4evaQuez

From memory, Sami threatened to use the information in court during the Henry custody trial against Eric and Nicole. I don't believe she did. I think they came to some truce before she had a chance to use it. I think Eric, Nicole, Sami, Brady, and Xander are the people who know. Both Brady and Xander used the information to blackmail Nicole at different times.

We don't even have to bring up Sami. As we speak, Eric is still hiding the secret that Nicole killed Deimos. Sloan choosing to use her law degree to legally defend her brother is nothing in comparison to what Eric is currently hiding.

I much prefer Forever Charmed to Something Wicca This Way Goes as a series finale. I know it's cheesy, but I do like seeing all the sisters have their happy endings, and I like that it focuses on the Charmed legacy: past, present, and future. I also think the last line from Old Piper about how they truly have been Charmed is such a wonderful near-last line for the series. And seeing one of Piper's grandchildren (?) telekinetically close the door is quite satisfying. I also liked that the Matthew name stays in the Charmed line to honor Paige's inclusion into the family. I enjoy Season 7 more and watch it more at my leisure, but I think Season 8 is better as a final season.

I really, really, really hope the show doesn't go there with Sloan. I think it would be out of character and would unnecessarily destroy her character. Sloan, while an antagonist, actually has scruples. She's been a refreshing breath of fresh air on the show. There's no need to needlessly make her a cartoon villain for Ericole. EJ and Sami, when she's on screen, can be their cartoon villains. I thought Sloan vs. Trask was much more engaging than the rooftop scenes. There was entirely too much screaming on the rooftop, too much runny mascara, and somehow it just lacked tension and stakes for me. I thought Chanel's monologue was strange considering the circumstances. She basically said: your father was a creep who abused his power, I willingly had an affair with him, your mom was heartbroken and confronted me on a roof, and I killed her to defend myself. This account of events basically confirms that Paulina covered up the mom's death to make it look like a suicide, which is both Sloan's and Colin's main objection. In this case, the truth will get you killed. Find a suitable lie to tell to save your life. Ejole were boring. I just don't like this version of the pairing, and Nicole doesn't work for me when she's out of Brady and Chloe's orbit for too long. When Eric mentioned having to get a sibling out of trouble, I was hoping he was referring to Brady and not Sami. GV's Eric has a longer and more recent history of trying to get Brady out of trouble. Doing so also impacted Sloan when she had to unknowingly keep Rachel hidden from Kristen for several days(?). Not everything has to be about Sami, and Eric's most recent history with Sami has actually been antagonistic. I hope this is the end of Colin and Talia. Has anyone else noticed that the Talia actress has been doing a lot of eyebrow-acting lately? It's been distracting.

Here! Here! About Sloan. She's become my favorite character. "That poor old thing!" I love her. Your description of her is perfect, and it's why I don't see her as a young Nicole. Nicole is arguably gutsy but she's not mature or decisive. Even when she's scheming, she's pretty whiny and weepy about it. When she's not scheming, she's just weepy. The thing I found confusing about the Belle and Eric scene is Belle saying she couldn't find Shawn. We literally saw Shawn earlier this week in Greece with Roman. Maggie, Kate, Steve, and Chad were there, and the dialogue said that Hope and Victor were in the room with Bo. The dialogue also said Ciara had just left to return home with Ben. Why would Belle not be able to find Shawn when his entire immediate family - except Belle - knows exactly where he is? About Shawn and Eric, I think the show often forgets how Shawn is related to people. They ignore his relationship with Eric and Sami, but the show never forgets Ciara's relationship with the Brady twins. I think maybe it's the show trying not to highlight how closely tied via shared familial bonds Shawn and Belle are even if they aren't related by blood. Shawn and Brady are also first cousins. That's another relationship the show ignores. Additionally, when Justin and Kayla were briefly dating, the show ignored Ciara's familial bond to Justin, even though Ciara and Justin had a stronger bond via their onscreen history. I think it's the show trying to avoid awkwardness.

There seemed to be a major editing issue with this episode. Rachel is telling Kristen via a letter about a conversation she overheard between Jarlena and Brady about Chloe, Xander, and later Bo. However, John's reaction to the news regarding Xoe living together was obviously his first time hearing it. The conversation also developed in a way that this was new information to them. I think the actors weren't informed that this was supposed to have been a conversation they seemingly had offscreen before. I feel torn about Xoe. On one hand, I do think they have genuine chemistry. As a Chloe fan, I also like how lively the show writes Chloe with Xander. She has a wit back, her sass, NB's body language feels more confident and more sensually confrontational. She feels like the Chloe that was with Lucas and Dan, without the constant cheating. She feels like a Chloe who is still an essentially good person, but with just enough bad to make her interesting and even self-destructive. On the other hand, I think conversations like the one they had with Susan are why you can't have an essentially good person with someone like Xander. Either Xander needs to be reformed or Chloe becomes an apologist. It was odd to hear the show briefly recap just some of Xander's heinous crimes: switching Rachel, shooting Marlena and Brady, leaving Chloe to be presumably assaulted and presumably murdered by El Fideo, kidnapping, terrorizing and ultimately contributing to the death of Susan Banks. Having Chloe say that killing Susan was a learning experience for Xander is just not something Chloe would say. I buy Chloe having guilt regarding her situation with El Fideo because Chloe isn't a murderer. I don't buy Xander having guilt because Xander routinely destroys people's lives. I don't buy Chloe having sympathy for a man who kidnaps, terrorizes, and contributes to the murder of an innocent woman. I do wonder if Brady's words today were ominous. He mentioned that eventually, Xander would bring danger into Chloe's life. I love Chloe, and the Xoe interactions of been a highlight for me the past few weeks, but my fear is that Xoe will be as damaging to Chloe's character as Danloe was. Dimitri being a Dimera was a lackluster reveal. Andrew being the hostage was anti-climatic. The Bope storyline and reunion are starting to feel like a vehicle to bring Harris and Megan back onto the canvas. There are too many male Dimeras within the 30-50 age range. We really don't need EJ, Stefan, Chad, and now Dimitri as male Dimeras. I'm assuming Johnny is still supposed to be in his mid-20s.

The most disturbing thing about this episode is hearing Kate being called "Kate Brady." I like Dimitri, and I wouldn't mind if he's a long-term villain. I am intrigued by who could be his other hostage. I'm honestly not sure either Stefan or EJ would care enough about Chad to pay a ransom to save his life. Kayla and Belle were an unusual pairing. I kinda ignored whatever they talked about and thought about all the ways these two have been related: Aunt/niece (When Belle was believed to be Roman's child), Cousins (when Belle was a Brady via Colleen) in-laws (via Belle's marriage to Shawn) and of course the Tripp and Claire pairing. Still, these two felt eerie together. Shawn and Roman were another unusual pairing. It's so odd to see JT trying to act. While I thought I got used to BB's acting style, it was equally odd seeing him try to emote. After a decade, I still think he's a great Shawn because of his physical resemblance to Hope/KA, but he's a forgettable Shawn in every other regard. I was randomly thinking about the Philp/Belle affair during 07/08 and Hope's many haranguing speeches to Belle. I was really bored with this episode, so my mind wandered a lot.

I wanna run away from America every time I do my taxes, so I understand poor Don's absence. LOL

But it wouldn't even be brief drama since both Bo and Hope are currently absent from the show. Also, a second long-lost child for Bo? It would have been better if the show had given Hope a long-lost child during her "death." Apparently, Blake Berris / Nick Fallon is on-set again. During DH's 5,000th episode party, Blake is seen in the photos.

I'm so happy this show is back. I didn't realize more episodes were added to Season 3 until late last night. I marathoned the show until way past my bedtime. I plan to rewatch the show and pay more attention to details, but I did want to share some initial thoughts on my first watch. I reserve the right to change my mind after a rewatch. Josh/Natasha These two remind me of Molly and Josh (3A). Both Josh(3B) and Molly have huge personalities that take up the majority of the space. Because of how gender sometimes impacts our relationships Josh(3B) doesn't only take up emotional and social space, but he also takes up more physical space. Natasha seems like she is shrinking next to him while simultaneously looking up at him. She obviously places him on a pedestal and literally looks up to him, too. Because Molly and Josh (3B) take up so much space, the little space they leave their partner doesn't really give them much room for spontaneity, honesty, anger, joy, etc. Molly and Josh (3B) both interpret this as their partner being checked out, but both are present. Both actually are sharing frustrations and hopes regarding the relationship but they are easily overshadowed and silenced by the much bigger personality. Josh (3A) responds via passive aggression and Natasha responds by lionizing Josh (3B) and diminishing herself. Natasha seems like someone who has given up a lot of herself, and she talks about Josh as if his bigness will occupy the places of herself she had to forego. It seems she's coming to the realization that his "boisterous personality" -to quote Josh - only provides more excuses for her not to find herself and promote herself from sidekick to partner. Nadine/Christine I found these two very hard to connect with. I assumed they were older Gen Z, but they mentioned being Millenials. I assume they are very late Millenials. I mention this because their way of communicating felt childish - even though one is in med school - and emotionally shallow while using social media lingo to present themselves as deeper and more introspective than they actually are. As I spent more time with them, I do think Christine felt more real. I'm not so certain about Nadine. I think one issue I had is that the stories they would tell of their interactions away from Dr. Orna and the camera felt alien to the people they presented themselves as in the office. Of course, I'm certain the camera and therapeutic office change everyone's dynamics, but when Sean Erica, for example, would discuss their offscreen arguments, it still seemed reminiscent of the people in front of Orna and the camera and thus the audience. These two really made me consider how we are in 3B of the series; thus, people understand the formula and maybe make adjustments - conscious or not - to how they want to be portrayed. I feel I will have to rewatch these two because I genuinely didn't understand what the connection was as Christine seemed ambitious and a little more traditional than she wanted to admit to herself; whereas, Nadine seemed chaotic, directionless, and more hesitant to grow. Sean/Erica Wow! It was very difficult to empathize with Sean. I felt Erica was similar to India in the sense that both are ambitious black women who are married to partners who resent their ambition and use words like "anger" and the racist and misogynistic connotations of that word against black women to detract from the various ways the men fail as partners and resent their wives. I also think both are entirely too quick to accept their language and attempt to fix their "anger" while the husband attempts to skate by all the justifiable reasons and actions that make the wife angry. I felt for Erica when she said that work provides hard documentation when it comes to worthiness: awards, promotions, paychecks, etc. I assume Sean's mom is a woman of color and I wonder what her experience was. It's easy to say people - especially women - should stay at home, but when you're a woman of color and your worthiness is already on trial daily, and domesticity isn't valued as ambitious or credible work, I understand why a professional environment can be a site for validation. I wished we could hear more about why Erica was 80% happy with her marriage as it seemed that childcare was pretty much the only benefit Sean was bringing to the marriage. I also thought there was something intellectually and/or emotionally dissonant from Sean regarding Erica and his mom. He wants to castigate and reprimand them for their ambition, but I'm certain he's reaped the financial rewards without complaint. I also wondered about Sean's financial situation. If his mom was a partner and a lawyer, that makes me assume she was financially well-off. I also would assume she left her children some type of trust or insurance policy. I also wish we could have gotten more about Erica's childhood and her current career. I would have been okay with fewer Nadine and Christine scenes if we could have gotten more Erica, Sean, Kristi, and Brock. Kristi/Brock I thought these two by far were the most interesting couple. The amount of contempt Kristi has for Brock is scary. There were times she looked at him as if every fiber of her being was in overdrive to not assault him. I honestly don't think Kristi, Sean, and Mal are that different. I think this is a case where gender helps Kristi to look a lot less abusive than she actually is. All three people want to endlessly harm their partner and demand their partner be silent about their pain and experiences. I thought it was maddening how Kristi transformed her cheating into a testament to women's liberation and even roped in Black Lives Matter protests to illustrate some grand transformation. While I had some issues with Brock's affected voice, I did understand the crux of his issue with Kristi. He fundamentally isn't safe with her. He gave her a boundary, and she broke that boundary. She was outright gleeful to discuss the harm breaking that boundary caused. "No means no" and she shows that disregarding his no is a form of power and liberation for her. That's not something that's going to change anytime soon. Hurting him empowers her. He essentially is not emotionally safe with her in his life. I do think she has every right to be resentful of Brock's continued interaction with the church for 5 years; however, I think the crux of her anger, resentment, and contempt is the patriarchy. Brock, however, is not the patriarchy, and punishing him is not punishing the patriarchy. It's simply punishing her husband. I wish we could have gotten more about Brock's life. Maybe we did and I missed it. I would love to know what happened in his life that resulted in him thinking he deserves a wife who gleefully harms him. I plan to do a rewatch, and as I said, I reserve the right to change my opinion on these initial thoughts.

I'm on Team Chloe. Their arrangement was that she'll do the cleaning, not the cooking. Xander also approached the conversation from a pretty sexist point. He notes how Chloe slept in, how he'd only had a doughnut for breakfast, how he'd been up for a couple of hours, and then asked Chloe what she was going to cook him for breakfast. There is a presumption she'll cater to him in a way that was not discussed and agreed upon. Grocery shopping is an extension of the breakfast ordeal. Xander presumes and expects to be catered to. Again, shopping was not a part of the agreement, only cleaning was. Xander is not a man who respects boundaries, and he was already testing Chloe's boundaries by trying to force her into free labor - yes it would be free since the deal was Xander pay the rent and Chloe cleans. Anything beyond that is free labor. If he wants Chloe to cook and shop, then the two need to renegotiate their terms, i.e. is Xander going to give her a budget and will Xander compensate her? After all, every second she's cooking and cleaning and shopping for two is time she can't look for her own employment.

She also came to visit EM's Brady after he locked Vivian in the sarcophagus. I remember SG doing an interview around that time about what an ineffective ghost she was because the scene basically went, "Brady you have to let her out." Brady basically says, "No." and Isabella basically says, "Oh. Okay. I tried my best." And returns to the afterlife. Those obviously aren't exact quotes, but the interview was hilarious and effectively summed up her scenes with Brady.

I truly hated that letter. I actually went to sleep thinking about how all over the place it was tonally and morally. I have no idea what they were going for, and I think neither did Ron. EJ hired Nicole as a way to get back at Stefan and Gabi. Gabi and Nicole are both consultants for Dimera, and Gabi is evaluating EJ's work performance while Nicole is evaluating Stefan's work performance. No one has honest intentions and it's all childish and petty and boring. It would make sense for Chloe to be involved, but it seems the show is ignoring their friendship right now. While I'm enjoying Chloe's friendship with Xander, Nicole's interactions with the Dimeras have been excruciating. Kayla is always judgmental and rude in doctor mode. I've been commenting on it for at least 2 years now.

This seems like the best place to put this. Does anyone ever completely blackout certain storylines that you know for a fact you watched? I was on one of those Remember the Past Days Twitter accounts and apparently around this time is when Philip proposed to Stephanie. I genuinely remember very little of Stephanie and Philip even though I remember what came before: Stephanie and Max and Philip and Morgan. And what came after: Phlilp and Melanie and Stephanie and Nathan. I only really remember the Stephanie abduction and morgue storyline for Philip and Stephanie and I vaguely remember Stephanie working at Titan. I remember this was during the Kiriakis vs Dimera storyline. However, I don't really remember the two as a couple. I was wondering if others have storylines they know they watched in its entirety, yet they don't remember, at all.

Gabi and Li decided to separate after she recovered from the biscuits. They had a mostly good conversation, and it ended with seemingly the two on good terms. (Gabi makes a joke about Li giving her his Dimera shares and Li smiles and says no. I think it was supposed to show they are both okay with the separation, especially Li). I agree with your thoughts on Nicole. I also wish the show had allowed Eric to have some internal strife regarding the biscuits. The last time Eric was unknowingly drugged and had sex under the influences was with Kristen. This then led to him accusing Nicole of raping him and losing the priesthood. There should have been more with Eric and (Brady or Marlena) regarding his conflicted feelings with being drugged and Nicole somehow being involved again. (Note: Nicole was not responsible for either but she was unknowingly involved in both. I'm saying the similarities should trigger some lingereing trauma in Eric and not him blaming Nicole as she obviously did nothing wrong). I feel this is a missed opportunity. I also agree with you regarding Nicole. She discovers she's pregnant, and she seemingly has no fears regarding whether she can deliver a living and healthy baby? Even after Kayla shows concern, Nicole seemingly has none? Her last two pregnancies caused her strife, turmoil, scheming, and even her freedom in the Grace/Sydney case. It seems Nicole main concern should be whether she has to go through another experience of a potential lost child and not whether EJ or Eric is the father.

Nicole has become quite the blabbermouth. The Stefan and Gabi scenes were weird. The line about "Latinx" and the way the camera focused Gabi's face without giving her a verbal response to it was confusing. There's also nothing interesting about seeing people type on a computer for an episode. Stefan also doesn't look like someone who would listen to Lizzo. It's so odd how focused the show is on showing the Brady family as working class. Roman's daughter, Sami, is a millionaire. Roman and Kate's grandchildren Allie and Will should be wealthy via Sami and presumably Kate. Carrie and Austin, Kate's son, should also have access to large sums of money. Rex, Kate's son, has also been described as wealthy. Roman himself just traveled internationally to Ireland and last-minute to Greece. That's not someone who's working class or doesn't have access to money. Why did Kate call Frankie and Carly low lives? I don't remember Kate interacting with either very much during either one's 2000s-ish returns. I know Frankie wasn't a fan of Max and Chelsea, but that doesn't seem like something to hold a grudge over more than a decade later. The new guy with Kate was kinda hot.

Um...yeah. But that's obviously not the reality in which we exist. Constance didn't remain on the show and Prue was killed off. I was simply saying I love both characters, and I couldn't imagine the show without Paige.

I love Prue, but I also love Paige. I couldn't imagine the show without either. It's been a while since I saw the video, but from memory, fans get upset with Holly if she says Seasons 3 or 4 are her favorite. According to Holly, fans believe she's implying that she's happy SD was fired or Prue was killed off if she says one of those seasons. As a result, she says Season 5 because it's distant enough from Season 3 and the SD/AM feud and RM joining the cast that fans don't read into it. Shannen wasn't at the Pensacon event, which is what I was commenting on. People asked about the SD/AM/Season 3 kerfuffle, but SD wasn't there to give her side of things. There is another con 90s Con, which SD attends. She comes out as a special surprise to the fans. I didn't watch the entirety of that video because it was broken up into 3 parts, and that aggravates me. What I did watch in the 1st part, Rose is sitting between Shannen and Holly. I can't say what that means. Maybe it means nothing. But that was the seating arrangement. ETA: I went to the 90s Con because I was going to look at the body language and see if Holly and Shannen interact in the video. I saw another con, Paris Con. I noticed Rose is sitting between Holly and Shannen in that video, too. Again, maybe that's just the seating arrangement. I can't say.

Honest question - as in I'm not being snarky or sarcastic at all - why would Nicole become invisible to men because of menopause? Kate is still a femme fatale and she's the great-grandmother of a preteen (Arianna Grace). In Days' world, women don't lose their appeal because they're over 25. Hope, Jennifer, Kayla, Sami, Carrie, Chloe, Nicole, Belle, Maggie, Caroline, Marlena, Kristen, and Kate have all had men pursuing them past 25. We even still see Marlena in sex scenes and John obviously still sees her as sexually arousing. I think one of the few things Days does well is not promoting the narrative that women are no longer viable after 25 or...gasp!...30.

I actually really liked KM's Abby. I thought her Abby suffered from two things: 1. The show didn't know how to characterize KM's Abby until 2015. Before then she got odd storylines like her random obsession with Austin, the who gets to deflower Abby storyline, and the random affair with EJ. In 2015, the show started writing Abby bitchier, bolder, the relationship with BF's Chad really took off with the Necktie Killer storyline, and it seemed they were writing Abby as an individual that complemented KM's skills as an actress. I also thought dying KM's hair black and cutting it shorter really helped the character stand on her own instead of being a Jennifer knockoff. Which is odd because the show didn't write KM's Abby like Jennifer, but they tried to style her hair like Jennifer. 2. The show didn't let people have realistic responses to her Abby. KM's Abby felt like an antagonistic heroine, if that makes sense. She was abrasive, selfish and sometimes unhinged. She felt like Dorian and Vicki from One Life to Live mashed together. However, the show treated her like a saint and only villains could call her out for her less-than-noble ways. If the show allowed people to act realistically to this new Abby, I think KM's Abby really could have defined the show like Jennifer and Laura before her. Of course, that leads to technically, the third issue with KM's Abby. Once the show really knew how to characterize her, KM left the show not long afterward. Anyway, I'm happy for KM. I used to watch GH, but it was years ago. I'm not certain how Kristina acts now, but when I was watching KM's acting style seems like it would match the character. Ironically, Kristina was dating Johnny Zacarra the last time I was watching who was played by our very own Jake and Stefan Dimera.

I liked Sloan telling EJ about Ericole. I didn't care about anything else.

I'm just completely in love with Broe. Every Days Supercouple, or Supercouple adjacent relationship like Broe, has its brand. I see original Broe's brand being their art and singing and performing. I think this Broe's brand is their maturity and unique relationship development for a Soap. Their uniqueness being both were able to move on from each other, spend about a decade apart, and then come back as very different people who still fundamentally complement the other. While they still fall into common Soap Opera Tropes and have villains, I do think the fact that they spent years apart in other relationships and have had other great loves - Chloe has. I'm not certain I'll call Theresa or Kristen a great love of Brady. But he loved Kristen, at least, at the time - gives both a pretty sensible idea of love and loss. I thought it was in character and in keeping with Chloe's teenage history, that she wouldn't want to cause Rachel any more anguish and would even feel responsible for Rachel's pain. Chloe was a teen who had to strike out at a lot of people - including Nancy and Craig - because of a history of several abandonments. I thought NB really carried the scene, and EM responded beautifully. I know people often say NB isn't a great actress, and I don't completely disagree. However, I do think NB sells tragedy and heartbreak well. I was honestly scared because Chloe's goodbye to Brady almost felt like a goodbye to Salem. I was happy to see that she's still staying in town. Lastly, something I love about Chloe is that she's a core character with a lot of connections on canvas, but you can still realistically do stories about her feeling isolated or lonely. With someone like Eric after Marlena's death, the show often has to ignore the characters' core relationships to fuel their spiral or loneliness - like where were John, Roman, and Belle the entire time Eric was spiraling. Does Johnny even know Eric is his uncle? Chloe has people who care about her, but she's also not related to anyone on the cast right now. It seems more realistic that she'll find herself alone and making destructive decisions with no one really noticing than Eric who is drinking in the family bar, yet Roman doesn't seem to realize or care. The Brady and Gwen scene was odd. I liked it, but I think Chloe (and sometimes Nicole) brings out a very specific version of Brady. It was odd going from Chloe's Brady in the apartment to a Brady that reminded me of Theresa's Brady. One that seemed a little more belligerent and unpredictable. It's a Brady that I actually don't think we've seen in a while. Even his scenes with Kristen seem a little more controlled, for Rachel's sake at the very least. I'm surprised Rafe isn't telling Jada to just cover up the evidence for her sister. Lord knows he's covered up enough crimes. I've found Chanel more likable these last two episodes. Maggie and Alex felt pointless.

I genuinely loved today's episode. Alex, when he's not being written like a horndog or a 1980's Miami Vice character, actually works for me. I used to like his scenes with Allie, and I'm currently liking his scenes with Chanel and Gwen. It was shocking to see him being honest and urging Gwen to be honest, as well. I have no interest in an Alex/Stephanie redux, so I'm certain these kind words will be rescinded soon. For now, I actually saw what I thought could be a young romantic male lead in today's episode. I liked that two completely nonintegrated storylines are merging with Xander/Chloe's friendship and Talia(Bakery Girl)/Colin/Paulina/Chanel. Xander and/or Chloe are obviously going to help connect Talia and Colin together. Chloe/Brady/Xander/Leo worked so well for me today. I love seeing Chloe be petty and the high-five between Xoe was everything, including Brady's annoyance. While I usually don't like physical violence on Soaps - I know, I know. I'm watching the wrong genre. I actually liked seeing Brady and Xander puffing their chests and getting in each other's faces. I wished Victor could be in the background because he's always despised how Chloe can cause chaos in the Kiriakis family. I also loved how the scene kept getting bigger with more characters. I half expected Gwen and Phyllis to show up. I wish the show had done more with Allie and Rafe's relationship when Allie was on the show. It's odd that Allie has had three fathers in her life: Rafe, EJ and Lucas. All three were mostly absent from her run. Lucas because of prison, but the show didn't do much with her relationships with EJ or Rafe either. Allie sending Rafe a photo makes sense if you understand Allie and Rafe's history from the early 2010s. It doesn't really make sense if you only watched their history from the past year. That being said, I liked Chanel seeing the photo, and that led to a vulnerable Chanel and Talia taking advantage of her. I know a similar storyline caused outrage on Young and the Restless a decade ago, but I'm intrigued with how far Talia will go for Colin. Again, I hope they don't completely redeem Talia. It felt strange hearing Gwen say "Aunt Kayla." It felt out of character for her. I'm interested in what a Kayla / Gwen interaction would be as I can't think of the two interacting.

But besides being beautiful, antagonistic blondes, and Nicole isn't actually an antagonist anymore, the comparisons between Nicole and Sloan are shallow. Nicole is actually just now getting to a place where Sloan has been for the entirety of her run so far. Nicole, for more than a decade, was defined by her desperation and internal loneliness which made her do truly evil things for a man. She debased herself and often acted in ways that went against her self-interest in her relationships with Daniel, Brady, Eric, EJ, and Deimos. We've only started to see Nicole act from a place of esteem recently, i.e. not sleeping with EJ because she was rejected by another man. I'd even go back a few years with the Mickey/Rachel baby switch and Nicole telling Eric the truth about "Mickey" being his child. Nicole has grown to be the antiheroine/heroine she is today over the course of 25 years. Sloan, so far, has not debased herself for a man, groveled for a man, or schemed for a man like Nicole. Her core self isn't desperation and loneliness like Nicole but vengeance. Even with her vengeance, she's operated within the confines of the law. Her brother, Colin(?), even further confirms that Sloan will not operate outside the law to avoid losing her law degree. Even when it comes to men, we saw Sloan leave Alex when he helped Paulina and Chanel steal from her. We saw Sloan get rightfully upset and leave Eric as a result of his transgressions of pretending to be her paralegal. The two then discussed why she came back and why she wants to be in a relationship with him. Sloan, so far, has operated from a place of esteem and self-worth that Nicole lacked for decades. I don't see Sloan as a "younger Nicole" because Nicole at roughly Sloan's age was switching babies and attempting suicide because Daniel didn't want her. Sloan isn't even a younger version of "today's Nicole" because today's Nicole has let her bad experiences in love give her an empathy and understanding of others that the current Sloan mostly lacks. Today's Nicole can also still be impulsive and self-destructive - sleeping with Xander - in a way we haven't seen Sloan behave, yet. Lastly, the Sarah that was with Eric was a completely different Sarah than the one that just left the canvas. Eric's Sarah was much more dramatic, confrontational, mean-spirited, and often escalated arguments on behalf of others, including Eric, because she lacked boundaries and emotional regulation. The relationship with Xander, made her childish and an I Love Lucy character. Sarah is just now becoming a mature adult who could be deemed "nice."

It was mentioned in today's episode that Chelsea was pregnant by Ciara in the Ciara/Shawn/Bo scene. In the episode where Bo was holding Kate hostage, Kate mentioned Chelsea and Max were still together. Random aside: I decided to look at NB's Twitter because of the Behind the Scenes thread here. NB was absent from social media for quite a while, but I noticed she's reposting Xoe (Xander and Chloe apparently already have a name) content on her page. She and PT are also interacting on Twitter. It caught me off guard as I haven't seen NB promote a pairing in quite a while. I don't know what that means; maybe it means nothing. However, I thought I'll share.