Days of Our Lives : Leo Stark (Greg Rikaart) claims he’s changed his ways, but has he really? Let’s dive into Greg Rikaart’s character and the sins of his past that are now being dredged up.
The Evolution of Leo Stark: From Salem Schemer to Soul-Seeking Citizen
So, love him or hate him, you have to admit that Leo has made his mark on Salem since he first appeared in 2018. If you didn’t know before then, Greg Rikaart was on The Young and the Restless off and on for a few decades, playing Kevin Fiser, where he was also a crooked schemer. And he was great. I like Leo more than Kevin. I’ll say I like him more somedays.
Then, in 2018, Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel) hired Leo to seduce Sonny Kiriakis (Zach Tinker) and cause a major scandal. Leo’s antics forced Sonny out of his position as CEO of Titan Industries. Since then, Leo has done so many terrible things to the people of Salem. Yet, at the same time, he has always been witty, entertaining, personable, and funny. Even when he was doing dastardly things to Sonny, Will Horton (Chandler Massey), and so many others on Days of Our Lives .
Days of Our Lives: Leo’s Horrible Past
And I will say in the past, I don’t know, year and a half or so, we’ve seen Leo do some soul searching and trying to be a better person. What he did to Sonny and Will was horrible. And then what he did to his best friend Gwen Rizczech (Emily O’Brien) by beating up her husband Dimitri von Leuschner DiMera (Peter Porte) was, to me, worse in a lot of ways.
Because Leo and Gwen had been best friends for years. Whereas when Leo was targeting Sonny and Will, he was hired to do it and they were just weird, instead of, you know, doing horrible things and violating their best friend’s trust.
But Leo was too hot for her hot husband Dimitri. And then Leo just threw away that friendship. He just screwed up everywhere. And Gwen’s return is bringing up a lot of his past sins now. Javi Hernandez is discovering things about Leo that he never knew and that he definitely doesn’t like hearing about his boyfriend.
Lady Whistleblower and a Seismic Shift: Has Leo Stark Really Changed?
With Lady Whistleblower in the rearview mirror. You know, I was sensing that Leo had truly changed his sneaky, conniving ways. But we have a question about Gwen’s return. Has he really? You know, there was a particular seismic shift in the past, I don’t know, maybe six months or so. He convinced Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn) to let him switch from Gossip Girl to a serious investigative reporter in the audience. And for the most part, again, in the last six months, Leo has been a model citizen of Salem.
Eu direi que ele ajudando a cerca do colar da família Horton que Doug Williams (Bill Hayes) roubou foi a coisa mais idiota que Leo fez há algum tempo. Mas quando ele fez isso, ele não tinha todas as informações. E, recentemente, ele escreveu aquele artigo/Obviário muito atencioso sobre John Black (Drake Hogestyn) quando ele faleceu. Não apenas isso, mas Leo fez o trabalho.
Ele fez muita auto-reflexão. Ele entrou em aconselhamento com a Dra. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall). Isso veio depois que ele recebeu a querida carta de John de Dimitri quando ele estava na prisão porque Dimitri conseguiu um romance da prisão e despejado Leo.
Mas, de acordo com seu terapeuta Marlena, ela definitivamente sente que Leo fez um progresso significativo no abordamento de suas inseguranças e traumas. Mas ele realmente mudou para melhor? Ou ele é apenas o mesmo leão velho, mas talvez apenas um pouco mais consciente para manter o mal escondido por dentro? Essa é uma boa pergunta.
Influência de Javi e aviso de Gwen: descompactar a bagagem emocional de Leo
Eu acho que Cutie Javi tem sido uma influência muito boa sobre Leo. E agora aqueles dois, juntamente com Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering), estão promovendo o filho de Sophia e Tate, que eles nomearam Tasto. Mas com a recente chegada de Gwen de volta a Salem, Leo, é claro, está pensando em seu passado perverso. Gwen até avisou Javi que estava cometendo um erro ao se envolver com alguém como Leo.
Agora, todos vimos Javi ficar um pouco abalado pelo que a sra. Von Leuschner disse sobre Leo. E há coisas que ele reteve de Javi, mas ele compartilhou alguns dos pecados de seu passado, mas não todos eles. Francamente, há muito. E graças a Gwen, vimos Leo sendo forçado a se limpar a Javi em ainda mais coisas. Ele teve que desempacotar mais bagagem emocional para o namorado, Javi. Felizmente, Javi ainda ama Leo.
Dias de nossas vidas: Javi ama Leo
Ele simplesmente não gosta das coisas que fez em seu passado. Mas Javi ficou particularmente chocado ao saber que Leo era tão desleal para a pessoa que já foi seu melhor amigo. Se você pode trair seu melhor amigo assim, provavelmente pode trair seu namorado assim, você sabe. Então, quando a ex -melhor amiga de Leo, Gwen, acabou de deitar em Leo em frente a Javi, realmente tudo o que Leo poderia fazer era pedir desculpas e dizer que ele aprendeu sua lição.
Mas agora toda essa provação está fazendo de Leo segundo palpita se ele é digno de ser a lama do bebê adotivo, tio gay, a propósito, se você não sabia a palavra. Mas você sabe, vimos o lado mais suave de Leo. Ele e Javi estão cuidando do menino? E seu namorado até disse que achava que Leo faria um bom pai algum dia.
Redenção e perdão: Leo Stark pode convencer Salem e os espectadores?
And when Will was in town for John’s funeral, Leo made an effort to clear the air with him. He can’t undo what he did, but he acknowledged how wrong he was for what he did to Will and Sonny. And, of course, we know that many of Leo’s issues lie with his evil mother, Diana Colville (Judith Chapman), and his abusive father as well.
It’s hard to be a good partner and father when you don’t have a good role model growing up, right? If you remember, Leo was so excited when Diana told him John was his father. You know, Leo thought he finally had a positive male role model in his life. And John was ready to embrace the role of daddy, but then Diana revealed she’d lied and crushed her son once again.
Days of Our Lives: Leo Stark’s Dark Move
And even though Leo helped secure Julie’s necklace, he was trying to help poor, broken Doug. And now Leo is trying to help get the necklace back. So, the results, which I don’t think Leo wants to be bad. He just wasn’t raised right. He didn’t know any better and got involved in nefarious schemes that were actually orchestrated by others. But perhaps now Javi’s love can help save Leo from his darker impulses.
He seems to be doing well, but Gwen’s return could cause problems because it makes Leo think about how truly awful he’s been in the past, just as Will’s return did. But Will came and went, and Gwen will stick around. So she’ll be a constant reminder of Leo’s poor past life choices and betrayals. However, if Leo and Gwen forgive him, it would help everyone move forward.
Days of Our Lives: Leo’s Big Comeback Convinces Others
So, I mean, even Gabi Hernandez (Camila Banus), who hated him for a long time because of Will and Sonny, told Ari that she initially didn’t want Leo to move in, but he’s been great. And she knows Javi really loves him, so she’s softening.
Chad has softened. He’s getting along with Leo, despite stealing Abigail Deveaux’s (Annalynne McCord) jewelry the day she was murdered. So maybe Leo has a chance to get on the right path in life and convince Gwen that he’s truly changed. And then, you know, maybe he’ll convince us viewers that he’s truly changed, too.
