Here is your Days of our Lives recap for Thursday, March 19, 2026, when Shawn, Liam, and JJ were involved in a shootout and trouble brewed in Alamainia.
What happened on Days of our Lives
Abe was thrilled to see JJ walk into the Brady Pub and greeted the younger man with a big bear hug. Abe was there waiting for Paulina and JJ returned because he had left his credit card when he was there earlier. Abe told JJ that he was glad he had worked things out with Theo. “I am beyond grateful that Theo and I are friends again. His forgiveness and his friendship have changed the way I’ve seen things,” JJ said.
Abe relayed that Theo felt the same way as JJ and was grateful for his renewed friendship with the young cop. Abe and JJ continued with their mutual admiration society words until they heard Liam talking to his son on the phone, telling him he was on his way home.
Abe asked if Liam had spoken to Theo. Liam said that he had and apologized for helping the DiMera kidnappers. After Liam left, Shawn showed up, so Roman offered him a St. Patrick’s Day meal. Before he could serve them, Shawn received an alert that Vivian’s goon, Klaus, had been spotted. JJ and Shawn took off to find him.
Abe remained at his table until Paulina arrived and told him about her day with EJ. “He weasled his way out of police custody, even though he is as guilty as hell,” she said. Roman asked Abe and Paulina what EJ might be plotting this time, considering the presence of an empty pod. “I have no earthly idea,” Paulina lied.
When Roman delivered Paulina’s food, she asked him to take it away because her stomach didn’t feel right. Abe was concerned and asked Paulina if she was coming down with something. Paulina just claimed she had a lot on her mind and was stressed. She told Abe that as long as they were together, everything would be fine.
Paulina apologized to Roman for sending the food back and excused herself from the table. Abe admitted that he was quite worried about his wife. “Paulina’s just not herself lately. Something’s going on and I have to find out what,” Abe said.
In the park, Klaus approached a frightened Liam, who warned Klaus that the entire Salem PD was out looking for him. Klaus then pointed his gun at a terrified Liam. “You really think you would rat us out and live?” Klaus asked, as Liam begged the goon not to kill him.
As Klaus readied to pull the trigger, JJ showed up and pointed his gun. Klaus shot anyway, with the bullet hitting Liam’s arm. Liam ran while JJ had his gun trained on Klaus. JJ stared Klaus down while remembering the last time he shot a gun, which was when he shot Theo several years ago.
That’s when Shawn showed up and stepped in front of both guns. Klaus and Shawn both pulled their respective triggers at the same time, and both men fell to the ground. JJ called for help as Shawn lost consciousness.
As for Liam, he ran through Horton Town Square, smack dab into Arianna. She touched his arm and noticed the blood. She promised not to call the cops, but she insisted he come with her.
In Alamainia, Dimitri was stunned to learn that Andrew and the ISA believed he had kidnapped Vivian and Ivan. Andrew reminded an outraged Leo that Dimitri had joined the ISA under a false name just so he could skirt the law and get a hold of a treasured family heirloom. Andrew didn’t care if it was years ago. “That’s how long I’ve been waiting to nail your ass to the wall,” Andrew said.
After Leo made a few amusing remarks, Dimitri had a mea culpa moment. “Look, it was wrong for me to have you kidnapped…and try to kill you,” he said, sheepishly. Andrew brought the conversation back to Vivian and Ivan, so Leo spoke up and told him that they never showed up at Stefan’s grave earlier.
“I was keeping a lookout so Dimitri could snoop around the Alamian estate,” Leo said, putting the focus back on Dimitri as a suspect. Leo realized he had said the wrong thing. However, it did not stop him from saying more. “Besides, we didn’t want them dead. They wanted us dead. Tell him about the poison tea,” he said, as Dimitri tried to stop him.
“Now I know that you had a motive to get Vivian and Ivan out of the way, didn’t you?” Andrew sneered. A frustrated Dimitri continued to defend himself, claiming Vivian or Gwen had clearly just hired someone to try to take out him and Leo. “Vivian and Gwen know I’m trying to prove my innocence. Maybe that’s why they’re trying so hard to get rid of me,” Dimitri said.
It soon became clear to Dimitri that Leo was acting more bizarre than usual, so he checked his eyes and noticed issues with his pupils. Andrew noticed the same and worried that Leo had a real head injury. Leo proved that theory by nearly passing out.
Dimitri convinced Andrew to take Leo back to the U.S. for medical care, but swore he wasn’t guilty of anything. “Just of breaking Javi’s heart,” Leo said as he bounced in and out of consciousness.
At the Alamain estate cemetery, a mysterious figure placed flowers by a grave with the name Vivian Alamain.
In the DiMera living room, Gwen read a new story about EJ’s arrest. She was surprised when EJ suddenly appeared. She was relieved that Belle couldn’t make the charges stick. Gwen was also in a panic, knowing the press was reporting on the secret hospital lab.
EJ assured Gwen that Rolf had moved Lexie to a safe place and that he wasn’t involved in Stephanie’s kidnapping. Owen had acted alone. EJ was ready to move forward with their project as planned, but Gwen wasn’t so sure that would happen. An alarmed EJ wanted to know why.
Gwen confessed that everything was going wrong in Alamainia. The ISA was searching the house where she had Dimitri held hostage. “Someone on the staff broke their NDA and admitted that Dimitri was there and not with Vivian and now Elsa is not even answering her bloody phone,” Gwen lamented.
EJ was ready to lose his temper. “I told you this foolproof plan of yours would bloody backfire,” EJ shouted. He warned Gwen that the Dimitri plot could never get back to him. “So if you know what’s good for you, you will make damn sure that the investigation stops at you and the connection goes no further than here,” he seethed.
Gwen and EJ continued to argue back and forth about who screwed up more. Gwen thought EJ should just be grateful that her money had bankrolled the latest DiMera back-from-the-dead project. He was furious she had brought Dimitri back. “You risked the power of harnessing immortality because you wanted to ruin a bloody wedding,” EJ said.
EJ continued to spin out in the middle of his living room, going over everything that had gone wrong over the last few months. Gwen worried that Vivian would come after her. That was when EJ told her, “Vivian Alamain will no longer be a problem.” He insinuated that he may have killed her, but then his phone rang and he told Gwen he needed to take the call in private.
After Gwen left the room, EJ answered Paulina’s call and assured her that Lexie was fine. “My sister has been taken to a safe place and is being very well taken care of,” he said.
Later, EJ visited Lexie in another secret medical facility. She was no longer in a pod, but instead she was lying in a bed wearing silk pajamas, hooked up to machines. “Rolf is taking good care of you. He says you’ll be waking up very soon and that will make so many people happy…and so many people rich,” EJ said.
Catch all-new episodes of Days of our Lives weekdays on Peacock.
Edited by Hope Campbell