A tale of two Teds: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of May 12, 2025

Ted today, Ted tomorrow on Beyond the Gates

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? This week Eva got smacked down by part of Fairmont Crest but raised up by another, Smitty was on the case of The Nightmarish Congressman, and Anita took a giant step toward articulating a proposed reunion with The Articulettes. But take-action casino/mob boss Joey seemed to be in a holding pattern, and Ted might have gotten a new attitude like Patti LaBelle – but in the middle of his family fracas, he got a new face to go along with it! Reinvent yourself, and let's find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

TIDE WATCH: 2

FEBREZE WATCH: 1

First of all, congratulations to Beyond the Gates for already being renewed for a second season! The new soaper hasn't been on quite three months yet, so that the network and the audience have this quickly garnered enough confidence to want more of Fairmont Crest is a very encouraging sign. Honestly, even with some bumps here and there, I've really been enjoying this show, and I feel like it's hitting its stride.

Now! Let's talk about Ted, baby, let's talk about you and me! Yes, it finally happened as previously reported: “the role of Ted Richardson is now being played by Keith D. Robinson.” For real – on Tuesday, Ted told Nicole that they would be together to celebrate their next anniversary, and the next time we saw the plastic doc on Thursday, it was Robinson's Ted who had a heart-to-heart with Kat.

I have to say, even though recasts are about as common on soaps as evil twins and toddler kids suddenly graduating high school, it absolutely cannot be easy for an actor to jump into an intense emotional storyline mid-stream; it's all too easy for the new portrayer and the character to get swept up in its tide. (The water kind, not the sponsored detergent you put in water kind.)

In that regard, Robinson really did a good job latching on to the magnitude of Ted's story-in-progress and making the transition atypically seamless. I had a feeling he might, given Robinson's cred, but I couldn't be sure. In all his scenes this week with Kat, Leslie, Bill, and Andre, the flow felt natural. That said, I still don't think this was the right time to give Ted a new face.

We still don't know why Maurice Johnson was recast, which is unusual. Sure, soaps often dole out the “we don't discuss contracts” line when casting changes happen, but it is odd that we haven't heard a peep about why this change happened. Johnson was doing fine; in fact, the last couple of weeks, as Ted was forced through the fallout of Leslie busting him, Johnson gave us his best work on the show so far.

We may never know what went down, and Robinson is here to stay based on the fact that the opening credits are already reflecting the shift (take a lesson, B&B, since you take 3 months to update yours!). I just still question the timing, and remain of the opinion that Johnson should have been allowed to take this arc to a natural pause; Robinson could have come in after Ted's return from a soul-searching sojourn, for example.

So, try to keep up. Johnson's Ted got bitched out by Dani and Anita, the latter of whom basically told her son-in-law to stop hiding away like a p***y. Ted took the advice and went to see Dana/Leslie, telling her to stay away from his fam. Of course, he was already too late in that Leslie had personally given Nicole a sob story about being sorry Nicole had gotten hurt. Did you think Nicole busted out her Febreze to get rid of the Leslie scent? I did!

Ted then decided to proudly parade his newfound daughter on his arm – literally – by lunching at the country club. What is it with these outcasts (Hayley, now Ted) wanting to be a part of this place? Is the croque madame that good? I know Eva was wishing for an IHOP when not only Dani and Nicole showed up, but her hair and wardrobe got fully dissed by Fairmont Crest's resident gossip, Anastasia. But Ana's an equal opportunity disser – she took potshots at the Dupree sisters, too!

It was on this set that Maurice Johnson had his final scene, delivering Nicole the promise of their reunion. Keith D. Robinson took over from there, as I mentioned, as he had Kat over to his hotel suite and let her ask anything she wanted. After Kat threw shade on the doc because he didn't “wrap it up,” she wondered if Ted would have left Nicole for Leslie if Nicole had miscarried Kat like so many of her other babies.

Ted didn't think he would have, and when he reinforced that the post-affair love he had shown Kat all her life was real, the dispassionate girl's tears started rolling. She wouldn't let Ted read too much into it, but later she told Chelsea that she couldn't help feeling moved by Ted's overall candor. Are these cousins still working on ChelseaKat's come-up? We don't hear much about that anymore.

I'm gonna make you love me

Back at Leslie's, Johnson's Ted listened as she expressed regret for ruining Ted's life. That hadn't been what she'd really wanted – not that you'd know that from her saying since the show started that her goal was to ruin Ted's life! But what is hate but love gone wrong, as Leslie indicated when she told Ted that she still loved him. She had always loved him.

Ted was not happy to hear that Leslie thought he could love her back and chided her for rhapsodizing about how Eva was the product of their union when Leslie had thrown Eva out on the street. That barely registered with Ms. Thomas, who later was privately sure that Ted would return, despite his saying it was Eva he cared about, not her. Leslie must have Animotion's 1985 hit “Obsession” on auto-repeat.

Like Hayley and Ted with the FC club, Leslie should probably stop hanging out at Orphey Gene's. With the marks from Mona's tongue-lashing still raw on Leslie's face (“hell was made for people like you,” Mona hissed. “Enjoy the burn”), Leslie got no further than the diner's hosting area when the normally inconsequential Jan ripped Leslie a new one. Jerri Tubbs really did a nice balance here between Jan's anger and her sorrow.

I guess as a result of being dumped by her now-former friends, Leslie wasn't particularly in the mood to see Eva, who, after her fish-out-of-water experience at the club, told her mother that she had been right. Eva conceded she would never fit in with the extended Dupree clan and begged her mama to let her come home. But Leslie forgot her inside voice and screeched that Eva had betrayed her by choosing Ted over her!

Everybody was looking up from their fried catfish and cornbread – including a stubbly man in a leather jacket who had not only been taking in Leslie's escapades, but had been keeping a close eye on Congressman Richardson and his one-time senator grandpop. Leslie got up, snapped her finger in Jan's face, and yelled that she still had some surprises for “you, Mona, Ted, the Duprees, and every damn body in here!”

Let's go back to Leather Boy for a minute. Not only was he cute, but he was clearly interested in the Duprees et al. In fact, he split as soon as they did. This can't be good. He's got to be a reporter of some kind, probably for a tabloid. The Nicole/Ted/Leslie/Eva saga is likely on its way to the headline of a supermarket rag, and Martin should probably not be talking his business in a public place, because I think this dude could end up spreading that news, too.

Start over

Eva was having a mixed, leaning-toward-bad day. While she did win some cash playing the tables at Lakeview Casino (not named for The Lakeview on As the World Turns, was it?), that only happened after Mona got in her face about what Eva and Leslie had done – specifically how the Thomas women had used Mona to glean intel about everything Dupree and get Eva into the Richardson house as Nicole's temp.

Then, at Uptown, Eva got the unusual invitation to join Anita and Dani at their table, where Anita, especially, became almost motherly in acknowledging how Eva had been through a traumatic situation with Leslie. La Dupree seemed 100% genuine as she told Eva that she hoped Ted would turn out to be a real father to her. But, before Eva could get too excited, Anita warned Eva to step off...because she'd never be a Dupree!

This show continues to amaze me with its scenes populated by new combinations of characters; that probably can't last much longer, but Anita and Eva? Who knew? Eva got a boost when Johnson's Ted set her up with her own booth at Serenity Beauty, apparently the salon in town. Eva admitted she'd thought she was beyond hairstyling at this point, but she wasn't fool enough to tell Ted no.

Eva got another warm hand to hold after Martin heard Leslie loudly castigating her at the diner and determined that Eva hadn't deserved the harsh treatment. In fact, Martin, who had come to a place where he wanted to try accepting his new half-sister, invited Eva over for pizza with the fam. This ended up being news to said fam, as did Jessica showing up for the pepperoni at Samantha's behest.

So, Samantha's still on the matchmaking thing. Wasn't she supposed to be on the modeling thing? And do her parents even know yet that Chelsea and Kat have taken her on at their new company? Anyway, Samantha basically made Eva talk to the hand because of the way Eva had hurt Grandma Nicole. For five minutes, anyway. As soon as Sam heard that Eva would be working at Serenity, she had a change of mind!

The transformation was complete after Eva put Samantha through a real-time makeover in front of everybody. Sam was all in! God, she is such a teenager! I've said that before, and it's not necessarily a complaint – by now, it's consistent writing. Pretty much everything with Samantha is black-and-white, as it was for most of us teens who couldn't yet suss out the nuances of gray areas. Still...she is such a teenager!

The next day was Eva's birthday, but when Leslie summoned her daughter to Orphey Gene's, it wasn't to give her a Hallmark. No, Leslie knew Eva was getting closer to Ted and wanted her to put in a good word so that Ted would get Bill, who had filed a cease-and-desist order to prevent Leslie from further badmouthing the lawyer in public, to back off. Leslie hadn't even remembered it was Eva's special day!

Eva was cut to the quick, especially when Leslie offered her a “Happy birthday” grunt and peaced out when Eva wouldn't cooperate. Later, Robinson's Ted went to see Leslie about Eva's birthday, but she would just as soon have kept Eva in her womb than celebrate her. Ted scoffed that monsters weren't just in fairy tales. But is Leslie holding out on us?

The photo of her and Eva that she'd made a big show out of trashing last week was once again proudly displayed in its spot behind the couch as Leslie told Ted about the night Eva was born! Is that an indicator that Leslie has secretly softened, or did the set decorator make a boo-boo? One other note: Kat and Eva have been said to have been born two weeks apart...but Kat blew out her candles on April 14, and Eva acknowledged her day on May 15. Oh, well. Either way, Kat's an Aries (figures!) and Eva's a Taurus!

Owe me back

Vanessa, who seems to have yet another boy toy in her stable (this time the submissive little hottie Cody; is Van donning dominatrix chic as part of her latest extramarital outing?), got a chance to bag all-man Joey...and didn't! Somehow, on the heels (make that stiletto heels) of Nicole's suffering over Ted, Vanessa decided she wouldn't come over to see Joey's, er, etchings after all.

Any of y'all expect that? I didn't! Joey finally made a definitive move and got c*ckblocked. We'll come back to that – in the meantime, Doug was missing his own mistress, Lady Luck, but ran into Randy upon his return to the casino. Randy, who has already had his ex-wife and kids threatened for steering Doug away from the den of iniquity, broke ranks and encouraged Doug to continue abstaining from gambling.

But Doug's addiction showed when he promised Randy he'd turn and walk away, only to sneak right back in the second Randy had his back to him. Seems Dougie spent the whole night at the LC losing even more money, since he hadn't come home to Vanessa at all. (Of course, why would he when he knows she's cheating and she won't own it?) Doug ran straight from supervising a surgery to the Lakeview, only to run smack into Joey.

Armstrong had already strong-armed Doug in terms of his mounting debt and finally revealed his own hand – Doug, Joey suggested, should just ask Vanessa for the money! Doug wouldn't do it, so after scaring Doug by being ready to phone Vanessa himself, Joey told Doug he had exactly one week to produce the cash. Wait – hadn't Joey already told Doug weeks ago that the bill was due immediately?

When Joey saw Doug a second time, he snarled that, by showing up, Doug either had the money or a death wish. Doug blubbered some more about being able to return to surgery soon, only for Joey to again cow Doug by promising to call his wife, and again announcing that he had to be paid within the week. Joey might run our fictional D.C., but he's turning out to be mostly bark with very little bite.

Granted, he finally tried to take Vanessa to bed, but he should have busted that move weeks ago when the iron was definitely hot. As for Doug, Joey keeps throwing his weight around, but Doug should have been bleeding in an alley by now. This saga is going in circles in many ways – the McBrides' talk of Vanessa's infidelity, we only tiptoe up to Vanessa and Joey hitting the sheets, Doug never comes to any of Joey's harm. In gambling parlance, this story had an ace in the hole, but now all bets are off.

Solid as a rock?

Martin had another nightmare – and they're not getting any less vague, the more he has them. It's still blurry lights at night, though this time there was driving. Oh – and a voice asking, presumably Martin, what color his money was. I'd be more worried about this saga going in circles as well if not for the movement we did get. For one, Martin is finally, like Smitty, wondering if the bad dreams are trying to tell him something.

In the aforementioned meeting with Vernon, Martin suspected that perhaps his subconscious was warning him not to run for president. Vernon concurred, though Martin smartly sensed that there was probably more to the night terrors than just that. Following this latent lead, Martin used his pop-up pizza party to reveal that he wasn't going for prez...in front of Eva and Jessica, at that!

Eva might be family, but Jessica's not! Was this something she needed to know? Anyway, Smitty appeared to be all on board when Martin proclaimed that he wanted to focus on his brood and not turn their lives upside-down, but the investigative reporter must have slept on it, because the next day he went to Nicole with the revelation and asked if she didn't think her son's actions were strange.

Smitty even dropped the bomb about Martin's nightmares, but before Nicole could fully react to it, Vanessa, with her ever-inconvenient timing, showed up and popped the bubble. Perhaps Nicole will come back to the revelation in her own time. Meanwhile, Smitty summoned Bill and wanted to know what the hell Bill had meant during their last meeting, when Bill had pushed for himself and Martin to be on the same side.

Bill's proven to be really good at giving answers without really giving answers – this is also consistent. He danced around a bit, but thankfully, Smitty is enough of a newshound that he wasn't about to let this bone go. Bill eventually told Smitty to just ask Martin about the comment; of course, Smitty knows Martin isn't particularly forthcoming and basically said so. No, Bill needed to 'fess up already. And now.

“Do I tell you the truth, or what'll help you sleep at night?” Bill asked. Again, vague, but truthful enough; surely Smitty is going to be able to read between those particular lines. Bill would only say the same thing to Smitty that he had said to Martin – that he knew people in high places who could help bolster any presidential campaign that Martin wanted to launch.

Things got a little confusing there. Smitty basically admitted that Martin had reconsidered – Bill's radar pinged, but he suddenly decided he had to leave and didn't pursue the kind of important tectonic plate movement. Huh? I hope Smitty bypasses Martin and does his own research, because I think it's time we truly get into Martin's secret and what his nightmares are really about after three months of teasing.

Jump around

Speaking of Bill, his hand started shaking again just as Hayley walked into his office and decided to turn it into a post-honeymoon pleasure palace. I thought this was the kind of hanky-panky that got Bill's firm sued in the first place? Seems things were rockin' enough that whatever further tremors Bill had weren't noticeable – until after sexy time, when his hand again pretended it was an earthquake.

I'm glad we're at least still seeing instances of this; it's all right that we're doing a slow build to whatever's afflicting Bill. I couldn't help but wonder, though...Bill nursed his rogue hand while Hayley was touching up her make-up...with her back turned to him...and her compact open. I was really shocked that Hayley didn't see his quivering palm in the mirror! Because that would have been some really good plotting. Maybe it'll come up that she witnessed it yet.

June contracted pneumonia on the streets and was horrified that it required her to have heart surgery. How come June wasn't more freaked out about who was gonna pay for this operation? Clearly, the Hawthornes are, but this should have come up. I'm also amazed that Naomi and Jacob haven't just planted June in their house already. Imagine the mayhem with June interrupting their otherwise peaceful, Tide-filled life.

Naomi also found and returned what was apparently some photo of children that June said she just liked looking at...but then June thoughtfully went over it with her thumb while her lawyer and the “hot cop” (her words) weren't looking. So...June's got kids somewhere? Why am I seeing a “Naomi finds June's kids, June lives happily ever after” scenario coming? Though there have certainly been enough twists so far that my predictions have all been wrong.

Derek and Ashley, Derek and Ashley. I wish I could say that their living together is giving them a B-12 shot, but...sorry, guys...you're still boring. The close proximity seems to be killing their libidos, but they're telling us about it instead of us getting to watch that development unfold. Derek throws his clothes on the floor; Ashley seethes. What can we do to make this duo more exciting?

Making it worse – for me, anyway – is that Ashley blew off Derek's good idea of getting a bigger place by saying that it wasn't just cohabitation that was their problem...right after she shared a scene with Andre again. And didn't they have a grand time reminiscing about delivering that baby in the elevator? GATES, I told you: Ashley and Andre are so not it. Andre and Dani are.

They proved it themselves by giving off so much sultry energy while Nicole backtracked and suddenly started coming down on Andre again for keeping Ted's affair from her that, later, Nicole had to ask Dani if anything was going on between her and Andre. I was hoping Dani would finally tell someone, but she didn't. In other Nicole news, she impulsively wanted to sell her house – not even being in the process of divorcing Ted – and flighty-ass Vanessa had to talk her out of it. Vanessa.

And, over at the Dupree manse, Anita finally had enough of Vernon pushing her to call up one of the Articulettes about maybe reuniting that she whipped out Sharon's digits, only for Sharon to hang up on her. Or did she? It looked that way, but then Anita told Vernon that there had been no voice on the other end. Anita could just have gotten a wrong number that no one clarified.

Anyway, the Duprees shared “a sing,” where Vernon put his money behind his mouth, which said that he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. It was actually hilarious to hear Vernon warbling when portrayer Clifton Davis, an accomplished singer himself, only appeared on Broadway and wrote “Never Can Say Goodbye” for the freakin' Jackson 5! Gotta love those Easter eggy turnabouts.

Vernon was a bit of a nag, but his heart was in the right place: he knew that Anita came alive on stage and only wanted for her to experience that again. So Anita tried telephoning Tracy, and we were led to believe that call was going as badly as Sharon's (nice touch, BTG), only to learn that Tracy was coming over for dinner that night. Wow! Anita hadn't mentioned the comeback, though; wonder what tune Tracy will be singing when she does?

Uptown funk you up

Kat was still pissed with Eva...though she only mentioned Tomás grabbing Eva's hand once. She and Navarro have yet to have a convo about it! Eva and Kat ran into each other at Orphey Gene's, where Kat mentioned what others had implied about them having twin powers because they were birthed from the same daddy so close together. Kat wasn't about it, but Eva said that sisters, even of the half variety, were forever.

Ms. Richardson was also tired of Martin and even Nicole thinking she needed to accept Eva as a sibling, and sniffed that the much-touted DNA test linking Eva to Ted was probably phony. Not so, Nicole corrected! Eva had Ted's blood type, and Nicole, from her scores of fertility tests, recognized several genetic markers of Ted's that neither Leslie nor Eva would have known to fake. A bit expositional, but a clever way of confirming the findings. Though you'd think the Richardsons would be demanding a second opinion test of their own!

While talking to Chelsea, it occurred to Kat that Eva couldn't have ended up cast as Nicole's replacement assistant randomly. She thought back to Laura's accident and was willing to bet that, if she looked over the video showing the black-clad motorcyclist running Laura off the road, the assailant would be wearing Eva's nasty boots. Nice callback.

Kat – armed with the hotel room key card Ted had given her as a gesture of good faith – ran to the accommodation, let herself in, but found no Ted. Wouldn't you know Leslie showed up on the door at that moment! Deciding to play a little Kat-and-mouse game with the “almost stepmother” Leslie described herself as, Kat hit “record” on her phone's voice recording app, and her phone got a sort-of earful.

Trying to maneuver Leslie into admitting something – anything – Kat questioned her, hearing both a detailed account of the “accident” that implicated Leslie herself, and Leslie suggesting that Kat's instincts about Eva doing the deed were accurate. Amazingly, Leslie didn't catch on that she was being recorded, and Kat made a beeline for Jacob, not even waiting for him to leave the hospital where June was recovering.

Kat played Leslie's “confession” for him, but his opinion was that her words could be interpreted as sarcasm, and also hearsay in the case of Eva. Hold up! Isn't evidence obtained by secretly recording someone – unless it's the police using a wire – inadmissible because it's illegal to tape someone, even digitally, without their consent? I was shocked that the “hot cop” didn't bring this up himself.

However, Jacob did think enough of what he'd heard that he showed up at Leslie's, his knock spooking her as she watched a horror movie. (That was funny.) But what horror will Leslie provide to Jacob, who had come to take her to the station for questioning? Eva's days are about to get even worse, and I'm still waiting on Nicole to probe Laura's potassium surge like she promised. Get over yourself, Nicole! Laura needs you!

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. Tell us all your thoughts about the Ted switch in the comments below – and, until next we meet, Scoopers, live your life beyond!

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