Walking in Memphis

Are Sami and Sonny the only ones behaving normally? Is that really Susan? And is Eve the best thing to happen to Deimos ever? Let's discuss it all in this edition of Two Scoops!

I'm enjoying the search for Will! It's well acted and involves a good chunk of the cast. Better yet, it's developing nicely into many storylines for the troop of Memphis-bound Salemites.

First, I have a bone to pick with pretty much everyone outside of Sonny and Sami. The staggering lack of urgency from the non-Samis/Sonnys really annoyed me last week. Sonny's husband/Sami's child might be alive. Oh, and the clues Sami was following led her to also wonder if her husband might be alive too. Yet everyone kept telling both of them to stay put. If my husband or kid were missing and I had a chance to find them, there's no way I'd take no for an answer either! I doubt any other Salemite would.

Yes, yes, I know it's the easy way out to blame Sami getting arrested on typical Sami behavior. But in this case, anything less than "Sami being Sami" would have been inappropriate.

Did I miss the detective team Hope sent to Memphis after the lead? Lucas, battling his own demons, is on his way to his third bar. Marlena has been pretty passive considering how much she adored Will. And John -- the man who just a few weeks ago broke into a mental institution and assaulted a staff member in an attempt to rescue Marlena -- sat there passing judgment on Sami ending up in handcuffs for demanding answers about Will. I guess since she didn't end up in a straitjacket like he did, there's something wrong with her? Sami's a hothead, for sure. But cool-headed Sonny even landed himself in the hospital because he was going after "Elvis" for answers. This situation warrants it. I didn't understand what was wrong with everyone not #TeamSamiandSonny

Second, Paul is basically the nicest dude in the history of ever. Sonny went full-on "The man that I love!" (note the present tense) in front of Paul, and the guy still stayed around, coordinating care for Sonny and probably even keeping up his Facebook posts so nosy people didn't start leaving him messages. Justin, Lucas, and John all had touching scenes with Paul, acknowledging the impossible situation in which Paul finds himself. I hope they all remember that when Paul probably turns to the sinister side to keep Sonny.

Then again, Paul's been such a saint so far, that "sinister" side might be writing a strongly worded letter to Sonny where the "i"s aren't dotted with hearts.

Finally, we got the return of a legend. Susan Banks is back! (Oh, and Elvis showed up.) Problem is, I have a sneaking suspicion that shotgun-wielding loon isn't Susan. It was hard enough to believe she split from Edmund and became buddies with Rolf. But when she said, "He's dead...just like the king," my spidey senses went into overdrive. There's no way Susan would ever entertain the idea that Elvis is dead. That's the whole reason E.J. actually exists.

So that leaves Kristen. When the news broke that Eileen Davidson would be bringing back Susan, my response was, "Cool! -- and..." because, come on, you don't bring back the Eileen Davidson just for Susan. Kristen couldn't just show up in Salem without an ally. With E.J. and Stefano both "dead," that leaves her short of people who would cover for her. So she'd have to come up with her own.

And maybe take over DiMera Enterprises in the process.

Theo's level of insufferability goes down quite a bit when he's paired with his DiMera relatives. I always love his scenes with Chad. But I liked his scenes with Kate too.

Look, the ship sailed on Theo being better than to lie to people when he set up the whole Ciara/Wyatt thing and kept quiet about it. So we need to stop pretending like Theo might biologically combust if someone asks him to keep a secret. That's not at all to say he is malicious -- he's one of the most pure people on the show! But Kate was right when she told him that not everyone needs to know everything at once.

For once, I believe Kate when she says that she wants to protect DiMera Enterprises and Chad. Sure, it helps her bottom line too. But there are a lot easier ways for Kate to get rich than to have to constantly deal with phone calls from the board. And those are a lot of phone calls because you know those fools still won't show their faces!

Plus, this storyline has me intrigued to see who's sabotaging Kate's deals. At the beginning of the week, I was ready to bet every last dollar I had on Kate beating out whoever it was. But now that Kristen is a real possibility, the scales evened out. Who would Chad side with? Where would Andre's loyalty go? And will this all be moot when Chad's six months of dead-guy probation ends next month?

LOOSE ENDS: A VERY SPECIAL HALLOWEEN EDITION: This. Was. So. Fun!

I figured out it was a dream about six minutes into the episode when Abigail let Chad make a decision "without even talking to [her] first."

I almost LOLed when Chad said Ben escaped...again. That seemed totally believable.

The haunting idea of Jeneric makes me long for the days of Serena and Eric.

Serena does have a legit beef with Chad and Abigail. I can't argue with her stance that Ben went off the deep end because Abs cheated on him. Now, that doesn't excuse what Ben did. But I can see why Serena would have a bit of an issue with Abs, you know, since it cost her her life and all.

Man, Casey Moss and True O'Brien packed a heckuvalota chemistry into their short moment.

True O'Brien has crazy down to a science (and an Emmy to prove it).

Gina was right. That lipstick color was not good. At least Cersei Lannister had a color that worked.

Mary Beth Evans creeped me out. I mean that as a total compliment.

No way I believe Dr. Rolf is actually dead.

This is totally superficial, but Melissa Archer looked f-l-a-w-l-e-s-s.

This stand-alone episode gives me high hopes for the Christmas episode!

LOOSE ENDS: In addition to Xander being free, I'm going to credit Bonnie with also breaking up Lucas and Adrienne. I do like Lucas, but Adrienne belongs with Justin. I'm thrilled they're back together.

I think it's weird that J.J. is all "Mr. Mayor" with Abe, since Abe is supposedly this great family friend. However, I agree with Abe regarding J.J. losing his cool. Abe knows cops. And I trust his judgment when it comes to one that may have problems.

I like Gabi and Eli, but I'm thinking Eli and Gabi should maybe go out on a few more dates before he starts taking over daddy duties for Arianna. Though he is Arianna's cousin (does he know that?), so I guess technically he's okay to assume family duties.

At least Theo's judgmental streak evolved to include people beyond Claire. It turns out everyone who dresses up for Halloween is an idiot. I'll be sure to tell Thomas and Chad that.

I'm glad Lucas came to Memphis. I needed a Lumi scene.

HOT: When Eve first returned, I thought they were stress-testing her character. First that horrid moany theme music, and then she's attached to Deimos? Ugh, how much obnoxious baggage does one diva need?

Turns out, I was wrong. In one short scene with Eve, Deimos was the Deimos he always should have been. They were right when they paired Kate and Deimos. But his relationships with both Chloe and Nicole were problematic on so many levels. Eve course-corrected back to the Deimos he was with Kate. It was fabulous to get a small glimpse into what should have been. I also adore that Eve so flippantly said she took advantage of Deimos. Ha! It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy! Go on, Eve!

But Eve didn't stop at manipulative gold-digger. As soon as Maggie mentioned Ben, you could see the horror in Eve's face. The fact that the pushy diva and the heartbroken mama could both believably exist in the same creature is a total credit to the great Kassie DePaiva.

NOT: Last week, we picked out some Halloween costumes for the DAYS family. We should have just dressed Abigail up as "elite privilege." I was floored when she came into the police station -- after a longer-than-appropriate break for "wedding planning" -- to quit. You see, she'd taken the job earlier because she wanted to stand on her own two feet and not depend on anyone's money. But she's so over that noise now and ready to be unemployed while she searches for her passion. Yeah, get a paper route, Abs. And maybe a clue. The rest of us have to work while we look for our passions. I realize a lot of soap characters don't work. But for Abigail to float in on her princess cloud to announce that she's not going to work was lame. Super lame.

In fact, the only thing more ridiculous than Abigail's clueless moment was Sami asking Lucas to drink. What in the world, Sammers?! Are you serious? Lucas' drinking has been played for laughs a lot to this point, so I can't say I'm completely surprised the show is still being so flippant about a mental illness. But still, Sami, that shiz was so out of line, you can't even see the field anymore. I'll thank you to never, ever do that to your supposed best friend again.

LINE OF THE WEEK: Tripp (to Claire): "Do you think that when you think about seeing me naked, you can avoid the words 'no big deal'?" Tripp and Claire can't start soon enough.

Honorable mention: Eve: "I'm a widow now. Widows don't have shenanigans." Eve is giving me everything Nicole Walker hasn't been for years.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: I never understood what people see in candy corn -- especially if there is perfectly good chocolate available.

The bigger the hat, the bigger the diva. Welcome back, Kassie!

Memphis is not as cool as Salem. No gold rims on their glassware.

I've never been able to get into J.J. and Lani. But I really like Sal Stowers. In my text conversation with Tony, we toyed with the idea of Brady and Lani. They could have a fun silver spoon prince vs. scrappy hard-luck kid. Thoughts?

That's all for this week! Tony will be back next week to see if that's really Will behind the bar and just what exactly "Jen Ream" bourbon taste like.

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