This week’sDays of Our Livessets up a possible supervillain return that may not be as popular as expected. Throughout its 60 years on the air,Days of Our Liveshas offered wild stories, often with supernatural twists. This soap regularly has people brainwashed via microchips or advanced hypnosis, and evil characters will not stop at anything.
People returning from the dead is afavorite soap trope, and in Salem, death is rarely permanent. That said, if an actor strongly associated with a character dies, the character usually meets a similar fate. However, events this week suggest thatDays of Our Livesmay resurrect an iconic supervillain whose actor passed away almost a decade ago.
What’s Happening on Days of Our Lives This Week: July 28 - August 1
News of “The Phoenix” Slowly Spreads
Several storylines during this week’sDays of Our Livessuggest thatStefano Dimera will make yet another miraculous return from the dead. Stefano was known as the Phoenix because he often reappeared to wreak more havoc months or years after being believed dead.
The character was last written out in 2016 when Hope shot him multiple times in a fit of rage while he sat helplessly in a wheelchair. Actor Joe Mascolo passed away shortly afterward.
Mascolo appeared one last time after Stefano’s on-air death, but it was said that Shane was impersonating Stefano after the scene ended.
It has seemed for the last several years that the series will respect Mascolo’s real-life deathby retiring the character permanently. Instead, characters talk to a large portrait of him. However, several events throughout the week of July 28 to August 1 suggest that this may no longer be the case.
Susan Banks' return seems to be about her sensing evil, while Marlena worries she’s been possessed againafter dreaming about being Stefano’s “Queen of the Night.” These events intersect with Rafe offering Stefano’s history as the Phoenix while briefing Cat for her investigation into EJ’s activities.
These events suggest Stefano may be resurrected soon. Here are the day-to-day synopses for this week’sDays of Our Lives:
What Big Storyline We’re Following This Week
There has been widespread speculation that Marlena’s dizzy spells, especially coupled with Susan’s warning that Marlena is “sick in mind, body,, and soul,“point to Marlena having shot EJ while again possessed by an evil spirit. However, it is unlikely thatlong-runningDays of Our Livesstar Deidre Hallwill again have this type of story.
Marlena’s illness could still be grief-based.It’s also possible that all of these week’s events are a large-scale misdirection on the part of the writersto make audiences think Stefano is returning. The spoilers about Tony are especially interesting because his behavior has not been in line with his character since his return.
This type of storyline would allow André to take his rightful place as Stefano’s successor and continue tormenting the Bradys and others deemed enemies of the family.
A ruthless, single-minded focus on rebuilding the Dimera empire is more aligned with André than Tony, so a big reveal on that front could be coming. This type of storyline would allow André to take his rightful place as Stefano’s successor and continue tormenting the Bradys and others deemed enemies of the family.
Tony’s line in the preview video, “We don’t fight fire with fire. We fight fire with arson.” is the kind of witty yet evil proclamation André loves to make.This week’s events will make it clearer whether the true supervillain in this story is a resurrected Stefanoor André in disguise.
How This Sets Up Next Week’s Days of Our Lives
Whatever the Dimera Are Up To Will Affect Most of Salem
It’s clear that something big is brewing for the Dimeras. Regardless of whether Stefano is alive,EJ has nefarious plans that he will hint at toward the end of the week, and Tony/André is also fighting dirty to regain control of Dimeraafter Titan’s hostile takeover. The only question is how far they will take these plans.
If André is involved in this story,it’s possible thatDays of Our Livesis planning a Salem Stalker redux— in the original story, André brainwashed Marlena into attacking Salemites, so she could have shot EJ while under Dimera influence. This should not be possible because Marlena was in Estonia when EJ was shot.
This soap has been known to change timelines midstream to accommodate stories before, but this discrepancy would be annoying. Additionally, the Devil possession redux in 2021 was far inferior to the original and was not well-received, soanother Marlena possession story would not be an exciting development. Regardless, a repeated André storyline would still be preferable to Stefano being alive.
Mascolo is too strongly associated with the role, and it is disrespectful to recast it after his death.Days of Our Liveshas relied on Stefano’s portrait as a device for Dimeras to vent their concerns for a long time, and it would have to be removed or replaced if Stefano is recast, further erasing Mascolo’s legacy.
