The Days of Our Lives episode airing Monday, December 8, 2025, is not merely another chapter in Salem’s daily chaos — it is the explosive ignition point of multiple storylines that have been simmering beneath the surface for months. Disappearances, psychological warfare, family terror, and a sinister mastermind lurking in the shadows all collide in one of the most gripping Monday episodes of the year.

What begins as a hopeful evening turns into a nightmare that will go on to reshape Salem’s power dynamics, relationships, and the fates of several core families.

A Night of Hope Turns Into a Void: Jada Prepares for Her Second Date With Theo

The episode starts gently — deceptively so — with Jada Hunter preparing for her second date with Theo Carver. For Jada, this is more than a simple night out. It’s a step toward emotional healing after years of heartbreak, walls, and mistrust.

Theo is the first man in a long time who moves at her pace — patient, steady, intuitive. As she stands in front of the mirror, Jada allows herself a rare moment of softness, even anticipation.

But this is Salem… and Salem never lets hope breathe without danger closing in.

Jada glances at her phone.
No text.
No update.
No explanation.

At first, she laughs it off — Theo, thoughtful as he is, can be forgetful. Maybe he’s running late. Maybe trivia night started early. But as the minutes stretch into silence, her smile fades. Something is wrong.

And moments later, her instincts are confirmed in the most chilling way imaginable.

The Call Every Parent Fears: Abe Hears Theo Being Taken

Across town, Abe Carver answers his ringing phone, expecting a routine check-in.

Instead, he hears terror.

Heavy breathing.
A scuffle.
Footsteps scraping against pavement.
Theo gasping.
A muffled yell — cut off violently.

Then nothing.

The line doesn’t go dead.
It goes cold.

Abe’s horror is instant and visceral. His grip tightens on the phone as if holding it harder could somehow bring his son back. His voice cracks when he whispers, “Theo…”

Paulina rushes to him, recognizing the fear in his eyes before he can speak. She comforts him while trembling herself — because Abe knows Theo’s tone, his fear, his confusion. But what he heard was none of those things.

This was abduction.

Word spreads quickly, shaking Salem to its core.

Trivia Night Turns Into Terror: Gabi & Philip Realize the Unthinkable

At the Brady Pub, Gabi Hernandez and Philip Kiriakis are setting up for trivia night. Theo should have walked through the door by now. But as the minutes pile up, worry replaces annoyance.

They call.
No answer.
Then they hear about Abe’s call.

In an instant, the puzzle pieces snap together:
Theo didn’t stand anyone up.
He didn’t forget.
He didn’t wander off.

He was taken before he ever got the chance to arrive.

The pub goes silent as dread ripples through the room. Everyone feels it — the sense that something much bigger is happening in Salem, and Theo has just become the latest victim.

As soon as Jada hears the news, her entire demeanor shifts. The vulnerable woman disappears. In her place stands the sharp, methodical detective who has faced danger before and refuses to be shaken.

She begins building a timeline, analyzing Theo’s last known movements, searching for patterns and motives. Surveillance footage. Daily routines. Recent conflicts. Past enemies.

And then the most chilling realization emerges:

Theo is not the first.

Chad DiMera.
Tony DiMera.
Kristen DiMera.

All missing — and now Theo, whose life has always intersected with the DiMeras, has been taken.

This isn’t coincidence.
It’s coordination.

A pattern forms.
A strategy emerges.
A mastermind is moving pieces on a board no one realized existed.

Jada realizes Theo’s abduction isn’t the beginning of a story.
It’s the next chapter in a calculated assault on Salem’s power players.

Inside the Crypt: Chad, Kristen & Tony Fight for Sanity

Deep beneath Salem, inside the haunting, stone-walled DiMera crypt, Chad, Kristen, and Tony cling to their sanity.

They have been trapped for days.

Food is scarce.
Sleep is fractured.
Hope is fragile.

But Chad refuses to break. His mind races through possibilities, analyzing every brick, hinge, and shadow for weaknesses.

Kristen whispers escape strategies with growing desperation.
Tony taps along the walls, searching for hollow spots.

But the crypt was engineered to punish, not to free — its very design reflects the darkness of generations of DiMera secrets.

Suddenly, the door screeches open.

A figure is thrown violently inside.

Theo. Bound. Disoriented. Terrified.

Chad freezes — because the kidnapping has escalated.
This is no longer about DeMera revenge.
This is a coordinated capture of anyone tied to the family.

The captor is not just collecting DiMeras.

They are building an arsenal of hostages.

Theo realizes it instantly.
“This is planned,” he whispers.
“This is only the beginning.”

The crypt storyline, once a straightforward abduction, now transforms into psychological torture. The captor is breaking their spirits, isolating them, manipulating them — one by one.

A new villain is rising.
Calculated.
Invisible.
Lethal.

EJ Drugged & Vulnerable: Cat Green Crosses a Line That Changes Everything

While the abducted victims suffer in darkness, another storyline unfolds in the DiMera mansion — quiet, intimate, and just as dangerous.

Cat Green stands over EJ DiMera, who lies unconscious after she secretly drugged him.

Nothing about her movements is hesitant. She moves with purpose, determination, and a frightening calm as she searches for documents linking EJ to the mysterious Italian clinic.

Cat is no longer an outsider wandering into DiMera chaos.
She is a woman with a buried past, a burning obsession, and a truth she is willing to sacrifice anything to uncover.

When EJ wakes groggy and confused, Cat pretends nothing is wrong — gently coaxing him into answering questions he would normally guard with his life.

Memories he locked away begin to surface.
Trauma he repressed claws its way out.
Cat quietly absorbs every detail.

The power shifts.
EJ believes he’s opening up to someone who cares.
But Cat is gathering ammunition — piece by piece.

Rafe Realizes Cat Is No Longer a Victim — She’s a Threat

Meanwhile, Rafe Hernandez faces a crisis of his own as he discovers just how far Cat has gone.

When he offered help, he thought he was supporting a frightened woman searching for answers about her mysterious past.

But by Monday’s episode, Rafe sees the truth:
Cat is unraveling — and pulling him down with her.

Drugging EJ.
Breaking into the mansion.
Researching international clinics.

These are not the actions of a woman seeking healing.
They are the actions of someone spiraling into obsession.

And Rafe, now entangled in her choices, realizes he could lose everything if Cat crosses one more legal line.

Salem’s Nightmare Has Just Begun

Monday’s episode ends with the sense that the walls of Salem are closing in. Every storyline — Jada’s heartbreak, the crypt prisoners’ terror, EJ’s unraveling memory, Cat’s escalating obsession, Rafe’s growing fear — converges into a single, chilling truth:

This is no random chain of events.
Someone has designed this chaos.
Planned it.
Paid for it.
And is only beginning their reign of terror.

Salem has a new puppet master.
And their game has just started.