You Don't Send Me Flowers Anymore

So,

No Sami and no Rafe makes this weekend into a long weekend!

Carly doesn't tell Chloe to bugger off

With a forced breeziness, Chloe sidles up to Carly and asks how her hearing went.  Carly's first clue that Chloe is looking to ambush Daniel at work is that she goes cross-eyed whenever she makes a concerted effort to demonstrate any sort of interest in anyone's life other than her own.

Days Drama Beat

Stephanie and Melanie's pathetic catfight ends rather abruptly when Stephanie pushes Melanie to the ground.  Melanie gasps and clutches at her non-belly where Philip's sperm has barely had time to find out her egg's last name.

I've sat down in armchairs harder than Melanie hit that floor.

Brady breaks up the catfight

...but all I can think about is how excited I am that he got a haircut.

This should probably happen far more often than it does

EJ prepares to tell his father about his deal with God.

"I know this is going to seem a little bit out of character..."

Who else is surprised the characters on this show don't say this more often?

Melanie noisily (and ineffectively) shuffles her papers across the floor with her foot

It was still more subtle than Chloe advancing on Carly like an airport hare krishna on a tambourine.

Stephanie leaves without her coat

Which wouldn't have been half as noticeable if she hadn't decided to get the last word in while poised in the doorway in front of a massive tree full of fake snow.

Intentional or unintentional?  Carly gets a good dig in

Chloe is still tip-toeing around her true motive for speaking to a woman who clearly wants to hook her pen into her dangling earrings and yank them out with the force of a sled being pulled by a team of rabid huskies.  Chloe strikes up a conversation about how Daniel internalizes everything when he's in pain or under stress.  Carly's been suffering silently but in the end she decides she's not going to internalize her own pain.

"I really should be with him," Chloe says.

"Then you should call him and offer him your services."

Vivian = Genius

Gus, who has recently told Vivian he isn't taking anymore of her guff, delves into the crate of supplies for something to eat only to discover that she's hid it all.

"I'm stranded on a desert island with Margaret Thatcher."

Vivian's eyes widen, momentarily stricken.  After a moment of reflection, though, she decides it's the biggest compliment anyone has ever given her.

Oh.  There it is.

I guess they cut the scene where Stephanie had to pathetically slink back to Melanie and ask for her coat back.  Crap.

Hey...wait a second.

What the hell is Nathan doing in there?  

Isn't he afraid Gammy B. might be staking out the joint waiting for his arrival so she can hock a loogie into his chowder unnoticed?

The writers are at least kind enough to warn us that this stupid storyline is far from being over

Stefano asks EJ if he's going to stick to the contract made with Sami via God, or if it's going to lapse, basically informing us that this could possibly go on for another who-the-hell-knows how many months.

"Once you know Giovanni is safe, are you going to kick Samantha out of here again?"

"Father, this is one contract that I intend to keep..."

We're all doomed.

"...Forever."

Doomed, I say.

The writers are also kind enough to let us know that they're aware of their laziness

Kate points out Vivian's island paradise to Victor on a map.  He's mighty impressed.

"It's the same concept as the sarcophagus, only on a grander scale."

That beach set is many things, but "grand" is not one of them.

Chloe and Philip bump into eachother on the pier

Philip appears on the pier and finds Chloe staring off into space.

Nothing unusual there.

Philip is ready for daddy-duty to start as soon as possible.  Chloe tells Philip she left Parker with a sitter.

"I went to talk to Daniel at the hospital and I figured it would be a little less awkward if I wasn't holding your child."

Good call.

Brady comforts Melanie

Brady finds out Melanie is pregnant.

"Philip Kiriakis: A one-man population explosion."

"That's not funny."

"No, it's not funny.  The light from funny would take a million years to hit here."

That's so not true.

"You know, I was going to be this really good Kiriakis wife.  I was reading a book about Greeks."

"I saw it."

The time this saved me allowed me to have another cup of tea

Stefano comforts EJ

Stefano is surprised that EJ's "contract" with God seems to be rather "cut-and-dried".

"Maybe I'm just a bit stressed.  Maybe I'm just trying to control my emotions so I don't start screaming.  Maybe that explains it."

DiMera hugs are the best hugs.

Harold Watch, 2011

Harold opens the door for Kate and offers to take her coat without being seen nor heard.

Boo.

Once again the writers seem to be sending us a message

Melanie has an important decision to make.

"There's a tape-loop going off in my head saying, 'What're you gonna do?  What're you gonna do?  What're you gonna do?'"

It's not in your head, Melanie.  I hear it, too.

Magic Magic:  Maggie appears in the Kiriakis living room out of nowhere

There must be some sort of wormhole in the foyer of the Kiriakis mansion.

"Victor. Talking to yourself?  You know what they say about that."

That you're on a soap?

Chloe is a lousy human being

When Philip insists that he's going to be a part of Parker's life, Chloe tries to get him off her back by throwing Melanie under the bus and telling Philip that she's probably pregnant and that he should raise that baby instead.  Because a baby's a baby, right?

To think this could have all been avoided if Chloe hadn't let Philip on her back in the first place.

Vivian is wearing knee-highs

Smeat.

Vivian is hungry enough to reach for a can of "Smeat" when she realizes that her claws aren't quite sharp enough to tear through metal.  That's when Gus waves the can opener at her from his side of the island.

EJ is bored

I feel for you, EJ.  I really do.

EJ toasts State's reunion

"This is probably a stupid question, but would you like a drink?"

Kate's Noisy Jewellery

Today Kate is wearing more jewellery in one go than I think I've ever seen her wearing.  Or heard her wearing.  You might still think it's Christmas.  She expresses her sympathy to EJ and prays he gets good news about Johnny's sight.  It was a very sincere, heartfelt moment...

...and I'm pretty sure EJ didn't hear any of it.

Reunited, and it feels so good

Having had enough of Madame, Gus has made the decision to move to the other side of the island where he hopes he and his can opener will be rescued.  But when it comes time to leave, he finds he just can't do it.  Touched, Vivian holds out her unopened dinner as a peace offering.

"Here.  Eat...Smeat."

I actually rather liked this episode.  It was nice to head into the weekend with a break from Sami and Rafe.  Vivian and Gus are hilarious.  Brady and Melanie are adorable.  Chloe's an idiot (Brady finally calls her out on it).  EJ and Stefano are fantastic. 

The Nathan/Stephanie scenes were pretty much more of the same - Stephanie continues to shift all the blame for her failed relationship on Melanie like she walks around Salem naked while feeding an apple to the snake wrapped around her naughty bits.  Big, mighty yawn.

There's something about watching the DiMeras coming together as a family in times of tragedy that's much different than when the Brady Bunch does it. The DiMeras tell it like it is. They have a very "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" approach to comforting. None of them ever once says, "Everything's going to be okay" because they just don't know if it will or not. There's no enabling of false hope on Stefano and Kate's part, which EJ seems perfectly satisfied with here.

Sami has a very "why me?!" non-approach to dealing with tragedy, and Rafe enables it, which does nothing for TPTB's cause to make Sami/Rafe a rootable couple. So long as Sami continues to try and play Sally Field in 'Not Without My Daughter', she's going to remain unsympathetic. And Rafe ain't helping by saying, "Cancer is a disease and it's nobody's fault" one minute then "Sami doesn't deserve this" in the next. By having an episode where we get to see EJ quietly grieving without Sami's hysteria sucking all the oxygen out of the room, the damage that the writers have done to Sami is going to be strikingly evident again come Monday.

You might notice that a few times in this episode characters are accusing others of "not being themselves". Victor does it to Maggie. Chloe and Brady do it to eachother. EJ tells Stefano he's done something "out of character". There are also a few moments where it almost seems like the writers are trying to tell us that they've realized what we've known for quite some time - there's no forward movement in the storylines (but plenty of lurches backwards), plots are being rehashed, dialogue is repetitive, etc. The problem is that there seems to be this lackadaisical approach to it, almost as though the writers are saying, "Yeah, yeah. We know", but nothing is going to be done about it.

TPTB are counting on me being a creature of habit (which I am) and taking advantage of my love and loyalty to the characters and the actors who portray them.  But the thing is, while I still love Days, I just don't like it all that much right now.  I'm expecting my heart-shaped box of chocolates, flowers and gold-embossed "We're Sorry" Hallmark card to arrive in the mail any day now.