Some perspective

Anybody who has been watching the show for any amount of time has to have wondered why the DiMeras hate the Bradys so much, and now we're finally starting to get to the bottom of it.

Hey party people! After my little email mix up last week and this week being short due to Wimbledon, I thought that I might do a little something different this week and talk about what a difference a year makes. So, here goes!

WHAT'S GOOD

1. The Brady-DiMera feud. This time last year the only DiMera in town was EJ and we didn't even know that he was a DiMera yet. Anybody who has been watching the show for any amount of time has to have wondered why the DiMeras hate the Brady's so much, but there have never been any real answers. Now we are starting to get to the bottom of the whole thing. Plus, it is super-fabulous to have Joseph Mascolo, Thaao Penghlis and Leann Hunley back. They are fantastic actors, although I was never familiar with Anna on DOOL (21 years ago I was in kindergarten), I always loved the actress, having seen her on Dawson's Creek. I also love the rivalry between Tony and EJ, and how Stefano is trying to play peacemaker. It's way more realistic that Stefano having some weird secret passage into Marlena's room and taking her to creepy operas in the middle of the night.

2. Lucas and Sami. Exactly one year ago this week, I was writing about Carrie and Lucas's wedding and how fake it seemed to me. That's because it was . Not only did Sami seemingly come to her senses and not marry Austin (yeah, yeah I know she was being blackmailed, but she didn't need to marry him anyway) she and Lucas found their way back together. After many months of secrets, she managed to actually make the trip down the aisle and become Mrs. Samantha Roberts. Not only that, she actually did tell Lucas the truth and he didn't dump her as per usual. Now, everyone knows I am not completely crazy about Lucas's behavior lately (i.e. complete control-freakiness), but I am really, really happy that Sami actually got married this time. It was like JER's running gag to see how many weddings she could have without actually marrying anybody. I'm so glad she got out of that rut and is easing into a more mature, settled but still spunky woman. Refreshing.

3. Return of the Supercouples (for real this time). Last year at this time, Bo and Hope were broken up, Steve didn't remember who the hell he was, and John and Marlena were nowhere to be seen. Now not only are all of these couples back together after very long separations by tragedy, manipulation, brainwashing and coma, but they have brought Doug and Julie back into the mix where they belong. Days was on a Time cover with the heading "Sex and Suffering in the Afternoon" many years ago. I'm glad that The Powers that Be have decided that we have had enough of the suffering and are giving us a little love. It is long overdue with the debacle that was Alex North, Patrick Lockhart and the DiMera brainwashing of Steve. And the fact that the vets are all working together to solve this mysterious feud? Priceless. WHAT COULD USE SOME IMPROVEMENT

1. Shawn, Belle and Philip. You know, I just have never been a Shelle fan. Not even when Kirsten Storms and Jason Cook were tearing it up at the Last Blast, they just have never done anything for me. I also wasn't sure how I would take Jay Kenneth Johnson as Philip paired up with Martha Madison's Belle. Well, the verdict is in. They (in my humble opinion) need to break up Shawn and Belle as soon as possible, find him another woman and put her with Philip, if Philip is really sincere about the no more dirty tricks thing. They also need to make Shawn a little less hotheaded and a little smarter. I just want to choke him sometimes. Actually, there are times that I would like to choke Belle and Philip to, but now that the stupid on the run storyline is over, they are all much more tolerable. They've just got a little ways to go.

2. Chelsea and Nick. They almost had it. They really did. Chelsea and Nick were cute together and sweet, and then she finds out that he just couldn't say no to her mom. And now they have thrown Jett into the mix. Just a thought, and please bear with me here, but have you ever been on the freeway when your car throws a rod and the engine conks out and you are really hoping you can safely coast to the next exit? That is exactly how Chelsea and Nick make me feel. I feel like their relationship has blow a head gasket, but if they can just coast to the next exit, they'll be all right. And while Jett is tasty, I would much rather Chelsea be with Nick, and I wish they would just get Jett out of Nick and Chelsea's orbit.

3. Lexie hiding from Abe. Stop it. Just stop it. You may not have parted on the best of terms, but coming back after being missing for nearly half a year will smooth over a lot of animosity. Plus, how in the world did she and Celeste convince four (or so) year-old Theo not to say anything to his Dad about his Mom being back? Wouldn't Abe notice the change in the little boy's demeanor? I HATE when someone is presumed dead and then they hide and skulk around town for weeks or months. I don't care who is doing it or what the situation is, it is irritating.

WHAT'S BAD

1. The Touch-This-Guy Group (was there really any doubt?), but more specifically Stephanie and Jeremy. Here we have to characters that are part of core families with a million stories that could be told about them and what do we get? A story about a good girl turned slut-for-Jeremy who not only has a new face, but a complete personality transplant, and a former Air Force pilot who is a complete rude, cocky, nasty jerk, having a high roller airplane shuttle between Salem and Vegas. Riiiiiiiight. Because Salem is such a big metropolis and crawling with so many millionaires that there is a market for said luxury shuttle. If this is the best that they could do for Days' "summer teen story" I really wish they wouldn't have even bothered and just shown us more of Stefano. At least he does make me want to slap anyone or turn the channel. Days should either tone down Steph and Jerk-emy or cut their losses and get them off the show. They are the darkest spot in an otherwise nearly spectacular show.

2. Kate. For the last ten years Kate's main focus in life has been to keep her two sons away from one Ms. Samantha Brady (now Roberts, ha ha ha). In doing so, she has only managed to ensure that those two sons would be panting after Sami for years, and Lucas eventually realizing he cannot be without Sami. Kate needs a hobby, she needs a life, and she needs to get the hell over herself, because if you can't run your own life properly, you have no right giving anyone instructions on how to live theirs. She is a hypocrite, what with perhaps throwing two of her grandchildren to the DiMera wolves just to drive a wedge between Sami and Lucas, all the while claiming how everything she does is for her children. Guess what Kate? You have grown-ass grandchildren. Find a new focus.

3. Adrienne owning a bar. Now I have no problem with Judi Evans playing Adrienne, in fact I much prefer her to Bonnie, but I don't like the fact that she, like Bonnie, owns a dive bar, and that there has been almost no mention of Justin and her kids. Where the heck are they???

But just a little bit about this week (once again, it was really short and mostly filler), how wonderful was it to see Alice again?!?!? I know that Frances Reid is in her 90s and not in the best of health, but she is still a beautiful, wonderful actress and I'm so glad that she felt up to being on the show. The family picture was beautiful, even though it made me sad Sami and Lucas weren't in it. And I like that Alice still has that spunk (she put Jeremy's fake little narrow behind in his place when he was trying to suck up to Alice and she wasn't having it).

The whole Jett/Danielle/Chelsea drama was irking me. Okay, there is obviously more than meets the eye with the whole Danielle/Jett engagement, but really Chelsea was using their situation as an excuse not to deal with her feelings about her own boyfriend. That is really unfair to Nick, she needs to just "woman up" and tell him what's bothering her. And them making Nick out like he's this horny little rabbit boy that keeps getting mad and insecure when Chelsea doesn't want to have sex right that minute is wearing on me too. He's better than that. They (TPTB) just need to get that whole thing together.

What will happen next week scoopers? They are going to start reading the Santo/Colleen letters, so just how did this whole thing start? Who really killed Colleen? Was it a DiMera or a Brady? I am so excited just thinking about the possibility. And I still want it to be a Brady's fault.

Until next time!

Melissa

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