- Days of Our Lives
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Curtis Harding
Friday, May 31st, 2024
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
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We were told this day was coming for Days of Our Lives and that we’d know it when it happened — and boy did we. The shift in writing was not subtle. After six months of Writers’ Strike material airing as we waited for the show to catch up to real life, we finally, on Friday, witnessed the return of headwriter Ron Carlivati and the regular writing team.
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And it wasn’t only unsubtle, but it used someone as catty as Leo to deliver the lines that declared the strike material was over. As he was looking through The Spectator on his laptop, Leo read aloud the headline: “Some Salemites Ready to Go Nuclear On Radioactive Mayor.”
His response? “Lame play on words. Cliched, hackneyed, ugh. No offense, Everett, but the quality of the writing for The Spectator has really gone downhill the past couple months. But that is about to change.” (You can read through the entire recap here.)
More: Sloan’s return confrontation almost didn’t happen
And change it did. The action came fast and furious on Friday. Bobby came out to play in a big way when Jada and Stephanie tried confronting Everett and he pushed the calm personality aside, practically foaming at the mouth as he screamed at them. Contrast that fury to the glimpse we got of a cool, collected Melinda, capable of handling anything as she talked her way out of stealing Jude — before Rafe caught her in a lie.
And while we didn’t actually see Jude, he was at the heart of much of the episode. After Sloan had been sent on the run by the temp writers, Carlivati brought her back to have it out with Nicole and try to apologize. It was against common sense when it came to saving her own skin, but made perfect sense when it came to drama! There were explanations, accusations, drudging up Nicole’s hugely problematic history and rehashing trauma. And then there was that slap.
Eric, meanwhile, got his hands on Leo, scaring the writing critic to the point that he called in Rafe for help before scuttling off to tell EJ he finally realized what he was hiding. And just as Sloan was about to flee from a furious Nicole, Eric walked into the DiMera mansion and she froze, trapped between two irate parents.
So for those who may have put Days of Our Lives on pause the last few months or just weren’t feeling the characters or stories, now — episode 200 of the show’s 59th season — is the time to jump back in. Fingers crossed we can keep up the momentum as we barrel forward into the show’s milestone 60th season.
Since the showdidgo there today, refresh your memory with Nicole’s extensive misdeeds in our photo gallery below.
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Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
1/24
<p>Believe it or not, Sami was actually a friend back in the early days when she offered a modeling contract to Nicole after Eric (then Jensen Ackles) discovered her waiting tables and decided she’d be the perfect model for <em>Bella</em>magazine. This was also the beginning of the “Ericole” dance, which, let’s just say, never caught on.</p>
Image: Jesse Grant/JPI
2/24
<p>Eric didn’t work out (nor did her brief marriage to Lucas), so Nicole set her sights on Victor. She moved in, pushed Kate out and became his wife. It wasn’t what you’d call a “healthy” marriage, but all that back and forth attempted murder did keep the two on their toes!</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
3/24
<p>We’re pretty sure those aren’t regulation uniforms, but we’re also pretty sure we don’t care! But what else were Nicole and Jan supposed to wear after they teamed up to kill Nicole and make her a very, very wealthy widow?</p>
Image: Jesse Grant/JPI
4/24
<p>With Victor gone, Nicole set about winning the love of her step-grandson, Brady. (Then played by Kyle Lowder, who now plays Rex!) But once Chloe turned up alive, not even Nicole’s most devious plans could keep them apart. Oh, and it turns out Victor wasn’t dead after all.</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
5/24
<p>Once Victor made his grand return and divorced Nicole, she was forced to go back to being a working gal. But her teamup with Austin and Sami to start the Austin Reed and Company sent her packing to Los Angeles to run a new branch!</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI
6/24
<p>This is just the start of Nicole doing what she does best: Coming between EJ (originally James Scott) and Sami! When she returned to town with the news that her divorce hadn’t gone through, she hired EJ to help her take Victor for a heft divorce settled. It worked. And as a bonus, EJ threw in a roll in the hay to make Sami jealous! That too worked. Too well.</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
7/24
<p>This is just the start of Nicole doing what she does best: Coming between EJ (originally James Scott) and Sami! When she returned to town with the news that her divorce hadn’t gone through, she hired EJ to help her take Victor for a heft divorce settled. It worked. And as a bonus, EJ threw in a roll in the hay to make Sami jealous! That too worked. Too well.</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
8/24
<p>While faking a pregnancy and adopting a baby from a teen mom on the downlow to dupe your husband may be cruel, but it’s not a crime. What <em>is</em>a crime is swapping Mia’s baby (which sadly didn’t survive) with Sami’s and raising Sydney as her own! That — plus a kidnapping — won Nicole 20 years in jail. A sentence which Nicole promptly blackmailed herself out of. No harm, no foul!</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
9/24
<p>Don’t mind Nicole. She was just studying the best place to stab Arianna in the back so she could have Brady all to herself after EJ cut her loose. Of course, that got super awkward when Arianna turned up dead, but the good news is, Nicole did <em>not</em>do it!</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
10/24
<p>It didn’t take long for EJ and Nicole to find their way back to each other, thanks to a mutual bonding over scheming and a love for Sydney. Also, Sami shot EJ in the head. Comparitively, Nicole was an angel. But then Nicole’s sis Taylor came between them after a second try at marriage. They split up, got back together again, split up again… Are you getting a pattern here, too?</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
11/24
<p>Eventually, Nicole got off the EJ rollercoaster to hop on the Daniel train. Her own insecurity over Jennifer, though, ended that soon enough. Nicole hit a new low when, after suffering a miscarriage of her and EJ’s baby, she staged a fight with Jen to make it seem like <em>she’d</em>caused it. That was the straw that broke Daniel’s back and he cut Nicole loose!</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
12/24
<p>Luckily, Eric came back to town shortly thereafter and while the priest thing was inconvenient, clearly, Nicole got at least a little kick out of it. It’s hard to resist a man in uniform, though Nicole did her darndest to try to move on with Brady! It didn’t work.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
13/24
<p>Nicole, naturally, was kind of thrilled when Eric got booted from the priesthood for sleeping with Kristen. So you can understand if she sat on the proof that he was drugged and raped and could return to being a priest if he wanted. Eric didn’t, but you can, right? Right?</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
14/24
<p>With Eric a no-go, Nicole set her sights back on Daniel. It worked, and she finally found the love of her life! But then Eric killed him while driving drunk before they got married and Nicole’s heartbreak streak kept right on running.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
15/24
<p>By now, Chloe and Nicole had long since made up and become besties. That whole trying to turn Chloe into a permantely disfigured Phantom of the Opera to keep her away from Brady was water under the bridge. So Chloe gave her friend the ultimate gift by secretly becoming a surrogate for Nicole and Daniel. The end result? Holly!</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
16/24
<p>Next up came Victor’s diabolical, (intentionally) long-lost brother, Deimos.Deimos wasn’t a nice guy, but that didn’t stop he and Nicole from getting engaged. Alas, the engagement didn’t last. And neither did Deimos. He drugged half of Salem with a hallucinogen in the punch at a party at Martin House and Nicole, high on the substance, killed him.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
17/24
<p>Xander wasn’t Nicole’s first choice for a husband, but since he had a recording confession from her about killing Deimos, he quickly became her <em>only</em> choice! She reluctantly started a new life in Nashville after being forced into marriage, but that was all thrown out of whack once Eric came to profess his love. It had been a year or two since the last time, so why not?</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
18/24
<p>Eric’s return was enough to convince Nicole it was time to escape Xander’s clutches. She did that meeting Eric at a warehouse… which blew up. Her body wasn’t found, but that was enough for Eric and the rest of Salem to declare her dead and move on.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
19/24
<p>Eventually, Eric learned that Nicole was a live and Kristen had stolen her identity to wreak havoc in a Nicole mask. He was so overjoyed, he got down on one knee and proposed. The two were married in the Brady Pub and he celebrated… by running off to do good deeds in Africa. D’oh!</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
20/24
<p>After a one-night stand with a semi-reformed Xander, Nicole and Eric divorced. She moved on with Rafe, and rushed heedlessly into marriage upon learning Eric was back in town… and back in the priesthood. Little did she know, he had been defrocked (again) just before her wedding! Whoops!</p>
Image: Peaco*ck screenshot
21/24
<p>Eric tried moving on with Jada, but he and Nicole couldn’t keep their passion to themselves. It shattered her shaky marriage to Rafe and reunited them, but not before Jada became pregnant. Once again, Nicole gave into her jealousy and insecurity and did her best to convince Jada a baby was a bad idea. Eric… was not happy. Cue “Ericole” breakup number seven hundred and fifty two.</p>
Image: Peaco*ck Screenshot
22/24
<p>And here we are back to EJ! The two grew close again after twin heartbreak. Nicole over Eric and EJ over losing his mom. (Don’t worry, she was alive after all). Nicole got pregnant, the two got married and all was happy and joyful! Except she was pregnant with Eric’s baby after a one night stand while high on tainted biscuits. Don’t ask.</p>
Image: Peaco*ck screenshot
23/24
<p>Thanks to a series of wrong place, wrong times, Nicole was forced to give birth to her baby on the side of the road, only for it to end up in the arms of Eric and Sloan. Everyone but Nicole thinks her and <span style="text-decoration: line-through">EJ</span> Eric’s baby is dead, but she knows a baby swap when she sees it! Just ask Sami.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
24/24
