Days of Our Lives sees EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) hated by the cops, the mayor, his own son, and his sister. He’s getting blasted in the press by his brother, and he gets shot soon. So, is redemption possible for the most hated DiMera in town at the moment?
Days of our Lives: EJ DiMera’s Downfall – Exploring the Roots of His Current Crisis
So, there’s a big life event that started all of this. Of course, out of nowhere, Arnold Feniger (Galen Gering) showed up back in Salem. The guy Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo) and EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) got a facial surgery to be Rafe Hernandez’s (Galen Gering) doppelganger.
And then when Sami Brady’s (Alison Sweeney) husband Rafe was in a car accident, EJ and Stefano swapped Arnold and Rafe back. Then Sami believed that Arnold really was Rafe. And she left with him, a creepy stranger in her bed.
Days of our Lives: Arnold’s Return Chaos
Arnold’s return had tempers flaring. And then Roman Brady (Josh Taylor) snapped and told Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) that his dad blackmailed his way into Sami’s bed and that Johnny’s origin story is the result of sexual assault.
Now, Johnny is refusing to hear any apologies or explanations from EJ. Johnny and Chanel Dupree (Raven Bowens) are moving out of the mansion. They are furious that EJ’s the reason Amy Choy rejected them as adoptive parents of her grandchild.
DOOL: EJ DiMera Lives
This is a mess. EJ is painted into a corner, but the broad question is, because we know he’s still filming even now, which means he’s still going to be aired nine months from now, all the way through December.
So, he is sticking around. He is going to survive the shooting. So, can EJ be redeemed? Has he, in fact, already been redeemed. And we’re just waiting to see it all play out? So, is it possible to clean him up and rebuild the relationships in his life? Maybe we’ve actually got a few ideas.
Five Potential Paths to Redemption for EJ DiMera
So, the first thing that Johnny’s dad could do to redeem himself is to save the life of someone that Johnny really loves. For instance, EJ could save the life of Johnny’s beloved wife, Chanel Dupree (Raven Bowens). Right now, Johnny is quite upset that he and Chanel are struggling with infertility. And then he just found out his dad EJ raped his mom, Sami. That’s all hitting him hard all at once on top of the infertility. If something happened to Chanel, that would devastate Johnny.
So, the writers could have EJ save Chanel’s life through one means or another. It could be something like she crashes her car, and it’s burning. And EJ pulls her out of the flaming wreckage, saving her from a fiery death and burning himself in the process. That would be a good redeemable little plot.
Or maybe Chanel needs a kidney. And EJ coughs up one personally, not, you know, buy one on the black market. I think Johnny would probably show his dad some grace if he saved the life of the woman he loved.
Days of our Lives: Adoption Drama
Another big issue right now making EJ look bad is the fact the adoption is falling apart. So, this is the second area where he could get his hands on redemption. Tate Black (Leo Howard) and Sophia Choi (Rachel Boyd) both want Johnny and Chanel to adopt their unborn child, but Amy Choy is a real stickler. She wants good Christian parents and values. And EJ and most of the DiMera’s have such sketchy reputations.
So, it’s understandable why Amy is saying no. The shame of it all is Paulina Price (Jackee Harry) and Chanel had finally convinced Amy to change her mind and agree to the adoption. And then yet another story about EJ appeared in The Spectator because of his latest crime.
Of course, Amy knows that EJ’s brother Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn) is publishing this stuff, so it looks really bad because Chad is involved. These are not convictions, but these are alleged crimes, but that doesn’t matter to Amy. She just said, forget it, I can’t have my grandbabies raised in that despicable DiMera home. So, if EJ could somehow get Amy to give Chanel and Johnny the baby, I think that might go a long way towards his redemption.
Amnesia as a Redemption Arc: Erasing EJ’s Criminal Past
Another thing that might put EJ on the path to being redeemed is if he accidentally got a clean slate and literally couldn’t remember any of his crimes. That would be the ultimate retcon, the ultimate redo. I mean, how could Johnny or anybody else hold it against EJ if he has no clue what crimes he’s done? That’s like trying to punish an amnesiac for something they can’t recall.
If you remember, Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) got those doses of CRS117, which, if you don’t recall, that acronym stands for can’t remember. I won’t say it number 17. Depending on the dose or version of the serum, you can lose a couple of weeks of memories or a lot more than that. It can actually wipe out your brain.
That’s been an issue Dr. Wilhelm Rolf (Richard Wharton) has been trying to perfect over the past many years. So, EJ was trying to drug Rachel Blake (Roslyn Gentle), but it turned out she figured out he might try it, and she had dumped out the drug, put saline, I guess, in the syringe.
Days of our Lives: Could EJ fix This Himself?
So, there’s no doses of CRS 17 in the house right now, but it would be easy enough for EJ to get more from Dr. Rolf because he worked for all the DiMera’s. Now, it’s hard to imagine that EJ would drug himself with CRS, but then again, you never know. He may be so distraught over the sins of his past ruining his life, and he just may not be able to handle the fact that Johnny hates him.
Then EJ might self-administer the drug to wipe his brain out, thinking that amnesia is preferable to crushing guilt. Then again, somebody else might do this to EJ because they’re tired of his smug attitude. Could be Kristen, you know, for punishing her brother for refusing to say what happened to her mom.
DOOL: Heroic Sacrifice – EJ’s Potential Redemption Through Saving Others
A fourth way that EJ could be redeemed is if he saves someone else’s life, not Chanel, but somebody else. So, we know that EJ is shot soon, and there is a whole lineup of potential suspects. Kristen’s on the list because she’s furious about her mom. She’s got a gun. Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun) has got a gun.
Kristen despises EJ. Jada Hunter (Elia Cantu) wants to prove that EJ kidnapped Rafe. She and Rafe are both frustrated EJ’s looking to get away with this crime. Both of them have guns and agendas. Rafe has a gun. He’s pretty mad himself. Johnny’s going to point a gun at his dad soon.
Days of our Lives: Accidental Shooting?
Rumor has it EJ’s shooting is accidental, possibly at the hands of little Rachel Black (Finley Rose Slater). So, Kristen may actually confess to save her daughter, or it could be that evidence points to somebody else because again, there’s so many people who may want to kill him.
If EJ comes out of a coma after the shooting and then saves the life of a shooter who’s been falsely accused, you know, saves them from a death sentence, death row, whatever, even if it’s somebody he hates like Gabi Hernandez (Cherie Jimenez) or Ava, that could help redeem him actually, especially if it’s somebody that he hates, it could help redeem him.
Usually, EJ would be happy to let someone he dislikes go down for a crime they didn’t commit, but if he did the right thing, and it’s Kristen or Ava or Gabi or Johnny or somebody else that he saved and told the truth about the shooting, that could make him more redeemable.
Days of our Lives: The Dark Side of Redemption – EJ’s Potential Descent into Villainy
So, the very last and frankly, the most horrible option to consider is that EJ tries to redeem his image by dragging others down to his level. For instance, do you remember when Sami did a horrible thing and pretty much molested Austin Reed? EJ has thrown this in Sami’s face before. So, he may turn around and tell Johnny how Sami had a crush on Austin and drugged him for sex.
So yes, in the annals of Days of our Lives history, that is also marked down as a rape. Of course, later Sami tried to pass off Will Horton (Chandler Massey) as Austin’s kid, and the truth all eventually came out.
Days of our Lives: Redemption Fail?
Bottom line, there’s plenty of sketchy people in Salem who have done bad things, and EJ could drag them through the mud to try and make himself look better. What would hit hardest is if it was Sami’s exploits that he exposed to Johnny.
However, I do not think that would score EJ any redemption points in his mind. He might think it would, but I don’t think it would. In the end, we have to face the fact that even though he is still clearly staying in Salem, he may not be redeemable at all, and he may just go full villain. I don’t want him to, but he could.
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