It didn't look like it would ever happen, but Eric Brady is finally beginning to wake up.
Sloan's behavior went from annoying to unconscionable when she went along with a scheme to steal the newborn and pay off a sleazy doctor to tell Nicole he was dead, all because she wanted to engineer a split for the sake of drama for Eric and Nicole.
Eric's missed about a thousand obvious clues that everything is not what it seems, but spoilers for Days of Our Lives during the week of 4-22-24 say he will discover the source of Sloan's financial problems and not be happy about it. Is this finally the beginning of the end of this awful story?
No one does confrontations like Days of Our Lives, so Eric getting in Sloan's face about where their money has been going should be epic.
Greg Vaughan pulls off the angry, judgmental version of Eric well, and Sloan will probably stammer her way through a bunch of lies while Leo makes sarcastic comments in the background.
Still, it's hard to hope this will go anywhere. Eric has missed so many opportunities to question facts that didn't seem to add up, so the chances are that Sloan will lie her way out of this problem, too.
Even if Sloan is forced to admit that she has been paying for Leo's room and board, there's still the bigger question of why. Eric overheard Leo saying he was the one blackmailing someone, not the other way around, but will Eric put it all together now?
Dragging stories out via unnecessary and unbelievable obstacles is a frustrating soap opera trope that Days of Our Lives engages in more often than not. Still, Eric knows that Sloan has some secret she doesn't want him to know, which is a step in the right direction.
When stories are dragged out this much, though, there's a risk that by the time they finally start to unravel, the audience will have lost interest. That's doubly problematic here because of some disturbing casting news.
Arianne Zucker's lawsuit against Days of Our Lives for wrongful termination means her character's days are numbered.
The worst possible outcome, storywise, would be if Nicole is written out without learning that her baby is alive. Ericole shippers won't enjoy any potential reunion if Nicole leaves Salem right after discovering the baby is hers and Eric's.
Days of Our Lives is also resurrecting another forgotten storyline: Kristen and Stefan discuss Li's murder, a move that's necessary if they plan to bring Gabi back to Salem since she's in jail for the crime. Again, the last mention of this story was so long ago that viewers might not care much about it.
Please scroll down to check out all eight Days of Our Lives spoilers for the week of 4-22-24.
Ava and Harris can't find Clyde's black book.
Ugh. I know Steve Burton (Harris) is also leaving Days of Our Lives, but there has to be a better way to write Harris out than this nonsense.
There is no reason for anyone to do Clyde's bidding. All Harris has to do is tell the rest of the cops and set up an official sting.
Instead, he and Ava are taking matters into their own hands, which will likely result in Harris losing his badge for violating every Salem PD protocol. Didn't Ava learn anything from trying to appease Clyde to rescue Tripp?
Holly is upset when her friend expresses interest in Tate.
Yes! We're finally getting more teens than Tate and Holly. Tate's best friend, Aaron, is also scheduled to appear soon.
Holly's interaction with her best friend might demonstrate a different side to her character, which is badly needed. All Holly has done has caused trouble, so there's no real reason to root for her and Tate as a couple.
It'll be interesting to compare this to what happened on Neighbours when a character pretended not to be interested in a guy her best friend was into, with disastrous results.
Jada is shocked when she learns Everett signed the divorce papers.
Jada may be shocked, but I'm annoyed.
Everett had a solid reason for not signing the papers: since he had no memory of his life as "Robert Stein," he could not, legally or morally, sign with that name. Sloan even told Jada that it would not be valid if he did.
Suddenly, all that went out the window, and the "real" reason was that Everett secretly harbored feelings for Jada or had some other nefarious reason for not signing. Stop changing stories in the middle to suit the plot's needs!
Kristen and Stefan discuss Li's murder.
Kristen and Stefan discussing the case could lead to Gabi getting out of jail, either because Li's real killer is found or because he's not dead.
Remington Hoffman (Li) was seen in set pictures from the 15,000th episode, which is being filmed now and will air in December. This has led to persistent rumors that Li is still alive, which could explain why it's taken so long for anyone to remember to care about his death.
Dead people turning out to be alive is one of those things that happen in Salem so frequently that viewers can't trust any character's death (unless the actor also passes away.)
Still, the set photos don't necessarily mean Li is alive. The actor could be visiting the set without filming scenes or filming flashbacks of Li's murder.
Sarah and Xander can't believe Maggie is going to marry Konstantin.
I can't believe it either. Maggie Horton used to be one of Days of Our Lives' strongest women, yet she's falling for a compulsive liar who might have killed his first wife.
Such things happen in real life, but not when the bad guy tells such obvious lies to the widow of his biggest rival, who was close to being a mob boss.
Is it beating a dead horse to point out yet again that Maggie couldn't possibly have held her own with Victor if she was as naive and gullible as this storyline makes her seem? Probably, but it's a significant flaw in this story that Days of Our Lives refuses to address.
Theresa even said aloud that she couldn't believe Maggie was falling for this. The writers need to put this ridiculous story out of its misery ASAP.
Nicole asks Chad for a job at the Spectator.
Nicole was always far better suited for investigative reporting than working behind the scenes in the fashion industry. It's about time she returned to her previous career!
It's obvious what the real reason is, though. Eric is pushing for a job as a photographer with the Spectator, so he and Nicole will likely end up working together again.
The last time that happened, they ended up having sex on a conference room table, leading to the implosion of Nicole and Rafe's marriage, and this time, it'll turn out that Jude is Nicole and Eric's son, drawing this couple even closer together.
As a bonus, Nicole's departure from Basic Black leaves Theresa with a job opening so she can work with Brady, leading to a second couple reconciling.
Paulina is unhappy with EJ's recent job performance, especially regarding Stefan.
Good! No one gives a dressing-down like Paulina.
She hired EJ Dimera to bring law and order back to Salem, not to pick up where Trask left off with biased prosecutions and corrupt behavior.
Making sure his brother got off with a slap on the wrist for drug dealing is the opposite of what she had in mind, even if he had hoped to double-cross Stefan and put him away.
I wouldn't be surprised if Paulina fired EJ, leaving him free to fight Kristen for the CEO position at Dimera Enterprises.
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics!
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Days of Our Lives streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekday mornings at 6/5c.