I Think You Might Want To Watch My Peacock Stream

    As I have mentioned here before, I am not really into streaming online content.  I've got much better things to do on my computer than watch a 'television' show or 'movie,' much less trying to binge an entire series.  I have work, social media, and games.  Hey, just because I'm limited to about forty-five new levels a week of Candy Crush Saga doesn't mean I'm not trying to keep my near champion levels skills up.  Besides, I'm kind of cheap in that department. Anyway, when the new streaming service Peacock debuted last year, I took the plunge and subscribed to the basic level of service.  The main reason I finally entered the streaming market was the original content, specifically Days of Out Lives:  Beyond Salem.  I know, it feels slightly cheesy, but I've been watching the original soap opera since high school.  I got bored during summer vacation one year, okay. I've been watching fairly regularly ever since, recording it during the day and watching it that evening.  I was interested in the wider variety of stories that the service could supply.  The five-day event was something else, as various Salemites were traveling around the world, only to get involved with an international jewel heist.  The rainbow selection of gems were the controls to a satellite defense system, and a despondent villain wanted to use the ancestral peacock statuette that the controls were placed in to take over the world.  No, I'm not joking.  There were special guest stars, crazy cameos, and a twist reveal near the end that tied the entire story into Days history.  It took me over two weeks to schedule the time to watch the entire event, but I was satisfied.  I didn't watch any other show on Peacock since, even with the constant emails I get sent about their latest programming and special offers.  I least I set up a special email address to handle such things, or I would've gotten overrun.  Then, last fall, I heard about a special Christmas-themed movie for Days.  Basically, it was an alternative universe where certain events were changed, causing familiar couples to be broken up and leading very different lives.  Unfortunately, I have yet to see this movie, as it was sent directly to the premium level of service.  I was not going to pay anything just to watch a one-off movie with altered events.  What surprised me was the the original Beyond Salem got nominated for a few Daytime Emmy awards.  I would've thought that the event would be tagged as a main Emmy mini-series, but it was placed into the Daytime categories.  I don't think it won anything, definitely nothing major, unless it was the shared nomination with Days for casting.  Well, all of this was a set-up for the second chapter of Beyond Salem, which debuted last week.  The main stunt this time around was the return of Kristian Alfonso as Hope Brady, a role the actress had once suggested she would never return to due to what she felt was unfair treatment on the show.  Once again, I had yet to see something because of the premium level of service.  I did catch the spoilers online, although the cookies such searching left are causing my Facebook feed to veer towards soaps.  The plot was something similar to the first 'Chapter.'  Various people are traveling, visiting relatives, only to get caught up with a new plan to steal some weird crystal prisms, first mentioned decades ago on the show, that have the power to cure brain tumors.  The main villain this time is a once-thought dead member of the infamous DiMera family.  (I would tell you which one, but there have been so many of them, especially those from the time before I started watching, that I'm not sure which one it was.)  The series brought back many characters that hadn't been seen in years, including introducing a few new ones.  At least one character will be seen on the main show fairly soon.  Unlike the first event, the villain actually wins this time around, and the prisms were used to help cure someone who had been cryogenically preserved for years.  This person's identity was the big cliffhanger of the series, so I won't spoil it here.  What will come of this person's possible return is still in the air, as the series hasn't 'caught up' to the timeline of the show just yet, but the two are close.  I just hope I get get to watch it sometime without having the cough up extra money.