What About Your Friends? Days Friendships, Past, Present, and Future

[4evaQuez]

While writing my post regarding today's episode, I mentioned that Philip has not had a male friend since high school. I started to think about the lack of male friendships on this show in general today. I then thought about the friendships on this show in general.

I thought it could be interesting if we talked about platonic friendships on Days. What were some of your favorites of the past? What are your favorites of the present? What are some friendships you'll like to see in the future? For the future, since we are not under a union or need contract and pay negotiations, this could be from any era of Days with past or present cast. For example, maybe you want a Carly and Lani friendship. That's entirely possible in this thread. If you are creating a hypothetical friendship between characters, please explain why you think these two characters could be friends.

Also, biological relationships between cousins and siblings are included under the friendship tag for this thread. For example, if Jen and Hope or Steve and Jack is your favorite friendship, I would say that applies for the purposes of this thread. However, John and Belle or any parent/child relationship does not apply. Since Days has characters who are related in multiple ways, I think it would be unnecessarily cumbersome to exclude biological relationships as friendships. However, I don't think marriage should count in this particular thread, so Belle/Shawn or Eli/Lani can't be a favorite friendship in this regard. Romantic pairings also don't count, so Allie/Tripp can't be a favorite friendship in this regard either. However, Nicole/Brady can be a favorite friendship since there seems to be no current plans to romantically link them at the moment.

Of course the conversation can go anywhere, but I do have a specific question I wanted to ask to kick us off.

What are some friendships, in general, on current Days and which ones do you like or would rather the show end? There don't seem to be a lot, but I thought maybe I'm missing some. For friendships, I'm only counting people who are currently on canvas. These are the ones I could think of:

1. Steve/John/Abe

2. Jack/Steve

3. Jack/Xander

4. Chloe/Nicole

5. Ava/Nicole

6. Nicole/Brady

7. Allie/Ciara

8.Kate/Marlena

9. Marlena/Paulina

10. Philip/Lucas

11. Marlena/Kayla - I don't like this friendship, but the show has invested in it enough that I can't ignore it.

I know this isn't a definitive list, but I tried to go for friendships of equals. So a Marlena/Ben wouldn't count because Marlena was/is primarily his therapist even if a friendship sprung from that. I know Kate/Marlena started the same way, but they seem like equals in the friendship; whereas, Ben still seems to have a heroic view of Marlena. Kate lost that view quite a long time ago.

Maggie/Brady didn't qualify because she is his sponsor and his step grandmother. However, this is just my criteria, and you can add these two if you like as they are still not in a romantic pairing nor are they parent/child. They can still qualify as a friendship if you so choose.

There were some people who I found it difficult to say who their friends are.

1. Lani - There's Kristen and Theo but neither are on the current cast.

2. Eli - Theo. I kinda thought of Chanel, but I wasn't sure.

3. Chad - Will, Sonny, and Theo. I never realized Theo had so many friends until now.

4. Abby - Couldn't think of anyone. Will, JJ, and Sonny.

5. Gabi - Couldn't think of anyone. Will, JJ, and Sonny again. I never saw Gabi/Rafe as being friends.

6. Rafe - I thought of Nicole, but they are seemingly headed for a romantic pairing Maybe Rafe/Eli/Shawn. That seems like a stretch.

7. Belle - Couldn't think of anyone.

8. Shawn - Couldn't think of anyone

9. Gwen - I thought about Jake, but they don't really interact. Maybe Ava, but they don't seem at the friendship stage yet.

10. Johnny - I thought about Allie, but I would want them to interact more before I added them. I also wanna see where the Chanel/Allie/Johnny triangle goes before I declare Johnny/Allie friends.

11. Tripp - I couldn't think of anyone

12. Ben - I couldn't think of anyone. Will but he's off canvas.

13. Chanel - Allie and Johnny. Since it seems she's headed into a triangle with the two, I didn't add them. I did like Chanel/Lani, but I'm not certain where that's going now that the Paulina/Lani secret is out.

What friendships did I miss? Which ones would you add? Which friendships would you like to see get more focus? Which people on canvas used to be friends that aren't getting a focus anymore?

 

[DaphneCat]

How about Xander/Maggie?  I think they work because however forgiving Maggie is, she isn't a sap as far as he's concerned.  She knows he does bad things and accepts him anyway.  And Xander brings out the fun in Maggie in a way few others do.

[4evaQuez]

12 minutes ago, DaphneCat said:

How about Xander/Maggie?  I think they work because however forgiving Maggie is, she isn't a sap as far as he's concerned.  She knows he does bad things and accepts him anyway.  And Xander brings out the fun in Maggie in a way few others do.

I honestly forgot about them, but yes they count.

As for former friendships that don't get much airtime anymore, I was thinking of Jack/Sami and Jack/Nicole. Maggie/Marlena also used to be bestfriends although that's before my time.

[DisneyBoy]

Xander/Maggie makes no sense - he's been awful to her lifelong friends - but it has been sweet seeing her support his rehabilitation into a decent person.

My favorite from the last few years was easily - easily! - Theresa and Anne's. They schemed together, gossiped about Judgy Jennifer and Kristen together, she helped her with her fashion ambitions...it was not only an actual friendship in the narrative, you got the sense the actresses valued and enjoyed working together as well. They even did a DOOL BTS rap video which was super fun.

Anne was clearly written as a sidekick - first to Chloe, if memory serves - but I felt like Jen Lilley brought a respect to their interactions that made it clear no one was the boss, even if Anne seemed to follow Theresa around as her storylines unfolded.

At the time, I wondered if their friendship was happening by accident too, since the show never seemed to actively build those kinds of relationships.

The shoehorned Xander/Jack bromance fell flat for me because it was clearly just forced in to raise the stakes of the Gwen plot, kinda like the "you were my Maid of Honor!!" Abigail/Sami five-minute friendship.

Whatever the deal is with Viv and Ivan is another of my favorites. They've always been fun. I also rather liked Laura and Marlena back in the day. Sad how that evaporated.

Kristen and EJ didn't get much time together back in 2011/12 and their romances and attempts at seeming "honorable" to the others ultimately tore them apart...but Eileen and James were great together. They weren't really siblings as they hadn't grown up together and she once pretended to be his Mom and all...so I count theirs as something of a friendship.

Bo and Abe and Abe and John were also fun. A bit too much macho posturing, but consistently written and presented.

To answer your question about which should end...Lani and Kristen. Its a romance and if they aren't going to go there, I'd rather they just end it.

Allie and Ciara as well because I don't see how anyone can like or enjoy Ciara.

Paulina's a pet character so they're putting her with eveyone. I don't see her and Doc having a friendship. She needs a recast, a rewrite or the boot. Intolerable.

Ava same/worse. She deserves no friends.

Kate and Marlena seem to act like friends once every five years. I'd love to see more of them as buddies but I know we won't.

Why is Marlena and Kayla's friendship weird for you?

Edited December 21, 2021 by DisneyBoy

[4evaQuez]

9 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

My favorite from the last few years was easily - easily! - Theresa and Anne's. They schemed together, gossiped about Judgy Jennifer and Kristen together, she helped her with her fashion ambitions...it was not only an actual friendship in the narrative, you got the sense the actresses valued and enjoyed working together as well. They even did a DOOL BTS rap video which was super fun.

To answer your question about which should end...Lani and Kristen. Its a romance and if they aren't going to go there, I'd rather they just end it.

Kate and Marlena seem to act like friends once every five years. I'd love to see more of them as buddies but I know we won't.

Why is Marlena and Kayla's friendship weird for you?

I forgot all about Anne. I used to love her character. Similar to DA Trask, they allowed Anne to speak for the audience, but they did try to give her more of a role in Salem life. I vaguely remember the show putting her with Lucas for a small amount of time. She and Theresa also had much better schemes and even some small victories. Didn't they get Jennifer fired from her job as Communications Director - or whatever her title was - for some time. You're write; she was originally Chloe's sidekick. This was when the show decided to make Chloe a villain for Dannifer. I hated that story so, so much. Chloe was quite cruel to Anne, and I never understood why the show would write Chloe so far out of character. I also never understood why Anne would take this abuse. Theresa and Anne were actual friends, and Anne was probably the best friend Theresa had while on the show, except for maybe JJ and the five minutes the show allowed Theresa and Eric to be friends.

I concur about Lani and Kristen. You would think the writers would notice there's a friendship problem with Lani when she needs to go to a high security prison simply to have someone to confide in. I wonder why the show didn't try a Lani/Sarah friendship since neither had any.

I concur again about Kate/Marlena. 

So, I'll try to make my Marlena/Kayla response as short and clear as possible. I have a lot of complaints about the Kayla character. I'll try to focus simply on the friendship portion.

1. Kayla is not my first choice for friend with anyone she's mostly friends with. Jennifer, Hope, Marlena, Bo. Kayla is third, at best, for who I would choose for her to have a friendship scene with. Adrienne was the only person I truly enjoyed her friendship scenes with, but Adrienne was a C tier character, at best, which meant not a lot of friendship scenes between the two. 

2. I never understood who Kayla was as a character, so it's hard to comprehend how she connects with others. It's also hard to understand why anyone would confide in her. Jennifer, Hope, Marlena are all heroines. However, they each have a distinctive personality, motivations, and character flaws. I understand why someone would call each, and what that person is looking for. Kayla just seems like a generic heroine to me, and who you call when you can't reach the other three. After watching her for years on and off since 2006, I mostly understand that she's in love with Steve, she's a doctor, and she was raped by Jack. The show hasn't done much outside of that to explain Kayla's character to me. I understand Trask and even Rafe and Ava more than I understand Kayla. I may even put Jake on this list.

3. I simply don't think the Marlena/Kayla actresses work well together. I know they have a history that goes back to the 80s, but I don't feel that history. They speak like coworkers, even during intimate scenes, and not like women who used to be sister in laws and share family members. I thought Marlena/Laura and Marlena/Kim did much better jobs of showing doctors who are also friends. Marlena/Kayla just feel like doctors.

4. Which brings me to a question I've had for years regarding Kayla. Kim isn't around and Bo is deceased. I understand why the show ignores the Roman/Kayla dynamic, but I've always been confused why the show doesn't invest more in a Kayla/John friendship. Maybe they are concerned that it'll impact the John/Steve friendship. I'm not sure. I just think Kayla's strongest tie to the show at this point is being a doctor. She also quite rude bordering on hostile in her doctor role, so I find it even harder to believe that people would want to be friends with her.

I guess there was a Kayla/Sarah friendship to be fair.

I've mostly only liked Kayla in scenes when she was taking on a mentor role to Theresa. I also did like Kayla and Kate Mansi's Abby in scenes together. I did not like Kayla and Stephanie at all, but that's a rant for another thread.

On the contrary, I would like to know if you like Marlena/Kayla scenes. I would love to look for something that I'm probably missing, so I can enjoy them more.

[Pearson80]

2 hours ago, 4evaQuez said:

3. I simply don't think the Marlena/Kayla actresses work well together. I know they have a history that goes back to the 80s, but I don't feel that history. They speak like coworkers, even during intimate scenes, and not like women who used to be sister in laws and share family members. I thought Marlena/Laura and Marlena/Kim did much better jobs of showing doctors who are also friends. Marlena/Kayla just feel like doctors.

 

I agree with you and it has always bothered me that the show pushed the Marlena/Kayla friendship while Kayla and Marlena loved each other as sister-in-laws when she was married to both Roman and RoJohn, Kayla was always closer to Hope because of Bo, since Bo and Kayla were super close growing up.  Just like Marlena was always close to Kim as sister-in-laws and friends because of Roman's and Rojohn's close bond with Kim.  Kim knew that Marlena still loved John  after it was revealed that he was not Roman and real Roman came back. Kim told her to explore her feelings for John rather than suppress them for Roman and her need to do the right thing all of the time.  If she chose to do the latter,  then she would end up hurting Roman, John and herself., Kim was so right, she did hurt both men and herself after all was said and done.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Pearson80

[norcalgal]

19 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

Whatever the deal is with Viv and Ivan is another of my favorites.

Co-signed.

I also thought Jack & Greta had a sweet friendship.

 

[oftentimes]

Well, I believe Ben and Jake were/are friends.

[Panopticon]

My favorite current friendship is probably Chloe/Nicole, which I concede makes no damn sense. They never should have been friends after the flesh-eating bacteria incident, but they work for me as women from different backgrounds and with different ideals who unexpectedly grew on each other when their lives twisted together. I HATED that baby Holly's origin story was all about Deimos. It should have been about the love between Chloe and Nicole, although their assorted romantic interests would have played a role too.

Another friendship I liked this year was Allie/Claire. Not Ciara, since others exist only to serve her and prove her superiority.

I'm glad Lucas/Philip got some play this year, though I'm sorry they're bonding over being damn psychos in danger of being written off.

Unpopular with this crowd, but I liked the moments Julie/Paulina got when they were taking about breaking Doug out of the hospital. Paulina usually overwhelms anyone with whom she shares screen time. Julie has just as big and loud a personality. So they found an equilibrium. I suppose that's not a friendship but I could accept it as a budding one-- more than Paulina with almost anyone else, since most people just sit quietly and watch as Paulina spins around.

[Chellfairy]

On 12/22/2021 at 1:09 AM, oftentimes said:

Well, I believe Ben and Jake were/are friends.

Makes so much damn sense!

Edited December 23, 2021 by Chellfairy