A gun, a goodbye, and a DNA test.

Happy Hump Day everyone. Stephanie had the best detective moment in weeks, Kristen handed a teenager a gun, and Jeremy Horton said goodbye to the only person in Salem who ever believed in him. It's a big episode with a lot of endings and a few doors that just swung wide open.

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Kristen Gives Sophia a Gun

Sophia is alone in her room, scrolling through hateful messages from Holly's dorm social media chat on her phone. The posts call her evil, crazy, a monster — the usual.

Kristen shows up at Sophia's door and gets right to it: it's time to hold up her end of their deal. She hands Sophia an unregistered, untraceable gun and tells her to toss it in the Salem River when she's done. The target is Johnny, who's home alone working while Chanel is out with the baby.

Sophia refuses. The kids at school are calling her a psycho and a monster, and if she does this, they'd be right. Kristen isn't having it. She reminds Sophia about their agreement, about the new identity and the fresh start she's funding, about how Johnny destroyed her mental health and her sense of self. She pushes every button she can find. By the end of the episode, Sophia is standing at Johnny's front door and sprays him with pepper spray.

Stephanie Figures It Out — and Cuts Jeremy Loose

Stephanie and Jeremy are in the park when he goes in for a kiss. She pulls back immediately and shuts it down — she's married to Alex, she loves him, and nothing can happen between them. Then she goes further: even if she wasn't married, after the way Jeremy treated her the first time around, she'd never be with him again.

But the bigger moment comes later. Stephanie has been turning over the question of how Joy found out Alex wanted kids, since very few people knew she and Alex had that fight. She told Jeremy. She told him about the pregnancy scare with Joy. And Jeremy's dad was dating Joy's mom. Stephanie puts it all together and confronts him: he's the one who got Joy to come back to Salem. Jeremy admits it. Stephanie tells him she doesn't want him in her life anymore, in any way. Dejected, Jeremy walks away.

Alex Asks Sarah for a Paternity Test

Alex shows up at the hospital and asks Sarah to help him order a DNA test on Joy's baby. Sarah's response catches him off guard: she already knew. She was Joy's doctor and ran the original pregnancy test — the one Joy told everyone came back negative. Sarah gave Joy the sealed results and got pulled into an emergency before she could review them with her. By the time Sarah found out the truth, Joy had already left Salem. Patient confidentiality kept her from saying anything. Alex tells her the baby's name is Kelsey, she's beautiful, and it's complicated. He drops off the samples and the test is underway.

Chanel Gets Called In for a Mammogram

Johnny and Chanel have a sweet morning together — he promises her Thai food, a rom-com, and a foot massage tonight. But he also asks if she's heard back from radiology about scheduling that mammogram, and Chanel snaps at him for bringing it up. Later, she gets the call: they can squeeze her in today. Lani offers to skip the aquarium trip and come with her, but Chanel insists she take all three kids — Jules, Carver, and Trey — and says knowing they're having fun will give her happy thoughts. She heads to the hospital alone. Sarah reminds her that the lump is probably nothing, but gently suggests that Johnny might want the chance to decide for himself whether to be there. Chanel tries to call him. He doesn't answer.

Jeremy Says Goodbye

Back at the Horton house, Jeremy tells Julie he's leaving Salem. He's tried to figure out his next chapter here, but he doesn't think this is where his future is. He's heading back to New York to find some peace. Julie tells him she's proud of him, reminds him he's a true Horton, and says he'll always have a home here. He promises to be at the will reading tomorrow before he goes.

My Take

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When Michael Roark returned as Jeremy Horton last October, the show had a real opportunity on its hands. Here was a legacy character — grandson of Bill and Laura, son of Mike and Robin — arriving in Salem with genuine baggage. He'd been abusive to Stephanie years ago and involved in criminal activity. And the show wasn't shying away from any of it. Jeremy moved in with Julie, started substitute teaching Thomas's class, and almost immediately became a lightning rod. Alex threatened him. Steve investigated him. Maggie accused him of being a stalker. Even the kids had opinions.

For about seven months, Jeremy was a minor player across the canvas. He counseled Chad through custody battles with Jennifer and helped Thomas with his homework. He sat with Julie playing board games on New Year's Eve, confessing he felt like an outsider in his own family. He went on a date with Jada that ended the moment she found out who he was. He learned the ugly truth about his great-grandfather Bill. He watched Stephanie get engaged to Alex and stared at the announcement like it was a wound.

Then the stalker story swallowed him whole. Jeremy became the prime suspect — arrested, interrogated, held overnight, slapped with a restraining order. The audience knew he was being framed. The characters didn't. And just when the show seemed ready to clear his name in a dramatic way, he got kidnapped alongside Stephanie by Owen Kent and spent weeks chained up in a secret room. He dislocated his own thumb trying to escape. He kept Stephanie alive. He was finally rescued, publicly exonerated, and apologized to by half of Salem.

That should have been the beginning of something. Instead it was the end. After the rescue, Jeremy drifted. He had a few scenes comforting Stephanie as her marriage to Alex frayed, but the show never gave him a story of his own. No romance. No career beyond substitute teaching. He brought Joy and baby Kelsey back to Salem — a move that blew up Alex and Stephanie's marriage — and today Stephanie told him she didn't want him in her life anymore. Jeremy sat with Julie one last time, told her Salem wasn't where his future was, and headed back to New York.

Seven months. Eighty-plus scenes. A kidnapping, a false arrest, a family history deep enough to fill a semester of Horton studies. And in the end, Jeremy left town the same way he arrived — alone, unsure of what comes next, with Julie being the only person who never stopped believing in him. Michael Roark did strong, understated work in a role that kept getting sidelined by other people's stories. Jeremy Horton deserved a plot of his own. He never got one.

As Alex waits on Kelsey's DNA results, here's a question for you: Which Days of Our Lives character has been at the center of the most paternity disputes over the years?

(Answer at the bottom.)

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Sophia makes her move on Johnny. Today's episode ended with Sophia at Johnny's door, gun in her pocket and Kristen's marching orders ringing in her ears. Tomorrow, she gets inside — and things go sideways fast. CDL is framing this as the opening shot of May sweeps, with Javi realizing something is wrong and Brady and Jada launching a search for Sophia.

Kayla comforts Stephanie. After cutting Jeremy out of her life, Stephanie gets some time with her mom. Given everything she's processing — the baby news, Jeremy's betrayal, and whatever comes next with Alex's paternity test — she could use it.

Sarah preps Chanel for her mammogram. Chanel went to the hospital alone today. Tomorrow, Sarah walks her through it. Johnny still doesn't know.

Brady delivers good news to Marlena. This likely connects to the Kristen/Rachel situation — Brady's been working to get Kristen's ban on Marlena visiting Rachel reversed.

Shawn shows off in front of Jada. The spoiler outlets are light on context for this one, but SheKnows Soaps flags Shawn flexing for Jada heading into the May sweeps week.

Stephanie figured out that Jeremy was the one who brought Joy back to Salem and told him she doesn't want him in her life anymore — not as a friend, not in any way. Did she make the right call, or is she going to regret burning that bridge?

Chanel went to her mammogram alone and sent Lani to the aquarium with three kids instead of asking for company. Would you have told your partner, or do you understand wanting to handle it on your own first?

Sarah revealed she's known about Joy's baby all along but couldn't say anything because of patient confidentiality. Does that explanation hold up, or should she have found a way to tell Alex sooner?

Sophia stood at Johnny's door with a gun in her pocket — but the whole episode, she kept saying she didn't want to do it. Do you think she goes through with it, or does something stop her?

Hit reply and tell me what you think. I read all of your responses!

Trivia Answer:

Sami Brady. Over the decades, Sami has been at the center of paternity drama surrounding Will (Lucas Roberts vs. Austin Reed), the twins Johnny and Allie (EJ DiMera), and orchestrated the notorious baby switch between Sydney and Grace. She's Salem's undisputed queen of DNA drama.

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