Megan wasn’t kidding when she said it was time she became a full-fledged Dimera.
The long-presumed-dead former Miss Hathaway is proving herself to be the biggest badass in Salem.
She’s the supervillain I didn’t know I needed. Too bad certain other villains ruined her triumph on Days of Our Lives during the week of 5-29-23 by wreaking unnecessary havoc elsewhere.
The Dimeras have spawned a few great villains. Stefano is the most infamous, but Andre is a close second, combining class and charm with a cold ruthlessness and determination to get whatever he wants, other people’s well-being be damned.
Megan has the same classiness to her. She dresses like a diva, speaks softly but with calculation, and has planned her next fifteen to twenty moves before uttering a word. Like her father, she has a chess player’s sense of strategy, making her a formidable opponent.
While no one can replace Stefano, Megan comes closest to being the heir to his throne as Salem’s chief evildoer. I usually have no use for Kristen or the never-ending battle for CEO of Dimera Enterprises, but her conversations with Kristen on Friday were riveting!
Megan: Do they really think we’re going to put our leverage behind them in exchange for measly jobs at Gabi Chic? What a waste of considerable talent.
Kristen: Yeah, I agree with you. We should be running Dimera, not our baby brothers, and certainly not that lowlife operator Gabi Hernandez.
Megan: My ambitions extend far beyond running Dimera.
Kristen: Oh. And how far do they extend?
Megan: Across oceans. Across continents. I want – no, I DESERVE more. So much more.
Kristen: Can you be a little more specific?
Megan: Father was a grand puppet master. The whole town of Salem feared Stefano Dimera. The world feared him. And all of his other offspring have had their shot at emulating him. Now it’s my turn.
Kristen: Oh, okay. So now you want to be your father’s daughter, do you?
Megan: I am my father’s daughter. And just as the Phoenix… Megan Dimera is rising again.
Megan and Kristen are two peas in a pod. They both center their lives around their obsession with a man who doesn’t want them and have ambitions far beyond grabbing the coveted CEO spot.
But Megan has more ability to multitask, more belief that she deserves the best life has to offer, and more deviousness. Compared to her, Kristen is a run-of-the-mill villain who always plays the same Coyote/Roadrunner game with Brady, no matter how many times she loses.
That’s why Megan is plotting to put fear into the heart of every one of the Earth’s citizens while Kristen wants to force a judge to give her custody of Rachel. And Megan knows this, which is why she is keeping Kristen in the dark about her true plans.
That not only drives Kristen up the wall but allows viewers to guess what Megan is up to.
So far, we know that her plan involves world domination. Most likely, Dmitri is involved in it. He posed as an ISA agent to try to get his hands on the Alamanian Peacock during Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem Season 1 and will do anything to help his mother.
Beyond that, what is Megan up to? She wants to emulate her father’s obsession with Marlena, and Stefano once created a bunch of Marlena clones. Could Megan be planning to do something with an army of Bo clones?
She also probably sees the CEO position as a means to an end. Kristen’s claim that Megan would need money to pull off her scheme was silly — if Megan becomes CEO, she’ll have a huge salary and can likely embezzle any additional funds she needs without getting caught.
Again, Megan is on a whole other level than Kristen, who can’t think beyond wanting to get custody of her daughter. Of course, the object of Kristen’s obsession is alive and living in Salem, while Bo is hidden away in a private coma rehabilitation facility.
Kristen: As you know, Brady has full custody of Rachel and he is hell bent on keeping her away from me at all costs. Now I’ve tried to revisit the issue with several lawyers and they all turned me down. I’m tired of hearing the word ‘no.’ So I want this little deal of yours to include me getting full custody of Rachel.
Megan: Custody? That is so pedestrian. Have you considered kidnapping her?
That means Kristen can’t help herself — she’ll put most of her energy behind forcing Brady into a twisted family situation with her and Rachel. Megan thinks Kristen is aiming too low right now, but would she do anything differently if Bo were in Salem and theoretically available?
The biggest weakness in Megan’s plan is that Bo and Hope have been shuffled off-screen.
Hopefully, Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso will be available whenever the next chapter of this Megan/Bo/Hope saga begins; it would be beyond ridiculous for Megan’s newest attack to occur entirely off-screen!
Interestingly, Stefan and Gabi closed the door while trying to get Megan and Kristen on board with their plan but left it open when they went upstairs — will someone overhear?
Stefan and Gabi’s sex-filled scheming session was far less interesting than Megan’s conversation with Kristen. This marriage won’t last, not when Camila Banus is leaving Days of Our Lives. Plus, Gabi is no match for Megan.
But if someone overhears and puts a monkey wrench into Megan and Kristen’s plans, this storyline will be easier to bear.
So far, the only one who has come in is Dimitri, but Megan and Kristen took an unnecessary risk. If they continue to do so, someone will hear something they shouldn’t sooner or later.
EJ’s the most likely to put a stop to any shenanigans, but he’s busy with the baby storyline right now.
Eric: Well?
Nicole: Nothing yet. Kayla’s meeting us in a few minutes to give us the test results.
EJ: Well, I’m not in suspense. The odds are in my favor. After all, you only slept with Nicole one time. Now that she and I are living together, we have been enjoying each other on a regular basis.
Nicole: Stop it! Don’t make this into a sick, twisted competition. This is a child, a life.
Nicole’s pregnancy secret didn’t last very long. Anna, Tony, Sloan, and Eric learned about it quickly, and Eric had a long conversation with Marlena in the Pub after confronting Nicole.
The way things were going, Nicole was lucky that EJ didn’t overhear the news before she had a chance to talk to him. The only way this attempt at keeping a secret could have been any worse is if Leo had found out about it!
At least Nicole got to tell EJ on her own terms. While the men may feel it was unfair for her to keep them in the dark, the fact is that it’s Nicole’s pregnancy and her business to tell or not tell.
Nicole wanted to get the paternity test before she told anyone anything, but it didn’t work out that way, and now Eric and EJ are giving each other death stares while waiting for Kayla to deliver the test results.
Those results are likely to be inaccurate, as often happens in Salem. Sloan took Eric’s DNA off-screen, which means the chances are about 95 percent that she took DNA from her own cheek instead of his. Nicole and EJ both have advanced degrees in scheming and should realize this!
Kayla should take Nicole into a room by herself and leave it up to her to tell the men who the father is. But if she does that, no one will believe Nicole after all the lies she told. Eric and EJ would assume she was choosing the father she wanted for her baby, leading to another mess.
Eric was surprisingly understanding. He didn’t do his usual huffing and puffing about how evil Nicole is and how she nearly destroyed his life, which was a refreshing change for him.
With EJ acting like his usual self, blowing up and assuming Nicole is setting the stage to leave him for Eric, it’s clear who the endgame is here.
Still, it’s hard to blame EJ for getting upset when Nicole lied to him approximately five seconds after promising him she would never do any such thing again.
At least this secret is out in the open. The first DNA test will probably put Nicole and EJ on solid ground, setting the stage for a heartbroken Eric to try to move on with Sloan — at least until he finds out the test was wrong.
Oddly, Nicole wasn’t the only one whose pregnancy secret fell apart. A visibly pregnant Sarah couldn’t hide the truth from Bonnie either.
Bonnie has no more right to tell Sarah’s pregnancy secret than Tony would have to tell Nicole’s. But she’s a bigger buttinski than 90 percent of Salem, so this pregnancy won’t stay quiet long.
At least Anna tried to keep Nicole’s confidence, even if she did do boneheaded things like talking about it on the phone while waiting for Tony to arrive at a restaurant.
Strangely, two secret pregnancy stories blew up within days of one another. Sarah is much further along than Nicole, so theoretically, there can’t be any baby-switching this time.
But the fact that Sarah and Nicole have pregnancies they’d rather keep to themselves is suspicious. I can’t help thinking these stories will intersect somehow — and the only way I can think of is Sarah and Nicole somehow switch babies.
In any case, Sarah had better hurry back to Salem before things heat up between Xander and Chloe!
So far, the Xander/Chloe story has been lighthearted, but there have been several almost-kisses, and Gwen is oozing jealousy, especially now that Chloe is working for the Spectator.
Chloe needs a job that has nothing to do with anyone she is close to! But if she has to work with someone she knows, I’d rather it be Xander.
Brady keeps going into full stalker mode, attempting to control Chloe’s relationships, and that needs to stop. Plus, with Chloe working at the Spectator, there’s a chance she can put Gwen in her place once and for all.
Meanwhile, the Colin attack story took a silly turn when Colin escaped and a nurse kidnapped Abe.
The Abe story gives him something to do: an improvement over Abe occasionally popping up to give people advice and then disappearing again for months.
Paulina and Chanel will stop at nothing to find him; they should not be the only ones.
Why doesn’t the fact that Mayor Carver is missing light a fire under the cops’ asses? Public figures’ kidnappings- especially a mayor who is well-liked by most of the citizenry- tend to get more attention, except in Salem.
Instead, Rafe’s making phone calls and comforting Paulina. He also was awfully kind to the rookie cop who Colin overpowered. Colin managed to take the guy’s uniform, including his gun — something which the police commissioner should have his head for.
Granted, it was partially Rafe’s fault for sending the rookie in alone, but still.
In any case, Abe is probably safer than he would be if Colin had managed to get ahold of him. While the cops are busy barking up that wrong tree, a seemingly obsessed nurse is pretending to be Paulina.
This story will probably be a Misery-like situation in which someone obsessed with Abe tries to possess him. Hopefully, Paulina finds him before this woman has sex with him under false pretenses.
This plan is goofy. And won’t it fall apart when Nurse Whitley fails to report to work? She presumably left in the middle of her shift, too — how can she possibly get away with this?
This story is different from the usual amnesia story, but that’s all that can be said about it. Meanwhile, Colin is able to hobble around town in a stolen cop’s uniform without attracting attention from anyone but Leo. Ugh.
Colin is the worst. No offense to Jasper Newman, who is playing the role brilliantly, but the sooner he gets off all our screens, the better. I almost feel sorry for Sloan when she has to repeatedly hear that her brother is a psychopath.
Talia continues to struggle with her mental health issues. She’s addicted to Colin, making excuses for him and putting his welfare above hers.
The worst thing is that Colin has already thrown her under the bus, blaming her for everything he manipulated her into doing and claiming she threw him off the roof on purpose. Hopefully, Talia’s head will clear — but why isn’t Marlena part of this story?
Marlena’s mostly gossiping in the Pub about Nicole’s lies, which isn’t the best use of this character.
We have someone so attached to her no-good boyfriend that she commits crimes and makes excuses for his horrible behavior — could Marlena get to work on helping Talia realize what she’s doing to herself, please?
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you think about this week’s episodes.
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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.
