It is official.
The Allie rape story has grow to be a cartoonish mess that does real-life rape survivors no favors in any respect.
On Days of Our Lives throughout the week of 11-30-20, Allie went manner too far in an try and get revenge on her alleged rapist, and it made a mockery of her total plight.
This story might have been so highly effective. It had all the weather of an incredible, soapy story that might have made a critical level about rape.
The circumstances of the rape made it a tough case to prosecute, and Allie’s torment over not getting justice was legit.
So was Kayla’s anger over having to share residing house with a stepson that she believed raped her niece and her problem separating what occurred to Allie from her personal emotions about what was carried out to her 30+ years in the past.
However then Days of Our Lives went fully off the rails by specializing in Tripp being falsely accused of the rape whereas Allie’s ache was largely an afterthought. And to make issues worse, the writers wrote a really stereotypical kind of rape whereas ignoring the truth that Allie was too drunk to have the ability to consent within the first place.
That every one got here to a head with Allie’s rushed and ridiculous choice to confront Tripp with a gun.
To be clear, the premise itself wasn’t essentially horrible.
When Sami did it years in the past, it made sense as a result of she’d been screwed over by the justice system in addition to violated by her rapist, and she or he took the one motion she might consider to assist herself really feel protected once more.
And an early episode of Law & Order: SVU featured a girl capturing and killing her rapist after the system failed her whereas nonetheless taking the crime of rape severely.
However the best way this explicit story was dealt with was terrible. It perpetuated the indignant girl goes loopy stereotype, got here out of nowhere and featured Allie making an attempt to pressure an harmless man to assert he raped her.
Tripp made up a narrative about having consensual intercourse as a result of Allie and her gun scared him; each of them ignored the truth that Allie couldn’t consent to intercourse whereas drunk out of her thoughts anyway, and Allie conflated Tripp denying he was the rapist with Tripp denying that Allie was raped in any respect.
And if that wasn’t dangerous sufficient, Ava derisively advised Kristen (who for some cause has full entry to a pc with an Web connection in a jail visiting room!) that Allie was no sufferer as a result of she accused Tripp and referred to as her a liar to her face with out realizing a single element of the story.
Sheesh. Might the rape apologism on this storyline be any worse?
It was clear that we’re presupposed to agree with Ava that Tripp is the sufferer and Allie is the dangerous lady who accused him of one thing he did not do. And whereas Allie is flawed about who her rapist is, she nonetheless was raped, and that also ought to be taken severely.
One of many many causes this story fails is as a result of we have seen little to no of Allie’s trauma.
Her feelings are restricted to anger at Tripp and disappointment that he cannot be prosecuted.
She acts like nobody believes her as a result of she was a celebration lady, however that will be extra plausible if the story had been about questioning whether or not a sexual encounter was rape, not about questioning the identification of her rapist.
And once more, this story would even be simpler to take severely if somebody, anybody, acknowledged that intercourse with somebody so drunk they can not stroll is just not consensual.
As an alternative, somebody holding Allie down whereas she says No is rape, and somebody benefiting from her whereas blacked-out drunk is handled as consensual intercourse. Disgusting!
If Allie bought manner drunker than common after only one or two drinks, why has no person thought of the likelihood that somebody slipped her a date rape drug?
What it involves is that the writers placing phrases in Allie’s mouth about how a lot it hurts not to have the ability to show that Tripp raped her or that folks assume she deserved it as a result of she’s a celebration lady aren’t sufficient, not when the writing is filled with stereotypes, myths, and victim-shaming BS.
As soon as Ava disposed of Allie, the storyline shortly shifted to the query of whether or not Tripp would betray his mom’s confidence and inform anybody she was alive.
Mother? You may’t be right here. You are lifeless.
Tripp
It could have been good if that was a decrease precedence than Allie’s struggling, however nonetheless, I laughed at Tripp’s response to discovering Ava was alive.
I do not know why anybody is shocked when somebody reappears from the lifeless courtesy of Rolf. It occurs a number of instances a yr, and I would not be stunned if Rolf smuggled some resurrection serum into the jail if anybody will get killed in a yard combat.
Anyway, Tripp barely is aware of Ava, and it was ridiculous for her to assume he would maintain her secret. Plus, he was proper: Joey did not kill her, so he should not keep in jail for her homicide. (Tried homicide is one other story, however apparently no person considered that.)
When Ava’s true colours got here out, Tripp was repulsed, and fairly frankly, so was I.
Tripp: Joey is aware of what he did was flawed and he regrets it.
Ava: One factor you will find out about your mom is she’s extra of an Previous Testomony kind of gal. Joey deserves to rot in jail for what he tried to do to me.
We have had greater than sufficient revenge tales just lately, not even counting Allie.
Plus, Ava does not see the irony in her fixed makes an attempt to eliminate Kayla for “Steve’s personal good” after she misplaced Tripp as a result of her father drugged her and took the infant away for “Ava’s personal good.”
She did her good deed by getting the gun away from Allie. Now she will return to wherever she got here from, thanks very a lot.
A minimum of she and Steve got here nose to nose, making her demand that Tripp retains quiet about her resurrection roughly moot.
In the meantime, I wasn’t a lot happier with Kayla than I used to be with Allie.
As each a rape survivor and Allie’s aunt, it was greater than comprehensible that Kayla would have problem coping with the Tripp state of affairs.
However accused rapist or not, Tripp is Kayla’s stepson. Marrying Steve meant accepting Tripp into her household.
And whereas she does not must be buddy-buddy with an accused rapist, she will’t simply demand that Steve kick his son out of the home and count on that to resolve something.
Steve was proper that Kayla was placing him in a clumsy place, too.
How am I supposed to inform him that? “I am right here for you, son. Something you want. You have bought my full assist. However you may’t dwell right here.”
Steve
He cannot be 100% in Tripp’s nook and concurrently inform him to depart. Not solely does that put Tripp prone to deciding to dwell with Ava as a substitute, however it should destroy Steve’s relationship with Tripp.
The three of them ought to have sat down collectively and mentioned how tough this case was and made some selections as a household. And if Kayla was hellbent on kicking Tripp out, she and Steve ought to have a minimum of advised him this collectively.
Anticipating Steve to do all of the heavy lifting on this as a result of Tripp is his son wasn’t truthful, and it is solely going to trigger extra resentment between Steve and Kayla down the road.
Kayla’s calls for weren’t practically as obnoxious as Lani’s, although.
Lani does have the proper to resolve who she does and does not need by her aspect at her prenatal appointments and the supply room, however she was so rattling manipulative about it.
She did not appear to have any clue that she was conserving Eli from having something to do along with his unborn infants; she nonetheless acts like Kristen is her first precedence whereas denying that she’s extra in love along with her “greatest pal” than her husband, and she or he tried to guilt Eli out of standing as much as her nonsense.
Eli: Who’re you going to get to be your Lamaze coach at this late date?
Lani: I do not know. Not my dad, trigger he is in your aspect. And never my greatest pal, trigger she’s in jail due to you.
Eli: I AM SO DAMN TIRED OF YOU THROWING THAT BACK IN MY FACE!
Lani: I am eight months pregnant and also you’re yelling at me?
Fortunately, this time Eli did not fall for it.
I 100% supported his standing as much as Lani, telling her that he was not solely doing his job however conserving her silly ass out of jail, and informing her that he was not giving up his proper to be a father to her infants simply because she’d been throwing a tantrum for a few months.
I used to be simply dissatisfied that Eli did not ask for divorce himself as a substitute of claiming he’d be within the children’ lives if Lani selected to get one. There isn’t a cause for him to stick with somebody who does not love him, often excoriates him for doing his job, and is as abusive and manipulative as hell.
Eli deserves higher. Plus, subsequent time Lani throws this crap in his face, he ought to remind her that she was fortunate he took her again after she dumped him on the altar as a result of she was afraid to face as much as Gabi.
Talking of which, might Gabi please be part of Dario wherever it’s he wandered off to?
I do not thoughts Rafe returning, however one episode’s value of Gabi is greater than I can deal with.
She had some nerve anticipating Jake to attend round for her to point out again up after she dumped him in no unsure phrases and broke his coronary heart. It does not matter that she lied to guard him from some Mexican mob.
No person of their proper thoughts would need her again after the best way she handled Jake, and she or he must recover from herself and understand that.
Virtually as annoying: This Philip/Sarah/Xander factor.
Initially, pretending to be into somebody all the time blows up within the individual’s face. They all the time fall in love with their goal. At all times.
Whether or not it is conman Doug falling onerous for Julie, Brady falling for Eve, or Gabi falling for repulsive-to-her Stefan, relationships are borne out of spying grow to be the actual deal ultimately.
So Xander has good cause to be anxious, and it does not assist that he could not inform Maggie the reality. It doesn’t matter what she says, ultimately, she’s going to place her nostril into Sarah and Xander’s enterprise, after which what?
I do not care about Philip and Xander’s rivalry, and this Philip/Ava storyline is twisting Philip’s character out of form.
Plus, with Chloe again on the town, Philip will seemingly attempt to get along with her for the millionth time, after which what is going on to occur to Sarah’s plan?
I am thrilled Chloe is again, however at this level, Philip is bouncing from previous like to previous love, with a little bit flirting with Sarah to bother Xander thrown into the combination. He wants to seek out some which means in his current life as a substitute of holding onto each one of many loves that bought away.
I am extra within the Primary Black storyline, although Nicole is healthier suited to both counseling or investigative journalism than being the CEO of a trend firm.
Chloe: So we’re all going to be working collectively?
Nicole: It is a dream crew, do not you assume?
Brady: So long as you two do not gang up on me.
Chloe: Oh, we are going to. However you are man sufficient to deal with each of us.
All three of the individuals concerned have a wealthy, difficult historical past, all of them are actually single dad and mom, and the banter between them throughout their first assembly was a enjoyable diversion from the irritating Allie/Tripp/Ava stuff.
After all, Brady is simply as susceptible to rediscovering previous loves of his life as Philip is, so with Kristen in jail, it might be a matter of time earlier than Brady and Chloe give it one other strive. However for now, this storyline is entertaining, which is greater than I can say for among the different goings-on.
And at last, can we not have Charlie getting jealous of Claire’s relationship with Ben? Please?
That entire state of affairs might have been prevented if Claire had defined correctly the place her new necklace got here from. And she or he does not know Charlie that effectively and owes him no explanations.
Charlie’s jealousy makes me much more satisfied that he is the actual rapist, although. It could be predictable, although logical if Claire bought along with him solely to find that Tripp was telling the reality and her new boyfriend was the one who raped her cousin.
Your flip, Days of Our Lives fanatics!
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Jack Ori is a senior workers author for TV Fanatic. His debut younger grownup novel, Reinventing Hannah, is offered on Amazon. Observe him on Twitter.