Happy Monday!

Lexie Carver came home for the first time in fourteen years, and she's already drawing lines. Cat Greene asked EJ for a miracle and then called Rafe to tell him it was a trap. Johnny told his father he's done at Dimera. And in the lab, a rat named Miracle Max stopped breathing.

I've also got a full summer preview breaking down everything Peacock's Summer Sizzle promo is teasing. Let’s get into it.

Forwarded to you? The Salem Dispatch is a weekday read for Days fans: full recap of yesterday's episode, tomorrow's spoilers, and what other fans are saying.

Lexie Comes Home

Lexie walks through the front door of the Carver residence for the first time, with Abe & Theo by her side. Abe asks what she thinks. "It's lovely," she says, then catches herself. "The two most important people in my life are here. That's all I need to feel at home."

They settle in. Theo offers to cook — Theo Marsala, no less — and Lexie can't believe the little boy who wanted chicken nuggets every night has become a chef. She wants to walk the Square, shop for clothes, dine out. "I've been resting for fourteen years," she says. "I'm ready to live again."

They flip through photos together. Theo shows her a picture from Victoria Falls. Then Lexie spots a photo of Claire and doesn't hold back: "Good to know what she looks like as an adult in case she ever dares show her face in town again. Little tramp." Theo changes the subject. Lexie asks if anyone new has caught his eye. There was someone, he says, but it's not going to work out. He heads for Sweet Bits to get Lexie mango tarts before she can press further. Lexie watches him go and tells Abe she hates seeing him heartbroken. "But he'll know when he meets the right one," she says. "Just like I did."

Once they're alone, Lexie gets direct. She knows this must be strange for Abe, having her here instead of Paulina. "I'm sure she even chose the paint on the walls." She asks Abe flat out: will Paulina always be in his heart? "Because I'm not sure I can be so accepting." Abe admits he feels badly for Paulina, but affirms that Lexie is his choice. He mourned her every day she was gone. Lexie softens. She doesn't mean he has to cut Paulina out entirely. She just wants time to get reacquainted "without any distractions." Abe offers to call Paulina. Lexie suggests something colder: don't call at all. "If you go no contact with her, she'll get the hint."

By the end of the episode, the conversation has circled back to where it needed to land. "You and I have built a beautiful family together," Abe tells her. "I mourned you and missed you every day you were gone. And not just in my heart, but now you're here. And I can touch you." They kiss. Meanwhile, at the Salem Inn, Paulina is alone in her suite, searching the internet for information about cancer.

Chanel Tells Paulina About the Cancer

Paulina stops by Johnny & Chanel's place to visit, and Chanel tells her the news she's been holding: breast cancer. Stage 2B. Malignant. Aggressive, but the five-year survival rate is high. She's seeing an oncologist from Chicago. Paulina holds it together — barely — and tells Chanel she's been here before. "We are warriors, baby girl. Always have been, always will be."

Chanel asks Paulina not to change anything about her life. Don't cancel meetings. Don't hover. Just stay positive. Paulina agrees, then heads back to the Salem Inn and immediately pulls up cancer research on her laptop. After she leaves, Trey starts crying. "Don't you cry, too," Chanel says, scooping him up. She takes him outside for air.

Johnny Walks Away from Dimera

EJ arrives at Johnny's office ready to go to war — he wants Johnny to make a full-throttle pitch to Tony for the CEO job. Johnny tells him he's quitting instead. He can't work these hours with an infant at home and a wife who's fighting cancer. EJ stops cold. "Whatever you do, Johnny, don't make the same mistakes I did. Your wife and children must always come first." It's the most fatherly thing EJ has said in months.

Cat Lays a Trap

Cat tells Mark their mother's dementia is getting worse — she's barely able to communicate. Mark is working in EJ's lab on the drug that brought Lexie back and thinks it could help, but the FDA hasn't approved it and Rolf controls the supply. Cat takes matters into her own hands. She goes to EJ directly, explains her mother's condition, and asks if there's any way the drug could be used as a clinical trial. EJ agrees to reach out to Rolf — but says there would be "certain conditions." After EJ leaves, Cat picks up the phone and calls Rafe. "I just laid a trap for EJ, and I'm pretty sure he's gonna fall right into it."

Gabi's Reckoning

Gabi tells Philip she's filed to nullify her divorce from Stefan and offers him a cut of the inheritance as a thank-you. Philip wants nothing from her. Then Gabi slips — she mentions that she assumed Theo told Philip about the office bugging. Philip didn't know Theo was involved. Gabi realizes she accused an innocent man.

She finds Theo in the Square and apologizes, but Theo sees through it. "So if Philip hadn't vouched for me, you'd still think I'm a lying dirtbag?" He walks away. Later, when Philip tries to cancel the Titan-Gabi Chic shipping contract out of spite, Gabi forces his hand: thousands of jobs depend on it, and he has a contract. "I know that underneath all that anger, you're heartbroken," she tells him. "So am I."

Jada Reopens the Case

Jada stops by Johnny's office to tie up loose ends on the Sophia investigation, and what she brings raises more questions than it answers. The untraceable gun Sophia used to knock Johnny out turned up in the river. Forensics confirmed both Johnny's DNA and Sophia's on it, but there's no serial number. Jada thinks out loud: why would Sophia go to the trouble of obtaining an untraceable weapon if she wasn't planning to shoot him?

Then she presses further. Johnny admits that even though he was under the fumes, some of what Sophia said is coming back to him. She somehow knew he'd be home alone. She knew Chanel and Trey were supposed to be in Chicago with Lani at the aquarium. She even knew how long they'd be gone. Jada confirms that forensics found no listening devices in the apartment. So how did Sophia know the family's schedule?

Jada floats the simplest explanation: someone told her. Johnny runs through everyone who might have known — just family. Julie. Lani. No one who would have any reason to tip off Sophia. But Jada's wheels are turning. She asks if Sophia interacted with anyone else after Bayview, and leaves Johnny with the clear implication that the investigation isn't over. Sophia may have had help.

Miracle Max

The episode's final scene is quiet and I think the beginning of the end for Lexie already. Mark is alone in EJ's lab, making his rounds with the test rats. He stops at one cage. The rat inside isn't moving. "All right, fellas. Feeding time," he says, and then his voice drops. "No. No, no. Miracle Max. Come on, buddy. You've come back from the dead once before. Think you can do it again?"

Miracle Max was treated with the same resurrection serum that brought Lexie back to life. Upstairs, Lexie just told Theo and Abe she got a clean bill of health and that nobody needs to worry about her. She said she's here to stay. Down in the lab, the evidence is telling a different story.

My Take

Cat Greene called Rafe Hernandez today and told him she'd laid a trap for EJ. That's the ISA agent doing her job. But five minutes earlier, she sat across from EJ with tears in her eyes and told him her mother can barely communicate anymore, that Clyde's brainwashing rewired her brain, and that the drug EJ developed to bring Lexie back might be her only hope. That wasn't an act. That was a daughter begging for her mother's life. Both things were true at the same time.

Salem has had its share of undercover agents. Steve Johnson spent years as Patch running ISA operations. John Black was so deep in his cover identities that he forgot who he actually was sometimes. But those were men torn between duty and love — the mission over here, the heart over there, a clear line between the two. Cat doesn't have that line. Her mission IS her life. The closer she gets to EJ, the more useful she becomes to Rafe. And the closer she gets to EJ, the more her family benefits from EJ's resources, his lab, his willingness to bend the rules.

Think about how she got here. Cat arrived in Salem pretending to be Abigail Dimera, Chad's dead wife. That was a pure cover identity. She got caught, and the fallout nearly destroyed her. But instead of being expelled from Salem, she stayed. She became EJ's assistant. She earned his trust by being competent, reliable, and present.

The thing that makes Cat dangerous to EJ isn't that she's pretending. It's that she's not. When she asks EJ about the drug, she really does need it. Her brother Mark is in that lab every day, working on the science that brought Lexie back while their mother deteriorates from something Clyde did to her. Cat's desperation isn't manufactured for Rafe's benefit. It's real. She just happens to know how to aim it.

EJ said yes today. He'll reach out to Rolf, review the case. But there would be "certain conditions." We don't know what those are yet, but EJ never does anything without leverage. Whatever he asks for, Cat will have to decide: is the price worth paying to save her mother, and does it matter that Rafe is listening?

That's the question the summer preview is teasing. Marlena asks Cat directly: is her connection to EJ personal or professional? Chad confronts her for lying again. The show is building toward the moment when Cat's two lives collide, and what matters is that when they do, there won't be a clean answer. She's not a spy who fell in love by accident. She's a spy whose real emotions became her best tool — and she knows it.

There's a version of this story where Cat is just a villain. A manipulator using EJ's loneliness against him. But the show keeps giving us scenes like today — Cat and Mark alone, no one watching, no one to perform for, talking about their dying mother — that make it clear her pain is genuine. She wants to save her mother. She wants to take down EJ. She wants to protect her brothers. And the only way to do all three is to keep being exactly who she is: a woman who means every word she says, even when she's saying it for strategic reasons.

That dead rat in Mark's lab suggests the resurrection drug may not be the miracle everyone thinks it is. If it fails, it won't just be Lexie who pays. It'll be Cat's mother, and Cat's cover story, and the last thread holding this family's hope together.

Cat asked EJ today about using the resurrection drug on her mother, whose dementia was caused by Clyde Weston's brainwashing. What is Cat's mother's name?

(Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.)

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Peacock dropped its Summer Sizzle promo on Friday, and there is a lot to unpack. Here's everything the preview is teasing, storyline by storyline.

Someone is pulling strings on behalf of Stefano from beyond the grave. The promo ends with a shot that should make every fan sit up: a mystery figure watches EJ and Chad on a tablet screen and moves a pawn on a chessboard. Chad tells Belle that his father is "using someone to drop breadcrumbs" and they should keep it quiet. If that sounds familiar, it should — Brady and Belle just opened Stefano's chess set in Friday's episode and discovered a missing pawn. Whatever game Stefano set in motion before he died, it's still being played. The question is by whom.

EJ is going full Stefano — and not everyone is going to survive it. EJ declares that his father built an empire and he intends to carry the vision forward. But Johnny and Theo want to build a different Dimera legacy, one their children can be proud of. EJ isn't interested in compromise. The promo shows him discovering that Kristen tried to murder Johnny through Sophia — "You tried to murder my son!" — and going after her hard. He appears to fire Sarah from University Hospital. Gwen declares war on him: "You stabbed me in the back, so I'm returning the knife." And Susan returns to Salem with a warning: she won't let her son become the next Stefano.

Lexie's cure may be failing. This one hurts. The promo shows Lexie back in a hospital bed with Theo and Abe at her side. She lashes out at EJ for never stopping to think about what would happen after he brought her back. EJ fires back that everything he does is for his family. But Abe kicks him out of Lexie's room. The resurrection that felt like a miracle may have been borrowed time.

A public health crisis is coming. Tainted drugs are circulating in Salem, and the fallout could be enormous. Steve tells Johnny that if the contaminated drugs are still out there, they're looking at a crisis. Johnny gets pulled into some kind of office snooping connected to it. And Holly ends up facing new accusations involving pills she swears aren't hers — which blows up her relationship with Tate. Multiple outlets are reporting this as one of the summer's biggest arcs.

The Kiriakis-Dimera war heats up. Philip discovers that EJ has found out they used Dimera money to cover Titan's loan payments. If that sounds like the kind of thing that could bring down both families, it is. Kate rallies the troops and says it's time to come together as one. Philip and Gabi continue to clash — he tells her money can't fix what she broke. And Roman is furious when Kate's lies about setting up Johnny come to light.

Chanel's cancer fight gets harder. Chanel demands to know how her treatment will affect her pregnancy. The promo shows her at the hospital bleeding, and she admits to Johnny that she's scared. The question of whether she'll forgo treatment until after the baby is born hangs over everything.

Rachel is afraid she'll end up like Sophia. Rachel learns what happened to Sophia and worries the doctors won't be able to fix her either. After everything this kid has been through, watching her confront that fear is going to be hard to watch.

Stephanie fires a gun — and hits an innocent person. Stephanie grabs a loaded gun and fires. Jada later tells her she pulled a gun on an innocent person and shot them. Separately, Alex is at the hospital desperately asking Joy where Kelsey is, and Joy dissolves into tears next to an empty baby carrier. Whether these two things are connected, the promo doesn't say — but the juxtaposition is hard to ignore.

Love is everywhere — and it's complicated. Eli and Lani and Steve and Kayla get the sweet romantic moments they deserve. Chad and Belle finally kiss. Brady and Sarah exchange "I love yous" — but Sarah is still drawn to Xander. In therapy with Marlena, Xander says he can see the love in Sarah's eyes. Marlena warns him he may be deluding himself. And Marlena asks Cat point-blank whether her connection to EJ is personal or professional. Chad confronts Cat for lying to him again.

Two returns. Dimitri von Leuschner is back — and Leo immediately tries to make a deal with him. Susan also returns to confront EJ directly.

Watch the full Summer Sizzle promo here.

Between EJ's descent, Lexie's health, a mystery chess player, a public health crisis, and Stephanie pulling a trigger, Salem is heading into a summer where nobody is safe and nothing is settled.

On Friday I asked whether Holly bears any culpability in Sophia's death, now that Belle has laid out the forensic evidence. Two-thirds of you said no — Sophia engineered her own downfall, Holly tried to make amends, and the facts speak for themselves. About a quarter chose "it's complicated," drawing the line between moral responsibility and legal culpability. Only a handful said Holly is partly to blame.

But one reader who voted no offered a take worth sharing: "The things Holly said on the social media thread were very unkind and hurtful. I will give her grace because she was just in the moment and spurred on by all the other hateful comments. But who amongst us HASN'T lashed out in anger, only to regret it later?" That same reader added something about Amy: "Amy desperately needs to make sense of Sophia's supposed suicide and she is desperately trying to pin the blame on anyone but Sophia. I get it. As a mom I can't begin to understand how that feels. I was a little annoyed with Amy today, but I'm still so impressed with Shi Ne Nielson's performance. Kudos to her!"

Lexie asked Abe to go no-contact with Paulina. Not just "give me some space" but don't call her, don't reach out, let her figure it out on her own. After 14 years apart, is that a fair ask?

Please click below to participate in today's poll. The results will be shared in the next edition of The Salem Dispatch.

Any other Days thoughts you want to share? Hit reply — I read every response.

Cat's mother is Katarina. Clyde brainwashed her during his reign of terror against the Greene family, and the damage has left her barely able to communicate. Cat and Mark are now desperate to find a way to help her, which is why Cat ended up asking EJ for access to the resurrection drug

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