Days of Our Lives 2023 Year In Review: From Bo’s Nap and Nicole’s Karmic Baby Woes to the Kiriakis Shock(s) We Never Expected (2024)

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1/42

<p>Desperate to get Stefan back, Gabi conked him over the head, tied him up in the DiMera basem*nt and had Rolf undo his brainwashing to hate her. It worked! Kind of. Stefan loved Gabi once again, but still wanted Chloe too! But don’t worry, Brady finished the job when he forced Rolf to wipe that pesky Chloe programming out with a blender, a toaster and a few other household appliances.</p>

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2/42

<p>Finding out that Xander worked with Ava to kidnap Susan (leading to her faux death) and Bonnie was bad, but that wasn’t what pushed Sarah to get a divorce. It was finding out that he teamed up with <em>Gwen</em> to cover it up that pushed her over the edge! She left town with Rex and cut ties with Xander, but not before getting pregnant with his baby! Which she refused to tell him.</p>

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3/42

<p>Orpheus’ poisoning came back with a vengeance, killing Kate, Kayla and Marlena and sending them straight to heaven! Ish. There they met Susan and Adrienne, who turned out to be Nick in disguise, working for the devil to steal their souls. In the end, they beat the devil and were sent back to earth.</p>

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4/42

<p>Alex and Stephanie got an unexpected audience when Chad burst in to let her know her mom was dying. Alex had turned off her phone, which prevented her from saying goodbye, which was the final nail in their sexy coffin. Luckily Chad was there to comfort her and kick off a whole new relationship!</p>

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5/42

<p>Ej and Nicole started off the new year by getting hot and steamy as they bonded after their respective heartbreaks. EJ was mourning Susan’s supposed death and Nicole was nursing the sting of Eric dumping her after she meddled in his and Jada’s baby. At the same time, Eric and Sloan found their way into each other’s arms as he tried out a new bad boy persona and she threw away her free loving ways.</p>

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6/42

<p>After sorting that whole afterlife thing out and escaping the devil’s clutches, the ladies woke up alive and well (kind of) in pods kept by Megan on her secret island stronghold! Stefano’s daughter had an extensive plot that involved youth serums, Bo brainwashing and Salem guinea pigs that just got more bonkers the more we learned.</p>

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7/42

<p>With Stefan back, Li resorted to drastic measures to keep Gabi and promised her his DiMera shares if she’d stay married to him for six months. She went along with it… until she didn’t! It didn’t take long for Li to let her go back to Stefan, keep his shares for himself and set the three of them up for one killer mystery. But we’ll get to that later!</p>

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8/42

<p>Xander was reeling from Sarah’s divorce and Chloe couldn’t get over Brady dumping her for a blackmailed life with Kristen, so it was only a matter of time before these two former enemies hooked up. After all, charming the people he screwed over is what Xander does best! It didn’t take long for them to move from friends, to roommates, to co-workers, to white hot romance! Sure they moved fast, but we’ll be darned if they didn’t work!</p>

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9/42

<p>John, Steve and Hope staged a daring rescue, though by the time they made it to Megan, they only found Marlena. Bo had kidnapped Kayla and killed Kate. After some shenanigans as Bo tried to start his own business empire with a magical youth serum, Hope tracked down her one true love and broke through his conditioning… only for Shawn to shoot him and put him in a coma which he has yet to wake up from. D’oh!</p>

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10/42

<p>Thanks to some wacky tainted biscuits from Sweet Bits, half the town went on drugged fueled binges and Eric and Nicole slept together during some hallucinatory “photoshoot!” Spoiler alert: That’ll come back to haunt them about, say, nine months later.</p>

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11/42

<p>The biscuits were drugged, it turned out, by Chanel’s newest Sweet Bits employee/friend (and Jada’s little sister), Talia, as part of some bizarre revenge plot she was forced into by her abusive boyfriend (and Sloan’s little brother), Colin. And yes, he was the absolute worst. Thankfully, the two tumbled off the roof of Sweet Bits after a standoff landing him in the hospital (and jail) and her on a path to redemption.</p>

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12/42

<p>One of the side effects to Colin’s rampage was him conking Abe over the head hard enough to wipe his memories. And that became a serious problem once Nurse Whitley popped into his life and convinced him she was his beloved wife, Paulina! She faked his death, kidnapped him to her home, kept him drugged and confused and even hired an actor to play his son! Annie Wilkes, eat your heart out.</p>

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13/42

<p>Surprise! Kate was still alive, having been let go by Bo only to be snatched up by Dimitri. Harris and Chad staged a daring rescue, but Dimitri still had an ace up his sleeve. He’d also kidnapped Shane’s son, Andrew, whom he traded for a full pardon for him and Megan from the WSB. Wait, since when do they have legal jurisdiction over every — never mind.</p>

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14/42

<p>Megan was welcomed back into the DiMera with open arms. Wait, no, we meant to say her welcome back set off an arms race as each DiMera vied for her shares in DiMera. It didn’t take long, though, for Megan to go from scheming to villainous when she kidnapped Kristen and EJ, turned Harris back into an assassin and aimed him straight for Stefan. Stefan survived and Kristen and EJ were rescued, but so much for family values.</p>

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15/42

<p>In the least shocking surprise ever, Nicole became pregnant after her tainted biscuit sleepover. But while she panicked over who the father might be, EJ just assumed it was him, got down on one knee and proposed! Nicole’s answer? Um, no. At least not until she was sure that he was the baby daddy!</p>

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16/42

<p>Upon learning that Dimitri was set to inherit the Von Leuschner fortune if he married by the age of 40, Megan pushed him to woo Gwen (after a particularly icky idea to marry Kristen), much to Leo’s dismay. Gwen’s response? After some half-hearted hemming and hawing, she said “Yes,” and Leo set about trying to prove Dimitri was no good. Instead, the two fellas embarked on a steamy affair behind poor Gwen’s back!</p>

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17/42

<p>Nicole admitted to EJ that she wasn’t sure who her baby belonged to, prompting — what else? — a paternity test. Sloan offered to help get a DNA sample from Eric, which somehow didn’t set off anyone’s alarm bells. And when she swabbed her cheek instead of her beau’s, the negative test was enough to convince everyone that EJ was the father! He was not.</p>

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18/42

<p>Lani earned a temporary release to attend her dad’s funeral, bringing her and Eli back to town to save Abe from Nurse Whitley’s clutches. The entire family was reunited (minus Brandon) and Abe brought back home, but his memory loss seemed to be pretty irreversible!</p>

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19/42

<p>Stefan and Gabi took a brief break from scheming for control of DiMera for a wedding ceremony, joined at the last minute by Dimitri and Gwen! Megan may have fled the country after her failed murder attempt, but Dimitri was darned if he wasn’t getting that sweet Von Leuschner money. He wasted no time in whisking Gwen off to their honeymoon — and bringing Leo along for some extra secret sexy time!</p>

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20/42

<p>Figuring there was a chance the truth could always come about about Eric and Nicole’s baby, Sloan wasted no time in getting pregnant herself and hitching Eric to her own wagon. Sadly, it wasn’t long before she suffered a miscarriage and was told she probably wouldn’t be able to safely get pregnant again. Cue scheming in three… two… one…</p>

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21/42

<p>Abe’s memory didn’t return, but he still jumped at the chance to go back to being mayor. When that didn’t pan out because he had no clue who anyone was or what he was doing (actually, he sounds perfect for politics), he took a hammer to the whole democratic process and handed the mayorship over to Paulina.</p>

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22/42

<p>Li decided to<em>actually</em>try moving on from Gabi and hired a matchmaker who kept matching him with Melinda. Sparks flew, but neither could get out of each other’s way long enough to make it work. Li wanted to use Melinda to keep him out of trouble and she wanted to lock him up to keep her DA job. Her plan failed, Li dumped her, she was fired and embarked on a lucrative career in family law procuring babies by any means necessary.</p>

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23/42

<p>When Victor sadly died in a plane crash, Sarah moved back to Salem to support Maggie in her grief. They told Xander that Rex was the father of her baby, though there wasn’t much celebrating as Salem prepared to say goodbye to a legend.</p>

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24/42

<p>There was a bit of a kerfuffle when the Kiriakis family found Victor’s will had been destroyed, but Brady and Alex managed to track its replacement in Greece and deliver it to a grateful Maggie. She inherited half of Victor’s estate while the other half went to his illegitimate son… Alex?? Thanks, but no thanks.</p>

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25/42

<p>Vivian had returned to briefly take control of Victor’s fortune after revealing they’d never been divorced, but she was promptly booted from the Kiriakis house and into the DiMera mansion once his will was found. That was perfect timing for her to put a bullet in Dimitri’s back and save her precious Stefan from being murdered! (And, reluctantly, saving Gabi.) That, though, forced her to go on the run and got Dimitri arrested!</p>

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26/42

<p>After Sarah gave birth at the end of Victor’s funeral, Chloe overheard Rex talking about how Sarah’s baby wasn’t his and ran straight to Xander to tell him he was a dad. He rushed to stop Rex and Sarah’s wedding, but didn’t make it in time, setting off a fight for his baby and leaving Chloe high and dry!</p>

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27/42

<p>Thanks to some psychic visions, Ava and Harris escaped the mental hospital and tracked Susan down to where she was being held captive by her ex-husband, Edmund. She’d been whisked away from certain death by Clyde to keep as leverage over EJ (yet never actually telling EJ, so… what was the point?), but Ava and Harris blew that plan out of the water!</p>

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28/42

<p>With Sarah consuming Xander’s thoughts once more, Chloe tearfully ended their engagement, their relationship and her time in Salem. She left for New York with Philip, who had shocked everyone with the news that he was alive when he came back for Victor’s funeral.</p>

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29/42

<p>The good news is it didn’t take long to find a job once she returned to Salem. The bad news is that it was working for creepy Gil, running the Bistro as a front for Clyde’s drug business. Ticked that she’d cost him Susan, the drug kingpin threatened Tripp’s life to get her to front his illicit dealings. Luckily, she had Harris in her life as the two started dating… just as he got a job with the SPD!</p>

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30/42

<p>Nicole and EJ finally tied the knot, with both Johnny and a surprisingly grown Holly in attendance. If Holly seemed a bit distracted, it was only because she was busy trying to figure out how to steal Johnny away from Chanel. We’re sure that’s going to end well… Probably about as well as poor EJ and Nicole’s marriage!</p>

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31/42

<p>The cops finally had Dimitri right where they wanted him, but seeing as how they were the Salem PD, it didn’t take much for Leo to slip his beau right out from under their noses and make a run for the hills. And by hills we mean Dr. Rolf’s secret submarine.</p>

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32/42

<p>Victor’s supposed lifelong pal Konstantin arrived in Salem, pulling out all the stops to charm Maggie. He, though, was lying through his teeth, seeing as how he and Victor actually hated each other and he was just in town to get his hands on that sweet Kiriakis money — just like Theresa! The two had teamed up back in Greece to change Victor’s will from declaring Xander his heir, to Alex. Now, each con could go after half the fortune, winning over Alex and Maggie.</p>

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33/42

<p>Stephanie’s ghosting ex turned up on her and Chad’s front door just in time for Halloween with one spooky tale to tell. Not only hadn’t Everett ghosted her, he’d been in a coma and suffered memory loss! But once he remembered his true love, he made a beeline for Salem, threw her already rocky relationship with Chad into turmoil and took over as<em>The Spectator</em>‘s Editor in Chief.</p>

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34/42

<p>Li didn’t even make it to the holidays when he turned up dead with a knife in the back and Gabi kneeling over his soon-to-be lifeless body. It didn’t look good, but Gabi still seemed innocent, seeing as how she and Stefan had already swiped Li’s DiMera share. But Stefan, Wendy and Tripp all stumbled upon the crime scene and new DA EJ wasted no time in shipping her off to prison. As for Li… everyone seems to have forgotten about him except for poor Wendy!</p>

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35/42

<p>In a collision that could only happen in Salem, the fleeing Leo and Dimitri managed to get into a car wreck with Nicole, prompting her to go into labor. Being the good samaritans they are (after some guilting on Leo’s part) they helped deliver the baby, then present him to Sloan — you know, for safekeeping. She kept the kid safe alright, and passed him off as her and Eric’s newly adopted son!</p>

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36/42

<p>As more and more folks started to question Konstantin’s story and motives, he decided it was time to take drastic action to keep Maggie on his side. He pushed Theresa to kidnap baby Victoria so he could play hero by “rescuing” the baby and win over Sarah. It worked, but maybe more importantly, it convinced Xander and Sarah to stop fighting over their daughter and raise her together!</p>

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37/42

<p>With Gabi off in prison, Clyde threatened her life to rope Stefan into working in the drug business as well. He, Ava and Gil teamed up to steal evidence from the SPD, but Clyde’s creepy lacky got a little too handy with Ava and when he tried to rape her, she wasted no time in putting him down. Hard. Harris got her out of legal trouble, but Ava and Stefan were still left trying to figure out how to get out from under Clyde.</p>

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38/42

<p>The second Nicole met Eric and Sloan’s newly adopted son Jude, she realized that it was actually<em>her</em>baby and became convinced Sloan had stolen him. After all, she is an expert in these matters! Everyone else just thought she was losing her mind and that was just reinforced when a DNA test came back negative — since it used EJ’s DNA and he wasn’t the father of Nicole’s baby anyway!</p>

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39/42

<p>Stephanie dumped Chad and moved back home with her parents after he secretly bought Gwen’s half of the paper and forced Xander to fire Everett. His hope was to send his rival packing, but instead, once Everett and Steph figured out what he’d done, he lost his love and was backed into hiring Everett back at <em>The Spectator</em>! Oh, and Everett was also Jada’s ex-husband… named Bobby!</p>

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40/42

<p>Determined to prove Konstantin was scum, Steve and John dug into his shady past, but the con was too slippery and talked his way out of his lies to Maggie. The PIs kept pushing, though, until they found footage of Theresa kidnapping Victoria, but when Andrew came to confront her after taking the case at the ISA, she convinced him that it was just a harmless bit of heroing.</p>

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41/42

<p>Sloan proved herself to be the worst mother ever by leaving her baby alone in the Horton Square, and Nicole, deciding the baby was in danger, snatched him. It didn’t take long for EJ and Nicole to return Jude, Sloan and Eric to make up an excuse that wouldn’t result in charges and Sloan to warn Nicole never to come near her baby again. So it all worked out in the end! For everyone but Nicole…</p>

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42/42

<p>Paulina’s health declined bit by bit as the year ended, until a concerned Chanel pushed her mom to make a hospital visit on Christmas Eve.</p>