EJ, Belle, Chad, Cat, Rita: Chad and Belle Follow the Clues, Salem Secrets Pile Up: Days of our Lives Two Scoops for the Week of September 7th

Days of our Lives spent the week proving that nobody should ever trust a mysterious chess set, a surprise restaurant reservation, or a billionaire who suddenly wants to buy your family home. Chad and Belle followed Stefano’s clues through Rome while EJ hovered nearby, Rita enjoyed some aggressive self-care, and Dominic Marino went from mysterious rich guy to somebody who suddenly seems connected to half the story.

Back in Salem, Xander tried to convince himself he could accept Sarah loving Brady, Alex continued letting Joy drive a wedge through his marriage, and Rafe took great satisfaction in blowing up Gwen’s hospital plans. Somehow, Philip and Gabi also found time to drift closer together in Monte Carlo while Sydney DiMera arrived ready to run the whole family by lunch.

Chad and Belle followed Stefano’s trail straight to Dominic Marino

Chad and Belle continued following the clues | Image: Peacock

Chad and Belle began the week still trying to understand what Stefano’s old chess clues were actually leading them toward. Marlena finally remembered seeing the Celtic knot on Stefano’s island, giving the symbol a much more personal connection to his past. By Friday, the mystery became much more active when Belle received confirmation for a restaurant reservation neither she nor Chad had made. The restaurant did not even exist, which is generally a poor sign unless your evening plans specifically include deciphering the schemes of a dead supervillain.

Belle and Chad worked through the clues and realized Villa Milano referred to a street rather than Milan itself. They followed references to green and stairs until they found a palazzo with a green exterior and staircase, and then Chad spotted the number 737 in the address. Those same digits appeared at the beginning of the serial number on the money found inside Stefano’s chess set, which made the location very difficult to dismiss as a coincidence. Paul then supplied the biggest connection by revealing that the palazzo had once been the Convent of the Holy Trinity, tying directly back to the Celtic knot clue.

Then came Dominic Marino. The palazzo belongs to him, and he is also the billionaire buying the Kiriakis mansion back in Salem. That makes Marino the first person to connect the Italian clue hunt directly to a major Salem story, and it comes right after an unidentified man received Stefano’s missing ring and put it on his pinky. Nobody has proven Marino is the man behind Stefano’s photograph, chessboard, and surveillance feed, but the clues are suddenly pointing in his direction hard enough to make everyone else look like background noise.

EJ also finally realized someone was feeding Chad and Belle clues in real time. For a moment, he even seemed suspicious that Rita might be involved, and her surprise did not exactly deserve an Emmy for authenticity. EJ eventually decided Dr. Rolf was responsible and ordered Rita to find him, which may be exactly the wrong direction if Marino really is the man moving the pieces. Rita, meanwhile, delivered every piece of bad news that EJ did not want to hear while wearing a robe, eye cucumbers for her spa treatments, and engaging in international intrigue.

Xander tried to accept Sarah’s choice while losing the Kiriakis home

Xander and Maggie had a pleasant conversation on Days of our Lives | Image: Peacock

Xander spent much of the week confronting two losses at once. The Kiriakis mansion was about to be sold to Dominic Marino, and Sarah was moving forward with Brady. Maggie found Xander packing up Titan and reminded him that Victor would have expected him to rise above losing the house and build something new. Xander did not feel worthy of her kindness, but Maggie pointed out that he had been working hard to become a better man.

Her praise actually felt earned because Xander has been handling situations that would once have sent him straight toward revenge. Maggie specifically mentioned how calmly he handled Sarah deciding to move in with Brady and how good he has been with Victoria. Xander then admitted that he had overheard Sarah telling Brady she loved him at the Daddy-Daughter Dance. He had convinced himself Sarah and Brady were superficial and that he and Sarah might somehow find their way back to each other, but reality finally arrived with a chair and sat directly on him.

The sad part is that Xander still does not believe he will ever love another woman. He accepted that Sarah loves someone else, but acceptance and happiness are not remotely the same thing. Maggie held his hand and told him she hoped he found happiness anyway, which gave the story some needed warmth instead of immediately sending Xander back toward revenge. For once, the man appears to be hurting without automatically deciding somebody deserves to suffer for it.

The mansion sale adds another layer because Marino is no longer simply the man taking the Kiriakis home. He is now connected to the Stefano mystery in Rome, too. Xander and Maggie think they are reluctantly signing over a house to a reclusive billionaire, while viewers have reason to wonder whether they are handing a major piece of Salem real estate to somebody involved in a much larger DiMera game. That is a considerably worse closing condition than finding termites.

Joy kept Alex and Stephanie stuck in the same miserable loop

Joy continued fantasizing about life with Alex | Image: Peacock

Joy made it increasingly obvious that she was not thrilled whenever Alex and Stephanie managed to spend time together. Steve and Kayla stepped in to help with Kelsey, giving the married couple a chance to reconnect, and Joy’s disappointment was hard to miss. Then she continued using custody decisions to keep Alex close, which only made Stephanie feel more pushed out of her own marriage.

By Wednesday, Joy’s storyline took another turn when she could not feel her legs after surgery. Sarah initially explained that numbness could be normal after the procedure, but the problem continued even after the anesthesia wore off. Kayla said the paralysis was likely temporary, while Alex promised he would be there for both Kelsey and Joy. That was exactly the kind of reassurance Joy wanted and exactly the kind Stephanie probably did not need to hear after everything else.

Joy also continued her increasingly ridiculous sitcom fantasies about life with Alex. This time she imagined an entire 1980s version of their future, complete with spectacular 80s pastel garb. The scenes were funny, but they also underline how deeply Joy has invested herself in a future where Alex belongs with her instead of Stephanie. The joke works because the fantasy is ridiculous, while the desire behind it is becoming less funny by the week.

Stephanie, meanwhile, is reaching the point where simply waiting for things to improve may no longer be enough. Alex keeps treating each new crisis involving Joy as temporary, but temporary problems have a habit of becoming permanent when nobody actually changes anything. The real question is no longer whether Alex means well. It is whether Stephanie will keep accepting a marriage where somebody else’s emergency always gets priority.

Cat, Gwen, Rafe, and EJ turned into one giant problem for each other

EJ continued being suspicious of Cat as the mystery grew | Image: Peacock

EJ spent the week increasingly suspicious of Cat after learning she used to work for the ISA. Cat noticed him pulling away and worried something was wrong, while EJ had Rita dig into her past. Rita confirmed Cat had resigned from the ISA years earlier, but EJ immediately suspected the information was simply what somebody wanted him to find. Trust is apparently not available in bulk at the DiMera mansion.

At the same time, Gwen’s plan to work with EJ fell apart spectacularly. Rafe gave the hospital board the letter detailing Gwen and EJ’s involvement in the experiments, which killed Gwen’s attempt to buy the hospital. Gwen stormed over to Rafe’s house furious that he had ruined her life, only for Rafe to point out that she actually had been working with EJ. Sometimes the most irritating rebuttal is the one that is technically correct.

Cat had to sneak out the back while Gwen came pounding on Rafe’s door, which neatly showed how many overlapping schemes are running through this story. Leo also figured out Cat had something to do with Gwen’s letter reaching Rafe and tried to recruit her into a partnership, but Cat kept her ISA cover intact and sent him away empty-handed. Rafe later told Cat that EJ’s comeuppance was coming, which sounds wonderfully confident for a man standing in the middle of several people lying to several other people at once.

The bigger question is how all of this eventually collides with the Stefano mystery. EJ is distracted by Cat, furious over Gwen’s failed hospital deal, worried about Chad and Belle, and still convinced Rolf is behind the clues. Rita is doing his research while possibly hiding her own agenda, Dominic Marino is suddenly connected to both Rome and Salem, and Sydney has returned looking entirely too comfortable keeping secrets from her parents. The DiMeras may want to start issuing flowcharts with breakfast.

Join us next time…

…when Rita schedules a facial between international conspiracies, Dominic Marino accidentally buys three more historic properties, and somebody finally asks why every clue left by Stefano requires a degree in cryptography and access to Google Maps. Salem will no doubt continue pretending all of this is perfectly normal. At this rate, the only truly suspicious person will be the one who walks into a room and simply says what they mean.

Days of our Lives is available on the Peacock streaming app.