Leo Stark is not who I would have picked out as Craig’s new love.
But it’s turned out to be a more intriguing story than I expected.
Is Leo yet another unchanged Salem baddie claiming to have turned over a new leaf or not? On Days of Our Lives during the week of 4-11-22, we got some clues that could go either way.
Leo spent time on the phone boasting about how “that bitch” can’t get in the way of his wedding to Craig now. Craig told him to stop trash-talking Nancy, and Leo said he was talking about Chloe. Either way, it was an ambiguous conversation.
Leo might have been bragging about how he was about to land a wealthy doctor and live the high life, or he might have meant that the woman trying to interfere in his relationship with Craig wasn’t going to get her way.
Leo is Leo, and Days of Our Lives doesn’t believe much in personal transformation these days. So the chances are that it’s going to turn out that he is conning Craig, but this is one time I’d like everyone to be wrong.
Although Leo has been a nuisance who tries to get guys in bed with him who have no interest and will do anything for money, the way that everyone is treating his relationship with Craig is aggravating.
Craig has told Chloe a billion times that this is HIS life, and he wants to marry Leo. And he’s right.
Whether Leo is for real or a con artist, Chloe, Brady, and Sonny can’t force Craig to break up with him. Chloe and Brady warned Craig about Leo’s con artist past. If Craig wants to go ahead with the wedding anyway, that’s on him.
Instead, certain people are running around jumping into one scheme after another to stop Craig and Leo from tying the knot. It’s obnoxious and presumptuous. Craig is far from a child, and Chloe is acting like a spoiled brat about this.
Sonny: I need your help.
Chad: Please don’t tell me that you want me to try to get in Leo’s bed again.
And Sonny is even worse.
Chad tried to tell Sonny that Craig’s relationship was none of their business, but Sonny wasn’t having it. He wants to ruin Leo’s life, and despite his claim to be concerned about Craig, it doesn’t seem like he cares if Craig gets his heart broken in the process.
Sonny’s new plan is ridiculous. First of all, there’s no proof that Leo was doing anything besides talking to a friend on the phone. Secondly, New York City is a big place, so how can he and Chad run off and find Jackie Cox without any more specific idea of where she is?
And thirdly, as Chad pointed out, it is not their place to save Craig from himself or Leo. That’s still true, no matter how many fake tears Sonny cries to get Chad to be his partner in crime.
Why did Chad fall for that? Let’s hope he’s stronger about it when his young son uses tears to get his way than he was when it came to Sonny’s performance!
Sonny seems like he’s lost his mind when it comes to Leo, and Chad is enabling it by giving in and agreeing to help with schemes that Chad does not want to be a part of.
Incidentally, is this really what Victor wants in a CEO? It’s bad enough that Philip was pulling up trees and framing people for his own “death.” His potential successor doesn’t need to be equally out of control.
One thing Days of Our Lives has done well during this story is demonstrate that there are all kinds of love in the world.
Craig had some beautiful scenes with Nancy. After signing their divorce papers, the two reminisced about their lives together and shared some laughs, and Craig reminded Nancy that the love they shared was real even though they were meant to be platonic.
Craig considers Nancy his best friend and wants her support as he marries Leo. It’s not fair to her to expect that she’d want to attend his wedding immediately after signing divorce papers, but the sentiment was sweet.
Similarly, Gwen and Leo got on so well that I sense that they are soulmates despite Leo’s lack of sexual interest in women.
Leo even called Gwen his platonic love interest. This is an unusual relationship dynamic that isn’t seen very often on American television and definitely never before on a soap opera.
Xander: Is this really your dream wedding?
Gwen: You know I don’t have very many friends. Other than you, Matty is the only person who knows me who even likes me.
Leo: Like is too tepid a word, my dear. Je t’adore.
Although I generally could do without either Leo or Gwen, their scenes together were pure fun.
Instead of wringing her hands about the possibility that Xander would leave her for Sarah, Gwen smiled and laughed about the good times she and Leo had in Philadelphia.
She and Leo were genuinely happy for each other, and Leo did one of the only unselfish things he’s ever done when he offered to share the altar with Gwen and her husband-to-be so that she could have a lavish wedding too.
Of course, Leo has no money, so he just committed Craig to pay for two weddings. But still. For once, his heart seemed to be in the right place.
And Gwen found Leo’s tendency to flirt with straight men amusing. When she found out about his interest in Xander, she teased him about it rather than getting jealous. That’s a better look for Gwen, and if we had more of that, maybe she’d be a tolerable character instead of one I wish would leave Salem ASAP.
Most likely, neither Gwen’s wedding nor Leo’s is going to go through to completion.
As Abby said, Salem weddings have a way of going off-track, and there are a ton of people lined up to ruin things for Leo and Craig. And with Ava contacting Abby with “interesting info,” chances are that Abby will confront Gwen about kidnapping her in the middle of Gwen’s wedding.
When it all falls apart, at least Gwen and Leo will have each other’s shoulders to cry on.
I’m curious, too, where this prenup came from.
Craig said what was his was Leo’s, and he doesn’t seem like the type to draw something like this up. Could Chloe or Nancy have decided to “protect” Craig by doing it for him?
We’ll likely find out whether Leo truly loves Craig or not now that he’s gotten these papers. Next week should be must-watch TV!
Of course, I’d rather that Sarah be the one to break up Gwen and Xander’s wedding, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
Maggie finally came to her senses enough to get Sarah treatment instead of continuing to enable her delusions. Even though Days of Our Lives never takes mental health seriously, I doubt Sarah will return the same day she’s slated to leave!
Hopefully, Sarah will be cured sooner rather than later, though. I can’t take another second of Maggie blaming Anna for Sarah’s plight!
Yes, Anna should not have stabbed Sarah with the syringe full of antidote. But if Gwen hadn’t switched the vials, Sarah likely would have been cured. And let’s not forget that none of this would have happened had Kristen not stabbed Sarah with a different syringe in the first place.
All this Anna-blaming is almost as bad as Xander claiming that Sarah’s condition was Abigail’s fault because she left a syringe where Kristen could find it to stab Sarah with. Sheesh.
And Tony’s attitude is even worse. He’s supposed to be Anna’s husband, yet he seems to have little to no understanding of why Anna would be frustrated with him moving in with “Renee” and pretending he’s going to divorce Anna.
I can’t decide whether Gabi’s getting the goods on Ava is cheer-worthy or stupid.
Ava needs to be taken down a peg or two. I’m sick of Jake and Ava equating Nicole and Rafe cheating on her to her hiring three liars to say that Rafe planted evidence on them.
Yes, cheating is wrong, but this was a whole other level, and her plan didn’t work anyway. A jury saw through it, and that was that.
Gabi’s evidence would have been a smoking gun if she had obtained it legally. But now, as Nicole pointed out, it may be inadmissible, which would allow Ava to walk.
And whether Ava goes to jail or not, Gabi put a target on her back.
Gabi: Admit it. You moved Ava in here to make me jealous.
Jake: I only did it to help out a friend.
Gabi: She’s no friend of yours.
Jake: She’s a better one than you are.
Gabi: Oh, whatever. It looks like you’re going to have your bed all to yourself. Watch your back. You know how it gets.
Jake: If I were you, I’d watch yours.
Gabi: What?
Jake:; When my former mob boss beats these charges, and she will, she is gonna have a problem with you.
Ava’s got mob connections, and Gabi made it clear who got Ava arrested.
Plus, that guy she got the tape from warned her that he’d better get a deal out of this. He may not take it lying down either if he finds out he was duped, which he will if Trask doesn’t give him a deal.
So Gabi can gloat to herself all she wants that she did what the cops couldn’t, but this was a bad idea. She already had to go to Mexico to hide from the mob once. She should know better, especially with Victor wanting to move Sonny and his family back to Salem.
The mob isn’t above hurting Ari to get back at Gabi, and if that happens, it’s partially Gabi’s fault for starting this war.
The other big story on Days of Our Lives during the week of 4-11-22 was the latest Devil shenanigans.
I’m glad Paulina didn’t give “Allie” a piece of her mind since it’s not her place to fight her 20-something daughter’s battles for her. But if she had, maybe she would have picked up the Devil vibes since it would be the third time she tangled with the demon.
The Devil seems to have a particular loathing for Chanel and constantly breaks her heart. I wish Chanel would figure out what’s going on here!
The Devil also interfered with Ben and Ciara’s gender reveal party, but that didn’t seem to be the big deal it was built up to be.
The inside of the cake looked bloody, but it was just cherry filling, and then the Devil announced that Ben and Ciara were having a boy. If the only point of this was trying to turn Ciara against Chanel by claiming she’s the one who put the wrong filling in the cake, these scenes were a success.
But they fell flat because the Devil played only a mild prank that didn’t affect anyone. It could have made Ciara go into labor right there at the party or caused chaos like it did at Thanksgiving, but instead, it did next to nothing.
Over to you, Days of Our Lives fanatics. What do you think is going to happen at this double wedding? Was Gabi’s investigation into Ava foolish? And were you also disappointed with what the Devil did (or didn’t do) at the gender reveal party?
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know.
Eager for more Days of Our Lives chat? Be sure to check back on Sunday for the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.
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.