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Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (3), Peacock screenshot

Valentine’s Day hit hard this week, giving us plenty of love and a great deal of passion — both good and bad — but the real action was the increasing web of danger and mystery spreading out over much of the town. So let’s not waste time and dive right into this week’s Days of Our Lives.

First I just need to start by thanking Lori for filling in for me last week. It wasn’t a planned absence and it was a horrible, heartbreaking week to have to tackle. She beautifully tackled the roil of emotions Days of Our Lives fans are feeling with Arianne Zucker’s lawsuit and leaving the show. And if you haven’t read it, I really encourage you to do so here.

Home, Sweet Home

With that said, Nicole is back — and so is Holly! The poor teen’s still in a coma, though. EJ bringing them back because he missed Nicole so much after sending them off to wake Holly up was a bit silly, but the writer’s hands were kind of tied, since it sounds like this return came about after Zucker’s lawyer got involved. So I’ll take it. It gets Nicole back, though sadly just for now.

I guess EJ being busy with Nicole is why he couldn’t make it to his son’s wedding. I swear, these weddings are shrinking more and more each time. If I need to beg Days of Our Lives to figure out a way to at least pretend weddings are big, meaningful affairs, I will. At this point, I’ll take dummies in the pews wearing all those bad wigs the show has lying around — just give us something other than three and four person weddings!

It was particularly jarring as Johnny and Chanel’s wedding was the same day we were looking back at Steve and Kayla’s weddings. And Marlena and John were too busy with their own celebration to bother with Johnny. Sigh.

Hanging from the Cliff

The cliffhangers have been on fire lately. Literally, in the case of the Horton house last week. This week, we got Officer Goldman kidnapping Tripp and Wendy (it wasn’t shown, but we all know that’s what’s about to happen) and Jada finally spotting Bobby. And Everett’s look of confusion looked pretty darn real to me. Though if Everett is knowingly leading a double life, than I guess he’d be a pro at playing dumb convincingly.

Elia Cantu gave Soaps.com a teaser of what to expect next, now that Jada is face to face with her ex. Or someone who looks like her ex. Or someone who doesn’t realize he’s her ex. He did supposedly lose his memory in his coma. He could genuinely have not gotten his memories of life with Jada back.

Mysteries Nestled Within Mysteries

Look, I’ll just come out and say I am invested in figuring out what’s going on, who’s working with whom and who did what! We here at Soaps.com don’t know much more than viewers do, and we’ve been tossing a lot of ideas around. I’ve got theories. Ohhh, I’ve got theories. One of them involves Everett, Bobby and the mastermind behind Clyde that you can read more here. Because I don’t want Clyde to be the ultimate big bad behind all this— I’m waiting for something more.

Then there’s Xander investigating who’s framing him. Paul Telfer talks a little about that here. I don’t think many of us believed Xander had actually shot Harris, but it’s still nice to get some confirmation that he was framed.

More: See Susan Seaforth Hayes’ touching eulogy to Bill Hayes

So who shot at Lucas and Kate? Who set the fire in the Horton house, and who shot Harris? As for Lucas, I’m going to say it was Officer Goldman. Lori pointed out her wince and the shoulder pain she seemed to have is mighty suspicious after Kate supposedly winged the person who attacked them in the shoulder.

There’s no doubt now that she’s the mole, right? She clearly lied to Wendy and Tripp and we know from spoilers next week that they’re kidnapped. Heck, even I was almost convinced that she was actually torn about shooting the drug dealer, she was that good of an actor. Are the pieces all falling into place, or are there more twists and revelations to come?

I don’t see this being the end of him or Wendy, though. Though if Everett was somehow involved in all of this and Tripp ended up dead, wow, that would make for some gripping tension between him and Stephanie.

Love and Passion

I feel bad saying that the week slumped for me in the middle there, but after all the mysteries and questions and danger the show’s been throwing around, I feel like Valentine’s Day proper (since on the show it seems like it’s going to be a weeklong affair) slowed the momentum a bit. The flashbacks were sweet and lovely, but I felt like the episode kind of put a pause on the week. Maybe if they’d thrown the Xander/Sarah making love stuff on Wednesday, culminating with his arrest, it would’ve bumped things a bit. I don’t know.

Also, throwing Theresa and Alex into John and Marlena’s picnic was a definite choice… but I can kind of see them trying to rebuild the Ben/Marlena connection with Alex. As for Theresa, while I’m glad they haven’t just turned their back on her trying to marry Alex and get his money — it’s the entire reason she stayed in Salem — I really don’t like that Theresa nearly as much as protective mama, struggling through her Brady feelings as she struggles to stay sober. Calm down, Theresa, flipping out over not getting a proposal is not going to help you down the line.

But between that and Brady’s reaction to Kristen’s utterly bonkers “Maybe we should get back together,” I can’t tell if Alex and Kristen are intentionally sabotaging their deal to keep Brady and Theresa apart or are just that bloody incompetent. I can see those two hopping into bed in celebration once Tate comes home.

More: That’s it, this couple is toast!

Someone I could use a little more variety on, though, is Sloan. I loved her swinging away from baby obsession to getting frustrated at being a mom and wanting sexy time. But we can’t forget that she did want a baby, she was heartbroken when she lost hers and seemed to like being a mom at first. Maybe just keep a little of that in there so she doesn’t get too one-noted: “But I want sex now! Throw away the baby!”

Because that can’t keep up for the months I’m pretty sure we’ve got to wait until Jude is reunited with Nicole. With that said… Um, Eric? You got Sloan a Mother’s Day present, not a Valentine’s Day one. Try again, buddy.

Stray Thoughts…

• Bets on who Sloan called? I’m guessing she just wants to go out drinking with Melinda. You know, her only friend.

• Theresa and Marlena literally walked three steps away from the picnic table. At least whisper, ladies. There’s no way Alex and John couldn’t hear you…
• So you acknowledge Tate is innocent now, right EJ? You just said the person responsible for Holly’s drugs likely burned down the Horton house. Are we bringing that poor kid home soon?
• Knowing Bill Hayes is gone and the house burning down is likely one of Doug’s last storylines adds so much more heartbreak to it.
• Did Kayla and Steve not have wedding photos? Or did Stephanie just steal them all so she could give them as a gift? My parents’ 60th is coming up. Lemme go raid their photo album quick.

Take a look at our brand new photo gallery with then and now pictures of soap stars’ real-life kids!

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