Jack’s visiting Abigail’s grave, gently laying flowers down on her headstone before asking her to show John around and welcome him up to heaven.
Hope and Bo are exploring the square, where he marvels over how much has changed in Salem. Hope wants to get back to the house, but Bo promised Roman and Kate he’d be back. He’s still struggling to believe John is gone.
Julie, Jennifer and Hope Come Together
Julie gets home to find Jennifer sitting on the couch, staring off into space. She’s surprised Jen didn’t make it to John’s wake, but Jennifer wanted to be with her family on the anniversary of Abigail’s death. She couldn’t do it this year, though, and breaks down as she talks about losing Doug and John.
Julie comforts her and tells her they have to stick together at a time like this. It’s a difficult time, but Doug taught her to appreciate her blessings, like her loving family. She just wishes Jack and Jennifer didn’t have to leave so soon.
It’s been wonderful seeing familiar faces, Jennifer says, then they mention how amazing it is to see Bo back up and walking around. Hope shows up just then, and they all pull into a hug. Jennifer goes to get ice cream, and Julie and Hope discuss how strong she is.
There’s been so much loss, and Hope feels guilty over celebrating Bo’s return as they lose John. Julie shoots that down and insists there’s nothing to feel guilty over. Jennifer brings the ice cream back and they dig in, with Julie wishing Doug was there to see Bo and Hope back together.
Hope, though, reminds Julie that her dad wasn’t always thrilled with Bo. Sure, but he won over both her and Doug over time. They flash back to Julie going all the way to Paris to tell Bo not to stop running away from Hope, then onto Bo and Hope on Ernesto’s ocean liner.
Back on the couch, they do an ice cream toast to Bo and Hope being back together. They talk a bit about the Cruise of Deception and surviving the ship sinking. That island, Jennifer says, is when she realized she found her soulmate.
Jack joins them after an island flashback, but Jennifer tells him to get some sleep and she’ll join him soon. He heads upstairs to leave the ladies alone.
A short time later, Hope and Jennifer, alone, are talking about the necklace Doug stole. Jen’s already digging into it, but no luck so far. Hope offers to help her, but they cut it off when Julie comes back. Jennifer heads up to bed to join Jack and Hope and Julie drop onto the couch.
Hope can’t believe Bo’s going to walk through that door again. It’s like they’re starting all over again — with a long foundation of love to build on. Julie tells her to hold onto her gratitude, through all that’s to come and Hope thanks her for loving her dad all those years.
“Darling girl,” Julie replies, “to be my relative twice over, I’ve always known you were my gift from God.”
John’s Loved Ones Gather at His Wake
Steve serves up some drinks at the wake in the Brady pub, when Bo walks in to join Marlena, Steve, Kayla, Roman and Shane. Steve toasts, “To John Black. Without a doubt, the finest man I ever knew.” Marlena thinks back to toasting with John, Hope and Bo, and they all toast their fallen friend.
They all take seats and Roman marvels over how surreal it is to have Bo home. Marlena tells everyone how grateful she is for their friendships and the adventures they shared over the years. Steve pours out another round for Marlena to offer a toast this time. “To all of us.”
Bo recalls first meeting John in Miami, and Steve thinks back to the Pawn first showing up in Salem, bandages and all. Kayla mentions Marlena stepping up to help John, which, Doc says, is when they began to fall in love. And that led to their next great adventure — figuring out who John was.
They go through learning John had plastic surgery, Marlena’s initial suspicion that he was Stefano and we flash back to John and Marlena’s white water rafting in West Virginia. Bo brings up all Shane did, including delivering his own son. And Shane, in turn, says how amazing it is that Andrew will soon be marrying John’s son, Paul.
We then move on to them thinking John was Roman and the real Roman gets up to call Kate. Marlena joins him to apologize for the painful memories, but Roman says he’s just sad about all he missed because of Stefano.
Steve pours another round, telling everyone how once a year, he and John would sit in Black Patch and recite their enemies. So that’s what they all do. Roman says Stefano DiMera, Marlena thinks a bit and goes with Orpheus. Which Kayla agrees with. This leads to them talking about how and why Orpheus was so obsessed with revenge.
We flashback to tracking Orpheus to Stockholm and John and Marlena making love after reuniting. Shane insists that they’re all family, blood or not, and that through it all they’ll have each other’s backs.
Marlena talks about all the times John saved her and the times she put his life in danger, which gives us the inevitable flashback of Marlena’s possession. (The first one.)
Roman heads to check on Kate and Philip, and Steve flashes back to saying goodbye to Bo and Hope as they sailed around the world. Bo admits they’ve been talking about that again, but Kayla asks him to wait a bit. She just got him back.
Shane gets a call from Theresa, and Marlena admits that while John’s no longer with them, he’s still in her heart, and she’ll never say goodbye to him. After they break up a bit, Bo asks Steve what Kayla meant earlier when she mentioned him retiring.
Steve admits he doesn’t want to do it alone, and Bo pitches Steve two new partners: Him and Hope. But Steve doesn’t need to decide right now.
In the Show’s Final Moments
Shane hugs Marlena goodbye and says farewell to them all. Bo follows with his own goodbyes, telling Roman how great a job he’s doing with the pub. He embraces Marlena, then heads out to Hope. Steve and Kayla follow suit, assuring Marlena they’ll always be there for her.
Alone, Roman apologizes for earlier, but Marlena tells him it’s OK. She will always blame herself for breaking his heart. Roman insists, he healed, moved on with Kate and became good friends with John. He was an incredible man.
Marlena’s crying by the time they hug goodbye, saying she needs some time alone. She leaves the pub, stopping just outside to flash back to her return from the dead on the docks. She looks up into the sky, tears on her face.
Next on Days of Our Lives, Sarah and Xander clash over Victoria, and Shawn apologizes to Jada.
