Days: Special Hope Episode

On Wednesday, June 8, 2016, "Days of Our Lives" did a Hope Brady (Kristian Alfonso) focused episode. Below are my thoughts and a brief summary of it.

Hope was alone and saw her late husband Bo (Peter Reckell). She had been sleeping, and he came to her. The dream focused upon her past and wishes for the future. We saw Larry (Andrew Massett), who gave Hope garbage befitting his past with Hope. Stefano (Joseph Mascolo), who Hope killed, also piling it on, as Bo's death was a crime Stefano had nothing to do with at all. There were also old Bo and Hope clips included from the 1980s. Then Hope was reconciled with her and Bo's dead son Zack. On screen, Zack died when he was accidentally run over by a car driven by his older half-sister Chelsea, so the Bradys never got to see their boy grow to adulthood. I thought it was touching seeing Zack with his Mom and thought about the lost possibility. Before Hope woke up and after Zack left, she had a few moments left with Bo. She asked if they could dance. They did and their old love theme "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love for You" played in the background.

While this episode was supposed to be about Hope being torn between Rafe and Aiden romantically, it didn't feel like they were the focus. Honestly I'm not really strongly invested in either choice though if I had to choose, I'd prefer Rafe simply because Aiden became involved with Hope initially to pay off debts. If it was just that, I could see Hope forgiving, but Aiden's son Chase raped Hope's youngest Ciara. Very few couples can survive that kind of situation in their family.

My takeaway from watching this episode was I wish Days would have figured out a way to keep Peter Reckell happy, so Bo hadn't been killed. I'm not even a big Bo and Hope shipper, but this program illustrated to me why some people cannot get over that pairing. That said, I can't really root for necrophilia. I doubt Days wants people to prefer Hope with her dead husband, but it is what it is.

This was the third one story themed episode in 2016: the first was about Aiden's return from the dead and the second about Jennifer. Due to how far in advance the program tapes we'll see if and when the next one will be.