Days of Our Lives delivers Gabi Hernandez (Cherie Jimenez) absolutely furious that her designer handbags have been counterfeited. She immediately assumed that Xander Cook Kiriakis (Paul Telfer) and Philip Kiriakis (John-Paul Lavoisier) are behind the design theft.
Which honestly makes zero sense at all to me. Gabi was planning to bail them out. So, why would they ever screw her over? We’re going to get into the epic blindside coming Gabi’s way when the thief is revealed.
Days of our Lives: Gabi Horrified at Knockoff Handbag
Now, let’s talk about these purloined purse designs. So, Gabi was stunned when she saw Gwen Rizczech (Emily O’Brien) carrying one of her Gabi Chic bags. And at a glance, Gabi thought it was legit and was excited. But when she got up close and looked at Gwen’s bag, she saw it was a cheap knockoff of one of Gabi’s brand new designs.
Gwen didn’t know it, but she bought a very expensive, very fake bag online. And now, of course, Leo Stark (Greg Rikaart) is involved, and before she went missing, he and Gwen were talking about it. They had discussed buying all kinds of fake designer goods on sketchy shopping sprees in the past. That was before either of them had much money to spend.
And Gabi explained how much this hurts the designer when these original pieces are copied and tagged with a fake designer label. It’s really bad for business. I personally feel her pain. My videos get stolen constantly. My thumbnails get stolen, my website name, my YouTube channel name.
There’s a sketchy channel that’s basically copied my thumbnail colors and style trying to fool you guys into clicking on them. So, Gabi’s all fired up and she’s got Leo and Gwen on board to investigate and find the thief. Of course, Gwen’s not going to be much help because she’s been kidnapped. And Leo got the go-ahead from Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn) to write an article about Gabi’s counterfeit issue and the whole world of fashion fakes.
DOOL: Tracking the Counterfeit Designer Ring
So, at first, Gabi assumed it was the Titan co-CEO Xander and Philip. And Gabi thinks because Titan handles her overseas shipments, they popped open a crate, stole bags, and used them to make knockoffs. That’s why Gabi reneged on her deal to bail out Titan with her inheritance. Now, I’ll say this. She should be thinking about the last time she jumped to a conclusion on Days of our Lives.
That was after Philip dumped her because he found out she set them up and was doing corporate espionage on Tony DiMera’s behalf. If you remember, Gabi accused Theo Carver (Tyler Joseph Andrews) of spilling the beans, and she was 100% wrong. And I think she’s 100% wrong about Xander and Philip.
Days of our Lives: Kate’s a Likely Suspect
But Gabi invoked the morality clause that was in her contract with Titan, and she backed out of the deal that she made with them. And of course, she knows Xander and Philip can’t afford to fight her in court, but I don’t think they did it. So, the question is, who really is copying Gabi’s designs? One person to consider is Kate Roberts (Lauren Koslow).
She plotted with Xander and Philip to set up Johnny with that plagiarism suit. That was dirty. Kate despises that Gabi did Philip so wrong and broke his heart. And as we know, Kate can be ruthless because it all came out, you know, Philip and Kate know that Gabi was spying on Titan and the reason she did it to get this CEO job with their chief rival, DiMera Enterprises.
It would have worked if Tony hadn’t double crossed Gabi and hired Theo instead. And Mama Kate doesn’t let anybody mess with her sons. She would go to bat for payback on Philip’s behalf in a minute. She doesn’t want Gabi to get away with what she did. So, could be that Kate is behind these phony Gabi Chic handbags. But I doubt that.
Days of Our Lives: Suspects and the Dark Truth
So, assuming that it’s not Xander or Philip or Kate, maybe it’s Tony DiMera. He and his fashionista wife Anna DiMera could be behind this whole operation. Tony may be annoyed that Gabi turned down the job when he asked her to be CEO after Theo decided to step down. We know DiMeras love revenge games and they love to manipulate people.
So, Tony might be trying to mess with Gabi. I mean, he might have set it up to even look like Xander and Philip did it so that Gabi would turn her back on them and she might reconsider being CEO of DiMera, answering directly to Tony because he doesn’t want Johnny in the job. But I doubt it.
Days of our Lives: EJ to Blame?
Another DiMera though could be behind this. Why not EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel)? He could be messing with Gabi. He hates that she got her hands on part of Stefan’s inheritance. She proved to Theo that she was Stefan’s widow, not his ex-wife. And of course, Theo knows Gabi wanted to use the money to bail out Titan.
So, EJ might have found out that Gabi was going to ride to the rescue and help Philip because she feels guilty. And if you remember, EJ set up a holding company and he bought Titan’s loan and set these terrible new terms, a lot higher interest rate, more frequent payments.
So, I wouldn’t put it past EJ to have his henchwoman, Rita, set up a counterfeit ring to sell Gabi Chic bags to mess with her and of course to drive a wedge between Gabi and the guys at Titan. I think EJ is able to multitask revenge plans quite cleverly. But I feel like he’s got bigger fish to fry than Gabi, so I don’t think it’s him.
Theo the Culprit on DOOL?
Another DiMera to consider though is Theo Carver. He’s totally plausible. He’s really angry at Gabi for assuming he blabbed her dirty corporate spy secret to Philip. And let’s face it, Theo is certainly smart enough to set up a counterfeit ring and those knockoff websites. He’s a computer genius.
So, Theo could have hacked into Gabi Chic’s servers and stole the patented designs from there. However, I don’t think Theo would do this because he had a big crush on Gabi that could still be lingering. Plus, Theo is one of the few good DiMeras. So, that brings me to the person that I think it actually is – somebody truly shocking.
We’ll see, of course, when the official reveal is made, but I suspect it could be Javi Hernandez’s (Jacob Martinez) hot new boyfriend, Gus (Michael Ocampo), who’s doing this. At a glance, he seems like a really nice guy, and Javi’s crazy about him, and Gabi approves of him. She’s still annoyed, of course, that Leo broke Javi’s heart.
Gus Makes Perfect Sense on Days
But here’s why I suspect it’s Gus. All these years, and Gabi’s handbag designs never got stolen, no issues. All of a sudden, there’s knockoffs for sale not long after Gus moved to Salem. Plus, he lives with Javi at Casa Hernandez and Gabi works from home a lot. And remember, she was living with Philip at the Kiriakis mansion, but he kicked her out and she moved back home with Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering) and others. And then all of a sudden, knockoff bags.
We know her laptop’s been lying around the house, maybe even some design sketches. And remember what Javi’s job was when he first came to Salem? He was Gabi’s assistant at Gabi Chic. So, that means Javi had access to all her files. And based on proximity, Gus has access to Javi’s laptop. And since he’s family, Gabi might not have shut off Javi’s credentials to Gabi Chic’s files. So question is, why would Gus do this? Greed or a crime of opportunity or both?
DOOL Needs Gus Out of the Way
Javi’s boyfriend might have a sick family member that needs money. So, he might have a personal motive. In the end, the main reason I think it’s Gus is because he’s got to go. Presumably, Leo’s going to end up back with Javi and they need Gus out of the way. But right now, he seems like a super nice guy, a really good guy. Maybe a little too good to be true, though.
It’s no coincidence that Leo’s working with Gabi to crack this counterfeit case because I expect Leo to get the goods that proves it is Gus. But from there, Gabi and Javi won’t want to believe it. They might even think Leo is deliberately setting up Gus because he’s jealous. We’ll see how it goes. But Gabi’s handbag design thief might be right under her nose and the last person she’d ever think would betray her – Javi’s new love interest.
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