It’s the end for John Black: Days of our Lives Two Scoops for the week of May 19, 2025

The week opened with Xander beating the hell out of Phillip, and I let out an audible, “Oh my God!” Poor Phillip couldn’t get a word in. He was trying to explain his actions, but Xander just kicked the crap out of him after he had knocked him out on Friday’s episode. I have to admit I was shocked at the brutality, but at the same time, I love it when Daytime pushes the boundaries like that.

Sarah had been suspecting that Xander did it, and while he didn’t fess up, she realized he was implying that he did. With his final words before losing consciousness, Philip told him that Sarah knew, so he was equally angry with her. He’s really got some nerve being pissed at her, considering what he did to his brother.

Ultimately, she kicked him out of the house and told him he couldn’t take Victoria with him. With no proof, it’s going to be hard to prosecute him, although the police brought him in for questioning and didn’t notice the glaring bruises on his knuckles! I’m thinking that when Philip wakes up, he won’t out Xander, perhaps hoping that will buy points with his brother.

Xander’s gonna skate on that one. The sheer brutality was incredible.

Steve and Shawn were on the hunt for the Versavix, which took some twists and turns. In the end, their story crossed with John’s. Shawn’s buddy Kevin had given the serum to his roommate, Asher, whose online nickname was Mr. Monkey. They found he was selling the cure for sepsis on the Dark Web and tracked him to a nasty old warehouse. John showed up to help them, but we only saw him from behind. While he helped them to override the security system, Hope also showed up. Three of them, one of which was John, dressed in hazmat gear and entered the meth lab.

Asher was unconscious for some reason, then jumped up and attacked. A fight ensued, and I was glad to finally see some action! John saved Dr. Russell’s life in the process. Sadly, the lab blew up during the skirmish, but John had saved the serum. He was tragically burned in the incident, and by the end of the episode, he coded at the hospital, so we’re left to learn his fate next week. I’m incredibly glad that John’s exit is befitting the hero that he is. Drake Hogestyn deserved the sendoff.

LOOSE ENDS

Okay, folks, I’m a little perplexed. Wasn’t Bo convalescing in Greece? Hope was by his side, then Ciara showed up. When Hope got a call from Shawn informing her that they were closing in on the Versavix, she told Ciara to wait and she’d be right back. Then suddenly, she was in Salem helping Steve and Shawn! Did she teleport? Then she went back to Bo’s side and he was at University Hospital. What’s going on here?

Perhaps they said Bo was being moved there and I missed it somehow? I doubt it. I think they were just playing with things so the story would move at a faster pace, but come on! That seems like lazy work to me.

EXTRA SCOOPS

REFERENCES

New Doug quoted a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson to Holly, saying, “Your heart has to learn to be alone if you can’t be with the one you love.” This made her awkward, and New Doug doesn’t seem to be the poetry type, but it’s a nice way to introduce viewers to the classics as well as a unique method of courting. (BTW, I’m thinking that next week I’m just going to start calling him Doug, or Doug III, since enough time has passed that there won’t be any confusion as to who I’m talking about.)

She's going to be royally pissed when she learns that Doug later met Ariana at a bar and they ended up in bed together! That was a twist I have to say I didn't see coming.

SHOT OF THE WEEK

The shot of the week this time around is the badly bruised and beaten Philip. The makeup department did a great job of making the blood and bruises on his face look ultra-realistic. Even though in years past folks have criticized horror movies for being too graphic, if it wasn’t for the makeup artists cutting their teeth on all those films and creating new techniques in the field, Philip wouldn’t look as realistically battered as he does.

LINE(S) OF THE WEEK

Some of the quotes this week weren’t just one-liners, but exchanges between two characters.

First up, Chad came into the office and saw Leo feverishly typing on a computer. He stated, “Look at you go. I didn't know you knew how to type more than 40 words per minute.” Leo, with even more rapid-fire dialogue than usual, responded, “I can't, but you see what happened, Chadwick, because I bought a cold brew, except it wasn't a cold brew. It's a cold brew concentrate.” He added, “Easy mistake, I know.” Chad responded, “Leo, that's like 32 cups of coffee.” Then Leo said, “Yeah, yeah, exactly. So while I am teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown, the upside is sky's the limit, and while this thing is riddled with typos, the ideas are pouring out of me like some kind of purge.”

Leo couldn’t decide which story to go with, so Chad told him to take a breath and tell him what the articles were. Leo responded, “First up, we have ‘University Hospital on Life Support, EJ DiMera and Xander Kiriakis Duke It Out To Give CPR.’ ” Chad then asked what the other was, and Leo said, “OK, you ready for this? ‘Broken and Bruised, Who Beat Philip Kiriakis To, from what I'm hearing, a Bloody Pulp?’ ” Chad’s reaction was, “Wait. What?”

Julie was horrified when she walked into the Brady Pub and saw New Doug. She told him, “Will you tell Roman that as long as you’re working here, Julie Williams will be taking her lobster bisque at the Bistro?”

Back to Chad and Leo, Chad asked if people were really thinking that Xander beat the crap out of his own brother. Leo responded, “I mean, he has the muscle to do it, but does he have the temperament? Actually, yeah, I'd say unequivocally yes. That man's fuse is shorter than my semester in magic school, where I did this trick for class once, made a friend of mine disappear. She never reappeared. Found her hours later at a dive bar, 4 years of sobriety, right down the tube.” Chad, of course, had to get him back on track.

EJ was telling Paulina that he wanted to find some way to get Johnny back to thinking that he’s a caring, loving father. She responded, “Well, I’m gonna let you in on a little something, EJ. Johnny is a grown-ass man and I think he can decide who is or isn’t in his life.”

Chad seemed like he had an idea about what happened between Xander and Phillip, and Leo pressed him for information, saying, “Do you have some inside intel on what happened to Philip? Because remember, this is a newsroom. Tea spillage is not so much a brunch-time bonding activity as much as it is a job requirement.”

Chad told EJ that he and Cat were going skydiving for their date, and EJ responded, “So, you and Kat are taking the plunge together,” which made Chad cringe.

Julie found a brochure for skydiving addressed to Chad. She asked JJ about it, and he said he wasn’t sure, but he figured it had to do with the date Chad was going on with Cat. Julie was perplexed, and he explained about how Chad took over the date to supposedly rescue her from the evil EJ. Julie stated, “Part of me kind of hopes her shoot doesn’t open.”

At the Sip 'n Paint fundraiser, Paulina had suggested that everyone paint a male nude. That suggestion was largely ignored, and later, when everyone was painting something, Chanel asked Paulina if she was drinking too much wine, to which she replied, “It helps with my artistic expression.”

Sitting at the same table as her, Johnny and Chanel seemed shocked when they glanced at what Paulina was painting. When Johnny asked what she was making, she responded, “Oh, well it’s certainly not some dumb-ass fruit bowl, as you can see. I’m just doing what I suggested everyone should do, but everybody was too prudish to agree to it. I am painting a well-endowed male nude.” Johnny replied, “And so you are.”

Gabi was shocked to learn that Arianna wasn’t going to attend her own graduation. The young woman replied that doing so, “Would feel performative, reductive, kind of cringey.”

While hunting for the Versavix, Steve told Shawn, “Never underestimate the recklessness of a petty criminal.”

Holly asked Doug if he was sick of eating fries from working at the pub, and he said, “One thing to know about me, I'll never be sick of fried foods.”

Belle was arguing for Brady to vote for Xander’s bid on the hospital board, but he kept trashing EJ, so she said, “I know all of the horrible things EJ has done in the past,” adding, “Even on his worst day, it’s not like he’s Stefano. He’s not some megalomaniac. He wants to buy the hospital because he wants to help people. He’s not out to destroy everybody’s lives.”

In the hunt for the Versavix, Steve, Shawn, and Dr. Russell went to a place that looked like an old, rundown Warehouse. The doctor said, “God. I can’t believe my life’s work is being held in a place like this.”

Marlena was sitting at John’s bedside talking to him, and Steve walked in, put his arm on her, and said, “You know, Stefano may have called himself the Phoenix. But he had nothing on John Black.”

REACTION OF THE WEEK

After Leo finished his caffeine-fueled rant, Chad had a shocked look on his face.

At the fundraiser, when Paulina stated that she wouldn’t mind painting a tasteful male nude, Cat had a horrified look on her face.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Alex took Stephanie’s manuscript and gave a copy to Kate to read. He wanted her to not only edit it, but also head up Titan’s revived publishing division. Then later, Stephanie told him not to share it with anyone and had decided she didn’t want to get it published. I foresee a whole storyline now where it ends up getting published behind her back, under a pseudonym, and she’ll be horrified. To make matters worse, you know it’s going to come out that she was the true author, and she’s going to be beside herself when Salemites read her racy words. Not a really compelling storyline, so I’m interested to see if they go in a direction I didn’t think of.

PARTING THOUGHTS

At the fundraiser, Cat had been giving artistic guidance to some, and did the same for Chad. But in doing so, she held his hand to guide the paintbrush. It was a really nice, cute moment, and I like the slow burn of their blossoming relationship. I’m hoping to see this come to complete fruition before Billy Flynn exits the show.

Looking ahead, I’m glad to see Bo’s most likely going to make it, especially considering that Peter Reckell shared on social media that he wants to be a regular on the show again. That will be fun to see as he shares his action skills with the younger generation.

And, of course, I’m sad to see John go. As I said before, I’m glad they gave him a hero’s sendoff. It must have been tough on his castmates to play those scenes with a stand-in for John. I believe Stephen Nichols said as much about it.

OUTRO

Join me again next week, DOOL-ers, when I share my recipe for Pasghetti and Meat Bulbs.

Days of Our Lives can be found on the Peacock app.