Black Knight

They did sleep together once, after they got engaged. Nicole was making her first attempt at telling Eric the truth after Daniel found out and insisted, and in classic soap opera fashion he misinterpreted what she was saying and started kissing her to comfort her or show her how much he loves her or some such. I forget. But they ended up having RHMS, and Nicole decided after that that there was no way she was going to tell Eric the truth.

Thanks, oceanblue, for helping us out! I'm still so confused, but that's not your fault - it's clearly a nonsensical plot written by crack monkeys. Except when Sami destroyed incriminating evidence as soon as she found it. No inexplicably holding onto it, stashing it away in a "safe" place, for her. Other than that? I got nothing. I guess it's the exception that proves the rule.

Game of Thrones, Walder Frey. When threatened with the murder of his wife, he responded, "I'll find another." I think Stahma really screwed up when she not only didn't reassure her henchman, she threatened him. She's getting a little too power-drunk, and it's making her not as careful as she has been up to now. Kenya definitely feels off to me. Something about her behavior here, although I suppose that could be written off as shock, but also the Stahma factor: If this really is Kenya, Stahma did her no favors by sparing her life. If Stahma cared enough about Kenya to refuse to kill her, you'd think she'd also take some minimal measures to give the spared Kenya a slightly better life than being held hostage, mistreated and beaten up by thugs. If she didn't care enough to ensure Kenya would be okay, she wouldn't care enough to spare her life in the first place. I think the real Kenya is dead.

I second that. Why is he not, y'know, escaping? Maybe everyone is FFing the scenes? If so, I propose that we hold a (virtual) round of choosing straws, and one "lucky" person will have to watch the scenes so that s/he can explain them to the rest of us.

I'm thinking that Kristen and Daniel will have sort of a Jan/Shawn-in-the-cage thing while Eric, in order to avoid Nicole, turns to Jen. Kate knows she can get men. And just look at her - of course she can get a man. She's more attractive than many of the younger women.

How ironic that at the moment he's left the priesthood (well, decided not to re-enter it, I guess) he appears to be buying into the more reactionary wing of said priesthood. Namely, it's all Nicole's fault that she's an attractive woman who makes Eric want her so much that he can't stay a priest even though he really wants to. The only reason he's not actually saying, "Get thee behind me, Eve!" is because there's already an Evil Eve in Salem.

Kayla probably realizes Marlena doesn't care that much. I mean, sure, she's happy to lecture Sami, but only when she doesn't have something else going on. Notice I didn't write "something more important" going on, because everything is more important to Marlena than Sami.

Ha! And sadly, the fake tree is more sentient than Rafe...

GV is looking so good right now in that suit. How can Eric be such a bore?! Well... <desperately searching for a silver lining> ... maybe now that he's been cleared and has turned down the priesthood of his own free will, maybe, just maybe, we can finally move along to something more interesting to watch? Or will we just have 87 more rounds of Nicole begging him to take her back and him resisting even though he wants her? Zzzzz... Good lord, Rafe is dumb. I know that's not breaking news or anything, but Jordan connected all the dots for him (and called him "naive" to boot) and he still just blinked and mumbled his way through a defense of Kate. The dude was married to Sami for quite a while - shouldn't he be just a little faster to pick up on when a woman is scheming merrily away? Kate, seriously, what does she see in this guy? I know he's very, very pretty, but Kate strikes me as the sort of woman who would like to be able to have an intelligent conversation with her partner every now and again. Speaking of... Yes, it is hilarious. I cracked up when Kate said to EJ that Samantha is living with her now. And in context, it was really kind of a strange thing for her to say since she and Sami are just platonic frenemies/partners in crime - they're not living together living together. I think one of the writers is bored/annoyed by having to write Sami as in love with EJ and Kate as in love with Rafe - two worthless, pointless men who are nowhere near the awesomeness of either woman - and so is having a little fun. And thanks to that writer, as well, for Kate's speech where she talked sense into Sami. When she pointed out how pathetic Sami would be if she took EJ back, I cheered. Just because she has her own ulterior motives doesn't make what she said incorrect. I loved how mad EJ got at her.

Emily's utter hatred of Jenna, the way she goes psycho over anything Jenna-related, never fails to crack me up. And, since Ali was asking Jenna earlier in the show how she'd managed to win Shana over to her side...I can't help it, it renewed my hopes for some Emily/Jenna HateSex (I know we're supposed to think Emily hates Jenna because of Toby, but I've always thought it's more complicated than that, that it has to do with being attracted to Jenna when she really doesn't want to be), which Ali finds out about and absolutely freaks thinking this means she's lost Emily to Jenna. I really liked Ella/Zach and I'm very grumpy that PLL threw them away for a two-episode storyline. Byron was sweet at the end, but he cheated on Ella too, so I don't want to see Ella go back to him after she's been cheated on by a second man. Why couldn't the show just let Ella be happy with Zach? Sigh. The four brunettes with their sunglasses was everything. I was disappointed Emily took hers off. I don't care that it made sense for her to take her sunglasses off, that whole scene should've been them with their sunglasses.

I think that's why the show made sure to have us see Kate making derogatory comments about board members as Will recorded her. That's going to be the sticking point for the board. If it weren't for Kate unintentionally on record dripping scorn, then the board would be like, "Oh, well played. Not ethical, but you've made us a fortune, so whatever. We're more impressed by what you pulled off in taking over than upset." But as you said later, Kami only plan to be there for six months anyway, so big deal. They'll have to field some nasty phone calls from board members, I guess. They can handle it. Ooo, Sami flashbacks. I want to see the epic slap by Carrie, because that never gets old. I want a moment from ALL of her weddings - also the moment when Austin opened her closet door and started pulling out all her wedding dresses. I want the moment when she electrocuted herself that turned her from GoodSami back into RealSami, because the SFX for it were hilarious. I want the Lumi "When A Man Loves a Woman" marriage proposal. And I want each and every time she shot somebody. For starters. God, the flashback sequence could be absolutely amazing if the show puts any effort into it. I thought it was Nicole's attempt to blend in with the nuns. Which is hilarious. And boes, I live for your daily "recaps!"

Seriously. I don't actually ship Kami romantically; I much prefer them as Platonic Cohabitating Life Partners in Crime. But pretending that the reason Kate and Sami are sniping at each other about Rafe is because each really wants the other woman for herself is the only way I'm able to tolerate the Rafe stuff. Yes, #2 especially is the problem. Kate, Theresa, Sami and Eve can all do as much as Nicole has and worse because they all have family on the show, even if their family isn't necessarily the most supportive or loving. It keeps such characters sustainable because at least their relatives will still talk to them, and because it explains why they stay in town even when they're total pariahs. Nicole, I look at her right now and wonder why she doesn't just take herself to NYC to start a fabulous new life, or go live wherever her brother currently is. If they're not going to give her any family, fine, she needs a best friend. She needs someone to be her person. Somebody other than Dr. Dan, please.

It's not about the board being embarrassed by EJ. (They are going to be embarrassed, but what they're going to be embarrassed by are Kate's derogatory comments about them.) But he got fooled. That's embarrassing for EJ, but not for the board. But it will make the board feel that EJ's judgment isn't to be trusted - if he can be fooled by Kami, he can be fooled by others, and that makes him a liability. That's life in the corporate world. Yes, hostile takeovers happen all the time, but somebody who lets it happen is seen as weak. Look how much this has cost EJ. This time around, it's only cost EJ, because of how Kami are running the business (to dump all EJ's subsidiaries while maximizing profits for themselves and the board members), but there's no guarantee that would be the case the next time EJ got fooled...next time it might cost the board too. They will have no confidence in EJ. So yeah, EJ can't complain to them, because at least right now he still has professional credibility in their eyes and once they find out about the Kami scheme, he has none. So what's the point of complaining? They wouldn't give him control. Get her away from Eric, for starters. I think she would need a new character altogether for a love interest because all the available options on the canvas would drag her down nearly as much as Eric has. In the short term, I'd have her become part of Kami's plotting, and that way, when Sami leaves, Nicole is still partnered with Kate for snarky awesomeness. (And it would have the bonus of giving Kate something interesting to do while she plods through this horrid Rafe/Jammy storyline.) I know Kate and Nicole have a history, but if Kami can work together, Kate and Nicole sure can.

Interestingly, Kayla did have an appropriate reaction for a nanosecond. She thanked Sami for telling her about EJabby (oh, so it's not necessarily a terrible thing for Sami to reveal the affair to people?) and said she would talk to Abby. Of course, she then added "and Jennifer" and then went on to be all "oh poor Jen," at which point Sami made her hilarious deadpan comment about how Jen was her first thought too. CaughtOnTape - at least Sami called Jen out on getting with Dan before Jack's body was even cold. If Jen keeps annoying her, Sami just might say the rest of what you want, too! One of the ridiculous things about this uproar over Abby losing her job is that Sami's actually being criticized for handling it decently. She could have just told Ann about the affair, or waited for Ann to find out about it, which she would have eventually. Ann, as HR head, would have known immediately that Abby would need to be fired per company policy. And she would've dragged Abby in for a formal hearing and investigation, and then had her ass escorted out by security immediately upon her termination, as companies do. Instead, Sami turned the situation over to Abby's own aunt to handle. She certainly knew that Kayla would handle it in a much more circumspect fashion, less personally embarrassing to Abby. I doubt Kayla's request to let Abby resign, which Sami agreed to readily, came as a surprise. It's Kayla's own fault that this got ugly, because she refused to fulfill her professional obligations until Sami a) brought up the donation b) pointed out she could just have Ann handle it, complete with embarrassing hearing. More than anything, that just demonstrated why Kayla should not be supervising employees who are family members. Or anyone, really, because if it becomes known to other employees that she won't discipline family members, then one of two things happens: Either Kayla doesn't discipline any employee, and workplace behavior goes absolutely to hell, or the next time she disciplines a non-related employee, they have a great case against her.

Yup, that was fun. I liked Sami's dress a lot. Even more, I liked the way it sort of coordinated with Kate's outfit once Kate changed out of her robe. Black with white trim for Sami; white with black trim for Kate.

Will baffles me, really. I mean, I think it's sort of amusing that he's proving himself his mother's son in the very way he's talking about how she needs to be taught a lesson and his plaaaaan will do that, but...over Abby? Really? I understand why Sami is out to punish Abby and EJ. I've usually understood over the years why she was out to get this or that person. I don't understand why Will is out to get Sami - especially when he's dragging his grandmother into it - over Abby. I've never seen Will and Abby as cousins who are close. A mother and a grandmother trump a not-close cousin. Abby is the one who was in the wrong, and Will started on this tear just because Sami confronted her about it. He immediately handed Abby the same excuses and get-out-of-jail-free cards as everyone else, like Abby is his sister and Sami is the one who's a distant cousin. Huh? With a better actor in the role, I could buy that this isn't really about Abby, this is just a convenient excuse for Will to get revenge on his mother for various times he's been hurt by her over the years. And that would be emotionally complex and interesting to watch. But I'm not getting that from this extremely limited actor. His face doesn't help, either; when his face goes into that particular "intense" expression it just looks like a face I want to slap. Like Sami did.

Beach Blonde, they've explained that a few times. EJ and Stefano are not going to the board to tell them that Sami and Kate made up those letters they read because that would make EJ and Stefano look like idiots. Because they did legitimately sign over their proxies, they fell for everything Sami and Kate said, and so they'd lose their own credibility as sharp businessmen in the board's eyes. It does appear that Will is planning on using what Kate said in his article, so the board will know soon enough that Kate and Sami fooled them. But while that'll hurt Kami with the board, it's not going to make EJ look any better to them. He got played. They wouldn't want him back running the company, because if he can get played like this by Kami, then who knows what other errors he'll make? These are businessmen. "Hostile takeover" and such isn't dirty business to them, it's just good business. EJ running to the board to whine to them about how Sami got him to sign over his proxy to her and then used it to put herself in the CEO seat? This isn't a playground. The board aren't teachers who'll step in and give EJ his toy back. They'd want to do something about Kami - although more because Kate laughed and laughed to Will about the board members than because Kami played Stefano and EJ - but EJ would look very weak in their eyes and quite unfit to retake his place in the company. EJ knows this, and that's why he's not saying anything to the board.

When Sami said that to Adrienne, I seriously wondered whether one of the writers reads this board. Because I could swear a poster said something like that a while back... Adrienne is a character who automatically gets a huge, huge amount of tolerance from me because Judi Evans was one-half of my favorite soap couple of all time, Jake and Paulina on Another World, and so it's nearly impossible for me to hate any character she plays...but Adrienne managed it today. When she left the manse, she was skating on thin ice for me, but at least the ice existed. Then she made that ridiculous call to Will. Sit the fuck down, Adrienne. That said, the scene between her and Sami, the sit-down, was just so well-acted by JE and AS that it was a real pleasure for me to watch. Also, as much as I evil-giggled when Sami pulled her stunt, I do think that she miscalculated, if her purpose was to get Adrienne to empathize with her. I don't just mean the alienation factor that happened, I mean that it actually wasn't even necessary, because when Sami finished telling Adrienne about supporting Abby through the pregnancy, I really felt like that did strike a real chord in Adrienne. She did not look like someone who was still planning on lecturing Sami about her conduct or defending Abby. But Sami's her own worst enemy. Kami having breakfast together was awesome - we need a lot more of these Kami-living-together scenes. I could watch entire episodes of nothing but. If only they weren't so stupidly caught up with Rafe! I agree Sami doesn't truly want Rafe back, although I think she'd bang him in an instant just so she could toss it in EJ's face afterwards, but thinking that he wants to be with her was straight-up delusional. Kate has the same delusion of Rafe wanting to be with her, unfortunately. I guess Sami's slightly ahead of her - but only slightly - in the delusion department because at least she doesn't really want Rafe back, while Kate does for some bizarre reason. (Also because I figure tomorrow will be the end of Sami's thoughts in that direction, while Kate unfortunately looks to be stuck in this stupid story with Rafe and Jammy and Bollie for the foreseeable future.) The Rafe is harshing my Kami buzz! Their awesomeness takes a huge dive whenever Rafe enters the picture. Kami FTW: Just look at their outfits once Kate got dressed, how they sort of coordinated, Sami rocking black with white trim while Kate is in white with black trim. They need to get some martinis and stroll through Horton Square arm-in-arm just like that. Meanwhile, Will's shirt was so awful that I couldn't pay attention to half of what he said. Which is a good thing.

So he borrowed the idea from Natalie Martinez, then, since I'm pretty sure that's what she did. Linda was supposed to jump out of the way but Martinez wouldn't budge... I also am watching this show for the eyerolls and giggles. Norrie is becoming my hero, though, because sometimes she's saying exactly what I'm thinking: "Do you hit on literally everyone?"

I think we had that, in the scene where Nicole and Eric were tussling and then the sexual tension got thick.

Awwwww, Kami and their texts to each other! Come on you two, it's time to realize that you're the supercouple and you don't need Rafe, EJ, etc. Another thing that keeps cracking me up is when somebody comments about what Sami has turned into. Kayla was all "You've really become a DiMera, haven't you?" last week and Abby was telling Sami that she's turning into a monster. Uh, hello? Did they just meet Sami yesterday after a lifetime spent under a rock? Sami was wreaking havoc for 20 years before she finally got together with EJ, and her reaction to being cheated on was utterly predictable based on that track record. Although, maybe that explains why Abby was so stupid as to go after Sami's fiance in the first place. (Although his being a mobster obsessed with his fiancee should also have been a giant deterrent.) Sami's comment about the kiddie pool cracked me up. I agree, she was actually nicer with JJ than she's been with the others, because while he's a dumbass, he's a dumbass kid, while the rest are dumbass adults. I liked their brief bit of bonding when he said he wanted to punch EJ, Sami said she'd pay real money to see that, and JJ smiled back at her before remembering she's teh Evul. I thought it was interesting that Sami admitted that he was right about Will. That's one thing that keeps me on her side in the confrontations; she keeps telling the truth. Which reminds me, when she was pointing out that she's paid for the things she's done, I was hoping she'd bring up how she herself was banned from working at the hospital. Remember that? After her fooling around with paternity tests they quite rightly stopped letting her volunteer there. Heh. So this really is no more than the same thing Sami herself got.

Oh god, Colleen. Whenever anyone brings up that storyline, all I can think of is when EmotionlessJawn licked his own mother's tear off his finger. After, of course, the billionth recon of his backstory...

Yep, that's what I'm thinking of when I say I want to see her go out on a high note. I want her to leave happy and triumphant, with her kids and not with EJ. And then I want Salem to throw a party because they're so fucking relieved that she's not around to destroy them anymore. Heh. Speaking of, wasn't it funny when Kayla handed Abby the employee policy handbook and Abby was all confused initially about what the moral conduct section could possibly have to do with her. As much as she claims to take responsibility, that she knows what she did was wrong...she really doesn't believe it in her little Holy Horton Heart.

Yes, she wants to hurt Abby, although not as much as she could hurt Abby. But that's an entirely separate thing. She's hurting Abby for having slept with her fiance. But these individual confrontations where Abby and others yap at her and try to act smug and superior and threatening? You can see how seriously she's taking those from her demeanor and what she says - the smirks and so forth. Heck, she couldn't even be bothered to slap Abby across the face properly. And that's the best case scenario - dismissive amusement - for these people confronting her. Worst case scenario is that they do upset her enough that she decides to do more damage. She's sitting on that reorganization plan of Ann's, after all, which Ann specifically mentioned started with the PR department. She can make Jen's life so very miserable if she wants, if the Hortons annoy her enough. Speaking of Ann, dare I hope that the surgeon she wanted Sami to do something about is Dr. Dan? Could a reckoning finally be coming for all his unprofessional behavior with his patients?

It just amuses me. Like, what exactly does JJ think he's accomplishing? Does he believe Sami gives a shit that he's upset that she's telling the truth about what his sister did? Does he believe he has any power whatsoever to sway her? It's utterly pointless. These confrontations by people who are no match for her are hilarious to watch because Sami gives them all the seriousness they deserve - i.e. none. She's just amused, throws out a verbal smackdown to remind them what idiots they are, and sashays on her way to continue ruling the world with Kate. Kami FTW!