EJ went on the warpath on Days of Our Lives during the week of 1-08-24.
After Holly’s overdose, he was determined to make someone pay — and he focused on Tate, who had nothing to do with it.
Kpatch and Tony from My Hourglass: A Days of Our Lives Fan Forum join our TV Fanatic Jack Ori to discuss whether EJ has become unredeemable.
Has EJ crossed the line into becoming an unredeemable character with his insistence on prosecuting Tate for his alleged role in Holly’s overdose?
Kpatch: I was loving EJ up to now. I don’t think he’s unredeemable, but he’s gone too far in his quest for retribution without concrete evidence.
He should recuse himself from this case. Brady needs to go to Paulina and beg her to remove EJ from this case. I can’t believe they didn’t already consider that.
Tony: EJ crossed the line into unredeemable long ago. This is far from the worst thing he’s done, though it’s still not great.
Jack: EJ was getting on my last nerve with this. He knows that Stefan is behind the drug trade, yet is focusing all his efforts on punishing a teenager who wasn’t even involved. At the moment, I can’t wait for EJ to get his comeuppance.
Julie took an Alice-like role with Chad as he dealt with his grief and breakup with Stephanie. Is she the best successor to Alice, or is there someone else you’d rather step into that role?
Kpatch: Julie is best suited to be the supportive mother type, much more than someone like Marlena, who’s a cold fish. The thing I didn’t like about the conversation is that they’ve had this very same conversation twice before and it was a little boring.
Tony: Julie’s the longest-running character on the show. I think it’s fitting that she’s become Alice-like lately.
Jack: I loved these scenes. Julie can be judgmental, but she was channeling Alice here, and I can’t think of anyone more perfect to do it. Susan Seaforth Hayes has been on DAYS almost since the beginning, so allowing her to be the matriarch everyone turns to for advice makes perfect sense.
Do you expect Sarah and Xander’s reunion to last?
Kpatch: Wow, hard to say. When they’re together, they’re great. But Sarah is quick to judge and quick to vilify Xander. Seems like it’s all or nothing with these two.
Tony: Not really. I expect this to go much like the rest of their relationship.
Xander will either do something stupid, or at least Sarah will think he did. She’ll yell at him, and they’ll split up again, only to get back together once Sarah realizes she didn’t have all the information, rinse and repeat.
Jack: I think Sarah all but telegraphed another breakup for the sake of drama with her comment that she’s afraid she’ll regret it if she falls for Xander again. These two will never work out until she can accept him, dark side and all.
Paulina and Abe are finally dealing with Abe’s memory loss on-screen, but is it too little too late?
Kpatch: It’s nice to see Abe back on screen, but this secondary or maybe tertiary story is dragging on too long.
Tony: they should have dealt with this months ago, but at least they finally are.
Jack: I’m thrilled that they are finally on-screen, but I wish we’d had more build-up rather than them suddenly dealing with Abe’s memory issues during New Years — and even that wasn’t fully on-screen and only got a flashback.
Because they’ve been gone for so long, it felt like we walked in on the middle of a story. Plus, Abe’s amnesia has dragged on forever. While I don’t want them to rush to a resolution, this story needs to move forward at a quicker pace than it has been.
Did you like the whipped cream flashback or would you rather the details of Chanel and Johnny’s lovemaking stayed off-screen?
Kpatch: Honestly? No. It was on the icky side because these two are actors, not actual lovers, and they even looked a little uncomfortable and tentative. I love Johnny and Chanel as a couple, but I didn’t need to see this.
Tony: It was okay. It didn’t do anything for me, but I wasn’t disgusted by it.
Jack: Ugh. I’m not a fan of sex scenes, to begin with — I prefer the way Australia’s Neighbours gives us a hint of what’s going on and leaves the rest to our imagination. So, this was a bit much for me. And why on Earth does Paulina need the details of her daughter’s sex life?
What was so unrealistic that it pulled you out of the story?
Kpatch: So many things!
Alex being a Class A jerk, firing Justin and hiring his own lawyer in an attempt to take over a situation that is none of his business, while at the same time trying to convince Theresa that Tate is using drugs.
Wendy and Tripp’s farewell was tepid, just like their relationship. Neither seemed overly broken up (no pun intended) about leaving each other.
Marlena being Nicole’s therapist was unrealistic considering Nicole’s history with Marlena’s children: Sami, Eric, and Brady.
EJ prosecuting a case involving his stepdaughter.
And finally, Harris not figuring out that Stefan and Ava are running drugs.
Tony: Johnny and Chanel talking about his eye cancer, which sounded like an early detection PSA. And there was a scene with Paulina and Abe that felt very much like an anti-drug PSA. Don’t get me wrong, these are important messages, but when it starts to sound like a PSA, that’s not great.
Jack: Tate’s legal situation was driving me up the wall. I wish they had an on-screen arraignment where EJ made his flight risk argument and Tate was denied bail.
It was ridiculous that the judge didn’t consider that at the hearing and then changed his mind because EJ called him. That would only happen in Salem!
Also, ICUs typically only let one visitor in at a time for about 15 minutes, so it was distracting that Holly had so many people in her room at once all the time.
What was your favorite scene, story, or quote from this week’s Days of Our Lives?
Kpatch: I love that Xander and Sarah are slowly rekindling their love. Their conversations are refreshingly honest. Same with Johnny and Chanel.
I also loved Brady and Theresa’s support of their son. Jamie Martin Mann, who plays Tate, is a joy to watch. He’s doing a fantastic job.
Tony: I loved Abe saying he’d stand by Paulina. That sounded like the old Abe.
Jack: I loved Chad and Julie’s scenes. Older family members supporting younger ones is the thing that made me fall in love with Days of Our Lives years ago, and it was great to have some of that back.
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your answers to our Round Table questions.
Check out the latest Days of Our Lives editorials for more Days of Our Lives chat. And don’t forget to check on Monday for the latest Days of Our Lives spoilers.
Days of Our Lives streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekday mornings at 6/5c.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
