Are they for real?

Oddly enough I am talking about Jeremy Horton and the DiMeras! Did you ever think you would see this pairing? First off, could Jeremy be any more of a jerk? This really seems to be his only purpose on the show. He isn't even intelligent enough to line up his own financial backers for his "business ventures". His girlfriend, Stephanie, and a girl he hardly even knows, Chelsea, had to line up Max for him. Then as a reward he treats them like dirt. The way he talked to Stephanie today was despicable and the fact that she stood up for him was just sad. I can't believe Max was dumb enough to invest in the flying part of the business and then even dumber to get in on the questionably illegal part! Clearly the guy running this "business" is not making good decisions if he has lost all his previous backing, and on top of that, who wants to be in business with a jerk!

Then we find out that Jeremy's supplier of the fake designer clothing is none other than Tony DiMera. So the DiMeras really have nothing better to do now than to replicate Guccis and sell them on the black market. They are really done tracking down and torturing Bradys and anybody else who gets in the way of their vendetta. Is this what this family has been reduced to? Just when the DiMeras were becoming the perfect family of villains, we get thrown this stupid story! I believe Jeremy has become the new Willow. He just doesn't fit and he is starting to mess up my other storylines. He may have already worn out his welcome in Salem!

Love those DiMeras

I am loving having the Dimeras back in town and back in control. This story about Colleen is such a great way to showcase how bad they can be while also showing that they can be rational about it. I love watching Stefano trying to decide whether to end the vendetta. We all know it will never end because Tony has now gone crazier than his father!

Just when it looks like you can declare all DiMeras villains, EJ starts acting like a good guy and Steve turns up at the DiMera mansion revealing Brady family secrets while EJ is lying to his father to protect the Bradys. How can this be? Is it all a ruse? Kayla would not let Steve leave that island if he was not deprogrammed. The question then becomes did he overpower her, trick her, or lie to the DiMeras? Hopefully we have the old Steve back and he is in on the plan with the Bradys. According to the spoilers for next week, he comes to Hope's rescue so there must still be some good in him. There is still no telling about EJ. His stripes can change on a dime. He better watch himself though. His daddy is not going to be happy about his deception and there are only so many times that Stefano will be made a fool!

How about this new pace?

So it's been a while since I've blogged about Days and the main reason is because of the pace of the show (and the pace of my life lately). Man they have kept things moving lately and I gotta say I like it! TPTB have started to clean house (thank goodness) and have gotten rid of some dead weight that was slowing things down - namely Willow. My biggest fear was that we would be left with a who killed Willow storyline and what happens to Willow's baby story. I was very happy with how quickly both situations were dealt with so we can move on with stories and characters that we actually care about.

Now that the DiMeras are back, it is clear who the villains in town are. There is definitely a battle between good and evil and I love that we are finally getting to see some answers about why it all started in the first place. The small battles over Sami, Lucas, and EJ are exciting and well written. I don't even mind seeing another "Who's the daddy?" story because it makes sense when you see how it relates to Colleen Brady and Santo Dimera's affair in the past.

The dreaded flashbacks have even become welcome and entertaining. I love seeing the old characters relive scenes from the past and they have done a good job of keeping them timely. Today's show used a recent flashback with John and Marlena when John was in a coma to show why Marlena was so determined to stay with him instead of leave the building while he worked on the bomb. It seems like they used to use flashbacks to remind us of what had happened the day before. Maybe they have finally realized their viewers are smarter than that!

Finally, my favorite storyline ... Shaun and Belle. I never thought Phillip could be redeemed but it looks like he has changed his ways. Whether Papa Victor has or not may determine how long it stays this way. Shaun's attitude in the coming days may influence it as well. I am again thrilled that they moved the missing child storyline along quickly. It was definitely the right way to take the story but Old Days would have drug it out all summer long. I think the real story here is in how Shaun, Belle, and Phillip rebuild this family with Claire. I see a real battle between Shaun and Phillip and for some reason I see Shaun coming out looking much worse than Phillip. If he continues to try to kick Phillip completely out of Claire's life he will look like a total jerk and like he is turning his back on the agreement they made on the boat. As much as I don't want another love triangle, I believe this has isosceles written all over it!