In honor of Halloween, Soapnet decided to show three episodes of the classic and infamous “Marlena possession” storyline. I remember watching this storyline back in the day. I’ll be honest: I didn’t think very much of James E. Reilly then. I still think he’s a hack writer, but this story and “Buried Alive” are like Hemingway novels compared to that “Serial Killer/Melaswen” debacle (and all of Passions). I thought I would revisit this because I enjoy watching old episodes (back when soaps had budgets and more than five sets) and miss some of the actors (Lisa Rinna, Eileen Davidson, Louise Sorel, etc).
First some setup: It’s hard to remember exactly how all this started, but I know Stefano was corrupting Marlena by transporting her to some underground dream land where she was his Queen of the Night. (Isn’t that how everyone becomes possessed? It’s an epidemic.) It’s funny how Stefano tried to romance Marlena for all those years and never once mentioned the whole Colleen and Santo nonsense. I guess it must have slipped his mind. Or he’s a fantastic secret keeper. Anyway, somehow the Devil senses that Marlena is in great peril and takes control of her body. Also, John is a priest. I am pretty sure that it’s later revealed that he’s only a fake priest and used that as a cover to steal paintings with Gina in Europe. At this time, however, they weren’t thinking that far ahead and John is legit. Kristen, who is like some big Catholic (isn’t everyone in Salem a Catholic?) broke things off with John and married Tony (her adopted brother, which makes sense in a world where Max dates his adopted nieces).
While all this is going on, Billie is in her own personal hell because Gina is hanging around and it’s throwing off her game. I have to add that Kristian Alfonso looks fantastic in these episodes. Her hair is great and she just looks so young. Also, Bo is played by Robert Kelker-Kelly. I remember really liking him and Billie back in the day, but then he left, Peter Reckell came back and it was Bo & Hope 4-eva!
Anyway, we begin sometime in the middle of the story. Marlena is full on possessed and ruins a party at Victor’s mansion by unleashing a swarm of bees on Old Man Shawn. Ha! That’s mean, I shouldn’t laugh, but it was funny. Also, Austin plays hero and saves Shawn before they rush him to the hospital. In the process, Austin is stung as well and has to play out the rest of the episode with bee stings on his face. Priceless. So Mike Horton is the attending physician at University Hospital and stabilizes Old Man Shawn. (Even back in the day, only one character was allowed to be a doctor.) Plus, this is Blonde Mike who I never really cared for because I thought he looked somewhat generic and Ken Doll-like, so it makes perfect sense that twelve years later, his son shows up looking the exact same way.
Meanwhile on the Fancy Face, Bo, Billie, and a pint sized Shawn Douglas (and infinitely more tolerable) discover that all the fish are dying in the water. They prepare to leave but are stopped by Gina (wearing a black vest and white high wasted pants–I guess she must have borrowed Allison’s wardrobe from her days on Melrose Place) who tells him that Old Man Shawn is in the hospital. This makes perfect sense for Gina to rush over to the docks from her apartment in lieu of picking up the phone. Oh, Gina, you don’t fool me and you don’t fool Billie. They leave for the hospital.
Kristen meanwhile is running around trying to convince John that Marlena is possessed by evil. John is skeptical but meets with the Three Scholars anyway. Who the hell are these people? I don’t remember them at all. Anyway, they talk all this nonsense about prophecies and evil. John’s still not having it. Later, MarDevil transforms into a panther and attacks the scholars in the park. A panther. (A sex panther?) Wow. How come no one ever sits down at the Brady Pub and reminisces about that? Oh man, whenever Marlena got all up on her high horse about something I’d be like “really Doc? How about the time you stripped Kristen and tied her to the alter at the Church and sent a swarm of killer bees to terrorize Shawn?” Between that and killing half of Salem (not to mention the constant cooing), I’m surprised that people will still hang out with her.
Since this is back before Kristen’s character was completely destroyed, she takes mattes into her own hands and confronts MarDevil herself. Kristen knows what time it is, but MarDevil’s all “It’s my hot body, I do what I want!” They tussle and Kristen knocks out one of MarDevil’s fake contacts. See, that’s why I miss Kristen. She was a real spark plug. She took on the devil and there wasn’t even a fiddling contest.
Later, The Scoobies (John, Kristen, Stefano, Tony and Father Frances) arrive at Marlena’s penthouse and find MarDevil floating above her bed. Father Frances immediately realizes that Marlena is possessed. I think he’s kind of a “glass is half empty” person, because perhaps Marlena is just trying out her levitation techniques so that she can replace Pam Anderson in Han’s Klok’s magic show. I still think Father Frances is adorable though, he’s so tiny! So the group tries to cast the Devil out but things quickly turn nasty when John starts fighting with Stefano. Also there’s all this awkward tension because Kristen is married to Tony but her heart belongs to John. Of course, as we all know now, Tony’s not actually Tony, but Andre. What a cop out. I hope Marlena and John filled the Real Tony in on all this while on the plane ride back from Sandals: Dimera Island. Fake Tony’s still pretty tan though. Since this is in the days before spray tanning, I bet he has a tanning bed in the Dimera Mansion. It’s perfect for those rainy days when he can’t ride a horse through his living room. In the midst of all this tomfoolery, Father Frances decides that they need to perform an exorcism. With these morons? I wouldn’t trust John and company to prepare a grilled cheese, let alone with complex rituals and ceremonies.
To counterpoint all this ridiculousness, Carrie and Austin are the world’s most boring couple. I don’t think there was ever a time that they weren’t boring, be it the nineties or last summer. They go up to the roof (you know the roof, where they will have an adulterous liaison eleven years later) to watch a meteor shower. Jonah, Abe’s little brother, and his girlfriend Wendy, are hanging out up there as well. This whole plot is pointless. I’d like to see more Bo/Billie/Gina.
In other news, Abe and Lexie are pretty much doing what they’ve been doing since the Eighties: not much. Although this is way back when Lexie thought that Celeste was her aunt and not her mother and therefore was not yet a Dimera. Oh, innocent times!
In our last episode, we wrap things up pretty nicely. Sami, who had run away, is in a hospital room after crashing a stolen car. She’s pretty banged up but she’s okay although she is being threatened with jail time. Frankly, I’m more concerned that she’s hanging out with Tara Reid. That’s right, Tara Reid is in the house, playing Sami’s Seattle Sidekick. God only knows what those two have been up to. Also there: Vivian and Ivan. Apparently Lucas is blackmailing them to bring Sami back so she can stop Carrie and Austin’s wedding. You know, good old Lucas, Sami’s hero. I shouldn’t snark, he’s being an angel considering all the stunts he would go on to pull over the years.
While Sami is doing God knows what, her mother is dead in the morgue. I guess she didn’t survive the exorcism. I love that no one told Sami this. They probably figured that since this wasn’t the first (or let’s be honest the last) time Marlena’s died that it wasn’t a big deal. Kristen, who would go on to lock Marlena in a secret room, holds a memorial service for her at the church. John, out of Priest’s clothes and into his trusty denims, goes to look at Doc one last time. But she’s not dead! The Devil’s still there! For some reason, John is actually able to cast the demon out. I think it was on account of all the denim in that morgue. Between John and his Canadian Tuxedo-wearing-Highway to Heaven-ripoff-angel friend, Gabe, there is a whole lot of Levi’s in that room. Or John “surrendered completely to God’s power and compassion”. Same diff.
Logically, John brings Marlena to the church to be healed. I would like to point out that in the morgue she is wearing pastel striped pajamas. When they arrive at church, she is wearing a flowing robe and nightgown. Where was the script supervisor on that one? Or perhaps John just stopped off at Victoria’s Secret on the way over there. So John shows up with a dead looking Marlena in his arms and everyone thinks John has gone off the rails. Folks, ’tis true, but it happened a long time before this. I guess Marlena’s nightie is betting for resurrecting, because she wakes up and everyone cheers. Not the reaction I would have gone for but whatever. The best part of this whole ordeal is that Marlena starts gasping, just like in present day. Doc is back! John and Marlena walk outside and the heavens rain down upon them. MarDevil’s drought is over! That was a great sequence. How come that didn’t make the John Black’s in memoriam tribute?
Thanks for the recap, I missed that story the first time around – the knowledge that it was coming killed off my Days watching and I didn’t come back for a decade. Still, it’s a classic.
Yeah, if I would have known then how Days was going to turn out, I would have taped all of these episodes.
[...] tables and prances around deserted islands wearing mixed denims. Not to mention her brief turn as Satan’s minion and fake killing all of Salem. If wandering around Tuscany naked and/or murdering Alice Horton [...]
And I thought I was the only person who noticed Doc’s loathsome cooing and gasping. I just got done watching these on old, old tapes and by the time Marlena was “saved” I had largely ceased to care. They seemed to spend a lot of time going back and forth between the hospital and the penthouse.
I remember thinking that DH must have one hell of a sense of humor to play this storyline but now I think she probably thought it was Emmy-calibre.