The A team

One bad guy down and...three 'bad guys' to thank? Will Salem ever be the same after thanking not one but two DiMera brothers? Find out how Andre, Kate, and Chad led the way to capture Clyde in this edition of Two Scoops.

Ohhhhh...DAYS is getting good!

The before-the-plan stuff was basically Marlena (and an assist from Gabi) walking around town, telling people to get their acts together. Get it, ladies!

I got a little nostalgic seeing Gabi in that Brady Pub apron again. And she was right on when she told Sonny and Chad they need to make up. She could have reached back even further and reminded them that their partnership started way back in the SalemSportsFan.com days, but the club will work too. As long as these buddies are back on track, I'm happy.

Marlena stood up to Deimos' bravado like a champ. Thanks, Mar, for shutting that down before it started. Marlena was not going to let this newbie screw up her masterpiece of a plan. I fully support her in this matter because her plan was pure genius.

We began with Clyde and the utterly fantastic collaboration of Chad, Kate, Andre, Lucas, Adrienne, Gabi, and J.J. Allow me to count the ways this plan rocked my socks.

One, it gave us the hilarious throwaway line where Lucas referenced Andre as a "freak show." Two, of course Clyde's only remorse was for Ben because Clyde's a misogynistic bag of crap. So I'm thrilled Chad got a chance to scold Clyde for being a scum bucket to Jordan too. Three, the whole twist totally had me fooled!

Right up until Adrienne told Andre to untie her, I completely believed Andre was helping Clyde! Offering up his brother and nephew in exchange for his throne atop the empire was classic Andre. The dude killed his own brother before! So I was completely floored to see that Andre agreed to help! I really think that might be the first non-selfish thing Andre's ever done. (Are we sure he's not Tony?)

For my money, the Chad/Andre pair is really where the future storylines are. Billy Flynn and Thaao Penghlis play it perfectly. It's clear that both Chad and Andre want to like each other. Both are lonely guys who could use any family they can get. But they're also acutely aware their own ambitions conflict -- if not clash head to head -- with the other's. Andre will turn on Chad eventually. That's who Andre is. (And there's that small matter of him holding Abigail and possibly Laura right now.) But in the moment, if his goals align with yours, Andre's one of the best allies to have in Salem. And last week, it worked beautifully.

Of course we have Kate to thank for Andre's critical part in the Clyde plot. While Lucas has a point -- Andre is a homicidal maniac -- there's something about Kate and Andre that I find utterly enjoyable. They have such a playful rapport of mutual evil admiration. Stefano had at least a hand in creating both of those monsters, so it makes sense they get along.

Still shocked from witnessing Andre on the side of the angels, my brain almost blew up when J.J shook Chad's hand, said "Good job," and meant it. What the what is happening here?!

To top it all off, Gabi was keeping Thomas safe the whole time. Her friendship with Chad is legit, and now she's putting her life on the line for his kid. I respect that about her. Yo Gabba Gabi's come quite a long way.

LOOSE ENDS It's really nice to know that Lucas, Sami, and Ali are still in touch. But I agree with Adrienne that it would be nice for Lucas to see his kid.

If you need me, I'll be taking a shower after hearing Aiden explain that he's going to have Hope "dancing in the sheets." *shudders* Ugh, Aiden, we already have three total creeps on the loose. Wait your turn!

It's not the fault of the actors, but Rafe and Hope have been stopped and restarted so many times that the romance is super stale now. Keep them as detective partners and friends. But let's ice the romance. Isn't Carrie coming back to Salem soon, anyway, with a possible Latino baby? (Kidding....maybe...)

I forgot/didn't know Blanca was a nurse! I forgot that Dario and Eddie were on the show. But in a matter of minutes, their storylines are all reset. And that's for the best. All three actors deserve better material than what they've had so far.

Hope told Jennifer that she shot Stefano, bringing the list to: Roman, Rafe, Aiden, Jennifer, (kinda Abe), and Ghost Bo. The person she really should be telling is Justin because lady's gonna need a lawyer pronto.

It hasn't slipped my mind that Deimos has a lot to gain with Salem under attack. Not only did it get Nicole around him a lot more, but it caused a rift in the Kiriakis family, to which he's assigned himself as lead and savior. Hmm...

I adored the scenes between Abe and Theo. The fact that Abe retains his grace after all he's been through is a commendable accomplishment.

Aww! Joey helped the grown-ups think! That's cute.

The biggest problem with Sonny and Paul is that these two sweethearts are a hundred percent more interesting in scenes with other people. It's not that they're bad together. They're just super boring.

Thrady had a super adorable faux wedding (pssst, guys, Marlena is certified to marry people!) complete with Christmas lights that Brady just happened to have lying around. All of this cuteness makes me so, so worried for Theresa's future. I fear that other shoe will fall even harder now!

HOT

At their core, soaps are about families. And as much as I try to focus on things that happen on-screen, there's no way that this "Hot" could go to anyone other than the miraculous real-world soap family who rallied behind Arianne Zucker in light of the revolting situation she found thrust upon her last week.

So, here's to you, Arianne Zucker for your classy, well-said response. You are a model of decency and grace. It would have been easy to get down and play in that particular mud pit, but you didn't. And thank you to Shawn Christian, Billy Flynn, Chrishelle Stause, Tamara Braun, Martha Madison, Kyle Lowder, Eric Martsolf, Vincent Irrizary, Molly Burnett, Paul Telfer, Blake Berris, and all the other members of the soap family who tweeted, retweeted, or somehow spoke out about the ridiculous normalization of "locker room talk" by lining up directly behind Ari.

NOT: Most of the time, Brady is an okay dude. But when he dared to come at his dead-tired baby mama with accusations like, "Why didn't you wake me?" or, "I coulda done that, you know," in response to her doing all of the child care, the only appropriate response would have been for Theresa to knock his sorry punk face into next week. Listen, Bradster, those two ears of yours work just fine! Also, I'm sure all that time you spend at the gym means that you can get up on your own two feet and walk your daddy butt into that nursery like a champ. So don't you ever, ever offer up the whack excuse that you're not helping Theresa out because she didn't ask/wouldn't let you! Why I oughtta....

LINE OF THE WEEK: Andre (making a toast): "To the good guys winning!" Chad: "Wait, can you do that?" Ha! Andre was downright giggly at being on the right side of the law for once.

RANDOM THOUGHTS The real horror is that Salem is out of chowder!

Theresa was speaking to my soul with her rant about not showering and wearing spit-up chic. New moms unite!

I'm so shocked that someone walked in on Nicole and Dirty D. They were so discreet, using the Kiriakis living room for their love shack.

I didn't know Daniel's middle name was James. I could have sworn it was "the Great."

It's probably pretty foreign for a teenager to use a landline. No wonder Claire and Ciara looked at each other puzzled for a minute when the phones at the nurses' station started ringing.

Nice echo back to the panic room. Having Adrienne and Lucas in there, looking into a crib, helped seal the twist even more!

That champagne ensemble on Nicole is amazing, as was her tuxedo manicure.

Kayla's scarves are getting super fancy. She might ever get a spot in Charlie Brown's Christmas program.

Oatmeal gets a bad reputation. It's basically an excuse to eat yummy dessert things like cinnamon, sugar, raisins, baked apples, etc., for breakfast and have it filed under "healthy." Get on board!

I know that they've had a lot of weddings, but it seems like John and Marlena have always been together. Has either one had another truly believable love interest?

With all those secrets passageways and underground tunnels, it must be really hard to guard the D mansion.

Lest you forget John is a tough guy, he wears a gun harness at all times.

Again, I don't need the flashbacks of things that happened just a few episodes ago. Thanks but no thanks, DAYS.

If I never hear the word "obvi-o" again, I'll be fine. Thanks, Joe.

I sure hope the bomb didn't damage TBD so much that it needs a wallpaper renovation. That would be terrible. So, so terrible. Oh, so terrible. Terrrrrrriiible.

It's a shame Clyde had to leave so soon. I would have loved to see what could have happened if Kristen found out that Clyde was responsible for killing E.J., trying to kill Chad, and kidnapping Thomas. Something tells me you don't mess with her brothers.

That's all for this week, kids! Tony will be back next week to see how much of Deimos chloroforming Nicole and promising to deliver Theresa was an act. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an element of truth to it.

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