We’re in a new era of Days of Our Lives. EJ and Dr. Rolf have conquered death — really and truly. Yes, folks are just about always returning from the dead in Salem, but that was always with a caveat. They faked their death. Or they were saved at the last second and recovered off-screen. Or, more likely than not, Dr. Rolf managed to pull them back from the brink without anyone knowing until they returned.

Until now, no one actually came back from the dead. Well, Bo’s still questionable, and the ladies as well, since their spirits were all, allegedly, in heaven. But those were all more deathlike states, where their bodies were put in suspended animation until they could be fixed.

Lexie, on the other hand, was as EJ’s made clear, dead. And that’s what Kristen and Chad were discussing on Friday’s episode. This time is different. This time really is playing God.

“If death isn’t permanent,” Kristen mused, “then what does that say about life?”

“Or grief,” Chad added. “And moving on.”

This whole storyline has felt odd from the start, and Kristen and Chad’s conversation put a pin on why. Why grieve if everyone comes back? How can viewers care about characters moving on, if the fans just expect their dead loved ones to return? Where’s the drama in death if there’s no death?

All soaps play with death and resurrection, but few have done so as consistently as Days of Our Lives. Death has become a meaningless revolving door in Salem — now the show’s made that literal. No more fake outs needed for deaths. They can undo anything at any time for any reason.

Heck, it’s not even that big a deal anymore. Fans have been commenting on just how little people have been reacting to Lexie being raised from the dead after 14 years. It’s been close to one collective shrug. There’s nothing remotely shocking in it, other than the method.

All of it feels like Days of Our Lives is playing with and acknowledging how little death means these days by taking it to an extreme — and promising us more resurrections to come. Unless… there aren’t.

Because if they’re commenting on it this obviously, I feel like they’re about to take it all back. Lexie, we all more or less know, isn’t sticking around. Something has to go wrong. And that would mean the drug doesn’t work. The black market won’t pan out. EJ will have to abandon the whole thing. In the end, they all may learn that you just can’t play God.

As Kristen said — again in her pointed conversation with Chad — all this resurrection business should have been left behind with Stefano. She’s on the opposite end of this than EJ. She wants the dead to stay dead. (For her own selfish reasons, of course.) Well, they’ve laid Stefano to rest, finally and fully. Now maybe the show’s giving us one last giant, literal resurrection story before pulling the plug on them all.

No more miracle cures from Dr. Rolf whenever anything goes wrong. No more treatments. No more bodies on ice brought back. Stefano’s resurrection legacy is finally ending.

Well, except when it doesn’t. This is a soap opera after all. Eventually, someone’s going to fake their own death again! But we won’t see people playing God every other day of the week. Death won’t be a revolving door in Salem anymore. It will be real, and coming back will become a shocking rarity once again.