“You know something, Anna? You've always been a bit of a nuisance, and now you're a meddlesome bitch” and “Wife? How can you keep doing the same mistake over and over?” Seriously, we gotta keep Stefano around solely for the insults.
“Did you enjoy your coma?” Dude, it was a blast!
“Not a coma, John. I was paralyzed, but my mind was active.” A dangerous mind, indeed.
“Plotting your revenge, I assume.” No, his Stefano and Marlena fan fic. Geez, John.
“Among other things. After all, I did have quite a bit of time to think.” Which is why this whole plan is so well constructed and executed. Proper planning can make almost anything happen.
“As soon as they find out what Stefano did to my mother, I hope John kills him.” Seriously, Sami.
You are talking to his son who loves him very much.
“All right, stop, please.” You tell her, EJ!
“I mean, I really thought that we were rid of him, you know? I thought he was gone for good, but, no. Of course he always manages to find a way to come back to wreak havoc on our lives.” Don’t blame the show, Sami, blame the fan campaign.
“Samantha, that did not give your mother the right to play God and put him in some kind of paralytic state.” Exactly.
“Oh, come on, EJ. You don't really believe my mom did that.” Wait for it.
“Doesn't really matter what I believe, Samantha. It's what my father believes.” And here it is. Brainwashed induced loyalty laid bare.
“What do you believe?” He said it didn’t matter!
“I think she did.” See above.
“Oh, come on-you know, if she did, she did it because she was desperate-because she was desperate to protect our family.” Likely story.
“She didn’t. She did it because she wanted to get revenge against my father for what he did to John.” Yeah, pretty much.
“You know what he did to John was horrible, was tragic. You helped us save him.” He did.
“I did. The reason that I did that was 'cause I wanted to put an end to the stupid situation, not have her go and make it worse. Look, I understood that my father was gonna have to pay for what he did, but I expected him to go to prison for the rest of his life, not to be trapped in his own body.” Yup. You also wanted to score points with Sami, but you’re not going to tell her that.
“He deserves it.” Nah.
“Nobody deserves that.” I tend to agree. That’s essentially a living hell.
“I can't believe you feel sorry for him.” Again, Sami,
EJ is Stefano’s son. You would do well to remember this occasionally.
“There is a right side and a wrong side to this situation, EJ. I hope you choose carefully about which side you're on.” Sami, that was only true back when it was the depraved DiMeras harming the innocent Bradys. Since the Bradys have started fighting as dirty as the DiMeras do, well, that’s a game changer.
I don’t think Stefano has given his consent, John.
“Et tu, Elvis.” How I adore all the Roman Empire allusions.
“‘Et tu?’ I did not betray you.” Nope. EJ loves his father.
“And I have my own reasons for wanting John destroyed.” Sorry, Diane, but oh, yeah baby! Woo hoo! Grind him into dust!
“If you tell me, Elvis, I can help you.” I have some expertise in this area, son.
“I'll handle that myself. Thank you.” I can kill him all by myself, dad!
“Thank you, father.” Conditioning up!
“Quite.” Oh, rejected!
“Sometimes I think you have forgotten.” Redirect.
“I can assure you that I have not forgotten.” And accepted.
“All right, fine. But let me tell you something. I cannot help you until you tell me why you want to destroy John.” And here we see how Stefano’s brainwashing of EJ works. Stefano treats EJ like a little boy, and EJ responds as one. There’s no expectation by EJ that he should be treated as an adult or even realization on his part that his relationship with his father shouldn’t be like this, and because of that, Stefano’s able to easily control him.
“All right? This isn't gonna end well. You know that, right?” No plot if it did, EJ.
“I know that nothing regarding Stefano ever ends well. But I am going to make him tell me how to save my mother.”
“That's not gonna happen.” Thank goodness. I hope Marlena stays like that for a while.
“I am disappointed because I think-well, you know what undid you in the end, don't you? It's your...innate morality, your basic goodness.” Yes. An anti-heroine or a villainess can afford get away with an act like this, but a heroine can’t do this kind of stuff without penalty.
“I know you wanted to see my father suffer...as much as I really believe that you just didn't simply kill him because you couldn’t. It's not in you. It's not who you are. And that was your big mistake.” Yup. Anything less than death is just making Stefano angry.
“He came back because he wants to kill us all.” Oh, not even close. Tony really doesn’t understand his dad very well. Like the Metallica song says, what’s the point of playing king if there’s no one around to worship you?
“We've just received word that the 7th floor of university hospital has been locked down in what appears to be a quarantine situation.” Honestly, as plots go, this is both very smart by Stefano and surprisingly realistic. The only part that’s a bit wonky is the lack of cell phone service, but as everyone in Salem is apparently on the same family plan, I assume he just called Verizon and canceled it.
Grade: B+. I love seeing Stefano condition EJ, and I liked the Ejami we got, but it still wasn’t enough. The Tony and Marlena exchange dragged as well.
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