Rafe said it best: something doesn’t add up.
In his case, he somehow missed the panicked look on TR’s face while Rafe and Paulina talked about Eli’s shooting.
But that was far from the only thing that was slightly off on Days of Our Lives during the week of 3-28-22, and we can’t even entirely blame the Devil.
The TR storyline is far more interesting than the Devil nonsense.
TR is a devil of sorts himself. He’s pretending to be reformed and thinks pulling the wool over Paulina’s eyes is the solution to his financial problems.
TR: I’m overleveraged right now. I had to move some money around to pay off some debts.
Beth: Wait, is that why you want Paulina back? Cause she’s rich?
TR: All I’m saying is, it’s in your best interest to keep your mouth shut so that I can get back together with Paulina.
Beth: So that you can get your hands on her money.
Sadly, the only person who seems to be onto his phony changed-man act is Abe.
If Paulina stopped to think for a minute, she’d realize that TR’s behavior now is exactly how she fell into his trap the first time around.
She said he reminded her now of the sweet man he was before he began abusing her. Sadly, that’s what abusers do. They pour on the charm and the sweetness, making their intended victim feel super special, only to pull the rug out from under them once they are in a relationship.
TR being so thoughtful and sensitive was an act the first time around, and it’s an act now. Paulina was right to be wary of TR initially, but she’s already letting her desire for him to be who he’s pretending to be cloud her judgment.
To make matters worse, TR doesn’t want her for any reason other than that he’s in financial trouble. Once he has Paulina in his clutches, there’s no telling how far he’ll take things.
He beat her to a pulp before, scaring her to the point that she felt she had to hide her pregnancy from him, and now he’s almost killed one person.
What stops him from killing Paulina if that’s what it takes to get his hands on her money?
Let’s hope that Paulina doesn’t become a statistic! I never thought I’d say this, but Olivia needs to hurry back to Salem to try to talk some sense into her daughter.
TR is too good at pushing the right buttons to get Paulina where he wants her, though, so even a visit from her mother might not get Paulina to wake up.
Abe: Maybe this is none of my business, but after what you told me about how that man treated you in the past, I’m not comfortable with how much time he’s spending around you now.
Paulina: You’re right. This is none of your business.
Abe’s trying to get her to understand how dangerous reconciling with TR might be, even after all these years, but Paulina won’t listen.
At least Abe is mature enough to understand that it must be Paulina’s decision. Unlike Chloe, he’s not running around town hiring people and otherwise scheming to orchestrate a breakup.
But Paulina may soon find herself in boiling water, and if she does, hopefully, Abe will be there to help get her out of it and to pick up the pieces afterward.
Let’s take a minute to applaud Sal Stowers’ performance as Lani struggled with grief over Eli’s condition and guilt over not being there for the twins right now, though.
Stowers is a phenomenal actress, as anyone who ever watched Prospect Park knows, but until recently, she’s been given less than stellar material to work with.
She knocked these scenes out of the park, and she deserves an Emmy nod next time around.
Despite Lani’s grief, her scenes weren’t all depressing, either. I loved how Lani quickly pivoted to surprise when she found out about Chanel’s complicated love life and tried to be supportive of her newfound sister.
Meanwhile, Johnny/Devil could have blown TR’s plan sky-high.
For an omnipotent evil creature, the Devil certainly is in the dark about a lot of Salem goings-on. It should have already known about TR’s arrangement with Beth and been plotting to use its knowledge to its advantage.
Instead, it had no idea what TR’s secret was or even that there was any secret until Beth blurted it out.
Nor would it have had access to the info it needed to mess with Allie and Chanel had it not happened to be in the right place at the right time.
What a pathetic excuse for an evil demon. This Devil is nothing but a doppelganger with a weird voice and yellow eyes.
The confrontation between Johnny/Devil and Allie was bizarre, too.
It reminded me of when Abigail’s DID was depicted as her in a room trying to get the other alters on the phone. It was a weird attempt at illustrating the inner workings of someone who is not in control of themselves that didn’t quite work.
As Marci Miller did on that occasion, Carson Boatman totally sold the inner anguish. Johnny’s body kept freezing up because of Johnny’s attempt to fight back, and his internal monologue was fraught with despair.
Still, though, the whole premise was silly enough without Johnny screaming from deep inside his own body and begging Allie to help him.
No one should have fallen for the ruse that Belle was the Devil in the first place since literally everyone involved kept saying Johnny wasn’t acting like himself.
And since Allie supposedly has this deep connection with Johnny, she should have been the first to realize he was likely possessed. Sheesh.
It’s too much to hope that the Devil storyline is anywhere near over. Still, I wish this would end with Allie realizing what was going on ahead of time and bringing her whole family, including Chanel, to help exorcise Johnny.
Instead, we’re stuck with this silly supernatural doppelganger that has overstayed its welcome. And how much are you willing to bet that the Devil jumps into Allie next? Ugh.
The second silliest story of the week was this Chad/Leo business.
Leo shouldn’t have gone into Brady and Chloe’s room without permission, but he was spot on with most of what he said.
Chloe crossed the line from concerned to controlling a long time ago. She said her piece about Craig and Leo. Now it’s time to take lessons from Abe and let Craig do what he will with the info.
Chloe: My relationship is none of your business.
Leo: And my relationship with your father is none of yours, and yet funnily enough, that didn’t stop you from constantly interfering and sending Chad to try to trick me into cheating on Craig.
Instead, she continued to lie and scheme while also managing to blame Leo for Craig taking Kayla’s job.
That was particularly ridiculous since all Craig did was put himself forward as a candidate for a position that likely would be open soon. If Chloe was right that Leo was behind it, Leo helped Craig make a wise career move.
The whole Chad/Leo thing was played for laughs, but it wasn’t funny. It was stupid.
Chad made it clear a long time ago that he was straight and had no interest in Leo, and his machinations to try to stop Leo from actually sleeping with him demonstrated why this scheme was a terrible idea.
The last thing Chad needed was for Leo to take his proposition seriously after all the work Chad had put into getting Leo to leave him the hell alone.
Also, it’s beyond me how anyone could have thought this plan would work.
Abigail’s visit pleading with Leo to leave Chad alone and Chad’s arrival on Leo’s doorstep were minutes apart. Maybe that kind of idiocy works with native-born Salemites, but Leo isn’t from Salem, and he seems to have arrived with his brains intact.
He saw through it in seconds. Thank goodness.
I don’t even like Leo, but I cheered when he revealed that he’d known all along that Chad was playing him and had taken steps to call Chad’s bluff.
Chloe: My relationship is none of your business.
Leo: And my relationship with your father is none of yours, and yet funnily enough, that didn’t stop you from constantly interfering and sending Chad to try to trick me into cheating on Craig.
Chloe doesn’t seem to get that she isn’t in charge of who Craig dates. No matter what she thinks of Leo, it is not her decision.
Her shock and outrage that Craig told her that he no longer wanted to hear her nonsense about his boyfriend made her come off as entitled. It’s called boundaries, Chloe. Didn’t you ever set any with Parker?
Of course, first Nancy and Craig were raising Parker, and then he was shipped off to boarding school, but that’s a rant for another day. The point is, Chloe should know better, and she’s acting like she has the right to treat Craig however she feels like because she’s his daughter.
Anyway, she and Brady should have realized that these plots accomplish nothing. It’s the Romeo and Juliet effect. Even though Craig is no longer a teenager, he reacts the same way young people would to being told not to date someone: by becoming twice as determined to make the relationship work!
Chloe wasn’t the only one in oblivious land, though, as Marlena was equally shocked that Craig dared fire her.
That seemed ridiculous, considering it was less than a week ago that Marlena warned Kayla that if Kayla didn’t fire her, the board would replace her with someone who would.
Yet now, it seemed inconceivable to her that the new Chief of Staff would do any such thing, and she seemed to take it personally.
It didn’t help that Craig decided to be all smirky about it. But Marlena should have remained professional, even if he wasn’t!
The hospital board should have made arrangements for her patients’ cases to be transferred to other doctors. The way this went down wasn’t terribly realistic, but it was fun!
Marlena: I’m sorry, Nancy. I can’t be your therapist anymore. Craig just fired me.
Nancy: He did what?
Marlena: It’s all right. I can recommend some colleagues who are very good.
Nancy: No. [to Craig] You are not going to fire her.
Craig: You have no power in this, Nancy.
Nancy: Oh, but I do. You want me to grant you a divorce so you can marry your little boy toy, don’t you?
Craig: You’re blackmailing me?
Nancy: And it’ll work, too.
Nancy seemed to be channeling Anna as she quietly threatened Craig with her refusal to sign the divorce papers.
However, Craig might have had more of an upper hand than he realized. What family court judge would make a divorce settlement in Nancy’s favor if she were manipulating her ex-husband into not firing her therapist after said therapist had given lousy advice while possessed by the devil?
Also, what’s going to become of Craig’s job now? He was brought in to replace Kayla after Kayla refused to fire Marlena, so how can he remain in position if he does the same thing?
Speaking of Anna, this Sarah/Renee story has gotten ridiculous, too, not that it ever wasn’t.
It’s hard to believe that Tony would go along with this nonsensical plot to pretend that Tony believes Sarah is Renee and that he is in love with her.
He should have known this could only result in Sarah trying to get him into her bed and Anna storming over in a jealous rage.
Anna was not in the wrong, nor should she have trusted that Tony would stop short of sleeping with Sarah. Whatever his intentions were, Sarah has fully embraced Renee Dumonde’s identity, including her determination to get rid of Anna and snag Tony for herself.
While Sarah is not the literal resurrection of Renee, dealing with her in this state is like dealing with Renee, and Tony should realize that.
And while Maggie is on board with this ridiculous plan, Victor shouldn’t be. Tony even said he was aware that Victor was unhappy. Why are we hearing about it secondhand?
Victor is MIA during this story, and his legendary snark is badly needed to balance out the stupidity elsewhere.
EJ is set to come home soon now that Belle thinks she has proof that she was the one who framed him.
Of course, eventually, the truth all has to come out. How Kate, Chad, and Lucas will stay out of jail is anyone’s guess.
But for now, this opens up interesting possibilities with EJ and Clyde both being free to wander around Salem and Orpheus planning on using Clyde to do his dirty work.
EJ and Belle seem destined for an affair. Will Clyde be the one to find out about it and cause EJ more trouble?
Ava and Nicole faced off in the Square. Yay (NOT!).
The only good thing about this was Jake breaking the two of them up. I predicted a long time ago that he and Ava would end up together, and it seemed like that’s exactly what happened.
But other than that, Ava has overstayed her welcome, and I’m still worried about what she plans to do about Allie breaking Tripp’s heart.
Plus, two ex-mobsters hooking up while smirking about both being on the straight and narrow now makes almost as much sense as Roman hiring Clyde.
Kate is sure to have some choice words about that, and it may not be long before Clyde is trying to run a covert drug operation out of the Pub.
Roman: Good morning, gentlemen.
Clyde: Well, look who you callin’ gentleman.
Roman: You.
Clyde: In the flesh. I guess you haven’t heard the good news. I was released on parole. Yes siree, I’m a free man. No thanks to you. [to Ben] I’m sure you remember that your wife’s uncle here wasn’t always just a friendly neighborhood pub owner. Back when he was police commissioner, he sent his protege undercover to try to take down the business I was running.
Roman: You know what, that is correct, if you can call an illegal drug operation a business.
Clyde: I was just trying to make a livin’
Ben: All right, let’s not pick any fights with Roman right now, Dad. Roman was doing his job, his job was to bust people who are breaking the law, and you were breaking the law. With that being said, my father’s past is now behind him. He has paid for his crimes and he is now on the straight and narrow.
Clyde: That’s right. And as soon as breakfast is over, I’m headed out to start lookin’ for a job.
Roman: Heh. Good luck with that.
Clyde: By the way, Roman, what are the chances of you hiring me?
Roman: Okay… so you want me to hire you?
Clyde: Sure. I’ve got a lot of kitchen experience. And I see by the sign in your window you’re lookin’ for a short-order cook.
Roman: Yeah, you know what? I should have said ‘short-order cook who didn’t try to blow up the whole city.’
Clyde: Oh, man. You law and order types talk a good game when it comes to rehabilitation, but when it comes right down to it, you’d rather lock us up and throw away the key, wouldn’t ya? I mean, I’ve done my time, I’m trying to put my life back together for Ben’s sake, for his wife’s sake, for my grandchild’s sake. But if I can’t find a job, they’re gonna throw me right back in Statesville. Is that fair?
Clyde’s outrage at Roman not wanting to hire him felt like it was mocking the genuine problem of ex-cons not being able to turn their lives around because of a lack of job opportunities. In Clyde’s case, he’s not any more serious about turning his life around than TR is. And Roman doesn’t owe him a job just because he needs one, either.
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics! Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about Days of Our Lives during the week of 3-28-22.
Can’t get enough DAYS chat? Be sure to check back for the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion on Sunday.
Days of Our Lives airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes or watch on Peacock TV on weeknights after 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.