Days of Our Lives Round Table: Ben & Ciara Sail Out of Salem!

Ciara, Ben and baby Bo left Salem! Jan tried to kidnap Shawn (again) and sail off with baby Shawn. And Chad blew up at EJ.

Our TV Fanatics, Jack and Christine, are joined by Tony from MyHourglass, a Days of Our Lives fan forum, to debate Abigail’s off-screen funeral, Ciara and Ben’s departure, if Belle should raise little Shawn, and more!

Ciara, Ben, and baby Bo are sailing off and leaving Salem. Will you miss them? Do you hope they return?

Tony: I mean, they’ll be in Beyond Salem 2, so I won’t be missing them just yet. Maybe I’ll miss them more once they’ve been gone for a while.

And yes, at some point, it would be nice if they return, but not anytime soon.

Jack: Yes and no. Their stories were always SO repetitive. There was always someone kidnapping one or both of them to break them up, followed by the other rescuing them and a lot of makeup sex.

If they were going to stay in Salem, they needed something better to do, so it’s best to give them a rest.

Sadly, they left just as a good story possibility opened up. It would have been interesting for Ben to get involved in proving Clyde was innocent of Abigail’s murder, especially if Ciara didn’t believe he was.

I do hope that if/when they come back, they are given better stories than what they got this time around. Ciara is a legacy character, so theoretically, she SHOULD be an important part of the series.

Christine: I’ll probably miss them more than I expect, especially now that they have baby Bo. I’ll definitely miss Ben and Jake’s friendship as it was one of my favorites on the show. 

And Ciara and Victor’s final scene had me wishing we’d seen more of them together recently. 

Your turn, Days fans. How much will you miss Ben and Ciara?

Shawn swears he will never stop loving Belle. Does Belle feel the same way? Do you want #Shelle back together, or would you prefer they each move on with other partners?

Tony: On some level, I’m sure Belle does feel the same way, but a lot has happened.

I hope, at some point, they get back together.

Jack: I’m a Shelle shipper, but first, Belle has to get her head on right. Shawn was raped by Jan. That rape resulted in a baby (allegedly. We know the baby isn’t Shawn’s, but Shawn and Belle don’t, so, at this point, that’s irrelevant.)

For Belle to not want Shawn to be with Jan is one thing, but complaining she can’t be with him because he wants to RAISE HIS CHILD is selfish and ridiculous.

Belle has really become Sami 2.0, and I think that her whole motivation for being with EJ is to finally get the better of Sami. When she said, “I’ve dealt with Sami my whole life. Now she can deal with me,” I thought that summed it up nicely.

It’s a shame because Belle seems to bring out the best in EJ, but I don’t think her heart is really in a relationship with him.

Christine: I’m sure Belle and Shawn will always love one another on some level, but they are so boring together!

There has to be someone better out there for Shawn. Let’s face it, Belle has cheated on him multiple times, so doesn’t that point to something lacking in their relationship?

And I’m enjoying Belle’s chemistry with EJ. So let them move on because together, Shawn and Belle make for some really dull TV.

Is Chad right? Was EJ just protecting himself by keeping his mouth shut, or did he really think he was protecting his family?

Tony: Hard to say with EJ. He does love his family but, like his father before him, isn’t above doing things that negatively affect them.

I think he may have convinced himself he was protecting his family.

Jack: I think he thought he was protecting his family. However, it was odd that EJ just left it at “I’ll keep my mouth shut.” That’s not the Dimera way.

Years ago, EJ would have given Clyde enough rope to hang himself and then done something to get rid of him once and for all. Why is EJ so easily blackmailed all of a sudden?

Christine: I believe EJ thought he was protecting his family because it wasn’t just Clyde making the threats, but Orpheus as well. It would be difficult to take them both down at once, even for a Dimera.

And it’s easy to forget that EJ spent years recovering from serious injuries. That can change a person, so he may be different from the EJ we remember. 

Abigail’s funeral was off-screen, while baby Bo’s Christening was on-screen. Do you feel that should have been reversed?

Tony: No, they both deserved to be on-screen.

Jack: I was surprised that the christening was on-screen (and where was John? It seemed weird that Marlena was on her own.)

I was fine with the funeral being off-screen. This story is sad and heavy enough without seeing the actual funeral!

However, they made such a big deal out of Kayla’s eulogy that I expected a funeral, and I hope that JJ, Jack, and Jennifer, aren’t quietly ushered off-screen again without as much as a goodbye scene.

Christine: I’m relieved we didn’t have to go through the entire funeral. Abigail’s death is such a dark, sad storyline that I’m not sure I could have sat through her funeral too.

Showing everyone preparing for the funeral was an effective way of portraying everyone’s grief.

Given that her father (John) raised Marlena and Roman’s children, are you surprised that Belle isn’t more supportive when it comes to raising Shawn and Jan’s child?

Tony: I’m slightly less surprised than I probably should be. The situation is totally different. For a large part of that time, John thought he WAS Roman, and for all intents and purposes, he was until that was retconned.

Belle knows who she is and knows who Jan is. Jan has made her life hell several times since high school. I honestly don’t know what I’d do in that situation.

I would like to see Belle eventually come around to helping Shawn raise the baby, but I understand why she’s hesitant to do so.

Jack: As I said above, I think Belle is being very selfish and ridiculous. I understand her fears about Jan, but she obviously cares enough about the baby to continually check on it in the hospital.

Her refusal to get back with Shawn because of the baby felt like an excuse.

Christine: The situations are very different. John believed that Carrie, Sami, and Eric were his children at the time. But I still don’t blame Belle for not wanting to raise little Shawn.

First, Jan has tried to kill Belle more than once. How do you think she’ll react if Belle is raising her child? Belle will live under the constant threat of this psychopath coming after her again.

Second, caring about a child and being its mother are two very different things. Raising another child is a huge and life-altering responsibility. Claire is an adult. Belle may just want to be done with that part of her life.

And with her marriage already on the rocks, raising a baby will probably only make things worse.

What, if anything, disappointed you this week in Salem?

Tony: The off-screen funeral for Abby. I’d like to think that was the show signaling that Abby’s not really dead since her funeral wasn’t important enough to show on-screen, but I doubt it.

Jack: As I said above, I hope that Abigail’s family hasn’t just been written out without us seeing them leave. I also wanted more to come out of Jack and JJ’s conflict over Gwen. I felt Jack was being very childish, and it felt like he was planning to avoid JJ forever, which was ridiculous.

I also thought the fight on the docks was silly and cartoonish, especially how quickly Belle disposed of Jan. And while we don’t need to have yet another trial, I couldn’t believe Trask agreed not to prosecute Belle! That’s out of character for Trask.

And how come Belle gets a pass for throwing Jan in the water, but Lani goes to prison for shooting TR, who was even more of a threat to her and her family?

Christine: Ciara thought Julie and Doug would see her leaving Salem with little Bo as good news. I know Ciara is thrilled to be going on this big adventure, but how self-absorbed do you have to be not to realize that your grandparents will miss you terribly?

Marlena referring to Belle as “fragile” bugged me. Yes, Belle is going through a difficult time, but that doesn’t make her fragile.

And why did Marlena have to ask EJ how Belle was? Marlena knew her daughter was at the hospital. Couldn’t she have gone there to check on her?

And Shawn telling Belle she no longer has to worry about Jan. Is he delusional or just stupid? Unless Jan’s dead body shows up, Belle will always have to worry about Jan Spears.

What was your favorite quote, scene, or storyline on this week’s Days of Our Lives?

Tony: Though it was brief, I enjoyed the christening more than I thought I would. Also, Ciara and Ben’s goodbyes, particularly to Victor, were so nice!

Jack: I loved Ciara and Victor’s goodbye. I also thought it funny that Ben told Clyde that he couldn’t turn his back for two seconds without Clyde getting arrested.

Julie and Doug’s scene after they learned Ciara and Ben were leaving was also wonderful. Those kinds of family scenes are what I watch DAYS for, and Julie and Doug really struck me as being like Alice and Tom in that scene.

Christine: I loved Julie’s dig about Ciara seeing Hope, “Perhaps you can convince her to pay us a visit.”

And I loved Belle calling Chloe out on giving relationship advice when all of Chloe’s personal relationships have been train wrecks!

Belle fighting crazy Jan and smacking her with the oar was pretty awesome, as was the aftermath where EJ asked what he could do to make things better. It was a fantastic moment for #EJelle fans.

Click that SHOW COMMENTS button below to share your feelings with our round table! Then check out Jack Ori’s Days of Our Lives review here at TV Fanatic.

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