Days of Our Lives Exclusive: As Gwen’s Plan for Dimitri Takes Off, Emily O’Brien Reveals the True Cost of Their War
Operation: Get Rid of Dimitri is well underway on Days of Our Lives. Eli and Rafe have “discovered” that the crypt feed leads straight to a tablet in Vivian’s Alamainian mansion. That, of course, is exactly what they were supposed to find, since Vivian’s already reported back to Gwen that all is going according to plan. Granted, we’re still not sure how Vivian will shift the blame from herself to Dimitri, but the legendary schemer is nothing if not clever!
The point is, after Dimitri’s return and his opening salvo in cutting off Gwen’s money and pushing for divorce, it may be the vengeful Mrs. von Leuschner who has the upper hand now! If her and Vivian’s plan succeeds, our guess is Dimitri’s tossed back in prison, or is forced to go on the run until the heat calms down. That would put Gwen back in a position of power and she’d have a much easier time making the case that she, and not Dimitri, can be trusted with the family funds.
But while we know Gwen is eager to be rid of Dimitri, we don’t necessarily feel the same! There’s just something downright fun in Gwen and Dimitri’s bickering and battles. And that has a whole lot to do with their portrayers!
Emily O’Brien sat down with Soaps.com and let us know what working with Peter Porte is really like. “Oh my God,” she exclaimed, “he’s just the best. We’re friends outside of this. We have friends in common outside of the show, through our musical theater friends. So when I heard that he was coming on, not only was I excited, but to hear that we’d be sharing the same storyline was fantastic.”
And perhaps even more importantly for their onscreen dynamic, “he’s always ready to play. I think once I slapped him and didn’t tell him, and he was like ‘That was great! I loved that!’”
And he can do the same to me! I think we have this silence, which we understand if we want to play into something, we don’t need to ask. We just go for it.
That even applies to a very memorable scene from the other week when Gwen and Dimitri ran into each other at the Pub, which had… unforeseen consequences! “The worst of it,” O’Brien laughs with just the hint of a wince, “I threw food on his lap and didn’t tell him either, so I spoiled his pants.” So yes, that was genuine surprise on his face! Also, some slightly ruined wardrobe. But you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. And we guess you can’t have a feud without costing you some pants!
“But again,” she adds, “he’ll take it, he’ll play with it and he enjoys it! It’s just a tennis match of playing together.”
And when Greg Rikaart and Leo are thrown into the mix: “My mouth hurts from smiling so much! Especially when it was the three of us, the love triangle and all the stuff with Iceland and the Madonna concert — we were laughing through the whole thing. It’s the best day on set, honestly.”
It’s tough to say who will come out on top in this battle — or if Dimitri will even be able to stick around if he loses. Gwen’s got EJ and Vivian in her corner, and either of those alone are formidable enemies. But from the Alamainian Peacock, to kidnapping Kate and working with mother dearest, Megan, Dimitri’s more than capable of giving as good as he gets.
And if he gets his way, all of Gwen’s money could be stripped from her once again, sending her back to counting pennies and dimes to pay for a cup of coffee.
O’Brien mused at how Gwen is different this time around, noting that she’s a “more elite Gwen. Gwen with money. Gwen with status. Gwen, who now has an ex-husband,” if not on paper just yet, most definitely in their relationship, “and is part of the DiMera household.” But that doesn’t mean that’s the way she’ll always be.
“I’m still discovering who she is and what she wants and how she says things,” the actress admitted. “She’s always growing.” And when it comes to Gwen, we can probably always expect growing pains!
