u/Motor-Thought1902

I was going to start by saying it’s a dud, but I do like how Paulina has been handling things.

Otherwise though, I think it’s a dud. They really have not milked the moments they should have - really spending time with Lexie, Abe, and Theo processing everything. Suddenly, we are up and going with a fully recovered Lexie having a determined conversation with Kayla.

Nikki Crawford isn’t signed for long, so we know this will end some way or the other. I hope it contributes materially to Abe and Paulina’s relationship somehow.

This is being treated so casually, when it should be front burner and played for every beat.

A shame to bring back a character who had a beautiful ending and a great legacy.

It’s getting way too much attention to not be heading somewhere. My current theory is that Stephanie accidentally kills Joy, and then she and Alex have to be full-time parents to Kelsey.

Alexis Ann Hopkins’ stint is supposedly not a long arc. At the same time, Stephanie has made it clear over and over that she is not prepared to be a mother or a stepmother.

I think the most dramatic thing for the show to do would be to force her into a position where she has to be a full-time mom.

They are writing Joy to be well-intentioned and not here to steal Alex. I love that. The tension will come over the baby.

I would be sad to see Joy go, because I really like the actress. But I have a strong suspicion here…

I don’t know if this is a spoiler per se, but I’ve seen a lot of chatter about Sophia being Rolf’s next candidate for revival.

I think this could actually be a very credible rumor. We know she’s not gone forever. No body has been found. Kristin being ‘haunted’ implies that she is worried somewhere that Sophia may be alive.

It makes sense that EJ would be keeping tabs on Kristen given her ire toward him. So Rolf would know about her dumping Sophia’s body in the river and could have easily grabbed it and preserved it - the show is making a big deal that the preservation has to happen immediately after death.

Bringing Sophia back would be EJ’s revenge on Kristen. And we know Sophia will be back somehow. Why not this way?

I love these two together. They have real chemistry. I’m glad they broke Shawn and Belle up. They really were painful to watch.

I thought the writers did really smart things today with each pairing.

Abe is now in the position of having two wives he loves very much - in the same way Marlena had two husbands she loved very much when Roman returned from the dead.

And Alex is in the same position Steve was in when he found out Tripp was his son.

It was great to see Marlena share her experience with Paulina and Steve share his experience with Alex - people who actually understood. And I loved how Steve embraced Alex’s child and welcomed her to their family.

I thought Friday’s episode was amazing. It was already exciting before Gabi came in. And then Lexie showing up was a double escalation of the will reading. I was transfixed by Monday’s episode as well. I wish Abe hadn’t had to see Lexie first in the middle of a group of people, but at least she woke up alone with him and recognized him. I think the show has planted a lot of seeds and they are finally bearing fruit.

I wrote a short piece in my newsletter today about Ari (who I don’t think has chemistry with Liam). They had to pair her with someone outside the core families, because her biological father is a Brady and a Horton, her other father is a Kiriakis, and her mother is a Hernandez who is still technically married to a Dimera. So she pretty much has nowhere to turn romantically in Salem.

I’m also sharing the link to sign up for my newsletter again because I spent a day with photoshop making a better image. I got flamed by someone on here because AI made the characters look too different. So I reconstructed on my own and used AI to touch up, because hey, I’m not a designer and 8 hours with Photoshop was about all I could take.

I would be extremely grateful if you would check it out and subscribe and spread the word. I’ve been watching for almost 50 years and it feels great to be able to draw on all those years of knowledge.

Here’s the link:

www.thesalemdispatch.com

Looking forward to all the Lexie fallout. And my money is on Sophia not only being alive, but coming back soon. Her father has been cast, after all!