Thursday dropped a few bombs. EJ isn’t just trying to bring Lexie back, he’s got more resurrections in store. Javi closed the door on Leo (for now). And someone filed a codicil to Stefano's will that EJ didn't know about. Tomorrow's will reading just got a lot more unpredictable.

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EJ and Gwen's Resurrection Scheme Comes Into Focus

Gwen shows up at the DiMera mansion to grab her toiletries and help herself to one last drink. (She's already emptied the Salem Inn minibar!) EJ isn't thrilled to see her, but they get down to business. Theo's visit with Lexie produced a real result: she moved her arm in response to his touch. When Rolf reports in, however, the news is mixed. Lexie is showing purposeful movement, but there's been no change in brain activity or consciousness. Rolf says the longer those improvements take, the less likely the experiment is to succeed.

That's when the conversation shifts to money. Gwen reminds EJ that she invested capital in this project and she deserves to know who else is in those pods. EJ deflects, saying Lexie was the most viable subject and Rolf needs this to work with her before they can "turn to others." Gwen pushes harder: when they started this, EJ told her they could make billions on the black market. Is he losing his nerve? EJ says he's as committed as ever, but they're not putting anything on the marketplace without proof of life. Literally.

So there it is. EJ isn't just trying to bring back his sister. He's running a resurrection business with Gwen as his investor, and there are other people lined up after Lexie. The question everyone is asking: is Abigail one of them?

Steve Teaches Stephanie to Shoot

Steve brings a gun safe and ammo to Stephanie's apartment and walks her through the four rules of firearm safety. Kayla backs him up. Stephanie pushes back on storing the gun locked away with the ammo separate, arguing she'd never get to it in time. Steve won't budge.

He's arranged for Stephanie and Brady (who's joining Black Patch) to go to the range together tomorrow. After Steve and Kayla leave, Kayla tells him it's not his fault Stephanie was taken and kisses him for being a good dad.

Then Stephanie takes the gun out of the safe, loads it, and puts it in her purse.

Leo Gets Turned Down Twice

Leo tries to charm Cat at the hospital into getting him an invite to Stefano's will reading. Cat says she'll ask EJ but the answer is probably no. Then Javi walks in. Leo asks about the new boyfriend ("taking it day by day") and pitches a friendship dinner. He babbles about how they know all the same movie lines and hate humble-bragging on social media. Javi stops him. He can't be friends with Leo. He needs a clean break. Leo is gutted.

Chad Settles In at the Horton House

The Horton house is full. Chad and the kids, Lani and the twins, Jeremy, Julie. Jack and Jennifer are coming to visit soon. Jeremy apologizes to Chad for believing he was guilty when Stephanie went missing. Chad accepts and says he hopes Owen Kent goes away for a long time.

Out picking up pizza, Chad bumps into Gwen. He asks if she heard anything about EJ's research or the pod while she was living at the mansion. Gwen says no, EJ locks his secrets in a vault. She's lying. She knows exactly what's in that lab.

Stefano's Will Reading Is Tomorrow, and Someone Filed a Codicil

Cat updates EJ on logistics. Tony and Anna are coming, so are Chad and Kristen. Megan is unreachable. The will is straightforward: surviving direct descendants split the inheritance. Shares belonging to Peter Blake, Stefan, and Jake go back into the estate. He conspicuously doesn’t mention Lexie, and Cat doesn’t seem to notice.

Then EJ gets an important call: a codicil to Stefano's will has been filed with the court. He didn't file it. Someone else did.

Stefano DiMera has been dead for years, and he's still the most powerful person in every room his children walk into.

The surviving DiMera heirs will soon gather for the reading of his will. Cat is coordinating the logistics and has decided to attend because she thinks it's going to be "wildly entertaining." She's probably right.

The will itself sounds simple enough. Stefano's surviving direct descendants split the bulk of the inheritance. Anyone who died before the will was executed without naming a contingent beneficiary — Peter Blake, Stefan, Jake — has their share redistributed among the siblings. Straightforward. Clean. Exactly the kind of document EJ would want, because EJ prepared it.

Then someone filed a codicil. EJ didn't file it. He didn't know about it. And that changes everything.

If Stefano wrote it himself before he died, then he planned one more move that even EJ didn't see coming. That would be very Stefano. The man kept secrets inside of secrets. He faked his own death nine times. He hid Lexie in a pod. He treated his children like chess pieces and his enemies like entertainment. The idea that he'd leave behind a will with a hidden amendment is not just plausible, it's expected.

If someone else filed it — Vivian is the name floating around — then it's a forgery, and the fight over Stefano's estate becomes a legal war on top of everything else the DiMeras are already dealing with.

Either way, the will reading isn't going to be the clean, controlled event EJ planned.

Stefano always understood something about power that his children are still learning: you don't have to be in the room to run it. He controlled his family through money, through secrets, through tests of loyalty that his kids didn't even know they were taking until they'd already passed or failed. He pitted them against each other and then rewarded whoever survived. He dangled love like a prize and withheld it like a weapon.

The will is just the latest version of that. Even from the grave, Stefano is making his children sit in a room together and find out what he really thought of them. Who gets what. Who gets nothing. Who he trusted and who he didn't. For a family that has spent decades fighting over his approval, this is the final report card.

And now there's a codicil nobody expected. Which means someone — Stefano or someone pretending to be Stefano — decided the report card needed one more grade.

Stefano's will reading is tomorrow, and somehow he's still pulling strings. How many times did Stefano DiMera fake his own death over the course of the show? (Answer at the bottom of the email.)

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If the spoilers are correct, it looks like it’s going to be a BIG day tomorrow…

Stefano's Will Is Read

This is the big one. The family gathers for the will reading, and there's a codicil nobody saw coming. EJ prepared the original will and thought he knew what was in it. He was wrong. Expect fireworks.

Joy Wesley Shows Up at Alex's Door

Joy is back, and she's not alone. She left Salem last year telling Alex she wasn't pregnant. She lied. Alex and Stephanie just reconnected, and this is about to blow that up.

Brady Is Enraged on Marlena's Behalf

No details yet on what triggers this, but Brady getting angry on Marlena's behalf usually means someone crossed a line with her.

Sarah Chastises Xander

Yesterday they were sharing sunscreen. Today Sarah is upset with him. This could be about the Gwen revelation, the plagiarism scheme, or whatever he and Kristen are cooking up together.

Finally, Stephanie and Brady at the Range

Steve set up a shooting lesson for Stephanie and Brady at the range. But Stephanie already loaded the gun and put it in her purse. Steve doesn't know that yet.

SoapHub is calling the Chad recast "already a hit." In a Thursday review, they praised Conner Floyd (Chad) for landing his first scenes "with confidence, swagger, and a more ruthless Chad" than Billy Flynn's last version. They singled out the DiMera mansion confrontation with Dan Feuerriegel (EJ) over Stephanie's kidnapping. Floyd previously told Soap Opera Digest he prepared by steeping himself in Stefano-era flashbacks.

Denise Richards posted an emotional tribute to Patrick Muldoon. Richards called Muldoon "my best friend & my family," recalling that they met in their first acting class when she was 19. They dated in the '90s, costarred in Starship Troopers, and stayed close for 36 years. Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico in Starship Troopers) and Barbara Eden, 94, who worked with Muldoon on My Adventures with Santa, also shared tributes this week. (Rolling Stone · Closer Weekly)

Michael Roark's (Jeremy) final airdate is six days out. Roark's last episode is coming up fast. Jeremy has been a quiet presence this spring, mostly connected to Stephanie's kidnapping aftermath and his scenes with Julie. No word yet on how he exits or if he's being recast.

Celebrity Dirty Laundry's headline for next week: "Fatal Horror Derailed and Baby Mama Drama." The April 27 preview suggests Sophia's hit on Johnny doesn't go as planned. Meanwhile, SoapHub is floating a theory that Kristen may be setting Sophia up to take the fall so she can swoop in and play hero, using that as leverage with EJ. That would be very Kristen.

Chanel's mammogram results are expected next week. Multiple spoiler sites are warning that Chanel may end up as collateral damage in Kristen's plot against Johnny. This is Chanel's second cancer scare. She already survived one battle with cancer and a miscarriage before this pregnancy.

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Nine. The man made a hobby of it.