Since November, Days of Our Lives’s Arianne Zucker has been knocking it out of the park as an aggrieved mother who believes her baby died soon after birth. Her heartbreak and despair have tugged at our heartstrings for months as Nicole has struggled to accept the (false) reality that her infant son is gone.
Now, Nicole also has to deal with the possibility of losing her teenage daughter. Zucker’s portrayal as a mother whose life keeps taking hit after hit has earned her a spot as Daily Drama’s Performer of the Week for January 8-12.
Nicole Tends To Holly
It was with nervousness and purpose that Nicole did everything she could to make a comatose Holly (Ashley Puzemis) comfortable after a drug overdose on New Year’s Eve. She did her best to keep it together when Holly’s grandmother Maggie (Suzanne Rogers) stopped by, but Zucker made us feel Nicole’s pain and trepidation through her weak smiles.
Nicole understandably didn’t want to leave Holly’s side for even a minute, but finally, EJ (Daniel Feuerriegel) convinced her to go home, rest, and change. When she got there, her pain was palpable as she talked about losing faith in God and feeling like she was somehow being punished with so much unbearable loss in her life.
Zucker brought Nicole’s sense of defeat to the surface as she sat in a chair and seemed ready to just throw up her arms and wait to see what more troubles life could throw at her. By the time Brady (Eric Martsolf) arrived at the door, she tried to be calm, but it wasn’t easy.
Nicole’s Sadness Turns To Rage
As Brady asked Nicole if she could convince EJ to be more lenient on his teenage son Tate (Jamie Martin Mann), who EJ believed gave Holly the drugs, Nicole wondered if Brady believed his son or her husband. As Brady uncomfortably brought up the fact that Holly has had a hard life, Nicole immediately snapped as she realized Brady thought the drugs were Holly’s, which they were.
In her rage, she demanded that Brady leave but once alone with EJ, Nicole wondered if he was right. Was Holly doing drugs as a habit and did she neglect Holly and miss all the signs? EJ gave his wife permission to cry, but she rightly pointed out that she’d been crying for months. So, this time, he told her to scream.
Zucker then took all of Nicole’s pent-up rage and sadness and let it all out in a gut-wrenching primal scream that brought us to tears. With Holly not out of the woods yet and Baby Jude’s true identity not revealed, we know there are many incredible performances from Zucker to come.
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