This is where we disagree: while by NO MEANS do I consider the current writing for these characters to the best I've ever seen on Days, or beyond criticism, I also don't think that they are being completely written out of character. One of the first complaints that came up was that Rafe was out of character because he would NEVER cover up Hope killing Stefano, NOT TRUE, Rafe has pretty much specialized in helping the women in his life cover up their crimes.
Now I'm seeing posts insinuating that Rafe is being a hypocrite, by not understanding Aiden's plight because Rafe had also been kidnapped by Stefano. ??????? These were completely different situations. Aiden was not kidnapped for disobeying or crossing the DiMeras. He'd complied with everything they'd asked him to do (yes under the threat of Chase's life, but if he'd simply trusted Hope with the truth instead of going as far as he did with their plan, we'd have no reason to question his current motives). As it is we the audience got NO signal that he was not going to completely follow up on his mission, and he's still lying. He was kidnapped because they didn't trust him.
Rafe's was kidnapped because he was in their way and EJ saw him as a threat to what he wanted. Unlike Aiden, Rafe NEVER made any deals with DiMeras. Why is Rafe skeptical of Aiden's motives??? In my opinion he has good reason to be. The man is lying! Does Rafe know that Aiden is lying? No (not yet), but if you go back and watch early Rafe, his biggest superpower, was his skepticism and his built in lie detector. Its why he knew exactly who Sami was within 5 minutes of meeting her. Initially that ability went a lot further than Sami, its how he knew something was up with Nicole (the baby swap) after Grace died. Its why he also knew something was up with EJ after Sydney was returned. While the past few writing regimes have completely ignored this ability, I'm hoping that Denna Higley, who was head writer during those story lines, has brought it back.
I still don't get the uproar over the differences in ages. We've never known exactly how old Rafe is, people assumed that he and Sami are close in age, but it was never specified. Heck, Will was technically older than EJ, and even if Rafe is significantly younger than Hope, SO WHAT?? Doug married his girlfriend's mother, Julie married her stepfather and became her sister's stepmother. I've also seen complaints about not acknowledging that Sami is Hope's niece, so what?
Lastly, I'm not seeing Hope as a weak woman, I'm seeing her as a woman that suffered insurmountable loss within a short amount of time and lost her way under a great deal of pressure. Within that space of time she turned to someone that she'd known for years, had become her best friend and a major source of support. Now she recognizes that the relationship could become more. I don't expect that everyone will see what I've seen, or accept the relationship, but in my opinion the overall story is just fine and that actors are doing a good job at selling it.
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