Another husband for Marlena

The mystery of Dr. Alex North has been revealed. That's right folks! Alex is...drum roll...none other than...Marlena's very first husband! The first of four, apparently, but who's counting?

The mystery of Dr. Alex North has been revealed. That's right folks! Alex is...Drum roll...none other than...Marlena's very first husband! The first of four, apparently; but who's counting? It seems that they met and married while in Med School. Uh huh...right. And if you believe that one...well, I don't know if Alex is lying or if it's just a case of bad writing but; there are just too many holes for this story to work. I mean seriously; what are we talking here? 40 years? Who carries a torch for that long? I would think that a guy who loved her waaaay back in college should have moved on with his life by now. And if it's true that he still loves her so deeply, he should want to help her remember everything; including her family and John, AND let her choose who and what makes her happy. He definitely has not done that. His explanations sounded so lame to me. The story goes that, after they were married, he was drafted on some government mission whereupon his plane was shot down. Though he was held captive, nobody knew and he was presumed dead. This is where the story gets good because apparently, upon hearing of his death, Marlena experienced her first bout of hysterical amnesia and conveniently forgot all about Dr. North and their relationship. He didn't say how long he was held prisoner but, once he finally made it home, Marlena had married Roman and they had had the twins. He claimed that he didn't want to interfere in her life since she was happy and also because she had completely forgotten him (Alex). There was no satisfactory reason (at least in my opinion) as to why he didn't return during the John years but he did say that he specialized in amnesia specifically because of what she had experienced. I have to ask...- What about Don Craig? He was Marlena's first husband as far as the real history of Days of our Lives goes but his name has not been mentioned since she lost her memory. Is history being re-written? Marlena and Don had a baby shortly after they were married, but it died of SIDS. Alex also alluded to a child; but he claimed that it was "gone" and that Marlena wasn't strong enough to hear the story just yet. What was that about? Did she have another SIDS baby or is he lying? Is he supposed to be Don Craig? Or has history been re-written? It's all so confusing!

Forgetting the totally ridiculous story that he's spinning for a minute...could TPTB really be trying to portray Alex as the poor maligned victim in the situation in order to turn him in to a "good" man? That he is simply a victim of circumstance, wronged by fate? Could they really be expecting the viewers to buy that given his behavior in the past few months? That he was using all his stupid brainwashing tricks to actually help her? Nawww...there has to be more to it! He took Marlena to the mountains and kept her secluded; not wanting her to have any contact with any of her loved ones - especially John. He played weird music and subliminal suggestion tapes; on the phone, in person and while she was sleeping. He only managed to do the latter AFTER he inched along the outside of the building and climbed in her window. The lengths the man will go to in order to "help" his lady love are quite amazing considering that they are in the Penthouse and Alex did not have so much as a rope around his waist to prevent a fall. [As usual - JER paints a picture of a stalker-ish type of love.] Alex has also used a crystal on a necklace to brainwash her, put drugs of some sort in her beverages and blackmailed Lexie to keep his brainwashing a secret. He has been doing everything in his power to force Marlena to remember him and their love while trying to quash her love for John. His behavior has been underhanded, abusive and totally unprofessional. None of this says "victim" to me. Given what I've watched over the past few months, Alex has been portrayed as a manipulative, sneaky bastard. There is no doubt to me that there is something more going on - even if he really does "love" Marlena, I'm sure that Alex North has another agenda. I just can't believe that the story he's spinning to Marlena, John and Kate is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ~SIGH~ What a convoluted and stupid story. I guess that's the point though - make it strange, twisted and confusing enough and people will just shrug and go along with it. That's my guess to as to what TPTB at Days are thinking anyhow. My final question: If your spouse died - or was declared dead - wouldn't that legally end your marriage? Whether you remembered the marriage or not? Just because someone did not die when they were thought to have...does not automatically make you married again. OR does it? Does anybody know?

Thought it took ALL week for Alex's story to unravel, it did give me plenty of time to become really annoyed with Kate again. It was so lame that she was even there in the first place besides having barely anything useful to say. She also manage to look awwwfully hopeful that she'd wind up with John at the end of it all. Gawd help me if Kate and John end up back together. I absolutely despised their pairing the first time around and I do not want to see it happen again. What is JER thinking? This IS supposed to be a John and Marlena love story, isn't it? Though I love Wayne Northrup, I am increasingly finding Alex North to be quite annoying. I can't stand the way he's always saying that he is going to prove that he is the only man Marlena has ever loved. Hello? QUITE obviously that isn't the case given her marriages to Don, Roman and John. She's loved plenty of men in her time! ;-) Let's hope this story moves along soon...

Spoiler Alert...Spoiler Alert: (taken from the NBC site) CHRISTMAS TRADITION CONTINUES DESPITE GRIEF -- "Days of our Lives" continues its 40-year, fan-favorite tradition of the Horton family adorning their Christmas tree with the heirloom ornaments during the bittersweet season for Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) -- whose husband Jack (Matthew Ashford) is presumed dead. Meanwhile, a thankful Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso) count their blessings while Belle and Philip struggle with their baby as she fights for her life. AHA I was right! Little Claire Kiriakis is going to contract some mysterious medical issue that will force her true parentage to be revealed. Who will be the one(s) to discover the secret and under what circumstances?? My money is on Philip being the person to discover that little nugget of information AND I don't think he will reveal that fact to Belle or Shawn. There's no way that Philip Kiriakis will just give up his precious daughter and wife to Shawn Brady. I think that he'll end up dipping in to his formidable gene pool (with Kate and Victor as his parents, he must have a devious mind indeed) and will not only keep the secret, he will somehow manipulate the three of them (Belle/Shawn/Mimi) as well. I also think he might start treating Belle like dirt because he will be under the mistaken impression that they had an affair - which resulted in Belle's pregnancy with Claire - while he was off fighting in the war. That's my theory anyhow; what do you guys think?? Send me your ideas and as always, I'll post as many as possible.

The Jack/Jennifer storyline dragged along all week as usual. I knew it was bad when I found myself actually wishing that Jack would just die all ready and get it over with! LOL. Just kidding...I don't really want Jack to die, but it would be okay if he went away and gave it a rest for a while. As per the above spoiler - Jack will once again be presumed dead. So...we can rest assured that that though he might leave for a short time, Jack Deveraux will once again rise like the Phoenix to face another day. Oh no, wait a minute, that's Stefano right? Well whatever ;) So obviously, this means that the story will not really come to fruition until Jennifer and Frankie have begun a romance, at which time, Jack will reappear from the dead for the 100th time and throw Jennifer into another emotional tizzy. I've lamented it often enough, but I'll say it again; it's too bad TPTB can't find an original storyline for this popular couple. Hey, I just had a thought. What if, upon Jack's presumed death, Jennifer has a mental breakdown? It would almost be a given, considering how many times she's lived through her husband's supposed death. And also, she could have a predisposition given her mother Laura's breakdown. Like mother, like daughter...and Frankie could nurture her through her recovery. That might be an interesting story to watch. Speaking of interesting; Where's Max? We haven't seen him onscreen for a while. Speaking of missing; I guess Cassie must have fallen off the face of the earth since no one has so much as mentioned her name since she came back from the island with Roman and Marlena. Clearly I'm getting off topic... I don't know where Chelsea and Abby are, but Friday's show ended with both girls being MIA and Jen and Frankie gone to look for them. It's been a while since the girls have been onscreen so I'm not sure where their story last left off...I was pretty sure that last I saw Chelsea, she was living the high life at the spa. I can't even remember Abigail's last episode. Anyhow...as usual, I do have a few questions...why wouldn't Billie CALL Jack and Jen to ask if Abby and Chelsea were there, instead of coming over in the middle of the night? And where is Patrick? Isn't he the one that usually runs around town looking for Chelsea when she disappears? Has Billie told Bo that their daughter is missing again? I wonder if we'll even get a resolution to the story. It was probably written in just to set up the situation of sending Frankie and Jennifer out alone while Jack committed suicide with Billie right beside him. And how ridiculous was that situation anyhow? Jennifer insisted on going to look for Abby because "she's my daughter" (direct quote) but when Jack declared that Billie could stay with him while Frankie and Jen went looking for the girls - I didn't hear Billie say "no, I'm going because Chelsea is my daughter." I mean; that IS why Billie went there in the first place, to find her daughter. Soooo lame! Well I hope that Jack doesn't really die right there in the living room - though I'm not hoping too hard because I'm bored with the story - it would be kind of traumatic for Jennifer to come home from searching for her daughter only to find her husband dead on the floor.

I loved it when Mimi point blank told Belle on Wednesday that she would fight for Shawn. You Go Girl! That was such a great scene, and Belle looked so surprised! To me that was like, Reason No 22 why I love Shimi. So, I officially have no sympathy for Belle anymore. Not only did Mimi beg Belle (over and over again) to be honest and come clean about whether or not she still had feelings for Shawn; Belle insisted (over and over again) that though she "cares" about Shawn, she is married to Philip now and is the mother of his baby, yada yada. She even got snippy with Mimi as in: get off my back, how dare you insinuate...etc. SO; yeah, I officially have no more sympathy for Belle. Sorry but, she had her chance, many times, to reclaim Shawn if she wanted, now it's time to back off and let Mimi and Shawn be happy. Even though she claimed that she was going to do that, her facial expressions betrayed her when nobody else was looking. In my opinion, she is old enough to be responsible for her own decisions. I italicized that because so many people claim that she is just a victim of circumstance and I disagree. I know she and Shawn were manipulated, by both Jan AND Kate but Belle has had ample time to come clean about her true feelings for Shawn since that time. This is the 21st century; it IS okay to break your promise if the person you're about to marry or are married to is not the person you love. Sheesh! What is she, a martyr? There's no reason why she has to chain herself to a life that makes her miserable. So yeah...sorry Shelle lovers but I have NO sympathy whatsoever. But you guys are free to love her all you want :-D

Speaking of the Jan incident; many of you have emailed me this week to ask about Mimi's involvement. The questions were specifically related to a statement made in the Reader Feedback section last week. To clarify: Mimi did not discover the cage until AFTER Shawn had escaped. She found the cage and other paraphernalia (including a tape of Belle - so Mimi knew that Jan was brainwashing Shawn) AND she did threaten to tell Belle and Shawn but Jan blackmailed her by threatening her with telling Rex about the abortion. Mimi struggled with her conscience for a day or so but she finally decided that she could not keep the information from her best friends. So...she dragged them all (Belle, Shawn and Phil) to Jan's house in an attempt to show them the cage but Jan had all ready dismantled everything so that there was no proof of Mimi's statements that Shawn had been held captive, brainwashed and drugged. So, NO - Mimi was not a party to Shawn's captivity and she DID tell the bunch of them what she found out. No one believed her because, rightly so, it seemed too farfetched. So...nope, Mimi did not betray Shawn at all. Before I move on, I just have to say how absolutely gorgeous Farah Fath looks lately! AND, Mimi fantasy sequence of making out with Shawn in the shower was hot-hot-hot!

Austin Inc. (it amuses me to refer to Austin, Nicole and Sami that way) had quite the tumultuous week! Sami blew their secret meeting with a scientist (Hans) but in true Sami fashion, she managed to redeem herself. She stumbled upon Hans's wife (Lulu) and somehow convinced her to use her influence on Hans and sway his decision on who would win the rights to distribute a wrinkle cream, in Austin Inc.'s favor. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to them, that coup was trumped by Lucas. It turned out that Lulu is a con artist who marries and divorces very rich men. Lucas used this little nugget information to blackmail Lulu and force her to convince Hans to give the account to Titan/Countess Wilhemina instead. Here's the ridiculous part (in case you were wondering because I know, I know...it's all pretty ridiculous). 1) Sophie - of all people - was the one to recognize Lulu AND from the tabloids of all places. This tells me that Austin and Co, not to mention Lucas and Eugenia; totally suck at doing their research on potential clients. 2) Something tells me that the exploits of Lulu - as described by Lucas and Sophie - would have made the front page of the mainstream media and not just the tabloids. Good things about this storyline? I'm still lovin the dynamics between Austin and Nicole. Bad things? Sami deciding that she "needs a plan" to get rid of Nicole. SIGH...I am SO tired of hearing the same old stuff from her. Also, Sami deciding that she wants Austin again. Double-SIGH...I am SO tired of that too. When, oh when will Samantha Brady be allowed to grow the heck up?

It looks like I was wrong about The Powers That Be not celebrating Days of our Lives' 40th Anniversary. Thank you to everyone who wrote in and told me that both the Soap Channel and Soap Net have been showing vintage episodes lately. As well, on the November 25th episode, Days of our Lives will showcase 40 years' worth of vintage clips. That's the day after American Thanksgiving...so set your VCRs if you're going away for the holiday weekend!! For those of you interested in looking at some of the pictures taken during NBC's Gala 40th Anniversary celebration; go to the Days page on the NBC website and follow the link. There are some fabulous pictures of both past and present Days actors!

Reader Feedback: Thanks to everyone who wrote in! I love reading your comments and feedback about the show and this column; so keep them coming!

From Sheila:"I love reading your two scoop commentary but there's something that wasn't quiet right that needs to be cleared. Your comment about Days not doing anything to celebrate their 40th Anniversary isn't correct. Actually they have done some things to celebrate the 40 years of Days of our Lives.... the only thing is that you would only know if you have Soap Channel and/or watch Soap Net. They have showed beginning episodes - all the original characters, and Bo & Hope favorites from when they got together, Hope gave birth, and even when they were separated because of outside forces playing against them, and so much more. They just had an episode on Soap net where Deidre Hall, Drake Hogestyn, Kristian Alfonso, Peter Reckell, Melissa Reeves, Suzanne Rogers, Frances Reid, and a few others were all on talking about the show and all their best memories. I tell you that there were some good ones too! If you are able to watch the show in the future, should they show it again watch it! Hope this helps fill in some of the blanks....." Thanks for letting me know Sheila! ~P

From Kat:"I am with Pamela - they missed an excellent opportunity for Marlena to stand on her own. She is at her best when she uses her brains. Enough of this amnesia and brainwashing. Let's see her take control of her life and then she can pick out the love of her life. Enough of Jack's suicide plan also - this devalues all those people fighting terminal disease to spend as much time with their families."

From Daphne:"First of all I just want to say that I too am loving Nicole and Austin. I love Carrie but she and Austin have been over for years and "Nicotine" (as I call them) are exciting and fresh and new. The chemistry is hot!! Bring back Carrie for Mike. Now those two I loved. Anyway, I can't believe how fans have turned on Belle. She made big mistakes (who hasn't?) and she's paying for them. What more do fans want? Do they want to see her bleed? What kind of friend is Mimi, anyway, to go after Belle's ex? I would never do that to my so called "best friend." I haven't liked Mimi for a long time now - starting with all the lies she told to Rex. If your DF poster is right and they turn Belle into the new Sami, I won't be watching." From Lalitha T:"Enjoy reading your column week after week, but the show not so much! I just cannot stand one more show where Philip says, "It's gonna be all right, I promise." Aaarrgh, I am gonna puke if he says that line again, he has been saying that for the last four weeks, give him some better lines. And my god, Belle has turned into a total bitch, PPD or not. But I am waiting for Mimi to just turn on the romance with Shawn and rub it in Belle's face! What does she want Shawn to do? First she strings him along, unable to make up her mind, then she pushes him away and marries boring Dr. Phil, and now that Shawn has accepted that and is ready to move on, she wants to stick her foot out and trip him!! I am all for Shimi, you go guys! I cannot help but think that if Marlena has had so many attacks on the brain --- memory chip inserts, brainwashes, multiple amnesia cases, schizophrenia (at least the time she was the serial killer), not to mention multiple marriages and multiple divorces oftentimes to the same person, how the hell does she even stay sane? Shouldn't she be institutionalized by now??? And now we have not one, not two but three 60+ plus men fighting over precious Marlena who herself must be 55!!! Gosh, retire her already and get her to read to her poor grandkids, who don't seem to be getting any attention from anywhere. Finally, how can the original bitches on the show, Kate and Billie take on the self-righteous and holier-than-thou tone with Sami and Nicole, when they themselves are lusting after married men and waiting to break their homes??? Oops, forgot to rant about the stupidity of the Jack-Jen storyline. That's the most ridiculous piece of writing even for a daytime soap. Jack keeps bumbling and we keep hoping Jennifer is smart enough to sniff a rat, but no! And when will she stop saying that, "let's have some tea and think about it." WHAAAT???? She has gone loco, cannot blame her, she has seen her husband die twice and she has had as many memorials and wakes for him, poor woman. But the writing for that storyline is atrociously baaaaad. The only silver lining is the Sami-Nicole sparring and fighting for Austin's attention, waiting for a real good catfight now, meowww. Phew thanks for letting me steam off, feels good!"

From Rachel:" I love Shimi! They are the best part of the show right now. I love their little romantic moments and growing love for each other. I have been watching DOOL for almost 20 years and have never fast forwarded through parts of the show but have recently started doing that for all of the Marlena/Alex/John scenes & Jack/Jennifer/Frankie scenes. They are sooooooo boring and slow moving. I would like to see some more scenes with Bonnie & Roman ... they seem to have some chemistry and I would like to see Roman chased by a woman for once (especially by a woman who has been kind to his daughter in the past)."

From Erica:"It's nice to see some pro Sami people out there. I did want to correct one thing though. Sami does indeed have executive experience. She was director of imaging at Titan and started the new faces campaign. If it weren't for Sami, Nicole would still be over at Java Cafe, waiting tables."

From Mary W.:"I thought I would send you my two cents about Shimi after reading your column about Shelle vs. Shimi and why I prefer Shimi. 1) Belle has repeatedly chosen her relationship with Philip over her relationship with Shawn. When given Philip told Belle that he would rather she break his heart than stay with him out of pity, she chose to stay with Philip, knowing full well that Shawn was standing there. 2) Shawn and Mimi have been there for each other through thick & thin. Shawn values Mimi's friendship and she his. 3) Shawn protects Mimi's feelings. He knows how she's feeling without her saying a word. 4) Mimi supports Shawn with whatever decision he makes. 5) They have FUN. 6) They have a tremendous amount of natural chemistry. 7) They put each other first. 8) They are both acting so much more mature now than they ever have before. Mimi has financial problems which knocked her for a loop and she found a solution to it when she got herself a second job. I'm sure there are more reasons why I adore these two together but I think I'll stop here. Thank-you for your time. Mary W. Columbus, OH" From Jen:"You know what's one of the most amazing things to see as Shawn and Mimi grow closer to each other? It's seeing Shawn develop as an individual character. For so long he has only been written as the "Sh" in Shelle. It was a waste. Finally, we get to see him mature into a young adult male. One who is taking charge of his life and moving on with a woman who matches him perfectly. Someone who wants to work with him towards the same things with each other - honesty, friendship and love. That's what was missing from Shelle all these years, that's why they'll never be considered a Supercouple. Because a Supercouple is one that OVERCOMES the obstacles in front of them. And during that process make choices to bring them closer to the other person - not lost forever like Shelle has done. They've never had any serious obstacles until now (Days of the Week Panties anyone?). And now that they have with this pairing of Shawn and Mimi it's showing that they never had what it took! I'm glad TPTB have seen the light and realized that what was 'Golden' may have only been fake all along."

From Alison St. James:""I also just want to note that Mimi helped Jan hold Shawn hostage, because Jan was holding the abortion over her head as blackmail." I just need to rebut the above statement from the reader feedback letter from the 11/14 column. Mimi NEVER knew Shawn was being held in a cage against his will. Shawn was out of the cage for at LEAST two months before Mimi ever found out about it! I see this over and over and over posted by some Shelle fans. It's simply not TRUE! As a former DIE hard Shelle fan - I absolutely love Shimi! It's like finding buried treasure! You didn't know it was there and then BOOM! The writers have destroyed the character of Belle - I don't want her anywhere NEAR Shawn. Shawn and Mimi are two adults coming together - baggage and all. They know each other's faults and they know each other's virtues. Jason Cook and Farah Fath are smoking together! They have amazing chemistry and I LOVE this storyline. It makes so much sense and the actors are just running with it! Belle's selfishness has reached such unbearable levels - I think the only way I can bear to watch her anymore is as the 'evil' Belle that may be emerging. I think MM would be awesome playing the manipulative bitch! She'd kick some butt in a story like that. ANYTHING but more whining about me me me!!!!!!"

As everyone knows, former Two Scoops columnist, Sari, has decided to retire from her commentary duties. In the quest to find a replacement for her, the site is going to ask for YOUR help and input to help determine who will share writing duties with me. If you think that you have what it takes to become a Two Scoops columnist, we'd like to hear from you. Please send over a sample column along with a brief introduction message telling us about you and why you'd like to be a columnist. You can send your submissions to Dan at [email protected]

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