Dr. Marlena Evans Black (Deidre Hall) attended the memorial service of the late Stefano DiMera on Days of our Lives last week and paid the supervillain a tribute that both honored their unique relationship and made it clear she was more than happy to abdicate her “reign” as Stefano’s “Queen of the Night.”
As veteran DAYS fans are well aware, Stefano (the late great Joseph Mascolo, who passed away in 2016) was obsessed with Marlena. Viewers needed a scorecard to keep up with the number of times he wanted to kidnap her, make her his mate, and messed with her family.
The Phoenix, as Stefano was known by, had a fascination with Marlena that was taken straight out of larger-than-life romance novels as evidenced by the flashback that showed the two dancing a waltz at a masked ball. (Ah, the days when soaps had those type of grand galas!)
Hall didn’t have Marlena shed a tear over Stefano as she said her final goodbye to him, but she did bring a great deal of emotional gravitas to the scene, given the couple’s complicated history.
“There are so many things I want to say to you,” began Marlena in a tone that could best be described as stoic. “Not just on my behalf, but on John’s [the late Drake Hogestyn].”
Hall had Marlena look away wistfully at she mentioned her late husband’s name. The psychiatrist honored the fact that John might never have entered her life had it not been for Stefano.
But that didn’t excuse Stefano for treating Marlena like an obsession. Putting on her therapist’s hat, Marlena theorized that she wasn’t ever truly Stefano’s main focus. She just represented what he had wanted her to be.
Stefano would have likely hated that Marlena chose to focus on her life with John in her final words to him, but that’s what she chose to do. “He gave me the courage to fight the very devil himself,” Marlena told Stefano.
Next, Marlena said that she hoped Stefano would “rest in peace,” only the tone Hall gave her character made it sound like what she was truly saying was she hoped that the Phoenix would “rot in hell.”
Marlena has a way of taking the high road with her words, but she also manages to get her point across.
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She told Stefano that she hoped that no one would ever have to see him again. “I’m not sure we’ll get that lucky,” Marlena added. “Lucky enough to have you gone forever.”
On that note, a wind blew into the room, blowing out the candles that were on the table with Stefano’s urn and photos.
The eerie moment wasn’t lost on Marlena, who turned her head to look at the Stefano’s portrait, which is hanging in the DiMera mansion living room.
It’s typical of Stefano to try to get the last word in, but that didn’t detract in the slightest from the powerful performance Hall gave as Marlena laid to rest the Phoenix.
Days of our Lives, Weekdays, Peacock
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