Leo’s in hot water.
On Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-08-22, the mostly-ridiculous character found himself in the type of deep trouble only Leo Stark could get into after six-year-old Thomas Dimera ID’d him as the Tooth Fairy he saw in the basement.
Chad is sure they’ve finally got Abigail’s killer, but is he right this time?
Chad’s convinced Leo is the killer, and Leo clearly was up to no good in some way or another.
He threatened to imprison Thomas in the dungeon before deciding to go with pretending to be the Tooth Fairy, and he stole Abigail’s jewelry after her death.
All of Salem seems wedded to the theory that whoever stole Abigail’s jewelry also killed her, but that may not be the case.
Since the murder, Leo’s been trying to find proof that Gwen did the deed. He keeps harassing her, trying to pressure her into confessing, and many of these conversations have been in private.
If Leo accused Gwen in front of other people, it might suggest that he is trying to get suspicion off himself and onto her. But since 99 percent of the time, these conversations are between the two of them, that doesn’t work.
Plus, Leo seemed shaken when he ran away after the murder as if he had seen it take place.
If that were the case, Leo would have seen the murderer’s face, which he didn’t.
We know Gwen was wearing a Sarah mask; could Leo have seen “Sarah” and felt something was not quite right?
That doesn’t fit with the theory that Gwen arrived too late to kill Abby herself, but it would make sense.
The question is: how and why did Leo end up with the jewelry? Did he know Abigail had been killed when he stole it or did someone give it to him?
Maybe he did run into Gwen, with or without the Sarah mask, and she gave him the jewelry but asked him to stay quiet about having seen her there. If he learned later that Abigail had been killed, it would make sense that he wanted to get rid of the jewelry AND that he suspected Gwen was behind this.
In any case, Chad did what Chad always does when confronted with a potential suspect in Abigail’s murder: he grabbed Leo by the collar and demanded he confess immediately, then yelled at the cops to arrest Leo.
Granted, there is more evidence against Leo than there has been against several others, but this is not how to get justice for Abigail.
Even if one of these days, Chad attacks the right person, all he’s doing is jeopardizing the investigation. And what kind of example was this to set for Thomas?
Chad should have done what he did at the end: call Rafe and let him handle Leo.
Chad: I want him arrested right now.
Shawn: We have to follow procedure.
Chad: What does that mean?
Shawn: We need to talk to Rafe about this.
Jada: And he’s already left for the day.
Chad: After Abigail was killed, Rafe looked me in the eye and he said he would not rest until her murderer was caught. He promised me that. Well, we have the killer. Rafe is just going to have to get the hell back here.
Chad’s frustration is understandable. As usual, the cops have been looking everywhere except at viable suspects. At least three people have been accused of murdering Abigail, only to be let go when they turned out to have alibis.
Meanwhile, Chad’s children — especially Thomas — are suffering because of their mother’s absence, and Chad can’t even tell them that the person who did it has been punished, and Chad himself is falling apart.
He wants justice yesterday, and he’s right, though his methods leave something to be desired. How many people is Chad going to beat up before he stops jumping to conclusions?
Leo’s arrest was equal parts comical and emotional. He was right that the situation was ridiculous: he was under suspicion because a little boy claimed that the “Tooth Fairy” was in his basement and told him not to tell anyone they’d spoken.
Poor Thomas’ fear that he would never get tooth money again was so realistic. That part of it can be solved if Chad puts money under Thomas’ pillow tonight for the tooth he just lost. But if Thomas ever finds out that the man he saw is suspected of killing Abigail, that might be harder to deal with.
The kid might blame himself because he didn’t tell anyone about the bad man before Abigail’s death, and it’ll be cold comfort if Leo turns out to be innocent.
That’s probably why nobody told him that the “Tooth Fairy” was potentially the person who had killed Abigail. This wasn’t the time or place for that; however, at some point, Chad needs to have a serious talk with both Thomas and Charlotte about not keeping secrets for adults.
Leo’s insistence that Thomas not tell his parents is the same thing pedophiles do when they molest a child.
Thomas and Charlotte should already know that they should always tell their parents if an adult asks them to keep a secret; at the very least, they should be taught this rule now before something else untoward happens.
Nancy’s reaction to learning that Leo was the thief who got Clyde in trouble was among the most amusing aspects of Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-08-22.
Clyde: Yeah, that’s him.
Nancy: Do you know who that is? That’s Leo Stark, the weasel who stole Craig from me and tried to con him out of his money.
Clyde: No way.
Nancy: Yes. *laughs* Do you know what this means? Your weasel and my weasel are the same weasel!
I’m not sure which is funnier: Nancy’s glee at discovering she and Clyde had a common enemy or Brady and Chloe realizing who Leo was from Clyde’s description.
The editing of Leo’s post-arrest scenes was a bit confusing. Shawn and Jada made it clear that Leo was not going anywhere, but then in the next set of scenes, Jada was at the Pub, and Shawn was at home grilling steaks.
You’d think Rafe would want them to stay while he interrogated Leo since they were the ones who initially questioned him. Plus, somebody had to keep Chad under control.
And why was Rafe questioning Leo in his office instead of in the interrogation room?
Despite these hiccups, the final scene was a cliffhanger worthy of a Friday. Finally!
Although discovering that Leo had also screwed over Nancy didn’t seem like a strong enough motivation for Clyde to risk going back to prison, after all, his well-timed entrance was one of the more thrilling Friday endings in recent memory.
Meanwhile, what’s going on with Leo’s mask-wearing friend?
Sarah and Xander’s attempt to investigate seemed to be about comic relief… and, of course, about having sex.
Those scenes in the warden’s office were ridiculous. Among other things, why couldn’t these two keep their hands off each other until AFTER they had the goods on Gwen?
At least they got their evidence, though. While they haven’t gotten conclusive proof that Gwen was involved in Abigail’s death, they now know that:
- Gwen was MIA at bed call on the night Abigail died.
- Gwen had a Sarah mask, making it likely that she was the person Lucas saw running down the stairs at the Dimera mansion.
- Gwen was in contact with Leo and Ava immediately before and after her disappearance.
The goofy would-be detectives wanted to try to get Ava to flip on Gwen (again, after a break to have sex), but they might have better luck pressuring Leo.
While Gwen is supposed to be his best friend, Leo doesn’t want to go to prison for his little Tooth Fairy escapade, and he’s had his suspicions of Gwen all along. Would he throw her under the bus to get out of trouble?
Elsewhere, Chad’s inability to deal with Abigail’s death opened the door for insight into Sonny and Alex’s complicated relationship.
Sonny wanted to give Chad the position that Victor had promised Alex. As a result, he and Alex began arguing about whether Alex could respect and listen to Sonny and whether Victor had any respect for his so-called favorite nephew.
Alex: I didn’t lobby for that job. Uncle Vic offered it. And I told him, Sonny should be in on that meeting.
Sonny: And he said, ‘Who’s Sonny?’
Alex: Come on, you’re his favorite Kiriakis brother.
Sonny: Not when it comes to business. He’s always telling me that I lack the killer instinct.
Alex: Yeah, cause you’ve got human blood running through your veins. I love Uncle Vic, but neither of us should emulate him.
Sonny’s brothers are more or less a blank slate, as they’ve never appeared on canvas as adults before, so this conflict over Titan could be compelling if done right.
It’s even messier since the reason Victor hired Alex was to spy on Sonny and report back any “mistakes.” Wait til Sonny finds that out!
Across town, there’s an equally messy situation going on with Ava and EJ.
These two are fairly evenly matched, though Ava should have known better than to whisper about secrets in EJ’s living room.
There was no way EJ wasn’t going to find out, and now he’s tormenting Ava and Gwen by forcing them to eat dinner together while he fishes for info and pretends he’s just being a gracious host.
This is going to be fun! And EJ may get more than he bargained for if anyone slips up and admits that Ava helped Gwen take a mini-vacation from Statesville on the night Abigail died.
The biggest twist of all, though, might be the reveal that Li Shin has been bankrolling Rolf’s experiments and has the power to cancel them.
Until now, Li has been more or less a nothing character. He and his father initially had the exceedingly minor role of casting votes and controlling the board.
It never made sense why the Dimeras deferred to the Shins, who are not part of their family, but obviously, the Shins hold the purse strings.
Still, it was surprising and out of character for Rolf to go along with Li’s demands. Rolf’s loyalty has always been to Stefano, so in any dispute, he should take Kristen’s side over an outsider like Li Shin.
Sure, Li can dry up funding for Rolf’s secret project. But if Stefan awakens, Rolf doesn’t need that funding. Plus, the Dimeras have nearly unlimited funds; surely Kristen, Tony, or EJ could help him out if Li withdraws his support.
This whole thing also showed more of a dark side to Li than we’ve ever seen before. He didn’t seem like the same guy who took Gabi to Hong Kong and had no knowledge of the prisms on Beyond Salem 2; I couldn’t help wondering what Wendy would say if she knew about this.
Finally, the Chanel triangle competed with the Nicole/Eric/Jada one for which could be more annoying.
Allie has become obnoxious to the point of unlikeability, often crowing that she “won” as if Chanel is nothing more than a prize in a competition, while Nicole is obsessing over Eric and Jada’s relationship for no reason whatsoever.
And why, exactly, was Chanel flirting with Alex? Aren’t things complicated enough for her without adding another man to the mix, especially not one who seems interested in being with both women? All we need is Allie and Chanel fighting over Alex now.
Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics. Hit that big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about Days of Our Lives during the week of 8-08-22.
Eager for more Days of Our Lives chat? Check back on Sunday for the latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.
Days of Our Lives moves to Peacock on September 12, 2022. Until then, it airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes or watch on Peacock on weeknights after 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST.
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.