Days of Our Lives Review for the Week of 5-22-23: Megan and Kristen Are Free to Wreak Havoc After a Weak Ending to Their Prison Saga

High-stakes kidnappings happen a lot in Salem.

When done right, these stories leave viewers hanging on the edge of their seats. We know the good guys will be saved eventually, but we want to know how they will escape this, and when it comes to couples, we hope for a big rescue mission that strengthens the bond between partners.`

Andrew’s kidnapping on Days of Our Lives during the week of 5-22-23 had all the right ingredients for a riveting story, but sadly, it was just a plot point on the way to Megan and Kristen returning to Salem to cause more chaos.

The Andrew story should have been a riveting throwback to super couples’ big adventures in the 1980s. Classic couples such as Jack and Jennifer went on these kinds of adventures, and the trauma often lasted well past the end of the kidnapping.

Andrew is Shane’s son, which is close to being Salem royalty. Shane was one of the most popular and engaging characters back in the day, and fans have hoped to find out whatever became of Andrew since Theresa burst onto the scene to cause trouble for JJ in late 2013.

Even better, Andrew is dating John Black’s son, Paul. Paul is an interesting and popular character, and the union between two leading men’s sons has a ton of potential.

If this story had been written properly, Paul would have ignored John’s warnings and jumped into action to rescue Andrew, deepening their relationship. In addition, The ISA would have pulled out all the stops to get Andrew back safely without giving in to Dimitri’s demands.

You don’t kidnap the ISA director’s son without suffering the consequences, and these bad guys should have learned that the hard way.

Instead, we got a weak story that lasted less than a week, in which the good guys quickly agreed to give Dimitri and Megan immunity in exchange for Andrew’s safe return.

Nobody double-crossed anybody, and Paul’s guilt about waiting at home was quickly assuaged when a beaten-up but otherwise okay Andrew showed up at his doorstep.

That doesn’t even qualify as a story. Nobody did anything to help Andrew except give in to the bad guys 30 seconds after Dimitri threatened him.

It may be a soap staple for villains to get out of jail quickly, especially if their last name is Dimera, but this one was mishandled. So much was left to be desired here that it’s hard to know where to begin!

Sebastian: As soon as I heard the Greek police had that wretch in custody, I came to personally see to his extradition. As you might imagine, his escape from Alamania’s most secure facility was quite an embarrassment.
Steve: Yeah, but listen –
Sebastian: This is an order from the highest court in Greece. It affirms our country’s right to have Von Leuschner remanded to our custody.
Steve: Believe me, I understand why you want Dimitri to pay for what he did. He and his nutjob mother tried to use me and my best friend to take over the world. The man is a no-good son of a bitch.
Sebastian: On that I concur.
Steve: But here’s the deal. If you take Dimitri back to Alamania and lock him up, a good man will lose his life.

It’s ridiculous that Days of Our Lives did this story without Shane appearing. His desires were relayed to viewers through one-sided phone calls.

What? You don’t kidnap Andrew Donovan and leave his father off-screen. What sense does that make?

It might not have been the writers’ choice. If Charles Shaughnessy wasn’t available, they couldn’t feature Shane. But still, Shane’s absence was inappropriate, especially considering that Shane had tried to stop Dimitri’s evil plans on Beyond Salem.

Even more importantly: since when does the ISA give in to terrorists’ demands?

It’s a scenario played out on every crime drama, not just soap operas. In most cases, law enforcement refuses to give in, instead fighting hard to get the abducted person back in one piece without paying ransoms, backing off of investigations, or whatever else the kidnappers have in mind.

That’s what should have happened here. The Shane Donovan I know and love would have pulled out all the stops to bring his son home safely. Instead, he made off-screen calls to get the prisoners precisely what they wanted in exchange for Andrew’s freedom.

What? Many things don’t work the same way in Salem as in the real world, but this is ridiculous even by soap standards!

No one even tried to rescue Andrew.

Instead, we got a flashback of a kidnapping not worthy of a seasoned ISA agent, one failed escape attempt on Andrew’s part, and Steve talking Lord Sebastian Alamain out of putting Dimitri back in prison while Paul sat around wishing he would be allowed to help with Andrew’s rescue.

I don’t have words for how disappointing this is, especially when all the ingredients for a riveting story were right there.

Instead of wasting time sitting at home, Paul should have gone after Andrew, leaving John to worry about his son’s safety and blame himself for Paul being in danger because he encouraged Paul to pursue a romance with Andrew.

The ISA should have also sought to double-cross Dimitri, pretending to go along with his demands to lure him into their own trap. For extra excitement, Paul and Shane’s plans could have been at cross purposes so that Paul’s choices made things worse for Andrew instead of better.

That would have been dramatic and exciting — precisely what we need on May Sweeps.

And why did Days of Our Lives spoilers for the Spring promise a big story involving Paul rescuing Andrew when there was barely any story?

Megan and Kristen walked into an otherwise dull power struggle between Stefan and EJ. Stefan wants Kristen on his side of that fight, and Megan’s offered her vote to EJ if he allows her to stay at the Dimera mansion.

This will spice up that story! I usually have no use for Kristen, but her interactions with Stefan and Gabi have added new life to this otherwise overdone battle for the CEO position.

The Dimeras kick one another out of the CEO spot so often that I don’t understand why their stock hasn’t tanked yet. How can anyone have confidence in a company that has this many leadership turnovers in a short time?

Kristen and Megan are both wild cards. They’ve promised their loyalty to their chosen brother, but they’re both out only for themselves. If they’re suitably offended or decide it’s in their best interest, they’ll switch sides in a heartbeat — possibly in the middle of a vote.

Guessing what they’re up to should be fun despite the crazy way they secured their freedom this time.

Megan’s character arc has also taken an interesting turn, with her wanting to ditch the Hathaway name for Dimera.

Megan [to Stefano’s portrait]: You know, it feels absolutely incredible to be here with you, Father. Even though I know you are only here in spirit, I feel filled with your power and authority. Spent my life searching, traveling the world. And now, I’m finally home, where I belong.
EJ: Who are you? And what the hell are you doing in my house?
Megan: Actually, I have as much right to be here as you do, baby brother.
EJ: My God.
Megan: You didn’t expect me?
EJ: I heard about your release from prison, but I didn’t expect you to show up here.
Megan: Where else would I go? This is my home. My name might be Hathaway, but I am a Dimera, through and through.

Every pop-up Dimera child goes through this process, but I found Megan’s decision particularly compelling.

Up until now, she’s only demonstrated her obsession with Bo. But her monologue in front of Stefano’s portrait said it all: she’s seeking to belong and believes she’s found it in her association with the Dimera name.

I can’t help wondering if she has her own ambitions regarding that company. She wouldn’t be above screwing over her half-brothers to get the power she wants, especially if she has delusions of running Dimera Enterprises with Bo by her side.

Stefan was right that Gabi wouldn’t gain anything by antagonizing Kristen.

That woman defines love-to-hate characters. Her snark and over-the-top revenge schemes can sometimes be fun, but she’s not the kind of character we’d ever hang out with in real life — and nobody wants her on their bad side!

Brady and Marlena’s handling of Kristen also left something to be desired. Although it’s true that Kristen is Rachel’s biological mother, Brady has solid reasons for wanting to keep Rachel as far away from her as possible.

Some people are toxic, even to their kids. Biology should never be an obligation to subject a child to psychological abuse. As a psychiatrist, Marlena should know that!

What’ll happen with Eric and Sloan going out to dinner with John, Marlena, and Brady?

With Kayla asking Nicole to get DNA from Eric or EJ secretly, I can’t help wondering if this will turn into an I Love Lucy plot, with Nicole trying to secretly swab Eric without anyone noticing.

Of course, Sloan already volunteered to do that, but I don’t trust her. She doesn’t want Eric to be the father, so what stops her from swabbing her own cheek and claiming that’s Eric’s DNA? That would guarantee a non-match for Eric’s DNA so that everyone can live happily ever after — at least until the ploy is discovered.

That would be a step above the usual silly stories involving changing results in the computer, usually because someone forgot to password-protect them or something equally nonsensical.

The Nicole pregnancy story continues to seriously underwhelm me. Nicole should know better than to tell idiotic lies, and she needs a crash course on how not to publicly announce your secrets.

So does Anna, who let Tony overhear and then got caught in a ridiculous lie. No one would believe she was pregnant at her age, not even with Rolf’s help.

Still, Tony handled her silly cover story masterfully. This is one of the things I love about this classic couple.

Nicole: Anna?
Anna: Nicole, honey. Hi. How are you doing?
Nicole: I’m fine. Is something wrong?
Anna: Oh no, no, no, no, no, not at all. I just wanted to check in on you and see how things are going. Did you pick up those prenatal vitamins?
Nicole: Yes, I did. Anna, I hope you’re alone. No one’s within earshot, right?
Anna: No, don’t worry. And I know I said this before, but I guess this bears repeating. No one is going to fhear about this pregnancy from me. [Tony approaches] Um, I have to hang up now. Talk to you later.
Nicole: What? Why? Is someone there?
Anna: No, no one. It’s just a waiter.
[Anna hangs up the phone]
Tony: So, can I take your order, madam? Or would you like to hear the specials again?
Anna: Ha ha.
Tony: So tell me, who were you chatting with just now?
Anna: Oh, no one. It was just a wrong number.
Tony: I don’t think so, Anna. ` However, I did hear you say that you would keep this pregnancy secret. So who were you talking to? Do I know this person? Who is with child?

Tony rarely flies off the handle at Anna’s antics. He accepts that this is what his wife is like, and he tries to work within the framework of her quirks. Eric should take notes rather than berate Nicole whenever she breathes too loudly!

Eric isn’t as judgmental with Sloan, but still. Tony’s complete acceptance of Anna is a breath of fresh air on this show.

Speaking of Sloan, the Colin story had a ton of action.

When Eric wanted to ask Marlena for a favor, I thought he might request a psychiatric evaluation for Colin. That would make a lot of sense, given that Colin is Sloan’s brother, and the only legitimate defense for his behavior is temporary insanity.

Even without Marlena’s expert testimony, there’s plenty for her to do now that the rooftop kidnapping plot unraveled. Chanel is a mess and may develop PTSD, and Paulina’s panic attacks certainly weren’t helped by this situation.

Chanel’s fury was among the best scenes on Days of Our Lives during the week of 5-22-23. Chanel seems sweet and naive, but she will not back down when you cross her!

Rafe: Chanel, I can’t say anything until I speak to the DA.
Chanel: Okay, well I’m just going to tell you this. One way or another, Talia Hunter is not getting away with this.
Rafe: Yeah. All right. [gets up] Jada. There you are! How you holding up?
Jada: Fine. I just arrested Colin Bedford.
Chanel: And what about your sister?
Jada: I think she’s gonna be okay.
Chanel: I wasn’t inquiring aftert her health.
Rafe: Yeah, Chanel’s been telling me everything.
Chanel: That your sister is just as guilty as Colin Bedford! Only, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, am I? So. You arrested him. Now what about her?
Jada: I…
Chanel: Look, I’m gonna go make sure my mom is okay. Because you see, she’s worried that her husband might die because he got in Colin and Talia’s way. So. If your sister is not arrested tonight, I will be calling the DA and alerting the media.

She was right, too — it was patently unfair to let Talia slide after everything she’d done just because she was Jada’s sister.

Chanel and Paulina better cool it with the anger. They have their reasons, but if Talia or Colin ends up dead, they’ll have talked themselves into the appearance of guilt.

Some viewers hoped that Colin would die, and that would be the end of that story. This character has no redeeming values, and the best that could be said for him is he deserves a long stint in Bayview.

Even after falling off the roof, all he had to say was that he had been “so close” to exacting revenge, but Talia and Jada interfered. He doesn’t seem to think anything is illegal or immoral about holding people at gunpoint and demanding they jump off rooftops to feed his twisted desire for revenge.

But we didn’t need six months of Sloan claiming that Chanel was a “serial rooftop killer” who pushed her mom and her brother to their deaths, so with Colin alive, we’ve escaped that fate.

As for Talia, Chanel’s right that she shouldn’t avoid arrest just because she’s Jada’s sister.

She poisoned half of Salem by using hallucinogens as a special ingredient in her biscuits, broke into Paulina’s office, and sent anonymous threats- all serious crimes.

She also led Chanel on, but that’s not illegal — just stupid, especially since Talia claims not to have any sexual attraction to women.

Of course, it now seems that Talia is in love with both Colin and Chanel. But her “love story” with Colin is nothing but his abuse and manipulation, and she’s not finished clinging to him. This is starting to become an obsessive love story, even if it isn’t as obnoxious as Megan/Bo or Jan/Shawn!

She wants Colin and Chanel to be okay, and she’s still semi-defending Colin to Jada, telling her that he snapped because of his anger at losing his parents. She knows he went too far and has his facts wrong, but she’s not willing to detach herself from him.

If Trask says the only way for Talia to get out of trouble is to turn on her co-conspirator, that could lead to an interesting dilemma. Talia appears to be addicted to Colin, but will she throw away her freedom for him?

As for her feelings for Chanel, it’s unclear if they’re romantic or if she realizes that hurting or killing Chanel is wrong but isn’t attracted to her.

Either way, Chanel wants nothing to do with her, which might make Talia all the more determined to get Chanel’s forgiveness.

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about the latest Salem happenings!

If you’re eager for more Days of Our Lives chat, don’t forget to check out the latest Days of Our Lives reviews and Days of Our Lives Round Table discussions.

Days of Our Lives streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on weekdays at 6 AM EST / PST.

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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.

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