DAYS HOT TAKE: Part One Of EJ DiMera’s Father’s Will Reading Promised Fireworks But Delivered Boca, a Chess Set, and Marlena Evans Walking Out

EJ DIMERA’S FATHER’S WILL READING WAS ONE BIG SNOOZE FEST. UNTIL LEXIE WALKED IN.

TL;DR: Stefano’s will reading was supposed to detonate Salem on Days of Our Lives Friday. Instead it gave Rita a house in Boca, gave Marlena Evans a chess set she would not touch, and let EJ DiMera quietly run the real plot while Lexie Carver came out of the tunnels and Gabi Hernandez stormed the door. The appetizer fizzled. The kitchen is on fire.

The Will Reading That Should Have Detonated Salem

For a year, Stefano DiMera’s will has been hyped on Days of Our Lives as the deal that would rewrite the family. Codicils. Hidden clauses. Surprise heirs. The kind of episode that splits a family in half.

We got an Oprah show.

Theo Carver, nervous and sweating, opened a long envelope and announced everything was being divided equally among Stefano’s children. Maison Blanche. Melaswen. The mansion. The islands. The commercial holdings. Equal cuts all around. No surprises. No knives. No detonation device. The man who once faked his own death three times in a single decade wrote a will that read like a financial advisor at a Rotary Club meeting, and EJ DiMera sat through every minute of it looking like a man who knew the real game was happening somewhere else.

The fireworks did not happen at the will. The fireworks happened everywhere else.

Was Stefano’s will reading the biggest letdown of the year on Days, or did EJ DiMera quietly turn it into the most dangerous setup of his life? Send your hottest takes to [email protected] and we just might publish them!

The Oprah Moment Salem Will Never Recover From

Then came the gifts. Stefano had set aside houses in the cities of their choice for his three loyal employees of forty years, plus trust funds to take care of them in retirement.

Rita the housekeeper looked at the room and gasped, “Boca!” Harold the butler sighed, “Toledo!” Dr. Wilhelm Rolf was not even in the room and got a house anyway, presumably one with a basement deep enough to keep performing experiments on his next patient.

It was charming. It was warm. And it was wildly off brand for a man who spent forty years orchestrating mind control schemes from a chess board. The will reading was not a detonation. It was a thank you note with real estate.

The Chess Set Was the Only Real Move

The single moment of menace came when Rita handed Marlena Evans a box. Stefano had left Marlena and her late husband John, his self-described Pawn and his Queen, a chess set with two special pieces. Abe Carver immediately told her she did not have to open it.

Marlena said the words this entire show will be living with for months. Stefano is gone. His sick game ends here and now.

She rejected the gift. She walked out. The camera lingered on the chess set after she left. Whatever Stefano hid in there is the only real ordnance from the will.

The Real Drama Happened Everywhere Else

While Theo was reading off retirement real estate, Cat Greene was in the basement with cut flowers while Leo Stark was pretending to birdwatch. They were both lying. Leo figured out Cat is ISA, confronted her in the tunnels, and told her flat out he wanted to work together to take down EJ. Cat rambled excuses. Leo did not care.

Meanwhile EJ DiMera took a phone call from the airport. A private plane from Alamainia had landed in Salem. Whoever was on that plane is the actual surprise.

After Theo said long live the house of DiMera and the family raised glasses, the doorbell rang. Gabi Hernandez walked in announcing she was Stefan’s widow because Ivan testified Vivian forged the signature. Theo said he believed her.

Then the secret tunnel opened and Lexie Carver walked into the living room.

The Verdict

This was Friday’s part one. The chess set, the tunnels, the ISA confrontation, the Alamainian jet, Gabi’s claim, and Lexie’s emergence are the entrée. Surely, today’s continuation delivered at least a few well-placed sizzles in place of Friday’s fizzles.

EJ DiMera spent the afternoon looking like a man in control. He was not. The Alamainian jet, the chess set, the ISA, the widow on the doorstep, and the sister coming out of the tunnel are all going to crash into his world. Especially when Cat or Leo determines what he’s really up to.

Was today’s will reading a fizzle or a setup, and which side plot is going to detonate first, the chess set, the Alamainian jet, or Lexie Carver coming out of the tunnels? Sound off below because this comment section is going to be a lot!

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