War declared! Tony delivers ultimatum to Xander and Philip: Days of our Lives Two Scoops for the week of September 15-19, 2025

After showing a united front at Victoria’s birthday party, coupled with Philip doubling down on his story that Xander didn’t pummel him, Sarah changed her tune. She even asked Xander to forgive her, and he did! They made huge progress this week. Hopefully, he and Philip will never speak of the beating again; otherwise, Xander and Sarah will be in splitsville once more.

The big thing to happen this week, though, was Tony’s ultimatum. He told Xander and Philip that he wants DiMera Enterprises back, as well as ownership of Titan, or he’ll take them to court and publicly reveal everything about the forged letter from Victor. They have 24 hours to make a decision, and fans will be biting their nails to see if the brothers Kiriakis can emerge unscathed and victorious.

And at the very end of Friday’s episode, after Alex and Stephanie went into their now shared apartment, a mysterious man was seen in the hallway holding a copy of One Stormy Night. Could it be one of her old boyfriends, like Jeremy Horton, coming to take revenge for revealing intimate details of their past?

LOOSE ENDS

I called it. Holly showed up when Sophia was about to spill everything to Tate, and she ruined it. Tate was so mad, but I really need to talk about how he’s been screaming in the library the whole time, and nobody’s told him to shut up. Say that I should’ve mentioned it last week.

EJ told Cat he lamented the fact that he gave away his date with her to Chad. Is he going to start falling in love with her? I doubt it. She’s working him for information for the ISA, and he’s probably one step ahead of her.

Tate and Sophia kissed! It seems that every time Tate has a beef with Holly, he turns to Sophia. Look how that turned out last time he did that.

EXTRA SCOOPS

REFERENCES

With nary a reference to be found last week, it’s good that this week was chock full of them.

At Victoria’s birthday party, the final gift was from Philip, and it was the book, The Velveteen Rabbit, written by Margery Williams and published in 1922. It’s the tale of a stuffed rabbit who longs to become real through the love of a child, and over time, the rabbit learns that love has the power to transform him. At its heart, it’s about the magic of unconditional love and how it gives true meaning to life. Could this be a sign that Xander and Sarah are going to realize their love is unconditional?

Tate asked Sophia to join him at his dorm to watch a film for film class: Casablanca (1940). It is my second favorite film (after Blade Runner, 1982) and stars Humphrey Bogart (Rick) and Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa). The film follows Rick Blaine, an American expatriate in Morocco, who must choose between his love for Ilsa and helping her husband, a resistance leader, escape the Nazis. At its core, it’s a story of sacrifice, love, and the fight against tyranny during World War II.

Later, Tate continued his conversation with Sophia and said, “I just thought it would be nice to just hang out. You know, we can watch Casablanca for our film class. And since Aaron will be out playing Dungeons and Dragons or whatever, we’ll have the place to ourselves.” I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain the game, but with so much misinformation out there, here goes. D&D is a tabletop role-playing game that is akin to acting. You have character sheets that list all of their skills and attributes, and the outcome of those skills is based on the roll of dice that have a multitude of sides, not just six like at casinos. The game master, or “dungeon master” here, creates a scenario for the characters to adventure in. The game has nothing to do with real-life devil worship, and there are zillions of other types of role-playing games out there. They’re good fun when you pretend to be a character and get into the story that’s been set up.

I knew having Johnny teach film class would generate a veritable cornucopia of references. As they walked into a dorm room, Tate said to Sophia, “You’re joking. You’ve never seen The Godfather? Ever? It’s like–it’s–it’s Pacino. It’s Marlon Brando. It’s like the OG greatest film ever made!” Sophia countered that with, “Okay, you’re one to talk. You’ve never seen Dirty Dancing.” She then talked about how her mother would turn it on and comment on how good-looking Patrick Swayze is. Wait a minute…isn’t Sophia’s mom super religious? And she loves a movie with premarital sex and even an abortion? I think whoever wrote that line of dialogue didn’t consider the contents of the film.

Leo and Javi bumped into Chanel, and they were talking about adoption. When Leo brought up the fact that she and Johnny were going to adopt Tate and Sophia’s baby, she said they hit a snag. Leo then said, “Hit a snag. That’s what I told my drama school classmates when they asked me how my audition went for Billy Elliot in the West End.” Billy Elliot is about a working-class boy in 1980s England who discovers a passion for ballet, defying expectations and family resistance to pursue his dream.

Anna said to Kate, “And if I were you, Kate, I would convince that Laurel and Hardy act over at Titan not to fight the inevitable.” She was referring to Tony’s plan to get DiMera Enterprises back. Laurel and Hardy were a classic comedy duo from the early 20th century, known for their slapstick humor and the contrasting personalities of the bumbling Stan Laurel and the pompous Oliver Hardy.

SHOT OF THE WEEK

Xander arrived at Maggie’s with two arms full of presents for Victoria’s birthday party, and Philip was right behind them. The two were working hard to show a united front, and the show of them together is hilarious.

TONY’S OUTFIT OF THE WEEK

Tony had a couple of great suits this week, the first of which was a classic black suit with a white dress shirt and a patterned gray-and-black tie. His pocket square is folded neatly in a black-and-white design that matches the tie, giving it a polished, traditional feel.

Later in the week, he’s in a navy blue suit paired with a dark shirt and a burgundy-and-navy plaid tie. A bold red pocket square adds a pop of color, making this outfit stand out as more contemporary and stylish compared to the more formal and classic look on the left.

LINE(S) OF THE WEEK

Alex asked Stephanie to move in with him, and at first, she was hesitant. Her reasoning was, “It’s because your place is a mess. Smells–it reeks, actually, of beer and old pizza!”

At the press conference, Alex told Tony it was meant for the release of One Stormy Night. Tony responded, “Oh, that’s a catchy title. But I’m afraid “One Dreadful Afternoon” would be more apropos–I mean for you and your cousins.” When Leo asked him to clarify what he was there for, Tony replied, “I’d like to make an announcement that I’m certain all of you muckrakers will be very interested in.” A muckraker is an investigative journalist who exposes scandals, corruption, and social injustices to the public.

After Tony left the press conference, Gabi tried to catch up with him. She said, “Would you slow down? Have you ever tried to follow someone who walks as fast as you do in stilettos?” to which Tony replied, “I can’t say that I have.”

Gabi walked into her house just as Leo sent off his article about Tony’s lawsuit, hoping that it would crash the Spectator’s website. She asked, “Ego much?” and Leo responded, “And to think, I didn’t even want to go to that press conference. I mean, moi, a serious investigative journalist having to cover the launch of some dopey romance novel? Where’s the Pulitzer in that? Who knew all that schlock would give way to corporate intrigue?

EJ insisted to Cat that she had the skills he wanted, citing her charade of pretending she was a not-dead Abigail. “Anyone who could do what you did successfully is someone I want on my team.” However, he doesn’t know that she’s using her skills in deception on him.

Leo and Javi were walking Tesoro and had just exited Saxon’s. Looking into his shopping bag, Leo stated, “Oh, I cannot wait to show off Tesoro in all his fresh new fits. We got the cashmere onesie, these adorable tennis sneakers that are all the rage, not just with babies but also divorced middle-aged men.”

The two got talking about Tesoro potentially getting adopted, and Leo asked, “What if they are, like, tragically uncool? What if the dad drives a tinted pickup, right, that’s overcompensating for all sorts of things? And what if the mom has a refrigerator magnet that says, “Forecast tonight: 100% chance of merlot”?”

Tate enters his dorm room and hands Sophia a can of soda, saying, “Sorry about that. As it turns out, the vending machine is out of steak tartare.”

REACTION OF THE WEEK

Paulina’s face after Chanel told her she and Johnny were resuming their adoption plans.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Alex asked Stephanie to move in with him, and it took all week for him to convince her. She’s justifiably cautious because of her string of bad relationships. I like that this time around, they’re taking the slow-burn route and proceeding with caution.

Philip was smart when he insisted to Sarah that Xander didn’t beat him up. Xander happened to be overhearing this, and you could see it bought points for Philip. He also told her that Xander saved his life with the Heimlich maneuver, prompting her to later apologize to Xander. While keeping that lie is probably not a good thing, in the long run, it’s justifiable to continue the peace between the brothers.

It’s interesting watching the next generation get front and center. There was a lot of stuff going on between Tate, Sophia, Holly, and Arianna, and it’s nice to see that these characters are eventually going to be the reigning generation.

Tate and Sophia are becoming a true soap opera couple because in their young lives, they’ve broken up and reunited more times than many adult couples.

It was interesting to see Kate and Anna take sides as they discussed the whole Titan-DiMera issue. While Xander and Philip are going up against Tony, the women are sharing their opposing viewpoints as well.

PARTING THOUGHTS

Now that war has been declared, it’s going to be interesting to see what schemes will happen next. Tony seems like he’s being super ruthless, and could still turn out to be Andre. But it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he just wants his family’s company back, and is willing to do anything to get it. Now that Xander’s changing for the better and his alliance with Philip is getting stronger by the day, let’s see who will win the war!

OUTRO

Thanks again for joining me this week, DOOL-ers! Come back next time when I try to solve a case with Columbo — just one more thing… I have no idea what I’m doing.

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