Days of our Lives: Johnny Risks Everything for Chanel – Following Grandpa John’s Footsteps?!

Days of Our Lives divulges that Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) is worried sick about Chanel Dupree (Raven Bowens) cancer, and he wants to make sure that she and their unborn baby come through this health crisis safely and sound and in one piece. So Johnny will do anything to save Chanel. Risk absolutely everything for her.

We’re going to talk about whether Johnny is about to live up to his grandpa John Black’s (Drake Hogestyn) legacy and do something heroic.

Days of Our Lives: Johnny’s Legacy – Living Up to John Black

And now let’s get into what is coming as Chanel’s health crisis gets even worse. So although Johnny was probably too young at the time to remember a lot of it, Days of Our Lives fans know that Johnny is also a cancer survivor. He had ocular cancer. That is eye cancer when he was about four years old and he actually lost an eye to that disease. He’s supposed to have a glass eye. If you don’t remember, they just don’t refer to it. And obviously both of his eyes are real already.

His wife Chanel has that terrible health scare if you remember when she was exposed to her mom Paulina Price’s (Jackée Harry) radiation from her thyroid cancer treatment. That’s why Chanel was warned that she should not get pregnant. And it’s why she assumed that it was actually cancer symptoms, not pregnancy symptoms. She was really surprised when Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey) said she was pregnant. And now with this breast lump that Johnny felt in Chanel’s chest turning out to be breast cancer, they are in for honestly one of the toughest battles of their lives.

She and Johnny were already expecting a high-risk pregnancy ordeal and the breast cancer just made everything riskier. On top of all that, they’re raising their adopted infant son, Trey, aka John Roman DiMera III. Compounding that, Chanel is running Sweet Bids Bakery and Johnny is trying to keep his head above water as CEO of DiMera Enterprises. And thankfully, Theo Carver (Tyler Joseph Andrews) is there helping him.

Days of Our Lives: Parallels to John Black’s Story

And recently, soap social media had fans pointing out the similarities between Johnny’s current storyline and the late John Black’s narrative. Looking back at history, he lost his wife Isabella to cancer five months after she gave birth to their son Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) back in the day. And knowing that Carson Boatman, who plays Johnny, and Raven Bowens, who plays Chanel, were fired and are leaving sometime this fall, a tragic turn could happen for Johnny and Chanel, during this major health battle that she’s going through.

However, Johnny’s story could parallel his grandfather John’s in other ways. Not only was he a super spy fighting bad guys in Salem, like Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo), and around the world for the ISA, but John was a clever businessman. He created Basic Black, the fashion brand Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) is running now. And also John started Black Patch with his bestie Steve Johnson (Stephen Nichols) and they were a top-notch PI agency. It’s still going now. Currently Johnny is the CEO of DiMera Enterprises and he and co-CEO Theo are hoping to make the company something their kids can be proud of someday.

Days of Our Lives: Johnny’s Moral Path and DiMera Legacy

Both Johnny and his cousin Theo wanted nothing to do with Stefano’s company in terms of the shady side of the business that EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel) and Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) and Stefano himself had no problems with and kept as a thriving criminal sideline. However, Johnny’s role as CEO has him wanting DiMera Enterprises to be better. He wants it on the right side of the law. And of course, EJ’s channeling Stefano, following in his father’s footstep. But Johnny has no interested in following in EJ or Stefano’s footsteps.

And this week, we saw Paulina coming to Johnny and Chanel and talking to them about Ralph’s (William Utay) miraculous resurrection serum. Paulina told Johnny that he needs to get a dose of the super serum to treat Chanel’s cancer immediately. And so right away, Johnny was dialing his phone to call EJ and demand a dose of it.

Days of Our Lives: Chanel Doesn’t Want DiMera Drama

He thought it was a great idea. Except Chanel stopped him and said, “No, I want nothing to do with this.” She doesn’t want to put their unborn baby at risk, as she told Johnny and her mom. But also, Chanel doesn’t want to be beholden to her father-in-law, EJ, for anything.

But that doesn’t mean Johnny won’t go behind Chanel’s back and ask EJ or Dr. Ralph for either that treatment or another miracle treatment for Chanel’s cancer. You know, Johnny isn’t a fan of how EJ and Ralph do their secret sick science, but I think Johnny would do anything to protect those that he loves, much like John Black always did. Johnny’s not power hungry, and neither was John. But Johnny’s grandpa did cross lines in the past when it came to helping those he cared for. So yeah, Johnny might cross lines like John did at times on his quest to save Chanel and baby Quattro’s lives.

Days of Our Lives: Johnny’s Sacrifice and Rejection of Stefano’s Legacy

We know that Johnny is up to something soon because in the summer promo, Theo is questioning Johnny about what other heinous things that he is covering up and it could be something to do with Johnny going to great lengths trying to save Chanel. I expect to see Johnny leaning more on Theo at work soon and turning to spiritual resources for support. And this sort of withdrawal from things echoes John Black’s time as a priest, if you remember.

And it could lead Johnny to some deep emotional growth as he’s navigating Chanel’s health crisis. While worried about baby number two, who’s on the way, Johnny is already struggling to wrap his head around possibly being a single father of two young children. if in the end Chanel loses this battle with breast cancer, which is always a possibility.

And this is no doubt tapping into Johnny’s childhood cancer memories and ordeal, even if he was so young, he may not remember the details, but he absolutely knows how frightening a cancer diagnosis can be. and he’s been super supportive of Chanel while still pushing her to carefully consider all of her options because Johnny wants her to value her life even though Chanel values their unborn baby’s life more than her own.

Days of Our Lives: Johnny Risks it All?

And already we can see Johnny’s a much better dad than many fathers who tend towards absenteeism and manipulation if not outright wickedness. Chad DiMera (Connor Floyd) is another notable exception as a good dad. Now, we know for a fact Johnny doesn’t want to be the type of person that his dad EJ is. Johnny would much rather emulate John Black as a parental role model. Even when EJ is an involved father, he doesn’t always think about the consequences like when he threw Chanel under the bus last summer at Johnny’s trial.

So, whatever happens with Chanel’s treatment and the baby, we know that Johnny is willing to risk everything John Black style to protect his wife, their one baby and their unborn baby. Johnny may lose his CEO position, lose control of DiMera Enterprises, or even face legal trouble.

None of that matters if he can get Chanel safely through this. And in the end, even though we know that Johnny and Chanel are both leaving, I do think this final storyline for Johnny and Chanel is going to show Johnny rejecting Stefano’s legacy and embracing the much more positive legacy of his other grandpa, John Black, a devoted family man who lost his own life saving someone he loved, Bo Brady (Peter Reckell).

So, we’ll have to wait and see exactly how far that Johnny will go to save Chanel. I could see him going to extraordinary lengths just like John Black did at times if it means he gets to save the woman that he loves.