She’s Cape-able of Anything
If I never get to see Kristen DiMera on my screen again, I can think of no way I’d rather remember her than running through the dark in a wedding dress and a cape (a cape!).
I didn’t know that it was possible, but this week’s episodes so far (Monday through Thursday) have been even better than last Friday’s blowout at the wedding. They are playing the fallout brilliantly, taking the time to touch on just about every conceivable ripple: Eric tearing into Marlena, Maggie (doing her “best” [worst] Marlena impression) bemoaning Victor’s deviousness, Nicole being vindicated… even the little things, the beats that could have been forgotten, like Caroline finding out what happened to Eric, have been given the proper weight. Plus we got Kayla channeling Bo and John with her, “The damn DiMeras!”
Even some of the throwaway stuff has been making me happy, like T flirting with Abigail (I’m 100 times more interested in the potential there than I was in her being with Chad or Cameron), or Abigail and Jordan’s forced-but-cute friendship scene, or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘s Kyle Richards (!) appearing as a representative from Sparkle Modeling Agency (!! — seriously, was it founded by Barbie?).
I really have no idea why this agency is so interested in turning a random college student with a child into an “international brand” (Camila Banus is beautiful, but come on), but I got some chuckles out of this random stunt casting — and she actually was not painfully bad at all.
But back to the important stuff:
The Kristen/Marlena showdown was fantastic. I loved Marlena taking the bullets out of the gun and putting it away. And I love how, even though Kristen is a psycho, she’s partly right about Marlena’s compulsive need to take Kristen down. That’s going to play out long after Kristen is gone. And as far as showdowns go, I thought Greg Vaughan was amazing as Eric confronting Kristen. He seems like a shell of a man, totally broken, and it’s such a different energy from what we usually get out of Salem men.
So: goodbye, Kristen and Eileen Davidson. I think. Perhaps naively, I’m hoping that they shot one more scene of her, maybe with Stefano, as she disappears into hiding… or reveals that she is pregnant with either Brady or Eric’s child.
If she has to go, this exit has been kind of perfect — and I love the idea that Kristen escaped from that car accident and is lurking somewhere out there, ready to reappear when the time is right. (Hint: the time is always right.)
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What Happens in Salem... 
November 15, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Best post title ever! This week has been AMAZING. Like makes you want to stay home sick from work to watch it “live” good. I just want MORE. I want more fallout with Kristen before she is gone. I loved loved loved Roman and Victor taking Nicole’s side in running Kristen off the road. I can’t wait to see Nicole and Eric today. Brady’s transition from totally believing Kristen to totally not believing her was a little absurd, but Brady isn’t exactly a genius. I wonder what’s next for him. I would love to see a love triangle where two men (defrocked Eric and broken down Brady) fight for Nicole for once.
November 16, 2013 at 8:49 am
This whole week has just been SO good. It was satisfying in ways I didn’t even expect. Victor actually coming to Nicole’s rescue was terrific. I also forgot to mention my favorite line of the week, from Eric: “I’m not as stupid as Brady!” Few men are, my friend.
November 16, 2013 at 1:33 pm
my favorite line was EJ to Sami: about Brady and his feelings for Kristen: “Well, he LOVED that whore….”
November 16, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Hahahaha!
November 16, 2013 at 6:37 pm
Oh man, what a fun week! So much hilarious drama. My only complaint: everybody requesting a travel itinerary of Daniel’s penis. I mean, ewww. Literally everyone: “I know Jennifer was a total bitch that repeatedly broke up with you, screamed at you in public, and has made her complete lack of desire to commit to you in any fashion so obvious that even dogs are wearing Jennifer (scraggly, broken heart) Daniel t-shirts, but that doesn’t give you the right to be at Theresa’s house for what could ONLY, absolutely (seriously, can anyone think of just one other reason? I’m stumped here…) be a night of penis hide and and seek.”
These people are nuts!
November 16, 2013 at 7:13 pm
Oh my GOD. I’m like three minutes into Friday’s episode and Maggie is already going on about how Nicole staying in the guest room is going to ruin Daniel’s non-relationship with Jennifer. Will these people give it a damn rest?!
November 16, 2013 at 10:20 pm
And with that, we say goodbye to Kristen and Eileen Davidson.
I’m aware this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I thought the wedding (11/8) was a bust. I felt a lot of it was just over the top JER-era nonsense starting with Marlena’s “wacky” technology hijinks down to her falling out of the curtain and into the crowd. It completely undermined Marlena and this comes from someone who has no real affection for Deidre Hall or her character. I felt we spent a good part of the episode with dayplayers awkwardly trying to figure out what was going on. I thought showing the video a second time was tacky. Plus this was the third failed wedding we had this year, and I thought the first two were better executed.
I do concur that this week has been amazing. By far, Monday was my favorite episode. Zuker, Vaughn, and Davidson have been delivering phenomenal performances all week. Zuker killed me Friday when she told Eric he didn’t have to worry about Nicole panting after him anymore because she no longer loved him. I was on the verge of tears. Vaughn was stellar railing at Marlena for what she had done and all of his moments in quiet agony. His confrontations with Martsolf and Hall have been particular noteworthy. Davidson has been selling Kristen’s latest twist “Eric seduced me,” which I DIDN’T see coming. What a wonderful note to go out on!
I don’t know what to think of Deidre Hall’s performance as Marlena. I was expecting this moment to destroy Marlena. Kristen only targeted Eric because he was Marlena’s son. In multiple ways, she put her own son at risk, or should believe she played a huge role in this event. The script didn’t really play Marlena as upset, the director didn’t seem to get Hall to go there, and Hall didn’t seem to make any choices that showed Marlena’s devastation. I think this would have been more effective if Marlena was devastated, but that Kristen realized she (Kristen) didn’t receive the satisfaction she expected. Instead, we got the emotionally cold Marlena, which, I guess, is the only way all involved want to play this. I’m just indifferent to the Marlena/Kristen end of the story.
While this story was masqueraded as Kristen’s downfall, it really has been Eric’s downfall and I’m curious to watch Vaughn play it. He is a broken man. It will be interesting to see him continue his journey as he tries to reconcile his life. Will he be allowed to remain in the priesthood? Can he forgive Marlena for what she has done? Can he repair his relationship with Nicole?
I love the layers within the story. Not only did Eric accusing Nicole replay last year’s story, there was a beautiful moment where Eric realized no one is going to believe he was in fact violated by Kristen. It will be Eric’s ‘penance’ for not believing Nicole was innocent of the crime he accused her of committing. I also like how Eric attacked Marlena initially for showing the video in church, not because it ruined his reputation, but because it went against everything he stood for by showing X-rated material in the house of God. I thought that was a really strong beat that no other show would have played.
The spirals have also been nice to see. I thought the Maggie/Victor conflict on Monday was wonderful emotional character material that the show mastered under Higley. By allowing Victor’s POV come to light, I didn’t hate him as much. I still understand Maggie’s disgust with him as it touched a very raw nerve (the relationship between a mother and her son), but it also created very real conflict. I like that Maggie lingered for a moment after the ultimatum was delivered, but that she never looked back once she did.
November 19, 2013 at 9:14 am
I agree about some of the Marlena stuff. Her reaction wasn’t nearly as devastated as I thought it’d be — though it also felt like she wasn’t the focal point, and I read it as her believing that Eric will come around once this settles. I think she felt that, following Eric’s rejection, she could somehow repair things by confronting Kristen, which of course didn’t accomplish anything.
The Eric angle has been terrific, though. It became clear in the church that while this was the end of Kristen’s efforts (for now), it really WAS about Eric. I was pleasantly surprised that they played his devastation and the very real aftermath of the rape, especially given this show’s track record. I’ve said this before, but Vaughan plays things a lot rawer than other Salem men, and it’s really working. There’s so much to play here.
Mostly I appreciate that this was clearly done with a vision. Like you, I wasn’t nuts about the setup — Kristen’s plot to film herself with Eric felt so specific and out of nowhere — but it has absolutely been worth it, IMO. There’s a lot to be said for the way they’re setting up these larger arcs and actually playing the fallout, as opposed to the ABC soap model of “Something happens! Then something else happens!”