Black Knight

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!

Indeed, oceanblue. Heck, that's the exact advice Kayla gave Abby's mom (although of course Jen ignored it). The smart thing is to hope that Sami is satisfied with the pound of flesh she's extracted, and really, I think she probably is satisfied. Antagonizing her, running the risk of provoking her into more revenge, is just stupid. Did Jordan think her words would make Sami see the error of her ways or something?

Yeah, especially since we've seen that she doesn't set Sami off that much. She's pulled her punches when it comes to Abby. She could have had Ann haul Abby in for an embarrassing hearing and firing, for maximum damage, but instead she gave the situation to Abby's aunt to handle and let Abby resign. When Abby is ranting on at her, Sami's mostly been amused in a dismissive fashion, much like one would be with a tiny dog yapping about your ankles. Even the way she gave Abby a few light smacks rather than a full-on slap...it's very clear that Sami knows that Abby is not up to her level at all, and is tailoring her actions accordingly, and that makes it work for me. In a weird way, it's almost like a parent teaching a kid a lesson (something Jennifer should have done and failed). That's how it came across with Jordan too. Jordan is a nonentity for Sami, but if she's going to be dumb enough to confront someone way above her fighting weight (and about something that's not even her business), then Sami is going to put her in her place. Sami's attitude with EJ is very different, and I don't just mean that annoying subtext that she might decide to forgive him eventually. She's not pulling her punches with him. And she took protective measures by finding and destroying the incriminating evidence he had on her, precisely because he is a legitimate threat. And their scene together showed that it's as I thought - she's waiting for him to threaten her first with the evidence, before she lets him know she already destroyed it. Smart. She's giving him the rope with which to hang himself.

I think somebody non-creepy would not have gone along with Sonya's request, recognizing it as deeply fucked up. I'm not commenting on auto-eroticism in general, but Sonya's sister was raped and strangled. She was quite clearly trying to put herself in her sister's position at that moment, like it was the only way she could think of to keep a tie to her now that Dobbs is dead, and that is deeply fucked up. And the guy she is asking this of, the guy she wants to simulate the murder, is the rapist/killer's brother to boot, which for him makes the role-playing especially loaded to take part in. I think a normal person would have been completely turned off and jumped up all WTF? instead of going along. "Why yes, I would love to role-play my brother's rape and murder of another woman with her sister." I was sort of expecting Lyle Lovett to tell Charlotte that Fausto would be satisfied with just killing Ray, and I had no doubt at all Charlotte would be like, "I'll shoot him myself right now." Ray really doesn't know Charlotte, does he? I burst out laughing when he said something about how they'd eventually upgrade to a big trailer. Not like Charlotte was onboard with the picture he'd been painting up to then, but he really lost her at that point. Hee.

I'm worried too that the show will have Sami forgive EJ and take him back, but at least she certainly did not just excuse him for everything, blame Abby for everything, and visit her wrath only on Abby. She's already done far worse to EJ than she has to Abby. Abby has had to listen to some insults and harsh truth-telling, and lost her job. EJ was arrested based on evidence we've been told is airtight and is looking at a trial and prison sentence; meanwhile, his company has been taken from him and Sami is selling or giving away everything he cares about. (And, his reaction when he learned from Victor about what Sami did proves, again, that all his blather to Sami about how he doesn't care about his company was just him trying to flatter Sami.) Yeah, I wasn't clear on what Kate was doing until afterwards when she told Sami that she'd been having fun twisting the knife in Abby. Because KM sure gave me no sign of that. Jordan...I had to laugh at her butting in on Sami and Abby's business. And Sami even said that to her. And yeah, Sami hasn't been friendly with Jordan, but we saw from her conversation with Kate earlier that that's just because she doesn't really tend to be friendly in general - she told Kate Jordan was not even on her radar. The dumbass should have kept her mouth shut. There was no need for her to involve herself in somebody else's fight, but since she and Abby were both trying to do the annoyingly smug superiority thing (and I find it especially stupid when they try to affect that attitude over Jordan and Rafe's relationship, because, please - Jordan and Rafe have been together what, a few months? Rafe and Sami were involved for years, and were married, so, you know, call back when you're past the initial phase and then maybe you can try to compare relationships), I'm glad Sami shut them up. With the truth, as it happens. I'm sure Jordan will focus all her anger on Rafe and will let Kate skate, right? Right? As for Chrishell Stause, Jordan is not a well-written part, but Stause could bring more to it, I feel. I watched her on AMC too and I know what she can do. She isn't an awesome actress, but she was competent and she has plenty of charisma when she wants to turn it on. My guess is that she felt she was destined for better than soaps and is disappointed that she's had to take another soap role, so she's not trying.

The Quinns are creeping me out. Sophia is not malicious, but her being "maybe we can keep Callie" in exactly the same way as she was all "I want some pants like Callie's!" earlier in the episode...oof. Callie is a person, not a pair of pants or even a puppy. Sophia clearly has problems of her own - how happy can she really be in that home if she's saying that it might be better for her not to have been born? It makes me wonder how good of parents the Quinns have really been to her. At the very least, they've spoiled her rotten, that's for sure. Jill's talk with Jude made me think that she's had a conversation with Robert that made her aware that he's wanting to keep Callie, and so was looking for dirt on the Fosters that can be used. Asking about why Callie ran away from the Fosters is a natural place to start. And finally, Robert. I don't fault him for having feelings about having discovered a daughter he never knew and not necessarily wanting to give that up. What I do fault him for is his lack of honesty. Initially, when he claimed that he was just waiting for the family lawyers to give the go-ahead on his signing his termination of parental rights paperwork because they wanted to first ensure that Callie would have no rights to the family fortune, which is exactly what his signing the termination paperwork would also do, I was a little iffy but ultimately put it down to sloppy writing. But now he's taking Callie (and her brother) out for a day, and pushing her to accept a college fund? Those are exactly the sorts of things his family lawyers wouldn't want him to do right now. I think what Robert is doing is laying groundwork. Callie accepting the college fund, and spending time with him and his family, can be used for him to argue against terminating his parental rights. And what Sophia said about giving Callie time to get to know them, I think he's had that in the back of his mind all along. Her plan is what he's already been doing. Presumably Jill, after finding out from Stef that Robert was sitting on the paperwork, had a conversation with him and found this out. And she's backing up her husband, however conflicted she may feel about it. As for Sophia, I'm sure Robert knows Sophia well enough to know that she'd want to keep Callie just like a puppy. And again, I'm not faulting the guy for having emotions about wanting to keep the daughter he's just learned about. But I do not like his lack of honesty about it. His pushing Callie about the college fund is what really stepped over the line for me. If his family lawyers are comfortable with him giving her a college fund - yeah right - then they're certainly comfortable about him signing the termination paperwork. I understand his feelings, but it's Callie's life he's affecting here and he needs to be upfront with her about it instead of stringing her (and her brother, and the Fosters) along with nonsense about the lawyers not letting him sign paperwork. But I know in the end Callie will stay with the Fosters. One thing I do notice getting said often by posters, and it bothers me a little, is that Callie won't leave because she wouldn't leave Jude. It seems to be turning the conflict into sort of a Jude vs. Brallie thing, and I don't think that's accurate. Remember, Callie was prepared to do independent living so she could be with Brandon while Jude would be adopted by the Fosters. I think Callie made it very clear last season that this was actually a Brandon vs. Stef/Lena thing for her. She chose Stef and Lena over Brandon. Callie wants her moms, and one of the things she pointed out when she talked to Brandon about it was that Brallie would invalidate her Foster family connection in important ways. And, for Brallie to happen, it's not just about running out the clock until Callie is 18 as Brandon proposed last season. Adoption isn't restricted to minors. Even if Robert refuses to sign the termination paperwork, Callie can still be legally adopted by Stef and Lena once she comes of age, and Robert could not prevent it then. I was adopted as an adult myself, actually, because yes, my stepmom was my mom emotionally...but having her be my legal mother was important to me as well. (I was told by my uncle, a family court judge, that he saw a lot of adult adoptions like that, people who wanted their stepparents to be their legal parents.) It carried emotional significance for us, and it was also important in a pragmatic sense - should I have a serious medical crisis, heaven forbid, my biological mother doesn't have standing to make decisions, my legal mother does. My biological mother's rights were gone once I was adopted, and unlike Callie, because I was an adult, I didn't need her permission (and believe me, if she'd had any say, she would have stopped it). When Callie turns of age, if she's still unadopted because of Robert or whatever other roadblocks the show devised in the meantime, it's still important that she be adopted then. Or her moms have no say in a medical crisis and Robert does. I would be all right with an open adoption for Callie if not for Robert's shadiness about this whole thing. If he'd just been upfront with her about not being sure that he wants to sign away his rights, instead of making excuses to delay the process while he works to get into her affections and lays groundwork for a legal fight, all the while assuring her that he'll sign the paperwork so she can be adopted like she wants...Callie's had the rug pulled out from her enough times already. She deserves honesty, and he's not giving her that. In his own way, he's being as ignorant of the fact that Callie is a person, not a possession, as Sophia is. But Sophia is like 14 years old and quite spoiled. Robert is an adult who should know better.

I don't see Sami losing, anyway. The show will have her leave on some kind of high note, although their definition of high note may differ wildly from mine (i.e. they have her get back together with EJ and they leave Salem happily together). She'll take her lumps, and lose a battle here or there, but the show isn't going to have her slink out of town down and destroyed. This is AS we're talking about - she's been there for 21 years, she's been one of the leading ladies for much of that time, and her outside gigs have helped bring some attention to the show. I can't stop laughing at Abby's reaction now that she's finally had a real-world consequence for her actions. All her verbal attempts to take responsibility really were as half-hearted, and mostly to get positive reinforcement from her sycophants, as I suspected.

Yes, I could see Abby being down with conjugal visits too. Which would be awesome because Jen would have an absolute fit. Her princess of a daughter hooked up with a jailed mobster...just what every mother wants!

Like Sami would care if Abby went after EJ, seeing as how she plans for EJ to be going to prison anyway. However, the rest of Salem would have to shut up about Abby just being a victim of EJ's manipulation, so there's that. So go ahead Abby, chase EJ around some more! Snerk. EJ wouldn't leave Sami for Abby, and wouldn't even keep Abby as his mistress. So, sure, if Abby wants to aspire to being EJ's sidepiece once again while he tries to win Sami back, and would dump Abby's ass the nanosecond Sami agreed to take him back...why not? Let her embarrass herself some more.

Yes, I'm sure the readers of his article will have lots of sympathy for an employee who knowingly violated hospital policy with an firable offense, and not for something admirable like breaking a rule in order to help a sick patient, but to have sex with an engaged man. I actually don't think Will can put it in his article, since one of his goals is to keep Abby from being embarrassed, and if he writes about Abby being fired, he has to write why Abby was fired.

I've never seen this much handwringing...hell, I don't think I've ever seen handwringing, period, by anyone other than the cheaters themselves over an affair being exposed on a soap. It's just really bizarre to me that most everyone is far more concerned that Sami's told people about Abby and EJ cheating than about anything else. Sami didn't even do it in the spectacularly public fashion most of us had been expecting! She went to confront Abby privately, and Jen walked in, so that's how she found out. Then Sami told her son and son-in-law, and Ben. I'm not saying she had nice motives or that she didn't enjoy freaking Jen out and trying to throw a wrench into Abby and Ben's whatever, but all this handwringing and pearl-clutching over a few private conversations when I'd been expecting a slideshow at the wedding or a video being played at the gala or photos splashed all over the tabloids! And what difference has it even made, since Abby's gotten nothing but support and love and understanding from everyone? So why get upset that Sami told people about the affair? Abby's somehow managed to get through it with her (undeserved) reputation for piety and goodness intact.