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Hearts Afire: John (Drake Hogestyn) and Marlena (Deidre Hall) both make romantic gestures on Valentine’s Day.
John surprises Marlena with a picnic in the park on Valentine’s Day, complete with champagne and strawberries.
“I think we do this very well,” says Deidre Hall (Marlena), referring to the many romantic moments she’s filmed with leading man Drake Hogestyn (John) over the decades. “I look forward to [these scenes]. It’s like that dance we’ve done for a hundred years… It’s so familiar and so warming to me.”
The setup is sweet and simple. “It’s more of a romantic walk in the woods,” explains Hall. “They come across a table with a picnic basket. Marlena says, ‘Oh look, somebody left that here.’ ” John reveals that he masterminded the intimate surprise. “Then they sit down to have a lovely romantic picnic.”
Alex and Theresa happen upon the couple, and since Marlena and John “have enough food, they invite them to join them,” continues Hall, who was happy to share the scenes with Robert Scott Wilson (Alex) and Emily O’Brien (Theresa). “The more people you add to a thing, the richer it gets. And there’s only so long, you can say, ‘I love you.’ ‘I love you, too.’ So it’s interesting for Alex and Theresa to be with us, to sit with us, to break bread with us, just to share that moment.’”
The young couple is enthralled when Marlena and John recall some of their wonderful moments together. “I think John and Marlena have replaced Tom and Alice in that role of the elder romantic statesmen in that it’s been a long-time, happy, successful marriage,” muses Hall. “They are the couple to look to, after Doug and Julie, to [ask], ‘How do you do it? How does it happen? What are you doing different than what we’re doing?’ They are the supercouple that you look up to.”
Meanwhile, viewers are treated to a series of “best of” John and Marlena flashbacks from their tenure on DAYS, including a scene from a hospital fundraiser in which John won a dance with Marlena. “It was brilliant and the most romantic moment,” reflects Hall. “It’s a hospital fundraiser, and they’re auctioning off all these different things. One of them is a dance with Dr. Marlena Evans, and the usual suspects kindly bid on it. They’re bidding in the set of low numbers, and then the voice from the side comes out and bids $100,000. Everybody gasps and turns, and it’s John. I’m not quite sure why, but [Marlena and John] hadn’t been together for a little while. So it’s a very romantic reunion moment.”
Back in the present, Marlena is appreciative of John’s romantic gesture and reciprocates with one of her own, presenting John with a gift: a key chain with “Going Home to Doc” engraved on it. “It’s very tender,” says Hall. “He’s always called her Doc, and going home to anybody sort of brings up a flood of, ‘Oh, going home…’ and what that means to each person hearing the phrase. So it’s both. It’s ‘Doc’, and it’s the phrase, ‘going home’ [that infuses the gift with sentimental significance].”
John, in turn, is “deeply touched” by Marlena’s present. “I mean, these two just speak to each other’s hearts,” notes Hall.
The couple’s celebration wraps with John asking Marlena to dance, as he takes her in his arms and holds her precious gift to his heart. “It’s an absolutely lovely Valentine’s Day,” sums up Hall, who believes viewers will be quite pleased. “They’ll be expecting something tender and sweet, and it is. It’s a lovely surprise. John’s gone to a lot of effort to make it happen. And, of course, we’ve got the reminiscent strawberries and some champagne.”
