Black Knight

I'm worried for Carolyn. It seems the (few) people of color on this show all morph into unquestioning, mindless lackeys of Big Jim without warning and regardless of prior feelings towards him. First Linda, then Phil...

I think only Caroline would try to talk Sami out of ruining Theresa. Ironic since she's one of the few who didn't express any real issues with Sami going after Abby, although admittedly almost all their dialogue last week focused on EJ. But certainly Jen Lilley would not have needed a veteran actress to take almost all of the material that should have gone to her. once Sami finally confronted her character. I still don't know how KM hasn't quit the show in embarrassment. The climactic episode of her months-long SL, and the writers give virtually everything to MR. I've frankly never seen anything like it on soaps, ever.

They did the one thing with Nicole they really couldn't afford to do with AS/Sami leaving - wrote her into a corner. Nicole has no family in town, unlike Sami or Theresa, and that means the writers should have been more careful with what they had the character do. Bad girls are a soap staple, but it's easier to keep them viable if they have relatives on the canvas.

How else will we know that Kristen's evil?

Maybe that's why EJ and Stefano have been so interested on getting Kate and Sami to marry back in?

Yes, it was so nice to see Sami do what is so RARELY done on soaps - burn incriminating evidence the second she got her hands on it. These dumbasses who weirdly hold onto evidence forever and ever for no good reason are ridiculous. Even if EJ had no intention ever to do anything nefarious with the evidence he held onto - and that's a humongous "if" given his history - just holding onto it was still an unacceptable risk. As Sami so effectively demonstrated, it's not that hard for a determined person to get into someone else's safe, and the DiMeras have a shitload of enemies. (Of course, Will was such a twerp last week that I kind of wish Sami had only burned the stuff that incriminated her and left the evidence of Will shooting EJ in the safe. Then when EJ tried to blackmail Sami by threatening to send her son to prison, she'd just shrug and say "Go ahead." It'd serve Will right. On a related note, I really need a GIF of Sami slapping Will over and over, because that was awesome.)

That's one of the things I think Abby's family should be talking to her about. Morality aside, it was one thing to mess with Austin and Carrie, entirely another to mess with EJ and Sami. Austin wasn't a murderous mobster obsessed with Carrie and Carrie isn't a murderous hellraiser like Sami. Anyone with a healthy sense of self-preservation - emotionally, physically, psychologically - would stay far far away.

They really do need to figure out what they're going to do. It's not that nobody can replace Sami's function as a plot catalyst and mover, they have actors/characters who are perfectly capable of it. But they're not well-positioned. Kate needs to be moved out of the boring Jordan/Rafe SL - it's just dragging her down. Victor needs a storyline, if John Aniston is physically able to work more. Theresa is nearly written into a corner; Nicole has been written into a corner. The show needs to fix that. Eve is, weirdly, in the best shape currently, despite the OTT nonsense about her past and how evil she is to take money away from the veterans, but the stuff that's likely coming - falling for Dan, her and JJ having sex - is going to bog her down.

Good point, bantering. If Abby is going to have nothing happen to her, it's boring. I wouldn't mind some of her loved ones being supportive - although I feel "supportive" in this situation would include at least a constructive discussion about her poor choices so that she doesn't repeat this with a third attached man - but so far Sami's yelled at her and been criticized for that while everyone else rushes to support and prop up Abby and tell her she's the victim and did nothing wrong. How old is Abby supposed to be now anyway? I agree Abby's made some attempts to take responsibility for her actions rather than saying she was just a victim, and it's mostly the way everyone else has rushed to tell her otherwise that's really galling. However, Abby's not really been that invested in accepting responsibility, and at this juncture it's starting to feel like maybe she says it precisely so that everyone else will tell her no, she did nothing wrong. If she were really seriously thinking about herself, she wouldn't have been in Horton Square moralizing loudly at a woman she doesn't even know, and slapping her, right after Sami had just ripped her a new one. I'm not saying once you've done something wrong you can never judge anyone else's actions, but you know, having the self-awareness to take an appropriate period of time for self-reflection before getting back on her soapbox would be appropriate. She couldn't wait 24 hours. Hell, she couldn't even give herself one night to sleep on things, before she started screeching judgement at others.

I do wonder if the town's inability to understand that Sami has reason to be upset with Abby (seriously, I'd settle even for just that, at this point) is setup for Sami's departure. I'd like to think it's setup for Abby's comeuppance, but seeing how the show seems pretty firm on her being a golden girl (even though her behavior doesn't justify it), maybe it's just that Sami decides to hell with everybody and takes her minor children and leaves.

Yes. Sami cheated. Leaving aside my rant that it was horribly out of character for her, she was divorced by Rafe as a consequence. So she paid for what she did. I really do not understand this. I recall many, many times that Sami has been, rightfully, excoriated, both publicly and privately, for various actions. There's no doubt in my mind that if Sami and Abby were reversed in this story, the whole town of Salem would have lined up to tell Sami how awful she was for sleeping with Abby's fiance while babysitting Abby's kids, pretending to be Abby's friend, leaning on Abby for support when she thought she was pregnant by Abby's fiance, and acting as Abby's maid of honor. But Abby gets a total pass from everyone except Kate. She's a hypocrite, and normally people love to point out a hypocrite. People also tend to be harder on hypocrisy than on other sins. Can we please have a little realism here? I'm not saying I expect them to burn her alive, but Abby's relatives should be having private conversations with her about her poor choices, and the rest of the town should be side-eying her. At the very least. Before Abby's exposure, Nicole was the most recent screw-up in the town, and how many people lined up to tell her how awful she is?

In another example of hypocrisy, I don't see anyone lecturing Eric about letting go of his anger towards Nicole. Yeah, I know he said he forgave her, but he's still obviously very angry with her. Why is he not all zen about it? Why?? He's letting the anger consume him! And he should totally think about reuniting with her, because she loves him so much, she did it all for love of him, and she's apologized insincerely and claimed she feels bad a few times. Just like EJ...

Sami told Ben that the visual evidence she had was quite graphic. Since the picture of Abby and EJ kissing isn't exactly X-rated, I think her "short video" must be of the shower sex. As a smart poster pointed out, it would explain how Sami knew that Abby was saying "Oh God!" I agree that the message that you shouldn't get so caught up in anger that you let it consume your life for all time is a valid one. My issue is that people are lecturing Sami to stop being angry right now. Anger is a normal, natural part of the process for many people when they find out they have been cheated on. It's only been a matter of weeks since Sami found out, and as other posters have mentioned, it's brought up anger as well for having fallen for his act after the previous shitty things he did to her and then claimed he'd changed and would be honest going forward and everything was a clean slate (even as he preserved evidence he could use against her and her son in the event of a rainy day). It's like telling someone who has just experienced the death of a loved one to skip all the stages of grief and go straight to acceptance. It's dismissive and callous. They need time to process. Sami is still obviously in the anger stage, and while she shouldn't stay there forever, it's only been a matter of weeks. Check back in a couple months. Even when someone does take the path of forgiving the other person and repairing the relationship, working through all of the emotions necessary can go on for a year or more.

Oh, but this is romantic! Very romantic! EJ is a prince of a guy! Isn't it amazing how much he loves Samantha? How dare she not appreciate how much he loves her? How dare she not fall into his arms and reward him for his love? Puke. At least most of the town hates EJ and so we haven't really had to hear that angle yet, but given what EJ said to Caroline, we may have to listen to some of that nonsense today.

Sami showed much more warmth and direct support of Marlena than Marlena did of her when she came to the house to allegedly "support" Sami after the wedding - coldly greeting her, no physical contact, and immediately asking to see the grandkids so she could spend time with them. Sooooo...at least Sami's not a robot yet, whatever else can be said about her! Also, I cracked up when Sami used the "that's a fact" catchphrase. EJ's coming into focus for me now. Everything he says to Sami is basically a lie - he's just saying whatever he thinks will calm her down and get her to forgive him. As TigerLynx pointed out, he claimed to Sami that he doesn't care about the company, but with Kate he made it clear that he just views this coup as a temporary thing easily fixed by him and his father. His taking responsibility for the affair instead of making excuses? Just an act because he knows that it would annoy Sami if he did otherwise - he started going down that path with the "you kicked me out of your bed" thing, saw her reaction, immediately backtracked. And all his "I'll lie down and take whatever you want to do to me"? Just an act, he figures it'll win her over. Of course, a big thing is that he does not know that he's lost the evidence that he had on her and Will. In the back of his mind, that's leverage - he's trying the "nice, apologetic" route first, if that doesn't work, he can use the evidence. Except he can't! Whoops! Really looking forward to when he finds out about that tidbit. But EJ is so obsessed with Sami. Run Sami! Run! For god's sake, don't fall for this nonsense again. I really enjoy how Sami is with her grandmother - I liked when she was about to call Abby a name and clearly replaced whatever term she was going to use with the milder word "tramp" instead. But it seems like Caroline is going to support EJ, so she can fuck right off. Sheesh. She's upset that she overheard Sami yelling at EJ? It's not enough that according to everyone (except Kate) Sami is not allowed to be angry with Abby, now she's not allowed to even yell at EJ either? The Kami portrait really is everything. I liked Sami's look when she saw it up. Kate does need to get back to the house pronto and run some interference for Sami. I agree with TigerLynx, she's coming off as territorial of Sami even though the writers probably don't mean it that way. I'm enjoying it. Sure, I realize Kate has her own motives, and I acknowledge Sami's going too far with her revenge (even though it's fun for me to watch), but at this point I'm just so relieved to have somebody in Salem who isn't worshipping Abby or dismissing Sami's anger. Despite Kate's ulterior motives, she's still ahead of Sami's own family.

D'Hoffryn!! Perfect! If I can't have Sami's exit be her and Kate going off to some lovely Tahitian beach to bask in the sun and clink martini glasses, then I want it to be by D'Hoffryn showing up and offering Sami a job. That'd be a glorious exit. And hey, possession by the devil is a canon storyline for this soap, so there's no reason why we can't have a BtVS crossover.

I figure logically, Rafe must realize that he cheated, or he'd tell Jordan. But GG certainly doesn't play it with any emotion. The only thing he showed up to play was some chemistry with AS - for whatever reason, he can at least manage that. Kate bringing up Sami cheating reminds me of something else - I hate that the show ever had that happen. I grew tired of how Sami kept whining about Marlena and John's affair years and years after it happened, but I did like that cheating was basically the one thing Sami wouldn't do. It wasn't really a verbal thing, it was more just something we never saw Sami do, and that was a nice subtle kind of reaction to what had happened with her parents (unlike the nonstop whining). But after, what, 19 or 20 years, the writing team of the moment throws that away. And to have a one night stand with EJ, of all people, after everything that had gone down in the previous months. They did it because they were too lazy to find another way to end Sami and Rafe's marriage...which they wanted to do so they could then move her into a relationship with EJ, of all people. (Yeah, I loathe EJami. If they reunite, I will spit nails.)

Given the way Jen aged thirty years in an instant when she saw the photo, I think she does realize how clearly consensual on Abby's part it is. She's just shoved that way down because it's too upsetting for her to contemplate. (Although, as Dandesun pointed out, it's squicky how everyone would rather Abby had been raped.) So I just watched "Friday's" episode - that is, the episode that aired on Thursday in much of the country but not where I live. So what happened to the rest of the country for Friday? Did NBC skip airing an episode for you guys so that, come Monday, we'll all be watching the same episode each day? I did like that Adrienne included Sami - listed her first, even! - when she expressed that she needed to let "them" (Sami and Abby) know that she was on their side. Sure, as soon as she talked to Jen, that was all over with, but at least for a nanosecond she had the reaction that I would expect people to have. And later, Rafe had a similar reaction, and when Kate commented something about Abby not being as innocent as everyone had thought, he didn't rush to defend her! Yes! Finally! So Lucas is once again on his way out of town, after having had scenes with most everyone except Sami. The nostalgic Lumi fan in me would be raving at that, but after he said that thing to Will about how he'd take the kids out of the house, not so much. (That comment also really bugged me for another reason - he was trying to reassure Will about his siblings, but he only referenced removing Allie and Johnny. I get that to Lucas Sydney is a separate issue, but for Will, Sydney is as much his sibling as Allie and Johnny, so, that's not really that reassuring for Will and Lucas should recognize that.) Kami was the saving grace of the episode. They're just awesome together. Kate, forget about boring, boring Rafe - especially since he doesn't have any more chemistry with you than he does with Jordan - and stick with Sami. Sami, keep in mind what you said about no more men and stick to Kate. This is the supercouple for the ages, people. When Kate was questioning why Sami was suddenly so territorial over Rafe, I thought about how much interesting it would be if it was actually Kate that Sami was being territorial about. Heh. I'm not campaigning for a romantic hookup necessarily. Just that these two need to go on living together sipping martinis and plotting the destruction of various people forever. Or at least until AS leaves. This kind of material is an enjoyable way to use Sami until AS's departure. The Kami scheme falling apart over boring Rafe and Sami forgiving EJ? Not so much.

Thanks for filling in details, bannana! Was it revealed what Rafe left town for - what that email was he received that had something to do with more evidence against EJ and/or Stefano?

So I gather some of the country got to see today's episode? Can somebody elaborate on what happened with Kami?

Sami played up the aspect of Abby pretending to be her friend while she was talking to Ben, and if I were Ben, that's the part I would have an issue with. If someone I was dating or thinking about dating told me about having had an affair with someone who was in a relationship, I think I would accept that and continue on as long as the person exhibited some awareness that it wasn't a good thing to do, i.e. they didn't trot out the "It was totally okay on my end because I wasn't the one in the relationship, so I did nothing wrong" excuse. But someone who did what Abby did - cheated with the partner of someone who she was pretending to be the friend of, while babysitting her kids and accepting friendship/support from her - yeah, I would be like, "Bye." I just wouldn't be able to trust that person at all. It's an extra level of sleaziness that really speaks to a person's character, so even though it's a past action, I would expect similar bad actions in future. Of course, Ben differs from me in that he's harboring a secret, although his secret doesn't really seem to be about anything terrible he's done. He's just hiding from his abusive father, right? I wouldn't be upset if I learned someone I was dating actually has a different name because he's hiding from an abuser - that's just the kind of measure that, unfortunately, sometimes a person who's being abused (or is in Witness Protection) has no choice but to take. It doesn't trigger trust issues on my part.

I don't know. I mean, Kate fixed her a cocktail! (And did Kate say something to Lucas about how she knew that EJ and Abby were cheating but she didn't tell Sami because she didn't want to hurt her?) Hmmm. I think Sami might be surprised tomorrow and Kami will actually have some nice scenes. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but this is what, day 3 of Abby being excused for everything while everyone bashes Sami for telling the truth because oh, THAT'S the worst thing ever!! Lucas can go DIAF. Abby was, again, actually trying to take some responsibility for her actions and acknowledge that Sami (and Carrie) is right to be upset and has a valid reason to think poorly of her, and Lucas acted just like his sister and pooh poohed all that. I can't 100% blame Abby for how she's turned out because it's been amply demonstrated the last couple of days that when she tries to learn from her mistakes and work her shit out, people just blow smoke up her ass and tell her she's awesome. She's a Horton Horror, but she was made that way. Nice to have confirmation today that Sami learned the truth after Nick's murder. That fits in with what we saw in terms of how Sami was acting with EJ during that time - she seemed sincere with him, and I also didn't think she would have signed onto the hitman and implicated herself in that way if she'd already known he was a cheating bastard that she was going to get revenge on.

It would be so much fun if they just had Brady, Eric and Sami have a Siblings Night at the Brady Pub, drinking beer and talking about their joint terrible taste in love interests. So of course it won't happen.

I think Rafe was just another newcomer once upon a time. His sister Gabi is the mother of Will and Sonny's daughter. She just went to jail for murdering Nick. You're thinking of Brandon, although EJ also does the call-her-Samantha thing. It's been a long, long time since Brandon was last on. I think he was last on sometime shortly after Sami and Lucas had gotten together. There was a brief triangle, but Sami picked Lucas.

Jordan is just a newcomer to Salem with no real ties to Salem - she isn't a member of any of the families. She's now dating Rafe, Sami's ex-husband, and Kate is being wasted on a stupid storyline where she's plotting to destroy Jordan so she can have milquetoast Rafe back. Yes, Kim and Shane have a son too, Andrew. I don't believe we've seen him since he left town as a kid with his mother.