Days of Our Lives sees John Black (Drake Hogestyn) took a turn for the worse this week and passed away with Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) at his side. As of now, it looks like John’s funeral is going to begin the end of next week, but we’ve also got a wedding coming.
Days of Our Lives: Wedding Plans Amidst Funeral Preparations
If you remember, Paul Narita (Christopher Sean), John’s son, was planning to wed Andrew Donovan (Colton Little) in Salem soon. But with the funeral ahead, the guys were talking about scrapping their plans to get hitched. It’s Belynda from Soap Dirt and we’re going to talk about why this wedding is still going to happen and possibly at the most bizarre place in time you can imagine – at John’s funeral.
So, over the past couple weeks, we’ve seen Marlena and John’s kids coming back to Salem, worried about his fate ever since the terrible meth lab explosion. And it was Paul, John’s son, who made sure that his dad got back to Salem in one piece. But then the super spy ran off to help with the lab break in to get the drug to save Bo Brady (Peter Reckell). And of course, that is when tragedy struck.
Marlena’s Encouragement: A Wedding to Uplift the Family
So Paul has now told Marlena he and his fianceé Andrew plan to postpone their wedding because of John’s death. But Marlena will not hear of it. She is heartbroken over losing John, but she also knows she is a psychiatrist, you know, so she can see this through a professional lens as well, that the families could use something positive. So, she convinces Paul and Andrew they need to go ahead and get married in Salem before everybody leaves town.
So, we still got a lot of people coming for John’s sad goodbye, although it now looks like Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) is not going to be back. What I’m wondering is if the wedding and the funeral are back to back or on different days, will we go straight from celebrating John’s life to celebrating his son Paul’s marriage to Andrew? Or could it be a really big and kind of bizarre twist and the funeral and the wedding are all the same big family event?
Salem Wedding Traditions: Expect the Unexpected
Now, you know from watching Days of Our Lives that they usually do weird things at weddings. They never just go smoothly. They literally blew up Ben Weston (Robert Scott Wilson) and Ciara Brady’s (Victoria Konefal) big day. The double wedding of Leo Stark (Greg Rikaart), Craig Wesley (Kevin Spirtas), Gwen Rizczech (Emily O’Brien), and Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) went sideways when Leo’s drag queen husband showed up.
And then Gwen confessed to killing Abigail Deveraux’s (AnnaLynne McCord) grandma, Laura. And then Xander’s next double wedding to Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey) after Alex Kiriakis (Robert Scott Wilson) married Theresa Donovan (Emily O’Brien) also went awry. His mystery drunk mom showed up. And then, you know, of course, Alex (Robert Scott Wilson) found out that Theresa was a big fat liar.
So, it would be a nice change to see a Salem wedding go well and be just nice and loving. And if they did overlap it with John’s funeral, that could be a really interesting way to celebrate John’s legacy as a father and the family he and Marlena have created over the years.
John Black’s Heroic Sacrifice and Bo Brady’s Awakening
Definitely, I’m sure all of us were crying when John had his last moments on Days of Our Lives early this week Marlena urged the love of her life to go if he needed to go. And of course, John Black, super spy, died a hero. I mean, he’s been a hero many times, but he was able to get that experimental drug, Versix, that saved Bo’s life.
And then in other, you know, happy then sad moments, Hope Brady (Kristian Alfonso), Sean Brady (Brandon Beemer), and Ciara were so thrilled that Bo woke up after that two plus year long coma. But while the Bradys were celebrating Bo’s awakening, you know, John’s family was grief-stricken by the sudden loss. And then when they found out, they were completely devastated. But everybody’s heading to Salem, including Bo and his family. And we’re getting ready to say a very, very sad goodbye to John Black.
Remembering Drake Hogestyn: Flashbacks and Tributes
And I’m sure we’re going to get a big tribute to Drake Hogestyn. I’ve really been enjoying all the flashback scenes of, you know, young John, John in the priest outfit, John and Marlena’s weddings, all that. So, we may get some joy out of this. And, you know, it’s celebratory. Drake Hogestyn was still alive while they filmed this and he had signed off on all this. So, it’s strange to be watching this in retrospect now that he is gone.
Paul and Andrew’s Love Story: From Beyond Salem to Salem
Just real quick, in case you don’t know or forgot, John’s son, Paul met Andrew back in 2022 on the Peacock App spin-off thing, Beyond Salem, Chapter 2. So, John had gone out to Seattle to see Paul and then he wound up abducted by Harris Michaels (Steve Burton). That was in Steve Burton and his Days throwback comeback right before Harris came back to the flagship show. And then hunky ISA agent Andrew showed up to investigate John’s kidnapping and Paul insisted on helping Andrew locate his dad.
So they got close during the search, but then Andrew and Paul decided they were just going to be friends. They had developed feelings, but they live so far apart. And Paul and Andrew both had demanding schedules. And it was just tricky for this long distance thing. But then over on the flagship show, Paul and Andrew reconnected when he helped rescue him from the clutches of Dimitri von Leuschner DiMera, Megan Hathaway’s (Miranda Wilson) dastardly son. But really long term, their romance has been offscreen for the most part.
We did see Paul propose to Andrew Donovan on screen a few months back and now both of them are back in Salem to mourn the loss of John. Paul was his son. There’s a lot of connections there. And Shane Donovan (Charles Shaughnessy), Andrew’s father, also on his way back to town for the funeral since was his longtime ISA asset and his friend.
A Bittersweet Wedding: Celebrating Love Amidst Grief
So, with Marlena encouraging the guys to go ahead and get married ASAP, looks like they’re going to do it. John would not have wanted Paul and Andrew to hold off on their wedding because of his death. John was always very supportive of them. So, with everybody already in town, it makes sense to attend both a funeral and a wedding in Salem next week. And we should get carryover into the following week with these events.
And of course, days sources hint that Paul and Andrew Donovan’s wedding is bittersweet. That makes total sense. Because we know John would have been there in his best tuxedo standing right by his son. And stranger things have happened in Salem. A wedding funeral combo is not much different from all the quickie hospital weddings that Salem has seen over the years.
Predicting the Day of Days Promo: A Combined Celebration?
And here, take a look at these two photos from the Day of Days promo. I believe these are the final unused scenes from that promo. The rest have already happened. And of course, this was released last October.
So, there’s one of Marlena, Carrie, Will Horton (Chandler Massey), and Belle Black (Martha Madison) smiling with champagne flutes. They’re outdoors. They’re in nice dressy clothes. Then there’s this shot of Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) toasting with what I really hope is non-alcoholic champagne given his addiction issues. I feel pretty certain that that’s family toasting Paul and Andrew Donovan saying, “I do.”
But the question remains whether it’s an all-in-one funeral and a wedding. If they were all dressed in black, that’d be a sign, okay, they’re out there for the funeral. They’re all in nice summer clothes, though. But that doesn’t mean necessarily that it’s not a wedding funeral combo. Marlena may tell everybody, “Dress for the wedding, and let’s celebrate John’s life and his son at the same time.” So either way, you’re going to need your tissues and we will know how it’s going to go later next week.
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