Philip Questions His Mom About EJ’s Shooting, as the Kiriakis Men Take the Attempted Murder As a Sign to Strike

At home, Tate sits down heavily, looks worried and tries texting Holly, asking to talk. Sophia shows up at his door with the news that EJ was shot last night. “Are you serious?!” She assures him everyone else — including his little sister — is OK.

Tate runs through all the connections EJ has to people in his life, worrying about Rachel, Johnny and even Holly. Sophia says this could be the answer to their prayers. Excuse me? Tate’s a bit taken aback.

Sophia explains she’s not happy about it, but now that EJ’s out of the picture… Maybe her mom will let Johnny and Chanel adopt. This pregnancy has caused them all enough problems, including with him and Holly. Well, he says, Holly broke up with him, so that’s no longer a problem.

Sophia talks with him about it a bit, then says Holly will come around. They’ve had issues before. Yeah, Tate admits, this was just one too many. Thanks to Doug.

Sophia calls her mom and learns she’s willing to reopen the adoption discussion. Tate wants to go check in on Holly before they meet with Amy, which annoys Sophia. He leaves her alone. In his home.

Holly Hides Doug In Her Room

Holly, still in bed, gets Tate’s text. Before she can text back, Doug pops up from the floor, in his underwear, and stretches. “Mornin’.” They check in with each other and Doug thanks her, but isn’t sure he should stay. Holly says she’ll handle Grandma Maggie, and Tate’s not her problem anymore. They broke up.

She gets a shower, after which Doug asks what happened between her and Tate. She lays out their fate and Doug realizes he’s the reason they broke up. Holly denies that, saying there were a lot of reasons and there was no getting past the pregnancy.

Doug’s still sorry. “Are you really?” She knows he wanted more, so he’s got to be at least a little happy. Before he can say anything, she gets an alert on her phone and sees EJ was shot.

It’s fine — former stepdad or not — but she’s shocked. She’ll check in with Johnny later. She goes to get breakfast, suggesting he hide in here for a while. She leaves, he looks at the photo of Tate and Holly and slowly smiles.

Philip and Kate Get Real About EJ

Kate’s reading her tablet, completely distracted as Philip excitedly sits down to tell her that Alex agreed to go along with the lie. She hears nothing, hands him her tablet, and Philip reads a story on The Spectator: “Who Shot EJ?”

Philip’s surprised, and Kate tells him no one knows who did it, but it’s a shame they didn’t kill him. “Mom, did you do this? Did you shoot EJ?” Kate scoffs and yells at her son for accusing her of murder.

No, she did not shoot him. But, Philip points out, Kate’s capable of it. He brings up Vivian (who we’re seeing later in the week), and Kate claims shooting her was an accident. So Philip points out she’s tried to kill Chloe, Sami and Victor… It’s not far-fetched for him to think she shot EJ.

She again says she didn’t do it, and Philip accepts it. But he’s gotta run. He and Xander have a lot to talk about with this news. He heads out, leaving Kate to stare at the article again. “Yes, EJ. You finally got what was coming to you.”

Stephanie and Alex Talk About Philip

Stephanie brings pastry and coffee for a still sleeping Alex from Sweet Bits. Then Sarah pops out of the covers and Stephanie sits up in bed, panicking. It’s just her and Alex, and he asks what her bad dream was about.

He figures it’s a sex dream and teases her that it was with Philip. “No! It was you and Sarah!” He teases her a bit, and Stephanie admits she’s been obsessing about her and Sarah’s secret. Alex gets it, especially now that he’s been roped into it. So why go along with it?

It would turn Titan upside down, but he knows what it’s like to be duped. It also injures his male pride that his cousin thinks he’s a “chump who can’t keep my woman satisfied.” That gets Stephanie going and then they go at it. Afterwards, he asks if he’s better than Philip. “Wow. Wow!” She won’t answer until Alex teases some more, then says he’s better. “Happy?”

They get dressed and head out to their respective works — with Alex meeting with his cousins. Stephanie asks if he’s decided what to do. He’s not sure, but is leaning towards the truth. Steph reminds him what’s at stake but says the decision is his. She’ll stand by him.

Sarah Lies to Xander Yet Again

Xander finishes his workout and starts lovin’ on Sarah, saying he had to workout longer to work off the stress from the Alex/Stephanie/Philip fallout. He doesn’t know how Alex can move past that and doesn’t want anything messing up their DiMera plans.

Sarah tells him for the thousandth time that she needs to tell him something, and once again, after several flashbacks, chickens out, saying she knew about the affair. She was faking her surprise when Xander told her about their affair. Stephanie told her.

She needed a confidante and Sarah was there. She didn’t tell Xander because she didn’t want to betray Stephanie. It wasn’t her secret to tell. That’s why she wanted Xander to drop it. She wanted to protect her friend. “I am so sorry that I lied to you.”

Xander scowls, then says of course he can forgive her, how could she think otherwise? Don’t be daft! This hardly compares to his own secrets. “You’re completely forgiven,” he grins, hugging a very uncomfortable Sarah to him.

Philip gets home as Sarah and Xander hug, and Xander wants to make sure his brother is done with Stephanie for good. Yuppers. Sarah heads out to the hospital, and Philip tells Xander the big news. “EJ DiMera has been shot. Which means things just went from bad to worse for the DiMeras.”

In the Show’s Final Moments

Holly tries calling her mom in the square, and leaves a message saying it’s about EJ. She runs into Sophia, who says she heard about the breakup. “Tate feels just awful.” That’s why he went to her house. Holly’s horrified.

Back at the house, meanwhile, Doug is getting dressed when Tate knocks on her bedroom door and barges in, seeing Doug in his underwear.

Stephanie gets to the hospital and Sarah pulls her aside to thank her for getting Alex to go along with the lie. It’s not over yet, Steph warns her.

Alex shows up as Xander’s marveling over EJ getting what was coming to him. Xander tries brokering peace, but Alex says it’s fine. He and Philip came to an understanding. Great! Xander shows Alex the article and says this is the time for them to strike. Alex looks uncertain.

Kate checks her phone, shrugs and puts it away. Then she looks at the gun in her purse.