KBrownie

That doesn't negate my overall point which is that Jack hasn't favored one of his children over the other. I also never said they didn't have issues. Of course they did, but Jack favoring Abigail over JJ wasn't one of them. JJ not reacting well to his father's death proves my point actually. He wouldn't have had such a negative reaction if Jack wasn't someone who he loved and adored and someone who loved and adored him back. Same when JJ found out about the rape. Or when Jack showed up back from the dead at New Years 2019. Casey Moss and Matt Ashford work very well as father and son and I would love to have seen/see more of them working together. I'm glad there was never a JJ resents Abby or vice versa storyline. Or a JJ follows in his father's footsteps storyline. Both are well-worn tropes. Jack knows full well who he used to be and how terrible his mistakes were. He never needed to be taught a lesson by JJ doing the same thing. I'm glad they didn't re-tread that same old trope with the two of them. I love the relationship between Jack and JJ, especially how open and affectionate Jack is with him, and Abby as well. Considering just how HARD it used to be for him to express his feelings, especially with Jennifer at the beginning, it's great to see him always, for the most part, so open and caring with his kids. This is why I personally didn't have a problem with calling out Abby after the anniversary party. She was wrong in how she handled it and he let her know. It wasn't about absolving himself of what he did, but he was disappointed in her and he let her know.

Yep. Laura's role in this is the missing piece of the puzzle. She certainly isn't going to sit back and let Gwen hurt her daughter and granddaughter if she can help it. Whatever she knows probably blows things up for Gwen. I hope she shows up and escorts Gwen back to the mental institution. She's obviously unstable and not above trying to kill someone.

I also don't want Jack saddled with some newbie retcon that they obviously didn't know what to with so they stuck her with Deveraux unit. I don't believe she'll end up being Jack's in the end. I'm not trusting anything Gwen says as being remotely true. I've seen people saying that just because she cried at the end that means she MUST be telling the truth. Bullshit. She's crazy. And after all the known lies she's already told, her word by itself means nothing. I agree with you in not caring that this would have happened pre-Jennifer. I also am not interested in him being stuck in the middle. It would totally go against his established characterization. Jack, despite his flaws, has always been totally devoted to and loyal to Jennifer and his kids. He would NEVER be torn between them and some chick who deliberately set out to hurt them all. Daughter or not. This isn't some teen/early 20-something who still needs guidance/can learn, this is a chick pushing 40 who had no real reason to have done what she did. Lots of people grow up with absent parents and suffer because of it, but that's life. It isn't always fair, but you deal with the hand you've been dealt and move the fuck on. I know the Johnsons accepted Tripp and I don't like that either, but at least he had being a stupid kid (more or less) in his favor. And the absence of JJ in this story already makes it a failure. Jack, never favored Abigail over JJ. There's just been more on-screen interaction between Jack and Abby. NOT because Jack favored Abby over JJ, it just worked out that way. In real time, it was 12 years between Abby's onscreen birth in 1992 and JJ's birth in 2004, but based on the actors and SORAS, its probably like 3-4 years difference. Also, Matt Ashford has had a lot more time on-screen w/ adult Abby than adult JJ b/c JJ wasn't on much as a child b/c they moved to London and they kept him off screen when Jack and Jenn came back in 2011-12. Abby stayed in Salem when Jack, Jen, and JJ went to London, so JJ was being raised and loved by his parents with no issues off screen. Casey Moss showed up in like 2013(?) and Matt came back in 2019. But despite that, Jack, even with amnesia, always showed an extreme affection for his son. I was glad that Abby was off-screen for much of that time, so that JJ could get some focus with his parents, especially Jack. All that being said, this narrative that stupid Gwen is spinning, that just shows how delusional she is, about Jack only caring about Jen and Abby, isn't true.

I think that in the rush in all this speculation to "call it" and make Laura Gwen's mother by Jack both the fact that Gwen was introduced as mental hospital patient and that Laura is psychologist/psychiatrist (I'm not sure which) gets lost. Laura is probably back b/c she knows Gwen's mental history and knows she's fucking w/ her family, so she comes to warn Jennifer et. al or something to that effect. I think it sucks that Missy Reeves isn't going to be playing these scenes w/ JLB as Laura.

If I’m remembering correctly, she left out her drugging of Abigail when she was listing all of Jack’s past transgressions. She needs to be hauled off to jail for that alone if she isn’t shipped off to the mental institution first. It’ll be interesting to see what Jack’s reaction will be when he finds out about that. If, and it’s a BIG if, he’s allowed to act in character, he shouldn’t give a fuck about Gwen based just on that act by itself. She’s completely delusional. What does she think is going to happen now?! Jack isn’t going to sit back and let her continue to come after Abby and Jen(through him) just because she claims to be his daughter. And the ignoring of JJ is weird. She arranged for his return for the party, but since then nothing. I don’t get the endgame here. I don’t think she’s his daughter, but even if she was, I don’t see the Deveraux family taking her in like the Johnsons and Tripp.

Yep. It’s yet more evidence of how there’s no limit to the twisting into unrecognizable knots of characters and history this show is willing to go to somehow make this all make sense. One of Jack’s consistent character traits for most of his 30 year history is that he is a writer committed to the facts. That was a big part of his and Jennifer’s initial bonding. Hopefully, that will kick in and they won’t just sit around and twiddle their thumbs as Gwen spews more melodramatic cliches about how she didn’t have a daddy. I swear, she checked off every box on the “my daddy didn’t love me and I had such a hard life” trope in one setting. I don’t think any of this will have anything to do with Harper or eventually Jack. The writers seem to be simply too lazy to figure out what the actual history is in order to actually use it. It’s so telling that Gwen’s once upon a time starts before Jack was in Salem so they can just ignore all those facts of his time in Salem. I still say at the end of the day, Gwen will have put together this entire story based off her precious clippings. She doesn’t know anything but what’s she’s read and she’s created this fiction from it. Personally, I miss Missy Reeves. If you’re going to try to go back and reference the history of these characters, I’d prefer to have the actress who was there for most of it. CM is fine, but I feel like there would be more natural and unspoken interactions between Jack and Jennifer due to the level of comfort and greater chem between MA & MR.

L. O. L. There is like, no way that Jack is actually crazy Gwen's father. She's either still lying as part of her big plan, someone has told her a bunch of lies, or she's just simply off her rocker and has made up this entire story from all her little newspaper clippings. NOTHING she spewed today confirms or proves anything. And how convenient for her that she doesn't "trust" DNA tests in Salem, but they should just trust what she's saying. The timeline doesn't even make sense, not even by soap standards. This all would have had to take place and she made it seem like it all happened before Jack even knew Jennifer and had a relationship/family with her. This would have been BEFORE all the more recent times that he was MIA because he was dead, kidnapped, had amnesia, etc. I could maybe buy he doesn't remember every person he ever slept with, but the part about sending money for years? Jack flat out denied that and it seems he would have come clean if it were true. I don't feel sorry for her in the least. Why should I? She's a nobody who has to be pushing 40 who's done nothing but purposefully hurt others. And she's waited all this time for her big revenge? Grow up. Get a hobby and move on. Her tears are the Friday cliffhanger? Please.

I don't really feel anything for the actress or the character other than annoyance. Major annoyance at how many characters' histories are going to be twisted and tied into knots beyond recognition in order to make her work. Major annoyance at how she's been eating up all this screen time and will continue to do so to where I'm going to be expected to give a crap about HER, a newbie nobody's pain and angst, while the veterans and legacy characters will continue to show up once/twice a week as support and will eventually have to forgive and forget to make her character work. In no way will this end up being about Jack. He will just be there to apologize and beg Gwen for forgiveness for whatever made up, BS excuse they come up with for why he wasn't around. Never mind, we never really got to see JJ or Abigail, have any POV about missing out on their father all the times he was dead. This show really didn't need another retcon kid. And I guess they are going to try revise history some more and play it that Jack doesn't care about JJ as much as Abigail, despite that not having any truth to it, to justify Gwen. And I really hope Jack, Jennifer, Abigail, etc. are smart enough (doubtful, considering how they've all been made to look stupid for Gwen to be successful up to this point) to not just take her word as any kind of objective truth. They have absolutely NO reason to believe anything she says. They KNOW she's a liar. All she's got is some newspaper clippings about all of them and could be pulling all this out of thin air. Nothing she SAYS is worth anything. The only proof they should accept is a blood test w/ multiple members of that family. No time should be wasted with anything coming out of her mouth. I'm (and they all should as well) going to need something more as proof.

I guess I don't see where this is happening. At all. I feel like there may be some counting of chickens before they hatch thinking that this Gwen mess is going to turn into something BIG for Jack because, although it still hasn't been confirmed anywhere, the assumption is that Gwen is Jack's long-lost child and he will get story out of that. Otherwise, where is this supposed the new focus on Jack? The pointless cheating was still all about his feelings for Jennifer. I was personally hoping for more insight into his mental state all that time while Jennifer was in the coma, but nothing. Just the repeated declarations of "It didn't mean anything!" and that Jennifer should just get over it. The anger with Abigail was interesting, but other than that, not so much? One confrontation with Gwen that only merits one day out of the week? Big whoop. The sudden BFF-ness w/ Kate where he sits and lets her bash his wife? It seems like Jack was being used to give Kate something to do before she moved on to Jake. Jennifer seems to be also used for that purpose lately. He still isn't allowed any interactions outside of the Jen/Kate/Gwen/Abby bubble other than the occasional conversation with Justin. Nothing with his brother after the cheating came out. They could have used his history somehow in the Tripp/Allie story. Jack as Tripp's uncle and Jennifer as Allie's aunt could have been used in some way. He had more to do and interacted with more people during the Jack as mayor/amnesia storyline than currently. He was all over the place in that story and his struggle to figure out how to exist without a memory was better than his current story. Isn't this a bit contradictory? She was involved in his initial exit, but not saying she decides if she comes or goes? And I'm not speculating over rumors about MA/MR not liking each other or either's personal views, b/c as long as it doesn't affect what's on screen, then I don't particularly care. They must be okay with each other to still work so well together after 30 years. I trust that MA knows MR better than the internet and must be cool with her or he wouldn't still do the fan events, etc. that they were doing together pre-Covid. And really, BOTH Jack and Jennifer haven't had anything to do since the amnesia/Eve/time jump was over in 2019. They spent most of 2020 without a real story and were supporting Abigail and Steve/Kayla. I'm still waiting for how this Gwen stuff has anything to do with either of them other than their roles as Abby's parents. So, yeah. I guess I'm still waiting for all this focus on Jack.

I know this idea gets repeated often, but is it really true? Or fair? Isn't when Jack and Jennifer left for London in 2006 the only time that MA and MR either left or came back at the same time? I'm too lazy to look the actual dates, but all the other times MA left/came back it wasn't like MR left and then Jack was cut. Or that MR came back and then Jack was needed so they immediately brought MA back. And MA was doing other things when he wasn't on Days, so it was their loss. MA left in '93 and MR didn't. They had the recast Jack with MR there. MR left and MA still didn't come back and both characters were gone for awhile. Then MR came back in '99-'00 (?) and MA wasn't back until like a year later ('01?). MR was there until they both left in 2006, but MA was caught up in that whole thing where they killed everyone off and brought them back in '04-'05. And I'm not sure how their later returns worked during the 2010's except for MA's latest return where MR hadn't left for awhile. Now I'm not saying that Matt Ashford and the character of Jack haven't been undervalued or treated like they should, b/c they haven't, but I don't really think it's fair to link it to or blame MR. She's not here now and his story has been completely nonsensical, messed up Jack's characterization and overall sucked. Yeah, MA is working, but it's not like it's anything spectacular. People act like he sat around doing nothing while MR was there and now that she's gone he can spread his wings and soar or something. He most recently had the whole amnesia/Eve mess in 2019 that certainly didn't have much to do with Jennifer/MR and none of that, except for Jack getting his memory back, was all that great for the character of Jack.

Yep. There have already been SO many retcon kids. No more are needed. Your list just emphasizes this point. And in the case of Tripp, why is he needed when neither of Steve/Kayla's other children merit any focus. And don't even get me started on the retcons getting retcon siblings (Charlie and Jake). It's tiresome. I think people forget that Gwen's first appearance was in a mental hospital. She's crazy. She could be after the Deveraux family just because. I agree it would be more interesting and original to tie that to Abby's history with mental illness. THAT is the angle I hope they take with Laura. Maybe Laura was Gwen's doctor and learning that Gwen is messing with her daughter/grandaughter, she comes to town to give them a heads up.

It's ALL speculation. The normal places have tried to make it seem like a spoiler, but nothing has confirmed it. The Laura stuff appeared almost as soon as JLB said she was returning for a batch of episodes, six I believe. Her post didn't say who she worked with or what characters she would interact with. Some have absolutely been convinced that Gwen is Jack's child with Kate, then the Jennifer clone, some random, unamed woman, and now Laura. As if Jack's characterization hasn't already been messed up enough with the random, now seemingly pointless cheating, he's also got a random retcon kid too. I, for one, would prefer it not happen. And so far, there's been nothing to confirm that Gwen is related to anyone. I personally think she's working for someone else who has some vendetta against Jack/Jennifer and she's personally jealous of Abigail, so she's focused on her. Her folder also had articles on Chad, so who knows what her real agenda is . . .

I prefer the speculation that since Gwen was first shown in the mental institution with Claire, that Laura once treated her. Possibly at the same time she was treating Abigail and she has some knowledge about Gwen or insight into her motivations and that's why she comes to town. If would be even better if maybe Laura's return doesn't have anything to do with Gwen. That would be great. That a veteran character with such a rich history and her own child and grandchild, and great-grandchildren in Salem isn't used for the useless, pointless, and tired Gwen. I don't know, I'm not on board with some of these incessant assertions that Gwen HAS to be Jack's. First she was Jack's kid from when he was off-screen. Then she was his from Kate when she was sniffing around Jack in '93. Then it was the Jennifer clone from '04. Now, Laura's returning so it must be her! Yeah, it's possible, but I'm not thinking that Jack is going to be given a random kid coming on the heels of the random cheating storyline that ended up being totally pointless. TPTB have already messed up Jack's characterization with the cheating, now they want to throw in a random child too? Whatever . . .

No problem. I'm normally just a lurker around here, but I just happened to watch this whole thing play out "live" yesterday due to having more time to spend on Twitter as a result of being on vacation, so I wanted to share what I knew. I was following the Days tag live as the show was airing yesterday and almost immediately after the show ended, someone pointed out that the credits had listed Cady's husband as a Jack body-double. Most people correctly chalked it up to being a result of COVID restrictions/social distancing and a few people started in on the whole "omg, wouldn't it be just GREAT if MA left too so Cady could act w/ her husband!," but that was the exception. A few hours later, all these other blogs/websites that try to pass themselves off as reputable sources had their posts/articles hinting at Jon Lindstrom replacing Matt Ashford as if it was a big scoop, but never once saying that Twitter was their source and that it wasn't nearly what they were suggesting. A total mountain out of a molehill.

What I meant is that no credible source is reporting that Jon Lindstrom is taking over for Matt Ashford for Jack in the same way that Cady took over for Missy Reeves as Jennifer. That is what that first article and others are implying when it's not remotely the same thing. Body doubles aren't usually casting news, but this is a COVID-unique situation. Jon isn't playing the role of Jack in replacement of Matt Ashford. He's a body stand-in.

That site is just piggybacking off of the speculation that resulted from a few people who noticed that Cady's husband was listed in the credits yesterday as a Jack body-double. That's it. He was listed as a body-double. It's nothing more than that at the moment. It's not nearly anything as big or the same as when Cady took over for Missy Reeves, but this site tries to imply that it is. No credible source has said anything about Matt Ashford leaving or anything like that. They are taking twitter posts and speculation and dressing it up as if they have some insider info, but don't reveal anything more than the original speculation about why her husband was credited as a body double. This article conveniently didn't appear until AFTER the talk yesterday. Personally, I hate these blogs/sites that try to present themselves as having exclusive, insider information when all they're doing is dressing up and rehashing spoilers that have already been widely released. I guess it's the same as anyone else talking about spoilers, but most others aren't trying to sell themselves as actual publications with actual real spoilers or insider knowledge.

I too would also love to know what Johnny's beef is with Michelle Kwan . . . I don't recall them ever crossing paths and there's no comparison between his skating career and hers, so what's his problem?

SO much this. Why would they choose to knowingly keep putting the entire family through this? I don't care what some of those practiced and rehearsed lines are coming from some of the kids, it ain't always sunshine and rainbows with so many children in one family. In addition to the potential loss of another baby and any other severe complications, you would think the stress and emotional toll on the other kids would be enough for them to say no more. I mean, she was away from the family on bed rest for what, like a month? That's a lot of time. Some of those kids who were old enough to understand looked downright terrified about what might happen to their mother and the babies. Yeah, kids are resilient and things sometimes happen that you can't help, but I couldn't imagine having to go through that every two years or so. Wondering if my mother and baby siblings are going to come home and what happens if they don't. I wonder if they will decide that fourteen children is enough for them or if they'll keep trying in order to ensure a Season 2 on TLC. They could always follow the Busby template and Season 2 could be them getting that first TLC paycheck and deciding that they just have to move because they've outgrown their current house. Season 2 could also introduce that quirky family member that has their favorite kid and of course, the mandatory TLC funded vacation.

Jason better pray that his child with Angelica is a boy. You know Sunhe and Angelica are praying for a girl. A girl will just be the next generation of the unhealthy dynamics between Angelica and Sunhe. That's probably why Sunhe took the news so well. She's hoping for another member of their club. I'm selfishly hoping for a boy to see what the reaction will be.

I think this is what bothers me the most about the show right now. It can be gone at any second and these are the people who they are choosing to waste valuable time on?! Newer characters with weak or no ties to the history of the show who really don't add anything and who no one would miss if they left tomorrow. They obviously aren't bringing in any ratings, so why continue with them consuming so much of the whatever time they have left? In addition to Ben and Lani, I'd add a few other characters as well. Even some that are considered legacies because of their parents or because they are somehow related to the Brady/Horton/Kiriakis families. These characters aren't interesting enough to be driving stories as they all are so uncharismatic and boring. None have that "it" factor to drive and lead stories. Others have done it so much better. They need to be strictly in a supporting role. Exhibit A: Claire. The Claire character is shining right now in the supporting role, but would be obnoxious at the center. Yeah, Eli, Sarah, Ciara, etc. are from the show's core families, but really what purpose do they serve? What do they do? There are a lot of members of those same families that happily exist off screen. If the show wasn't on its last legs, then fine. Have at it with the Lanis and Bens of the world, but it would be such a shame for the show to end, given its rich history of characters, a lot of which are still around, with this current crop of leads still taking up so much time.

This is so perfectly accurate. And this is being revealed about a whole lot of parents right now in addition to the Busbys. They had two extra kids home with them during the day. It shouldn't have been that big of a deal for two people who didn't work outside the home before the quarantine and had four of the six during the day some of the week anyway. If they were smart, considering the current situation in Texas, in particular the area they live in, Adam and Danielle should be preparing for the very likelihood that they school isn't going to be what it's been before in the Fall. They probably aren't going to be sending their six little ducks all in matching outfits off to school five days a week, eight hours a day. But they aren't that smart. And considering all the camping trips, waterparks, beach trips, date nights, etc. as soon as they were allowed, this whole thing has seemed to be only a minor inconvenience to them. A minor blip on their radar. They are going to be shocked, just SHOCKED, when they realize they may be homeschooling for bit more come the fall, depending on how their public schools open. Danielle might be more upset that they can't use that new mudroom like she wanted.

Agree that Natasha looks the most like Natalie, but I think Courtney resembles her mother mostly in the eyes. Courtney's eyes are large, round, bright, and expressive just like Natalie's were. I see her as more of a blond version of her mother. She definitely got all her coloring from her father, but her features are more like Natalie's than most people realize. The best thing about the documentary to me was witnessing the strong bonds between Natalie, RJ, and their children. All of them. You could tell that both Natalie and RJ loved and accepted the children, and even step-children from their other relationships. And that the adults were all mature enough to not let any petty stuff affect those relationships. I mean, it's obvious how much Natasha clearly loves RJ and that's always been and going to be her daddy, but that love was also there for her biological father as well. As far as what happened to Natalie, I believe that it was an accident. I agree that people, when it comes to celebrities, and especially those as iconic as Natalie Wood was, want there to be some big, explosive scandal surrounding their death, but that it was just a tragic accident. And it was a great loss. Her girls were all just still so young when it happened. And on a more professional note, I, too, would have loved to have seen her career as it moved into it's new phase as an older actress. I still can't believe she never won an Academy Award for any of her roles either.

Yeah, but that's not the actual first and original question that was asked. The first question was pretty direct and straightforward: The poster then brings up Ciara and Shawn in relation to Abby and JJ and asks are there any like those two, referring to not having any half or step-siblings. My opinion is the opposite of what's below (It won't let me type UNDER the box for some reason). I think the longevity of both characters would have increased the chances of them having children with others rather than decreased it. None of the writers over time ever chose to go there. Like you point out, Jennifer has been on screen without Jack and with/married to other people for significant amounts of time while the character could still have children. She could have had other children without it being a big deal. Same with Jack. For all the time he's been off-screen without Jennifer, a writer could have easily thrown a kid into the mix. It would be dumb to try and bring in any long-lost child at any point now though. Jack/Jennifer/Abby/JJ and any other offspring and/or significant others from Abby or JJ is their main family unit. I don't think the current writers could tell a good story or an actor that could even fit in to make it believable.

None of these apply to what the original poster was asking except Thomas and Charlotte. The original post says: All of these parings have either half-siblings or step-siblings except for Thomas and Charlotte. Theresa and Andrew have Eve as a half-sibling. Stephanie and Joey have Tripp as a half-sibling. Will and Allie are half-siblings to Sydney and Johnny. Even the original poster's assertion about Shawn and Ciara isn't correct. They have Chelsea as a half-sibling. There may even be more half-siblings and step-siblings for these characters that I'm forgetting about, but these are the ones I remember off the top of my head. So, based on this list at least, Abigail and JJ are the only ones who have no half-siblings or step-siblings. Not saying they are the only ones, but based on the posted list they are. Well, I guess Paige would have been their step-sister if she was alive when Jack was married to Eve.

Danielle did a story on IG where she was completing the Kindergarten application on-line for all five of the quints in their local public school district. She showed her computer screen with the names of all five girls. She was going on and on about how time had flown by and that they were going into Kindergarten. No mention of Riley being any different. Blayke should be going into third or fourth grade next year, so all six will be at the same school. Good luck to them trying to explain to Riley, the smartest and brightest of the quints, who is a pretty articulate and critical thinker even at her young age, why she, out of all of them, is going to end up doing Kindergarten twice. She isn't going to understand all of the rules the state of Texas has about birth dates and private Kindergartens. All she is going to see is that she isn't taking the logical next step and going on to 1st grade and is repeating Kindergarten. I haven't heard any of them put any disclaimer on the Kindergarten she's in now to prepare her for understanding why she's doing Kindergarten again, which, if they knew was going to be the case, is pretty dumb. Riley isn't stupid. They know this. Hopefully they have a good explanation for her that she can comprehend. And hopefully the public school Kindergarten is advanced enough for her, because otherwise what was the point of moving her up if you were just going to end up in the same exact situation one year later? I really hope that they didn't move her up knowing full well what would happen to accommodate one or more of the other girls needing to be in separate classes. It appeared there were only four pre-k classes when Riley was doing her tour. So if none of the five were ready for their Kindergarten, they weren't all going to be able to be in separate classes. Maybe they solved that problem by moving Riley up not only because she was more advanced, but because it solved that problem as well. It may have been worth it to them even knowing that they were going to run into the problem of Riley being in "Kindergarten" twice.