I hate clowns.
Long before Pennywise, I found them scary. But even when they’re not scary, I don’t find them funny. It’s just not my sense of humor.
Similarly, I’ve never been a fan of the comic relief characters on Days. Even with Eugene and Calliope, I can only take them in very, very small doses.
That means I’ve never liked Susan. Or Bonnie either. So, Days putting them both together, and then throwing in a clown on top of that, was basically my worst nightmare.
On top of that, I really dislike Ava’s abrupt turn to villainy. Fine, she wants revenge on EJ. Understandable! But this scheme with his mother is so stupid. She had an instrument for revenge tailor-made with Johnny. He was right there, practically begging to be taken advantage of! He could spy on EJ, serve as her inside man at Dimera Enterprises. She could seduce him and flaunt their relationship in EJ’s face. There were so many options! But no, she completely ignored all that potential and instead settled on this kidnapping plot, then switched it to a murder plot halfway through, hired unreliable help and delegated all the important stuff to him, got her own son kidnapped, and then, when she managed to get the 30 million dollars anyway, ruined everything by taking his mother hostage again. And then capped it all off by driving off a cliff.
I like my Days villains to be smart, and both Ava and Xander (who plays a charming rogue so well – this was such a waste!) were extremely stupid all the way through.
Hmph.
It did give Steve and Kayla a chance to go rescue Tripp, which I enjoyed.
The rescue was absurdly easy, but it was fun to see them dressed up as gangsters, and Kayla playing a mob madam. I liked that Steve and Kayla realized right away that there was more to the story than EJ scaring Ava out of town, but that didn’t stop them from going all in to help her and rescue Tripp.
A few months ago, I went back and watched some of the storyline where Charlie was introduced, and before Charlie was killed off I was intrigued by the storyline potential of the good brother and the bad brother. (Shades of Steve and Jack!) There was a whiff of that here, when Tripp offered Ava a new life in Seattle while Charlie was the literal devil whispering in her ear. But, sadly, as often happens, the story in my head is much better than the one on my screen.
Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!
Spoiler Free Days 
The Steve/Kayla rescue of Tripp which took 7 minutes and 13 seconds of one episode (that includes Tripps phone call with Ava) wasn’t great. It’s a sad state of affairs that we’ve become so grateful when Ron deigns to give them something to do that we’ll take anything that puts them onscreen! This one day “adventure” happened a little less than a week ago. Today, Tripp, Steve and Kayla found out that Ava “died”. Their reactions to this would have made for some great drama but, since Ron is writing it, it all happened offscreen. As long as he’s around the future’s not looking bright for the Johnsons. He could teach a class on how to ruin an iconic couple that’s been a part of Days for decades in just a few short years!
Couldn’t agree more with the above comment. To think I was so happy when Dena was fired and Ron was brought on. I remember he said he would focus on the legacy characters—-what a lie that was. He has dismantled the character of Kayla and has destroyed a once great couple because he cares more about fast moving stories than actual storylines. He has zero respect for the history of characters.
I totally get where you’re both coming from, but I guess my attitude is different — I’ve come to accept that this is what the show is now. The show is not as good as it used to be, it hasn’t been for a long time, and I can confidently predict with 100% certainty that it will never be again. Maybe you’re right that I’m just beaten down to the point where I’ll accept anything, but my approach is to try to enjoy whatever S&K get, instead of wishing for what can never be.