As EJ Unleashes His Rage On Kristen, Marlena Looks Back at Half a Century In Salem

It’s a super-sized episode as Days of Our Lives celebrates 50 years of Marlena Evans! She’s paging through her and John’s photo album, then picks up the coin she found at his grave. “I miss you so much,” she cries just as Paul shows up at the door. She hugs him in relief and they catch up about life with Andrew and then Marlena starts reminiscing about her 50 years in Salem.

She flashes back to meeting Mickey Horton playing chess as Marlena introduces herself as the hospital’s new psychiatrist. (And his, of course.) They get to Marlena’s twin, Samantha (Played by Deidre Hall’s real life sister Andrea.), who Paul never knew about before, flashing back to a fight between the sisters, then Samantha’s death. (And we get to see Don Craig, who vanished into thin air!)

What’s In the Chess Set?

Belle, meanwhile, gets to the Pub and scolds Chad for not opening the chess set already. Get on with it! But she looks touched that he offers the key to her to do the honors. She fits the key in, turns it, opens the box and pulls out… 1,000 lira? (Obsolete Italian money, which they helpfully get into.)

Belle’s stumped, and Chad points out that this was for her parents, and it might mean something to them. But John’s gone and Marlena doesn’t want to play. Belle doesn’t know what this game will do, but she’s not letting it hurt her mom. Belle has the brilliant idea to call Paul, then rushes home when she learns he’s in town.

Marlena Looks Back at 50 Years

Back in the apartment, Paul asks about a baby pic and learns the sad story of baby DJ, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a heart wrenching scene when a young Marlena finds him. But Belle lightens the mood when she gets home to go through memories with them.

Marlena wraps up her marriage with Don after all the pain they’d been through, and moving on with Roman and raising Carrie, then Eric and Sami. (OK, we fast forward through a lot, jumping straight to seeing John as “Roman.” Poor Wayne Northrop.) Then we get to see the first MarDevil, pyromania, levitation and all. It’s a fast run-through, though, and Marlena’s back and normal with baby Belle.

Next up is Marlena’s Salem Stalker phase (OK, ridiculous, but Hall’s actually kind of fun as a villain), and then we backtrack to Marlena coming back from the dead on the docks and all her romance with John.

Will Andrew Back Cat Up?

Andrew scares the hell out of Cat, waiting in the dark in the FBI office. EJ’s “the most dangerous man in Salem” (Yikes. Is that official now? Has he really become the new Stefano?) and the bureau has honey trap guidelines in place, but Cat’s not to go there. This operation isn’t happening.

Andrew brings up what EJ did to his cousin, Sami. “EJ’s a predator,” and he’s not letting Cat be his prey. Too late. She’s already moving on EJ, and she wants Andrew to fill in the blanks they’re missing from her time in Italy. Why was she drawn to his bedside while they were in the hospital?

She brings up faking the Marlena session and Andrew’s baffled. Why fake it? Marlena’s cleared to work with the ISA — besides, anything Cat tells her is confidential. Marlena can help answer her questions. Cat moves on to pointing out that all the intel they’ve gotten has come from her. She can do this. Then she points out she was forced back into the agency, so she’s going to see this the hell through.

Fine. But there’s no sexual relations with EJ!

What Will EJ Do to Kristen?

EJ’s unbridled fury as he storms into the mansion and screams in Kristen’s face that she tried to murder Johnny! She tries playing innocent, but EJ shouts her down and tells her everything he figured out. Lani told Kristen, Kristen got the untraceable gun for Sophia, and she gave the teen “guidance. Guidance of the devil incarnate.”

“You’re filth, Kristen,” he snarls, spitting on the ground and damning her “to the darkest corner of hell.” (Does anyone else have chills?) Kristen tries shrugging him off, saying Sophia was “nuts” and she had nothing to do with anything. EJ laughs in her face because he knows she’s behind it all. She blames him for all of Rachel’s suffering.

Kristen stands her ground, but there’s no shaking her brother. Quite literally. He grabs her by the shoulders and starts backing her into the wall, the fury back on his face — just as Chad walks in. He backs out, wanting to come back “whenever this is over,” and Kristen tries to bolt, but EJ grabs her arm and warns her her clock is winding down, then sends her off with a predatory smile.

In the Show’s Final Moments

Marlena steps out and the second she leaves the room, Belle asks Paul about the lira clue. He’ll look into it. But Marlena returns in time to hear, and warn them she’s scared of someone getting hurt, so she’s glad Belle has an ISA agent. But if things go downhill, bail.

Paul and Andrew meet up in the square and fill each other in on their respective meetings. Alone, Belle and Marlena wrap up the trip down Memory Lane, reflecting on how blessed they are and how many more stories there are to be told.