HOLLYWOOD—There were no plans to chat about “Days of Our Lives” this week, but how could I not after the cliffhanger of a bombshell on New Year’s Eve. The kooky and villainous Vivian Alamian crashed Chad and Abigail’s New Year’s Eve bash causing Kate Roberts to immediately clamor in disgust. It was the bomb that she dropped that left everyone shook with the revelation of her son Stefan (Tyler Christopher), who just happens to be a DiMera people. Man, how many secret children does Stefano DiMera have that we don’t know about?

I mean we have Andre, Chad, EJ, Kristen, Lexi and now Stefan, that’s a total of 6 people. I hope there aren’t any more kids out there. The news left Chad and Andre shocked that they weren’t aware of another sibling, but I find it hard to believe that Vivian is his mother. I just don’t see Stefano hooking up with Viv, unless it happened during a drunken stupor. However, this will indeed change the dynamics of the DiMera clan as it becomes clear that Stefan may have been the culprit in the corporate sabotage taking place at DiMera Enterprises that Kate had Theo investigating.

The one thing I can say is that Christopher absolutely oozes a level of villainy with this character. Out of all of Stefano’s children, he is the one that seems to be a cookie cutter image of his father with a level of arrogance and bravado none of the others emit from their personalities, and could really deliver the villain that Salem has been waiting for. I mean every good soap opera needs a villain, one who instills fear and dread in its citizens. Salem has been missing that for quite some time, so it’s a welcome change. I believe Stefan and Vivian’s arrival leads to the epic MURDER that is set to shake Salem yet again. More on this later.

I really want to like this new Ciara character, but gosh this girl is a hot mess and not in a good way. I feel like the writers are trying way too hard to make this character stand out and as a result she is becoming a complete annoyance. The one thing that could save this character is how her knowledge of Rafe and Sami’s secret plays out. Only time will tell, but Rafe will be on high alert when it realizes is love life could explode because of what Ciara knows. This brings me back to the tale of Will, Paul and Sonny.

Will was willing to give Sonny a shot, but it appears the chemistry just isn’t there; as a result Will didn’t share just one kiss with Paul, but another on New Year’s Eve. Looks like history is about to repeat itself yet again with Will and Paul. Victor warned Sonny, and it looks like he was right all along. Looks like Will is about to deliver a devastating blow for Sonny that he never saw coming. Now let’s get back to that big murder that is being teased for 2018 in Salem. There are plenty of rumors swirling that seem to pinpoint several well-known Salem faves could meet the Grim Reaper, however, I suspect I may know who the victim is.

I think its Kate Roberts. I’ll tell you why, think about all the chaos she caused by having Theo snoop in DiMera Enterprises. It led to Theo being shot, it led to rifts between Abe and Jennifer, Hope losing her job at the station, but regaining it, J.J. on a downward spiral on the verge of committing suicide, and rifts between Chad, Abigail and Andre. Not to mention Kate blackmailed Steve’s son Tripp, and put Kayla’s job in a bind. So what am I getting at? Kate has made plenty of enemies, so to see her bite the dust would 1) Be a major surprise 2) Deliver a list of suspects where everyone has a motive 3) Coincides perfectly with the unexpected return of Vivian and her new pal Stefan.

Just saying Kate Roberts is looking like a juicy target people, and if it’s not Kate, I’m hoping it is indeed a resident who has a notable presence. In other words, I don’t want to see someone knocked off for the sake of giving them a presence that hasn’t been felt in quite some time. That happens very often in the soap opera world. However, as I’ve said it before and I will say it again, “Days of Our Lives” is the only soap willing to venture into the world of death or murder when it comes to creating a storyline. I mean I can’t recall the last time “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “General Hospital” or “The Young and the Restless” had a murder mystery where notable faves were in danger. More kudos to you “Days of Our Lives” for not being afraid to push the envelope, 2017 was fun, but 2018 looks like it’s going to be epic!