Days of Our Lives Delivers Heroic Farewell for John — Then Hints at a Shocking Second Funeral!

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (2), Peacock screenshot (2)

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Days of Our Lives spent the bulk of the week saying farewell to John with a three-part funeral and a flashback-filled wake, and I’m willing to bet by the end, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Ultimately, though, life does go on, and by Friday, they were easing us back into the rest of the town’s drama to leave us on one heck of a chilling cliffhanger. 

A Tearjerking Farewell

I wasn’t sure what to expect with three days worth of a funeral for John, but Days of Our Lives pulled it off. It helps that the episodes were all on the short side, so it felt like we moved through at a good pace, while still giving everyone time to shine.

Though it is one of those moments I wish they still had the big budget of days gone by. Give us a big church scene, the pews filled to the brim with mourners and cast, past and present. But what we did get was still lovely — and the show went out of its way to let us know that the mourners we saw weren’t the only ones there. Pretty much the entire town attended; the camera, Days of Our Lives suggested, just focused on the core characters on our screen, who got up and spoke.

My guess is the missing gold coin and the flowers Marlena was marveling over were supposed to be hints that John could be back, if Drake Hogestyn had pulled through. The coin represented the hope that he would survive, so it disappearing kept that hope alive. But that’s not possible with Hogestyn’s passing, so it’ll likely just be dropped.

But the performances from that funeral were heartbreaking — probably because they weren’t performing — and, just as they did with Doug’s passing, it felt like they weaved more of Hogestyn into John. Especially with Brady’s eyebrow impressions and Paul talking about his baseball connection with his dad.

The one exception to the not acting may be little Rachel. Alice Halsey joined after Hogestyn had passed, so she’d never met him, and that makes her performance all the more incredible. I was not expecting Rachel to pull at my heart like she did when she broke down saying she’s bad luck and she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Grandpa John.

Also, it gave them a reason to lighten the crowd and focus on the folks onscreen and off who knew both Hogestyn and John well. Bo and Steve both battling their own unique guilt over John’s death. The performances from Stephen Nichols, Deidre Hall… She, in particular, has been playing Marlena’s grief pitch-perfectly, which makes it all the harder to watch. But again, there’s a lot of real emotion behind it.

And while I know folks were a bit upset that the three parts of the funeral didn’t really have flashbacks (aside from that beautiful memory of “Jarlena’s” bouquet of flowers), the show more than made up for it with the wake. They gave longtime fans a walk down Memory Lane, while also telling John’s story for the newer fans. It just wove together really well.

What were the funeral highlights for everyone? If you missed any of it, be sure to check out the recaps from Part One, Part Two, Part Three and the wake. And you can check out all the photos from the funeral here.

Fratricide, Part II?

The week ended with a bit of a shift, which I was expecting to bother me more, but it felt like a gentle change as they focused on the rest of the town — while making clear they were still feeling the heaviness of John’s funeral. And then it built to that pillow scene with Xander.

Oh, Xander, buddy, that’s not going to help you get custody of Victoria. But don’t worry too much. I expect Kate to burst in and stop him. Or at least make him reconsider.

Not only have Paul Telfer and Linsey Godfrey make clear that Xander’s not going anywhere and his and Sarah’s story will still be playing out close to a year from now, it also sounds like he’s refusing to acknowledge having anything to do with Philip’s attack. If he doesn’t admit to wrongdoing, then he gets to act high and mighty with Sarah — though Godfrey and Telfer have both done their best to defend her!

But in order for Xander to keep his hands clean, so to speak, after beating his brother, Philip either can’t say anything… or he has to die. Having Xander kill his brother in cold blood like Days of Our Lives teased on Friday would ruin him. That’s not happening. (Also, next week’s spoilers make that clear.)

And I’ve got a feeling Philip’s memory will be just fine. I’m of the same mind as the fans who have been pointing out how docile he was as Xander attacked him in his room.

He didn’t run. He didn’t fight back. He seemed resigned to take the beating, as if he felt he deserved it. And if that’s the case, he may keep his mouth shut about the attack. For one, he could still feel guilty, and for another, he could do it to keep Titan/DiMera intact.

And next week, spoilers have him sticking to his story — which I’m guessing will be because he’s surprising everyone by not incriminating Xander. That would be a twist if Philip’s silence wins Xander back over, but “Xarah” is still done and over with.

Stray Thoughts…

• Steve shutting down Black Patch is another blow — I was really hoping Paul could take his dad’s place there — but the way Kayla was talking to Stephanie, he may still change his mind. It looks like this “retirement” dinner will be a way to celebrate Stephen Nichol’s 40th anniversary with Days of Our Lives.

• It’s sweet of Bo to offer to join Black Patch with Hope, but alas, neither of them are sticking around. For now, at least.
• OK, so now Kayla’s reading her daughter’s manuscript. I can see Stephanie ending up mortified, but also: Who just picks up random manuscripts and starts reading them?? Kayla doesn’t know where it’s been!
• So Cat knows Shane as the ISA Director… Interesting. Was she an operative? Was she a double agent, planning to bring Clyde down as he thought he was using her? Will this have something to do with Billy Flynn’s exit? With just one word, the show’s opened up a ton of possibilities.
• Alex is fully ready to throw Xander to the wolves and get back into power at Titan/DiMera, huh?