Look who returned for Victor’s funeral!
Our TV Fanatics, Jack and Christine, are joined by Silvananoir from MyHourglass, a Days of Our Lives fan forum, to debate Salem’s goodbye to Victor, as well as Teresa, Chelsea, and Vivian’s returns.
Also, did John’s paternity need yet another plot twist? Read on to see what our round table team has to say.
How did you rate Victor’s funeral? Were you happy with the final goodbyes to this iconic character?
Silvananoir: Honestly, they did a great job. Getting Chelsea in, bringing back Philip even though it wasn’t Jay Kenneth Johnson playing him. They did their best to bring as many of the Kiriakis clan as they could together for this.
I’m sure there are people missing that others would want to see. But it was nice to see so many of them together. Add to that the feuds and the speeches. It was a great send-off for Victor.
Jack: I would give it a 9 out of 10. I was disappointed that Melissa and her family only got a quick mention about why they were off-screen and that they didn’t even have Maggie mention speaking to Hope on the phone!
I know John was involved with the John Doe story at the time, but it felt weird to me that he wasn’t at the funeral. He and Victor were fairly close and often were both concerned about Brady.
Also, no one even mentioned Claire, who should have been there both to say her final goodbyes to her Pop-Pop and to support her father.
However, there are probably limits to how many cast members can be in a scene, and we got a far bigger funeral for Victor than we have for anyone in recent years.
Victor got two weeks of flashbacks and a bunch of eulogies, and in a way, memorializing him continues with this story with Vivian trying to claim she’s his rightful widow and having flashbacks to him telling her to leave Maggie alone. So I can’t complain.
Christine: I’ll give it an eight out of ten. They really did an excellent job of paying tribute to John Aniston and this unique character he created.
I do wish there had been more people at his funeral, but as was mentioned above, there may be limits to the number of cast members they can have in one scene, and certain actors likely weren’t available to return.
But the most important people were there, and Theresa and Chelsea were nice surprises. Plus, there have been two weeks of flashbacks which I will never tire of. Overall, job well done.
Victor supposedly pulled his former will and hadn’t had time to file a new one, while Vivian claims she and Victor were never legally divorced. Do you think Vivian will end up with everything? Where do you hope to see this storyline go?
Silvananoir: No. This is 100% a scheme by Vivian to try to get her grubby hands on Victor’s money. But I love the character and actress, and this finally gives Maggie something to do other than just nagging at Sara.
I loved seeing the two of them going toe to toe. This feels like a great storyline for the older cast and something a little more interesting than the normal business storylines.
I want Maggie to take Vivian down and defend her territory, something that she started to do when Vivian showed up. She beat Viv before, and she’ll do it again.
Jack: Only in Salem (and surrounding areas, I guess) does someone pull the will before having a new one to replace it!
I hope Maggie is vindicated in the end. Whatever Victor’s final wishes were, I am certain that he did not want Vivian to end up with all his assets. In addition, he had made provisions for Philip, who he couldn’t put directly into the will because Philip was playing dead, and I want to see Philip get what Victor left for him.
I also wonder if Vivian had Victor’s plane sabotaged, aware he was about to draw up a new will and that if he died before he could, she would have a chance of getting her hands on his considerable fortune. I think someone should look into why his plane went down in the first place.
Christine: Only in Salem can a rich man destroy his will with a phone call without replacing it first. But it’s a soap, so we’ll just have to roll with it.
Hopefully, this will be a fun and intriguing way to figure out what Victor was really doing on that trip and why his plane went down.
Watching Vivian and Maggie go toe to toe is an added bonus, but of course, we want Maggie to win in the end. Overall, I am looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.
It turns out John’s father wasn’t Yo Ling but Dick Van Dyke’s character. Are you happy with this umpteenth rewrite of John’s history?
Silvananoir: Can we just pick a background and stick with it? Has there been a character on this show whose background has been messed with as much as John’s?
He’s starting to feel like a comic book character. Every new writer just has to change his history. I am not invested, nor do I care.
Jack: TECHNICALLY, it’s not a rewrite——he remains John Robicheaux, son of Timothy Robicheaux, but it turns out Yo Ling was not Timothy Robicheaux in the first place.
Either way, Yo Ling was an embarrassment to the series, and I’m glad he’s gone even if John changes fathers as many times as Marlena gets kidnapped!
I just wish that Dick Van Dyke were staying for longer. According to his interview in Soap Opera Digest, he’s only on for four episodes, and we’ve had three already. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for John to find out he’s his father and is in Salem, and then the guy disappears!
Christine: Oddly enough, I am happy. That Yo Ling story was horrible! This was a way of tweaking the story just enough to write Yo Ling out but keep the rest of John’s history the same.
I do hope that Dick Van Dyke will return from time to time. He really was a charming addition, and he interacted well with everyone.
If Teresa is sticking around Salem, would you like to see her paired again with Brady or with someone else?
Silvananoir: I liked their first go around, but I’m not sure if I want it revisited. Theresa and Brady ended up just so ugly, if I recall correctly. It was so bad that she packed her bags and left with Tate.
I could see them falling in bed together because Brady just can’t be without a woman to obsess over for more than five minutes.
But I’m not sure if a relationship would work, especially not with Rachel the Destroyer not wanting any woman with her father. Certainly not a woman who also shares a child with him. That little girl is not one to share. I would fear for Tate’s safety.
Jack: Theresa and Brady are a great couple, and I’m annoyed that they rewrote history for this story. Brady seemed to have a friendly relationship with her until she came to Salem, and now he suddenly has decided she’s Kristen 2.0, so let’s undo that and put them back together.
I also think if she’s going to stick around, she needs to send for Tate. It makes no sense for her to stay indefinitely while her son is in California.
Also, instead of chasing Brady around like Rex always does with Sarah, Teresa should offer to help him get custody of Rachel back. The two have gone against Kristen before to get Tate back, so why not? And that would endear Brady to her for sure.
Christine: I always liked Theresa and Brady together, but I don’t understand why Brady is being such a jerk to her now. He can tell her he isn’t interested in rekindling their romance without being so nasty.
It would be great to have Teresa and Tate back in Salem. Can we have Andrew back, too? We’ve never seen Teresa and her brother together. But I wouldn’t mind seeing her paired with someone else. I’m open to all the possibilities.
Chelsea returned for Victor’s funeral. Were you happy to see her? Were you watching when she was originally in Salem? Would you like to see her return?
Silvananoir: I forgot how much I liked Chelsea by the end of her run on the show. I remember not liking her in the beginning. But she really evolved, and it felt like the writers of that time really wanted to push her to the forefront.
It was nice to see her again, but I don’t think I would want her back permanently. It would be great to see a limited run of at least one of Shawn’s siblings being there to support him.
Jack: I was thrilled to see Chelsea after all these years. I’m just sorry she’s not sticking around and has no story. She and Max should have inherited a stake in the Pub after Caroline’s death, which would have given them every reason to return.
Christine: Yes, I remember Chelsea, and of all of Bo’s children, she’s always seemed the most like him to me. Chelsea is connected to all of the Bradys and all of Kate’s family, so I’d love to have her and Max back in Salem.
What did you think of Tripp and Wendy’s romantic encounter? Where would you like to see their story go from here?
Silvananoir: It was really sweet. I also don’t care. I wish I had more to say, but they need to do something more with this couple. I like them individually, and ultimately I think Tripp is better for Wendy, but they are really uninteresting to me.
Jack: Yawn. I’m glad they finally got their first time over with, so we don’t have to see them running around trying to make it happen.
An actual story that doesn’t involve them trying to have sex all the time would be nice, but what I’d really like is for Wendy to move on with someone she has actual chemistry with.
Christine: This was so boring that I find it difficult to put into words. It feels like a romance that’s over before it’s even begun. I really like Tripp. I kind of like Wendy. And yet, I have no interest in this couple. Maybe if they give them an actual story that might change.
Sarah had the baby! If she survives, will she continue to lie to Xander and keep the baby from him? If she doesn’t or ends up in a coma, will Rex try to raise the baby without her?
Silvananoir: If Sarah survives, she will 100% keep this a secret from Xander. She will wake up, realize what she’s done, and resolve to continue to keep it a secret.
This bomb is going to drop during one of the weddings. I think if she doesn’t survive or if she does end up in a coma, Rex will tell Xander the truth. After all, the only reason Rex is going along with this is that he’s in love with Sarah.
But if something happens to her, there is no way Maggie will let Rex raise that baby.
Jack: I think Sarah will tell Xander the truth while feverish, and everyone will assume she was delirious. If she becomes incapacitated (I don’t think it makes any sense for Days to kill her off), I can see a custody battle between Rex and Xander, which would force the truth to come out.
Also, does anyone else see the irony in Rex and Sarah relying on Bonnie to keep their secret when their marriage fell apart after Sarah learned that Bonnie was pretending to be the mother of Mimi and Rex’s baby?
Christine: I can see Rex deciding to raise the baby because he hates Xander, and he’d tell himself that’s what Sarah would want, but Sarah better survive! If for no other reason than Maggie has dealt with enough loss of late.
But I think Sarah will continue to keep this secret. The truth will come out, but likely not for a while yet.
What annoyed the heck out of you this week in Salem?
Silvananoir: John’s father, number 1000. No offense to Dick Van Dyke. He did a great job. He was really charming. But why are we doing this? Why did anyone think that John needed yet another retcon to his history? Who’s idea was this, and why should we care?
Jack: I don’t think the turn that the Harris/Ava story took was at all necessary. EJ woke up one day realizing his mother died eight months ago and that he should seek revenge after not caring to do so all this time.
In addition, there was no reason for Harris and Ava to go on the run. It took Jada five seconds to find out the hitwoman was a fake nurse, and so all that would have happened is Ava would have spent two minutes in handcuffs, and Rafe would have been forced to apologize for thinking she was lying about it being self-defense.
Now Ava and Harris are fugitives, and Ava probably doesn’t have access to her medication, so she’s going to start hallucinating any second, all for no reason whatsoever. Also, when is it possible to lie under hypnosis? How did Ava keep what she remembered secret from Marlena?
Tripp and Wendy didn’t annoy me, but they bored me to tears. Also, I’m sick of Johnny always having to wait for someone to choose between him and someone else. Enough already!
Brady and Theresa definitely did not hate each other before Theresa came back to Salem, so this makes no sense. And what was up with Sonny? His behavior toward Xander before the funeral was obnoxious and entirely out of character.
Christine: What was up with Sonny? Did he have a short fuse because Will didn’t come back with him? He was just irrationally angry and mean to Xander at a time when family should at least be civil to one another.
And how many weeks do we have to wait for Johnny and Chanel to have this conversation? It’s maddening how long they are dragging this out.
Finally, what is up with Rafe and Jada and all the PDAs at work? Yes, they can date one another, but no one in the office wants to see them canoodling every chance they get.
What was your favorite quote, scene, or storyline in Salem this week?
Silvananoir: The focus on Victor. They did a great job with the send-off and using it to launch what seems to be a great battle for Titan, with Vivian on one side and Maggie on the other. Can they fulfill the potential that this story has? I don’t know, but the promise is there for sure.
Jack: I couldn’t stop laughing at Vivian calling Bonnie a “carbon copy” of Adrienne. Some writer decided to call the show out on EXACTLY what they did with Bonnie.
I also liked this memorable Days of Our Lives quote of Philip’s reaction to Kate pushing him about Chloe:
Kate: I can tell without you saying anything, just from the look in your eyes, that you’re head-over-heels in love with Chloe, just as you have been since you were sixteen.
Philip: It doesn’t matter what I feel about Chloe. She’s with my idiot cousin. So how a bout we just go pay tribute to Dad at his memorial, okay?
Kate: Fine, but this conversation isn’t over.
Philip: I’m sure it isn’t.
Christine: Victor’s funeral was well done, and I have to say that I loved the flowers.
I’m thrilled that Xander was there for the birth of his daughter, even if he doesn’t know it yet.
And Alex pointedly realizing that he and Teresa are not related was both funny and so very in character for Alex. It made me laugh.
Okay, Days fans, now it’s your turn. Hit that SHOW COMMENTS button below to share your thoughts on Victor’s funeral, Teresa and Chelsea’s returns, John’s new dad, and Vivian’s twist.
Then check out Jack Ori’s Days of Our Lives review here at TV Fanatic.
Days of Our Lives streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekday mornings at 6/5c.
C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
