Front and Center: Days of Our Lives’ Marlena Is Poised to Learn [Spoiler] Shot EJ, and Battle Stefano Once Again!

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Well folks, all things must come to an end, and this will be our last Soapbox together. I’ll still be around to chime in with my opinion, but Soaps.com is phasing out these weekly columns for each show. In the few years of doing Days of Our Lives’ Soapbox, I’ve come to seriously love this (sometimes ridiculous) show. There are times I’ve been relentless in my criticism, and times I’ve been determined to enjoy it.  But no matter what, even when Days of Our Lives has made me want to pull out my hair, there were still good things happening.

And honestly? I think it’s one of the most downright fun soaps out there, even if it isn’t always the most logical. In any case, ending on the week that we got the news that Days of Our Lives has been renewed through its 63rd season, seems kind of perfect!

Who Shot EJ? Marlena Will Figure It Out

Also fitting? This week, we’re ending Soapbox with all things Marlena. Right now, it feels like she’s becoming the key to a number of storylines — and I love that for her. It’s proving that there is life after John, and plenty for the show’s greatest vets to do.

She gets to be therapist, hypnotherapist, grieving wife, mother, grandmother and, as we ended on Friday, Marlena is barreling once again towards being Queen of the Night! But we’ll save that for last.

“Did you just try to hypnotize me into breaking up with Belle?”

First off, there’s her work with EJ to figure out his shooter. While they haven’t put it together yet, I’m just about certain now that Rachel did it. The way EJ addressed the shooter in his hypnosis sounded like he was talking to a child who picked up a gun. And having a young niece shoot him, seems like something he’d be reluctant to remember.

Precocious (or downright bratty) or not, Rachel is still family. And she is still a child. That’s got to be upsetting to remember. But while EJ hasn’t figured it out yet, I think by next week, Marlena will. Spoilers have her questioning Rachel on Friday.

And the summer preview made it appear that Marlena figures out who does it, but is reluctant to say. That would make sense if it was Rachel. Learning that would put Marlena in a serious bind, having to trade one grandchild in trouble for another.

What’s the Deal With Marlena?

Then there’s her health issues, which pretty much definitely seem to be tied to Stefano and that fun little era when he was a total creeper, stalking her, drugging her and calling her his Queen of the Night. Plus, he messed her mind up enough to allow the devil to take hold. Now, I feel like I can say this with 100 percent certainty, but this is not going to be another Satan story. Unless you count Stefano as the devil.

Because it looks like that’s where this story is going, which ties into Tony’s return and his power play for DiMera. And yeah, I know there are a ton of fans who are convinced he’s André once again. That’s not impossible, but I’m not willing to throw all my eggs in that basket just yet.

“Of course I’m not planning on betraying you Gabi! At least not until Father’s back…”

Tony’s one of the better, kinder DiMeras, but let’s not sugar coat it and say he’s a paragon of good. He’s perfectly capable of scheming and underhanded tricks. (Including betraying Gabi at any moment.) With that said, he’s talking to “father” in the summer preview video and it certainly seems like he’s trying to bring Stefano back. And that does feel more André-esque. (Whether or not they do bring Stefano back is very much up in the air. Especially since they’d need a different actor.)

But it also seems like his return has to tie into what’s happening to Marlena. It can’t be coincidence that he comes back, is determined to retake DiMera Enterprises and sets about reviving Stefano as Marlena starts slipping back into her Queen of the Night days. Or nights. Whatever. The point is, Marlena’s clearly got a huge role to play in the coming months and for that, I think, we can all be thankful!

Yes, that is Stefano Marlena’s staring at.

Stray Thoughts…

• So much for my hoping the baby drama would play out for a little while. Sarah already knows Sophia’s lying and is about to confront her. But HIPAA requirements will force her to keep the secret!
• I mentioned last week that Doug III has felt wasted, and he hasn’t really worked for me. But I’ll be damned if Julie’s final scenes with him didn’t elevate things and show us the potential of what could have been.

• Gwen’s working with EJ. Come on! Brady even pointed out how odd it is that he just went along with her moving in!
• Are Dimitri and Stefano coming back? Gwen pointed out that both their husbands are MIA, and they’ve both been talked about quite a bit lately.
• Along that line: Is Theo or Claire returning? Their offscreen breakup seemed random — unless the show wants to bring one of them back, but not the other.