Days of Our Lives Just Forced Us to Confront a Surprisingly Heartbreaking Reality

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Well, for those worried about Days of Our Lives’ Joy after seemingly being forgotten by Alex, it looks like everything worked out for her after all. After Stephanie explained to him what happened with the poisoned scripts targeting actors, Alex suddenly remembered that Joy existed had also touched a script, and the two lovers rushed to save her.

In the end, it looks like the actors, producers, director and writer all survived the Body and Soul stalker storyline (though the soap itself may not have), though some, like Bonnie, are a bit worse for wear. (And others, like Joy, just got handed a whole lot of heartbreak.) But that’s left a bunch of fans asking: What was the point if everything’s just going to go right back to the way it was before the soap within a soap existed?

Even Whitley seems like she’ll get off with just a slap on the wrist and a bit of compassion from Abe. Paulina didn’t really get it, but her husband wasn’t the only one who seemed to understand. Because if there was anything to come out of this, maybe it was a surprising empathy and understanding from the viewers when it comes to the sometimes intense relationship between daytime soaps and their fans.

Before Whitley once again broke completely with reality, she explained to Abe that he ruined the one thing that got her through life after her husband and all her cats died. He couldn’t understand what it meant to her — that for her, Body and Soul was life.

And that’s something Xanny, in the comments section of Wednesday’s recap, understood. “As stupid as this storyline is,” they wrote, “there are parts of it that are sort of believable, and I feel kinda bad for Whitley. I used to work at the VA and there were people there who had lost their loved ones and would look forward to watching “their stories” every day. There was one person who absolutely went off the handle when his TV time was removed for whatever reason and ended up tearing the TV off of the wall and slamming it into the ground with pure adrenaline.”

“I am still with the VA and see this quite a bit honestly,” Shannon Gabriel agreed. “People become a part of the stories they enjoy, and honestly to me that is all over the place. Sad reality is that the fact Whitley became so enthralled in the soap that it took over her own life is that this can and does happen a lot. As for the story overall, just yuck, but glad they had Abe handle her with dignity and not embarrassment because he did understand those feelings she is having.”

And over on reddit, those who’ve actually worked in the soap world recognized Whitley a bit too well. “I worked on a soap briefly many years ago,” Jaded_Lab_1539 shared, “and we were deluged with death threats from psychos like this. This really took me back to those days. People like Whitley are a real thing, and they make themselves known to soap writers and actors on a daily basis.”

“I worked on two soaps in the ’90s,” GiraffeGirlLovesZuri added, “and I agree with you completely. I had to help deal with keeping a stalker away from one of the actors. The guy was crazy!”

So maybe, if nothing else, the story itself was the point. Or maybe not. Honestly, we don’t know. Whether it was a love letter to daytime and fans or a critical look at them may be in the eye of the beholder. Either way, the stalker storyline is done and soon Body and Soul will be, too.

Take a look through our photo gallery below of the storylines soap operas used to tackle real world issues.