As Just About All of Salem Realizes Something Bad Likely Happened to Gwen, EJ’s Drug Cover-Up Is Rapidly Unraveling

Xander and Sarah are getting the day started at the mansion, taking some time to gush over Victoria. But it doesn’t take long for Sarah to get a text from Maggie, who has to stay longer with Melissa, since she just had a setback. Maggie, it sounds like, doesn’t know that Titan’s ready to collapse, and both Sarah and Xander think it’s for the best right now.

Sarah frets some more about Holly and the pills. She wants to believe her niece, but the pills! How did she get the pills?! Xander’s still sure that EJ’s involved… somehow. And that may be, but Sarah’s worried about Xander going up against EJ. She doesn’t want him getting hurt.

Will Leo Avenge Gwen?

Leo’s back at Gwen’s door, trying to get hold of her. Since he can’t, he starts thinking, “Hmmm, maybe it’s time to grab Gwen’s letter and out EJ!” Eventually, he gets into the room when housekeeping does and sees she hasn’t been in her bed. Sure, it hasn’t even been 24 hours, but this is clearly an emergency, so he finds Gwen’s lawyer’s card and heads out into the square!

Luckily, he runs into Cat and launches right into Gwen and her dirt on EJ. She hasn’t been missing for 10 days yet like Gwen wanted him to wait before outing EJ, but he’s decided this is the time to move! That is, unless Cat can help him… Since she may or may not be ISA. But Cat doesn’t promise anything other than to not tell EJ.

Have Steve and Brady Figured Out the Coriseal?

Kayla and Steve talk over Gwen’s silence at breakfast in the Pub, so he figures he might check to see what Shane can find. Then Brady shows up and Steve hits him with EJ news: He visited pharmacies who do business with DiMera and learned the company cut off their Coriseal two years ago, around the time of the deaths. DiMera probably cranked out “a bad bunch of pills, got rid of them and buried the evidence as best they could.” (You don’t say!)

Sarah finally gets to work with Kayla, with the fellas right on her heels with the Coriseal news. They lay out their evidence and their theory, so the docs start working through possibilities of how Holly’s tied in. As Steve points out, the most likely thing seems to be the well and EJ! Sarah and Brady reconvene, finally accepting that they may have been too quick to turn against Holly. (Yes. Yes you were.)

Does EJ Feel Bad At All?

Johnny bursts into the mansion and lights right into EJ about Holly. EJ doesn’t deny planting the drugs, but he had to protect DiMera. The company and the family. Johnny is LIVID, but EJ puts it simply: It’s this or the family — including Chanel and their kids — loses everything. Johnny takes a breath. He understands his dad’s goals, but his methods suck. But he’s got no choice but to go with it. (Or not. But you do you.)

Afterwards, EJ seems to feel bad enough to pay Melinda a visit and tell her to drop Amy’s case against Holly or he’ll file a counter claim against Sophia trying to murder Johnny, and place Sophia’s death at her mother’s feet. Parental negligence is so ugly.

Luckily for Melinda, Leo puts a stop to their little tête-à-tête. EJ dashes off in disgust, so Leo asks about Gwen’s lawyer. (He’s a part of Melinda’s practice.) But since he’s on vacation, Leo needs Melinda’s help in taking EJ down, which is perfect timing! Since EJ just threatened her, Melinda’s all in! She goes through CJ’s files and finds a folder for Leo Stark.

Will Johnny Come Clean?

Johnny’s kicking chairs in his office when Xander arrives. He knows Johnny lied to Steve and Brady about the missing DiMera Pharmaceutical drugs. And he needs Johnny’s help for Holly’s sake. Xander believes Holly’s telling the truth about the pills. Help. Her.

But then Xander starts flashing back to the day he brought Holly her bag. EJ was there. Xander showed Sarah a video. The bag was left. And… “Oh my God, the bag!” He rushes out the door and hallelujah! Finally!

In the Show’s Final Moments

Steve gets a text from Shane saying that Gwen’s phone’s been deactivated. Time for the Salem PD to run a wellness check.

Melinda opens the letter, but it’s blank. At that very moment, Cat’s on her computer, having downloaded and deleted the file. “Oh, EJ,” she sighs. “What have you done now?” What EJ’s done is talk to Stefano’s photo as he flashes back to all of his misdeeds lately before stopping himself and calling Rita. Time for Kristen to disappear.