Days of our Lives actor Brandon Beemer was giving us all the feels as soon as we saw his character, Shawn Brady, on a one-way phone call last week with Hope (Kristian Alfonso), his mother, who informed her son that his father, Bo (Peter Reckell), was gravely ill.
Any son would feel a certain amount of desperation and helplessness, which Beemer conveyed in Shawn’s watery eyes, but the actor brought an additional emotion to his scenes — guilt. A few years ago, Shawn shot Bo after mistakenly believing Hope’s life was in danger. So not only is Shawn devastated by his mother’s news, he’s also carrying remorse for committing the actions that led to his father’s current condition.
Naturally, Shawn reflected on happier times with his dad during this difficult time. Beemer played these emotional scenes with incredible depth. “When I was a kid, my dad and I, we both thought that my mom was gone,” Shawn recalled to Jada Hunter (the terrific Elia Cantu).
“He was grieving, but he never, ever let me see it,” added Shawn with the grateful perspective that can only come about when a person reaches adulthood. “He never wanted to burden me — just always made sure that we stayed busy. He wanted to make sure there was normalcy in our lives, whatever sense of normalcy we could get.”
Longtime DAYS fans recall this time in the show’s history that Shawn was referring to — when Bo and his son were attempting to move forward without Hope (damn you, Ernesto Toscano!). You’d never know that Beemer didn’t play the part back then by the way he was able to recall that time as if he’d lived through it on-screen.
Jada asked Shawn about when he and Bo lived on a houseboat together (back when Bo referred to Shawn as his “sailor.”)
“That was awesome…he and I would wake up and we’d go fishing,” Shawn recollected. “Sometimes, we’d take the boat further out in the water and we’d go swimming. I actually think that’s when I learned to swim. He would just pick me up and toss me overboard.
“But he would always jump in the water right after just to make sure that… just to make sure that I felt safe,” Shawn hastened to add. “No matter what I needed, he was always there for me.
Beemer made the choice to catch himself after Shawn mistakenly referred to Bo in the past tense. Closing his eyes, Shawn corrected himself and said, “He is the best man, the best father in the entire world.”
When DAYS introduced the character of Jada, the show wisely tied her to the late Dr. Marcus Hunter (played by the late Richard Biggs), who appeared on the show from 1987-1992, by making her Marcus’s daughter. This enables Jada and Shawn the ability to more easily bond over the love they have for their respective dads.
Beemer had Shawn muster a smile after Jada’s pep talk but it’s going to take a while for Shawn to fully wrap around his head that he might lose his dad for a second time. “I just feel so helpless right now,” a vulnerable Shawn told Jada.
There’s not a Bo and Hope fan out there that isn’t hoping that the motorcycle riding hero manages to cheat death yet again. (He was believed dead about a decade ago.) Fortunately, DAYS fans are never cheated out of watching great performances — Beemer’s solid work in these heart-wrenching scenes serve as a reminder of that.
Days of our Lives, Weekdays, Streaming on Peacock