January 18, 1999
Spoiler Articles

(Return to the Soap Mag Connection Main Page)

Soap Opera Weekly

THE NEWS - BO FEARS FOR SHAWN'S AND HOPE'S LIVES ON DAYS

Bo and "Hope's" wedding reception fiasco leaves Shawn hospitalized and "Hope" clinging to life this week on Days of Our Lives.

John rescues Shawn from the ledge of the Penthouse Grill, but he's in bad shape. Meanwhile, Bo, who is unaware of his son's precarious condition, is frantic because "Hope" was shot during their struggle over the gun after she fired at Marlena.

Paramedics work on "Hope" and finally get a faint heartbeat. Shawn and "Hope" are both rushed to the hospital. While friends, family and a devastated Bo keep vigil outside "Hope's" room, Belle checks on Shawn and is shocked to learn that he can't feel his legs.

"Hope" remains in critical condition, and emotions are running high in her family. Doug and Julie blame Lili, but Bo lashes out at Marlena for knowing the truth about "Hope" and not telling him. Bo swears he will never forgive Marlena if "Hope" doesn't pull through.

Doug, Julie, Caroline and Grandpa Shawn visit Shawn, prepared to tell him about "Hope's" condition, but before they can, Shawn blurts out that she is not his mother and that she tried to kill him. Then Shawn is told "Hope" shot at Marlena, and "Hope" is now badly hurt.

Craig informs Bo that "Hope" is barely hanging on. Bo visits her, and refuses to accept her claim that she is dying. Bo tries to put the pieces together. "CONFUSION is the [operative] word here," explains Peter Reckell (Bo). "The woman he thinks is Hope had some strange behavior before, but this behavior is way out there. Bo's trying to make sense of it in that she's Hope, but her behavior is just [out there]. He's still trying to rationalize it in that manner."

"Hope" plans to give Bo answers, but before she gets the chance, her heart monitor goes off and she struggles for her breath. Will it be her last?   - Janet Di Laura

Soap Opera Weekly

SNEAK PEEKS - Week of Jan. 10

Monday, Jan 10 - "Hope" is rushed into surgery.

Friday, Jan 14 - Greta learns who her father is. "Hope" flatlines.

Week of Jan. 17

Soap Opera Digest

VCR ALERT

Unwanted visitor - Death comes to University Hospital on Friday, January 14.

Soap Opera Digest

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

Soap Opera Digest

SOAP OPERA UPDATE

VCR DATES

Elsewhere in Salem… Chloe reaches out to Nancy, who is optimistic that she will have a perfect family life with Chloe and Craig. Crushed after Austin rebuffs her advances, Sami shares an intense moment with Brandon.

Soap Opera Digest

SNEAK PEEKS

Wedding Woes For Bo And "Hope"

Bo takes a bride, but when will he discover she's not the woman he loves?

While the real Hope is held captive with her worst enemy Stefano - thanks to her royal pain Princess Gina - Hope feels deep down in her bones that there's something terribly wrong back home in Salem. Guess what? She's right!

Everyone connected to Bo knows that his marrying "Hope" right now is definitely wrong. Nevertheless, Bo and "Hope" become man and wife on New Year's Eve.

Things go from bad to far, far worse when Shawn discovers that "Hope" is not his mother AND it becomes mortally clear that the gun-toting bride has no maternal feelings for him. "Hope" also wants to settle the score with Marlena for taking John, not to mention trying to stand in her way with Bo. A heart-stopping confrontation comes to a tragic end when "Hope" has a highly emotional exchange with Marlena, just as Bo and John enter the scene.

The repercussions that occur during the following week are no less heart-wrenching. "Shawn never thought of this woman as his mother," says executive producer Ken Corday. "Most others accept that this is Hope, who is crazy to think of herself as Princess Gina. It's at a funeral that things start to come out," he says, hinting at the next tragedy.

For Peter Reckell, the wedding ceremony was anti-climatic. "I'm not sure what he sees in Hope during the ceremony," he says. "Bo realizes she's more aloof. The wedding was less about the ceremony than about John and his flashbacks to his time with Hope. It was disappointing. I would have liked to have seen that moment when Bo looks into 'Hope's' eyes and he reacts to something not quite right. He talks about it at the reception, but it would have been nice to see."

"This is not a romantic wedding - hardly," Corday says with a chuckle. "It's the springboard for all the big stories in February. Will they find Hope dead or alive? Will they find out all that Stefano has done? Will John remember even more… and what will he do about it? There are secrets many characters hold that they're not sharing with the others."

After all of the obstacles that Bo and Hope have faced ever since she came back from the dead in 1995, Bo was filled with joy and optimism at the altar. "Love and loyalty has gotten him through all of this," says Reckell. "This is 'Hope' - the woman he has always loved. Any remaining barriers, any leftovers of Gina that remain, will be broken down faster after marriage… and 'Hope' will return to her normal self. He's doubted her before and doesn't ever want to doubt her again."

During the wedding reception, Gina's un-Hope-like actions hit Bo very deeply. At the moment of the startling confrontation between "Hope" and Marlena, Bo "doesn't have a second of thought," says Reckell. "He just reacts, as does John. Before Bo knows what happens, it's over. There's so much emotion at that moment. It's shocking, devastating, guilt-provoking and more."

It's going to take some time before Bo discovers what's happened to Shawn - and "Hope's" role in his condition. "Everyone assumes that Hope flipped out. We're taking care of her and putting the pieces back together before dealing with the reasons she did what she did."

For Reckell, the most challenging aspect of this storyline has been "to ignore a lot of what's been in his face," says the actor. "People can be so emotionally involved in a relationship that they cannot see what's going on. Also, if you're in love with someone who becomes mentally ill, you don't abandon her. Bo blames Marlena because her responsibility as a doctor overcame her responsibility as a friend. Marlena should have told Bo just how deeply troubled Hope really is." Reckell confides that he is looking forward to working with Kristian Alfonso once she's only Hope again. "It's like working with a totally other person, and when we work as Bo and Hope --we're so close. It's different."