunately, we were in for a classic Days twist: turning a good guy into a bad guy...or vice versa.

Even the most conservative, anti-homosexual person would agree that Nick's behavior is unjust, uncalled for, and cruel.  The fact is, our perspective of Nick changed the second he started in on Will.

It's safe to say that WilSon is one of the most popular couples on the show right now. So, any threat to a fan fav, especially a threat based on social bigotry, is a catalyst for character hatred.

The young, skinny, super-genius, underdog is gone. And the writers have re-worked his character so that we all turn against him, and root for his demise.

The same phenomenon happened recently when Salem's opera-singer came back. Chloe Lane is a complex character whose "good guy" and "bad guy" status changes constantly. (Read full bio in "Trip Down Memory LANE")

When Chloe first came to Salem in 1999, she was the unpopular, independent, different, taciturn, shy, and dark new girl. Not fitting in, being bullied, and yet having an amazing talent made "Ghoul Girl" a powerful character that you rooted for and tried to relate to.

However, her following storylines shook up that image. Her seductive, cheating, lying, and sneaky ways soon stole any sympathy we previously had for her. Occasionally we'd switch back over to her side when Kate tried to kill her, or when Vivian was manipulating her, or when she had post-partdom depression.

But upon her return, which was soley for the purpose of destroying Daniel's relationship with Jennifer and getting back with him, she crossed the line to "HATE" again.

This is where I realized the power of this trick--of liking one character JUST because one hates another.
Admittedly, at first, I was not in favor of the Dannifer ship. I was far too devastated over the Jack&Jennifer break up and later widow issue. I LOVED watching Jack&Jennifer scenes. They are adorable and had that quality that always brought them back together, even through years of tumultuous relationship problems.

Therefore, I was absolutely against Daniel nudging himself in and ruining a long-time-running super couple.

However, Days was clever and got me to sing a different tune by using this trick. They brought back Chloe so that I had to chose a side: Dannifer...or Danloe.
By making me hate Chloe, I was forced to root for Dannifer.
My perspectives completely shifted because of this. If I don't want Chloe to be happy, then I want Jennifer to be happy.

Curse you, Days writers for forcing me to change my attitude!

Days has been exploring the different sides of "villains" to make them into people you empathize with. Notable ones include: Anna DiMera, Kate Roberts, Kristen DiMera, Nicole Walker, Mimi Lockhart, and...Sami Brady!

Yes. Samantha Gene Brady. The role won a special fan award for "America's Favorite Villain" at the 2002 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Sami was quite the villainess back on 1995 when she was conspiring against Austin and Carrie, drugging people, lying, scheming, seducing and hiding paternity results. The Carrie-Austin shippers really hated Sami and were relieved when she could no longer hold being a father to Will over Austin.

The continuing plays for Austin, Brandon, and Franco, kept Sami on the "Hate" side of the line. Her constant floating from one guy to the next never guaranteed a solid "Team Sami."

However, somewhere along the line, the way we viewed Sami changed. Maybe it was giving birth to twins, maybe it was being committed to Lucas, maybe it was being manipulated by the DiMera's, maybe it was in Witness Protection.
The fans begun to root for Sami. Her support skyrocketed and everyone started saying, "Go Sami!"

Lumi, EJami, Safe. So many people were pulling for these couples to work out. Now, Sami's many men are an ENDEARING part of her character.

Fan's perspective on characters can change on a dime. One minute you love them and want them to have a second chance. The next, you find yourself rooting for whoever can bring about their downfall!

The fabulous writing on Days is what makes these personalities so complex, that we are constantly deciding whether to LOVE them, or HATE them.

Nicole and Jennifer smack down!

Girls are going at it!
Embodying the classic chick fight over a man, Walker versus Horton stretches over many weeks. How long have we been seeing Jennifer scenes where she tells everyone that she care about Daniel as a "friend" and she only wants to help. That is complete BS!

How long have we been seeing Nicole justifying her lies by convincing herself that Daniel cares about  her and her baby, and that she is able to completely seduce him. That is BS!

Neither of these women has a hold on Daniel at this point. However, I will concede that both have severely impacted his life and his decisions.

Let's take a closer look at Dr. Jonas, shall we? He came to Salem as a specialty doctor as a favor to Victor and stayed because of the women he got involved with. Then he discovered he had a daughter. Wonderful! Then daughter leaves...now what? Oh, I know! He sticks around for the women that he's involved with.  Who are these women? How did they meet Daniel?
Chelsea Brady- pancreas transplant patient
Kate Roberts- lung cancer patient
Chloe Lane- bone marrow donor patient
Jennifer Horton- heart transplant patient
Nicole Walker- high-risk pregnancy patient

Anyone seeing a pattern? Why these girls are fighting over this guy is a mystery...
Oh,wait. He's HOT. Mystery solved.

Nicole's argument has some validity. She did not seduce Daniel into switching the test. The seduction/ relationship really happened afterwards. She didn't even know that he wasn't going to switch the labels back.

One thing she should not have done was use her baby to gain sympathy. Allowing her child to be a way to connect...that's fine. But don't start naming him after the guy! Don't ask him to be the godfather! Seriously, after what he went through with Parker? Do you really think that Daniel is eager to play daddy to a kid that's not his...again?

Even now that the boy is gone, she is still using him to secure Daniel. Yes, it's a tragedy. She's sad. We get it. The bottom line is, she's manipulating Daniel, and at times she might not even realize it. She has convinced herself that Jennifer is to blame in order to deal with this. She has convinced herself that if she lost her baby, then she is meant to hang on to Daniel. This logic can only come from a depressed, post-tramatic, previously murderous mind.

As for our friend Jennifer, she has some justification for her actions. It's amazing how on soaps every character is a psychologist. "I'm trying to do for Daniel what I couldn't do for Jack." Classic survivor's guilt. Well, on some levels that would be true. However, if that was the case, she probably could not admit that to herself. Therefore, she must have reasons that she cannot admit to herself: her feelings for Daniel, perhaps.

Even so, intentions become moot when the police get involved. Jennifer has an almost clean record, she's well-liked throughout the community, and she is a mother herself. All of these could be used as character references to prove that she would not do such a thing. One thing that might sink her ship= Nicole.

Which brings us to the current story. "Daniel gives Nicole an ultimatum" reads a spoiler on NBC's Days website. Since we know that he later tells her that he still wants to leave town with her, we can assume that he says something like, "If you drop the charges, I'll leave Salem with you."

Will Nicole let go of her vengeance to secure her man? If the past is any indication, no. She might agree, but she'll still try to accomplish her goal. Maybe send EJ after her. Nicole won't give up on Jennifer. And she sure as hell won't give up on her latest romance.

Problem is, Jennifer's a fighter too. If you thought the PR war in the mayoral election was intense, don't count the casualties yet. This war's still raging.