Vince1178

Well ... after Monday's episode, consider me captain of Team No One. Let's start with Rafe. He obviously should not have slept with Sami, and he knew it. He knew it from the moment it happened. He should have come clean with Hope immediately. Keeping the secret, especially after he learned Ciara knew the truth, was super bone-headed. I don't feel much sympathy for him. However, I also don't feel all the much sympathy for Hope. First of all, she treated Rafe like shit for months, stringing him along about the marriage when she clearly wasn't into it. And, to reiterate what's been said countless times, she broke off their engagement. She made it seem like they'd had a fight over who should do the dishes. No, Hope. You gave Rafe back the engagement ring and told him you couldn't marry him. That's not an argument, and Rafe had every reason to believe they were done for good. Sure, it's tacky to fall into Sami's bed ten minutes later. And yes, Hope has every right to be upset. But let's not pretend like they were having a run-of-the-mill argument. No. As for Claire, she is everything Ciara accused her of being. And while I think she was right to tell Hope the truth, she did it in the most destructive way possible. It really does come across as though she wanted to create a scene because she's Claire and that's what she does. Telling Hope the truth was secondary to making herself look like a virtuous heroine (even after learning the secret through underhanded means). However, Ciara really should have told Hope the truth. Or, at the very least, she should have convinced Rafe to come clean. She's not blameless at all, but she also has a point about Claire. I mean ... damn. I can't stand Claire. I mostly just feel bad for Trip. He needs to move. Then we have Julie and Jen, the Horton Harpies. Both of these women were so gross in this episode. It's understandable to be upset and worried for Hope. But maybe take the shrill blame game down a notch. And let's not pretend that somehow the Hortons are unimpeachably virtuous. I was so glad Eric pointed out that Abby slept with Sami's husband. And I so wanted Gabi to remind Julie that her precious, innocent little Hope pumped a gun full of bullets into Stefano's chest. I also hope Gabi gives sanctimonious Julie and ear-full when she learns that Lani is carrying Eli's kid. Which brings us to Eli. And Lani. Yeah ... At least JJ has some self-awareness. And poor Gabi can't win for losing these days. So maybe I'm cautiously captain of Team Jabi. Unless you count Eric. I'm always captain of Team Eric because he's hot. And that goes along way with me. (I'm shallow.)

The whole Pamela thing was so odd. It came out of nowhere, was wrapped up in two episodes, involved bringing Billie back for eighteen minutes of screen time, ended in Tripp killing her (self-defense or not, it's a crime), and seems to have no real repercussions other than whatever is coming down the line with Steve's eyesight. That's a whole lot of useless rigamarole to get to the point where Steve's one good eye is failing him. Why not just have Steve ... experience vision issues? Or maybe he could have been injured while working a case? Why have John poison him (sorry, but John comes out looking really bad in this)? Why have Lisa Rinna on set for a day? Why make Tripp a killer (especially if there's no fallout from his actions)? I know a lot of people are griping about the Gabigail story, but at least that's fun. And it seems well crafted into the overall plot of Andre's murder. The thing with Pamela is the epitome of bad writing to me - it had no buildup, no payoff, and ended before it even began. On another note, I would be so pissed if I were Gabi. I mean, is that really what Abigail thinks Gabi looks and acts like?!

Well ... that was a lot. I can't believe how quickly they are flying through this poisoning story all of a sudden. I honestly have no idea why it's even a thing. Did anyone even really remember that the ISA was involved in the cover-up of Ava's murder? I sure didn't. It feel so ridiculous to bring that back to the canvas. My only guess is that they are using this plot to make John (or Billie?) the head of this ISA. But ... what would the point of that be? Call me crazy, but I'm here for the Abigail madness. I don't watch any other soaps so the fact that this is Ron revisiting old stories doesn't really bother me. And it's campy goodness, which I love from Days when I can get in. "It looks like we have ourselves a good old-fashioned Mexican standoff. And only one of us is Mexican." I mean!

Not to mention that it's completely unnecessary for Abigail to have another personality. She already has a history of mental illness. And she's been known to get violent when pushed to the edge. There's already a story there without the addition of a new personality.

Yeah. Billie was an ISA agent. I don't know if she still is, but she definitely did a stint with them back in the day. As for her history with John, I don't recall much.

To be fair, the only other option for investigator would be the woman who is carrying Gabi's boyfriend's baby. Or Gabi's ex, but he quit the force and is going to be an EMT now so he's out. I guess some random officer from the background of a scene could take over, but he'd need to be given a name and that's a lot of work and he'd probably end up being related to Gabi or Andre somehow so ... brother and boyfriend it is! And let's not forget that Gabi's brother is the sworn enemy of the murder victim and once had a thing with the murder victim's wife. And that Gabi's boyfriend is related to the murder victim's sister-in-law. Perils of small town livin', I suppose.

Maybe Abigail's other personality IS Gabi.

As far as I am concerned, Paul and Sonny and Will can enter into a triad and move to Paris to run some subsidiary of Titan. I find their story line to be the least compelling thing on the show at the moment (and, yes, I am including whatever nonsense is happening with Eve and Brady). It's just so boring and predictable. This is what they brought Will back for? If it weren't for the brief time we got Sami and Susan back on our screens, I'd say they should have just kept Will dead. And that's a shame because I've always loved Will. But, man ... this is just mind-numbing.

I've never had a real problem with Abigail (is that my unpopular opinion?), and I was completely sympathetic with her trying to kill Ben. He tortured here relentlessly and killed three people, one of whom was her cousin. Sure, she made some bad choices when it came to Ben and Chad (and EJ and Austin and ... ), but Ben really did a number on her. I actually liked that they had her snap and try to kill him. It made for a potentially compelling character arc, especially considering the mental illness that runs in the family. (And another unpopular opinion - I also didn't have an issues with the way the scenes of Abigail attempting to light Ben on fire were played. They were over-the-top soapy ridiculousness. I don't watch Days for subtlety.) My biggest issue with Abigail is that they quickly swept her mental health issues under the rug when she returned from the "dead." There were a few mentions of it, we got to see Laura for a second, and then she was fine. But perhaps that's going to change. I'm here for that.

HA! Seems you and Eli had the same thought!

That was his rationale for firing her, yes. You can't just fire someone for no reason. But there doesn't seem to be any reason he would NEED to fire her. They sort of insinuated it was over money (she gets 60% of the profits), but that doesn't really make sense to me because a) Dimera Enterprises certainly has plenty of money and b) GabiChic is a brand that is built solely on Gabi the person, which would make firing her a really bad business decision. Also, Gabi was right - there's no way Chad, Abigail, and Kate would just sit back and let this happen. So his firing her made very little sense. Vivian also mentioned something about money, which made me think that there is some reason they need a huge wad of cash fast and that bamboozling Gabi out of her share of the profits was the best way to go about it. But ... we'll see if that ever comes to anything. As usual, I'm putting way too much thought into this delightfully nonsensical soap. They clearly wanted Gabi as a suspect and this was the easiest way to do it.

I really hope they explain this. Otherwise it just feels like really lazy writing in order to get Gabi on the suspect list.

Yeah. I think the show wants us to see him as cocky and sexy. But with everything happening in the world right now regarding sexual misconduct, it just plays as creepy (on the part of Stefan) and tone deaf (on the part of the show). It also seems tone deaf on Stefan's part to think that his actions would be in any way appealing to Abigail. You are right - she clearly finds him repulsive. Learn to read a room, Dude.

Agreed. Their scenes together were a bit odd. And then out of the blue Lucas is being released from rehab and Kate disappears from the episode. Why is Anna carrying Tony's remains in a water bottle? I was actually hoping she'd take up Marlena on her idea to spread the ashes only to open the "urn" and find it empty. Instead, she gets a mysterious letter from a sixth-grader who just learned how to write cool bubble letters. If Abigail really wants Stefan gone, she should do a few #MeToo tweets about his very obvious and very gross sexual advances in the workplace.

They seem to be heading very quickly toward the truth coming out about Lani. At this point half the town either knows who the real father is or has more than enough information to figure it out. And she's only known about the pregnancy for what feels like fifteen minutes. Which ... good. I hate a drawn-out paternity story. I personally do not have an issue with Gabi's clothes. Or Abigail's for that matter (thought she does tend to be a bit dowdy). I am, however, personally offended by Eli's tattoos. They are just awful. Is that a Dodge Ram logo on his should blades?!

I thought the same thing as DisneyBoy. When Kate showed Gabi the office, Gabi said something like, "You have all the products I've been promoting!" And there are candles and wigs (!!!) and other home products on the shelves. It made me think GabiChic (I actually think that's a super cute name) is a lifestyle blog similar to Gwyneth's Goop. Yes, she was Chad's stylist for a while, but I assumed she transitioned that (plus her modeling cred) into something broader. Clearly I give this show way too much thought ...

There was nothing particularly definitive. But there were some scenes where she talked with Chad (and maybe others) about thinking it over. And then Andre defended her to Vivian and she melted and invited him up to her room. And I kind of threw up in my mouth a little.