Spin, spin sugar

No doubt DAYS has been sweeter since the latest reboot began, but are the wheels spinning a bit in Salem lately? Plus, Nicole and Holly were reunited, and it felt so good! Let's talk the stalled, the sweet, and all the savory storylines in this week's DAYS Two Scoops!

Happy Holly DAYS, amIright!? The li'l Oracular Babe was finally reunited with Nicole. I can't imagine the joy Nicole must have felt. If Nicole needs to talk to someone who knows exactly how she feels, she should reach out to Sami, who lost Sydney for nearly/maybe over a year. Whoops. Awkward.

So, Nicole has Holly back (well, permission, we haven't seen the reunion yet). That was thanks to Brady playing hardball with the judge. It was nice to see Brady channel his recent poutiness for a good cause. And I'm merely glad this chapter is over. It needed to end. Another wrong corrected by the new writers -- and with "Nicole and Chloe hug" icing on the cake. I'm so glad they're friends again. Let's keep it that way, please and thank you.

Actually, Chloe is possibly the best damn friend ever. Evvverrr. Society should think about swapping the word "friend" with "Chloe." Like, "You're my best Chloe forever!" She not only lends her womb to a woman who once infected her with flesh-eating bacteria, but she also bails her ex out of a jam. By "jam," I mean Lucas woke up in a bed with Dead Anj, and Chloe jumped in to help him. Um, jumped into the situation, not the bed. That would be gross.

I, for one, loved them working together! I don't ever remember being a huge fan of Lucas and Chloe as a couple, but as friends and awkward exes, Lucas and Chloe are rocking it. Bryan Dattilo and Nadia Bjorlin are charming together. More, please!

I also liked how the entire Dead Anj thing is bringing a lot of characters together. Hope's now questioning "Adrienne" (Bonnie), and that led to an amusing introduction to the scene. More so, the deeper Hope and even Paul dig, the more likely they'll be part of uncovering the doppelgnger duo of deception storyline. It's not that it's a bad storyline -- the acting has been amazing, and it's been a much-needed dose of humor -- but the time is coming, perhaps has come, to move on. I'm ready. I'm ready for the fall's amped-up storylines, which lead to Sweeps. I'm even readier for the returns of some of my favorite characters. I'm just ready.

And if we're being real, nearly everything that happened last week simply seemed to be an extension of the previous week or, well, an extension of the previous week. Right! I know. It's a soap. It's supposed to be a continuing story, but hear me out...

As much as I'm generally enjoying the latest re-re-reboot, are things getting a little redundant? I'm talking about scenes and conversations, mostly. I feel like certain sets of characters have been having the same ones for weeks now. Yes, they're glossier and have a less depressing tone, and I love the renewed vibe from the actors, but I can't say the action is moving along swiftly at this point. Sure, we're in the summer months, still gearing toward said bigger fall storylines and Sweeps months, but my toe is tapping for solid action, OMG moments, and some exciting returns! And, of course, I'm an impatient bastard. So there's that nugget.

LOOSE ENDS: Andre and Hattie were kind of a hoot! Though Hattie needs to be careful. Andre knows both her and Marlena well. Hmm...

Trust us, J.J. and Lani! We wish we could forget about Miami, too. Maybe a safe start would be deleting that post-coitus selfie with a so-drunk-he-blacked-out J.J., right, Lani? Then we can talk boats. Sweet attempt at a scene, though. The actors sold it well; I'm just not exactly ready to buy La-JJ yet.

Two weeks ago, Raines was exposed as the bad guy. Last week, those who knew talked about it...a lot. And, well, that's about it.

Though Gabi is in hot water, as Raines walked in on her listening to a recording of him and Dario discussing their dastardly deeds. Darn it! Damn Dario and his deceitfulness getting Gabs into distress. I guess we'll have to wait a week -- or more if the characters take the time to talk about everything again -- to see how this plays out!

Speaking of wonky timelines, can we fast-forward a few months to when Kayla, Steve, and Tripp find peace? As it stands, this storyline isn't doing these characters any favors. Sure, sure. It had to be wrapped up. Joey had to go to jail, the acting has been amazing, etc., but the blame game and the "his son/our son" stuff are getting to be about as much fun as Dr. Dan references.

Yes, Theo. Say, "Yes!" to Tripp moving in. If he and Claire fall in love, I'll be your wing man, and we can go find you another girl, okay, bud? To make it even sweeter, I'll help you write a nasty Yelp review of the FroYo place that wouldn't hire you! Or we could ask Uncle Chad for some DiMera dough, buy the place, and fire the manager. See! Lots of fun stuff for you to have instead of Claire.

HOT Three cheers for Nicole getting Holly back! Sure, karma visited Nicole, but in the end, I'm glad things are working out. Well, with her and Holly. Things will still get messier with Brady and Eric, I suspect, but at least she's got her baby back. Woot!

NOT Hey, Last Week! Question. Did you mean to have almost the exact same Chad/Abigail/Sonny/Paul scenes as the week before? Just wondering. I mean, they were cute two weeks ago, but last week were they still? I mean. Were they?

LINE OF THE WEEK Hattie (to Bonnie): "I'm not a doctor, I just play one in Salem."

EXCHANGE OF THE WEEK Chloe (regarding Anjelica): "So, yeah, she wanted to stick it to Adrienne by having you stick it to her." Lucas: "She got stuck with the short end of the stick."

RANDOM THOUGHTS Maggie mentioned the Salem PD arrested a third innocent man in a month. Silly Mags. You've lived in Salem long enough to know that they arrest at least a dozen innocent people before the real culprit accidentally reveals themselves.

Deidre Hall is rocking the subtleties in Hattie's character pretending to be Marlena!

If Val was so upset about reporters harassing her outside of her house, why did she go to the town square!?

Though I'll give Val a break. She's a great friend and a doctor, and she delivers dinner to loved ones. Yes, please.

That icky judge said, "The law is the law, and feelings don't come into play." He's not wrong, but I wish he had gone with, "There's no crying in baseball."

Right. On topic with "icky." Uh, yeah. That John and Marlena vent thingy. I think they have 1-900 ads for that kind of stuff in the back of free local papers. It started from a good place. Kind of. We'll go with that. #No #uncomfortable

Claire said, "My grandma says, 'everything in life makes more sense if you start with a clean house.'" Totally agreed. But then again, I'm an anally retentive neat freak. Like, seriously, no wire hangers.

How much fun do you think Suzanne Rogers and Judi Evans had playing that Maggie/Bonnie scene!? It looked like they were having a blast.

Justin brought up Allie. You know, Lucas and Sami's daughter. Uh, yeah, about her, writers...

I wonder if Val and Julie will run into each other at Hallmark while looking for an apology card to get Eli.

I don't know what was more amusing -- Bonnie calling Hope "Fancy Face," or the look on Hope's face when she did!

Um, I think the new writers are forgetting something! August came and went, and there wasn't a girl's night out with Marlena, Valerie, Kayla, and Kate as promised. Once a month means once a month, pal.

PARTING THOUGHTS So, friends and fellow DAYS fans, that's Two Scoops for the week of September 4. Laurisa is finally back from not being held captive and replaced with a double next week, so be sure to have your party hats on to welcome her back, and "That's a fact!"

As always, thanks for reading! Tony

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