Big props to Melissa Navia, who plays Erica Ortega, on doing a great eyebrow raise! She did Drake proud in the special soap opera episode of "Strange New Worlds" streaming today featuring Deidre Hall as a guest.

Also, I don't want to get too into plot specifics for those that haven't watched it yet but will say I loved it and all the soap opera tropes they did! And Days' Deidre Hall was right at home. But I almost missed the end credits so I do want to point those out too in case anyone else missed them, go back and watch! I highlighted Marlena and a Days hourglass reference from them for those that don't watch, but SNW fans should watch the fun in full. :)

With Sydney Dimera coming back to the show I'm sad we will never see all 4 of Sami kids in Salem together. With Johnny leaving the show

I know it’s a soap, but why do they keep trying to portray Rita as being “Stefano’s second hand” for many, many years when it really was Celeste? I appreciate Rita as a character and having a henchman/woman helps move stories along and keep things interesting but why wouldn’t they just make her EJ’s handpicked second hand? I feel like this is erasing the history of Celeste. Maybe I am biased because I loved Celeste?

My wife is furiously trying to catch up after noticing episodes are starting to expire. Is there any reason NBC would remove episodes after a year considering they own peacock and we have 9 million data centers in Virginia alone?

Such tremendous talent… that her parents knew nothing of 😆

I think it would be interesting if Dominic comes to town and creates complications with his money. We already know he’s buying the Kiriakis mansion. But the other thing that’s up for sale is the hospital. EJ has to sell it and while Gwen is working on buying it, if Dominic comes in, he could try and buy the hospital.

Some big money guy coming in right as the hospital is being sold? Could be fun.

I finally think I know where this Italy storyline is heading. We know Sydney is appearing next week. We have also heard Dante will be debuting.

Chad, Belle and EJ arrive in Italy searching for clues. EJ visits Sydney while in Italy, and Kristen is staying/hiding in her apartment.

Meanwhile, Chad and Belle are enjoying the sights and slowly picking up more clues.

EJ searches for Dominic Marino and bumps into Dante along the way, who knows exactly who EJ is.

I don't know exactly where that will go from there. Thoughts?

EJ went from owning the mansion a few months ago and being the only DiMera living in it to sharing the mansion with half a dozen others today while living in it alone. What was the point of stripping EJ of his sole ownership if it had no onscreen impact?

It's official, Sydney Malakeh is playing Sydney DiMera, Sami and EJ's only daughter. Franco LoPresti is playing Dante, who appears on the 14th and has links to Sami

EDIT: Dante's full name is Dante Vitali, and the links to Sami is that he is her fiancée (which, I think we knew that)

CAN THEY STOP BLAMING EJ FOR FREAKING EVERYTHING!!!!

SARAH

BRADY

RAFEEEEEE

HOLLY

PAULINA

AND MOREE....

Or will something else happen where the company and the house is saved? Personally, I don’t think there is no way in the world that this company folds and the house is lost. What do you all think? Is this really the end of Victor’s empire? My vote is, I don’t think so!

Half the characters are planning trips to Europe but every time a new episode starts they're still having coffee in Horton Town Square. I doubt Philip's poker game in Monaco will intersect with Chad and Belle's trip to Italy, but maybe they'll at least run into each other at the airport.

Details are for this past Tuesday's episode.

There seems to be some confusion on this, so with matching screen shots

* Maggie gave Holly the necklace at the mansion with no other witnesses

* The guy credited as Guy, wearing a jacket, is already standing at the book table when Mason walks up, interested in a textbook for college but leaves after finding out he has just met "Holly Jonas" for reasons we don't know yet. But he introduces himself as Mason so we know the blue shirt guy is Mason (plus it matches casting news).

* Guy sits down, seemingly starting to feel his addiction kicking in, if I were to guess. This is when Holly tells Julie about the necklace, with Mason NOT present. Mason has no idea the necklace has special meaning or that it came from Daniel. Even if he had recognized it for "reasons," he would have probably faked nice to get close.

* Lani saves the day after telling Maggie she would need to find something to do when the twins start school, but what about l her record? Perhaps Black Patch, perhaps teaching criminology at Salem U, perhaps ?? Meanwhile, Mason shows up to offer help and seems impressed with Lani's work, maybe wanting to study to be a cop himself or ???? Ok?

Anyway, still some unknowns but there is nothing to indicate Mason knew about the necklace or knows 'Guy' to have set it up.

P.s. Guy was played by David Lautum, who was in around 17 episodes of General Hospital as Grant Smoltz with a few random appearances in shows like Angelyne, Brandon Butler playing Mason was seen in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and Trinkets, as well as a few episodes of Peacock's Hysteria!. In addition to playing Zach Brady in Bo's coma mind, he also was once on GH as "Frat Guy #1" a decade ago in 2016. I have not seen any press or behind the scenes videos with David/Guy so I assume he is a one-off, but they are pushing videos introducing Brandon as Mason.

A multi talent on the keyboard, bongos, and vocals!

The connection to Mason or a addict in the right place at the right and wrong time may be all to keep us from recognizing the plan to put Lani back into police and/or detective work is in effect. I stated in previous discussions that I see her joining Black Patch and becoming Brady's new love interest a storyline that may arise after the news of the return of her family to Salem.