Beyond the Gates Performer of the Week: Maurice Johnson as Ted Richardson

Beyond the Gates this week had Ted's (Maurice Johnson) entire world continue to go up in flames. Now, he's seen as a cheating, cutthroat impostor, but Johnson is seeking to let Ted still be known as he was — but now through a more realistic lens.

Johnson showed a man who had been weighed down by many years of holding in a debilitating secret, but had still stopped at nothing short of excellence when showing up for his family. No easy feat, to be sure, but Johnson's portrayal makes it difficult for the audience to truly hate him, despite his past transgressions.

Maurice Johnson on Beyond the Gates

Johnson understands the plight of his character and seeks to make the audience understand as well. While his character may have been dethroned as a reputable person, Johnson makes it known that his character is seeking to rebuild his reputation, piece by piece, to those who matter. Through his interactions with others and his demeanor, Johnson has created a character that is respectable and easy to love.

Though the character's imperfections have now been broadcast to the world, Johnson still emits "good guy" energy, convincing the audience that Ted is a decent person at heart. Johnson's affable smile and calm, confident approach to Ted hooked audiences from day one. It's because of this unspoken rapport that the audience is willing to ride this wave with Ted and see what happens next.

Ted Richardson is infallible no more

On Beyond the Gates, Johnson's performance notes how a person can be many things at once: a loving husband who also succumbed to lust in a time of uber weakness; a loving father who made the unwise decision to involve his son in his indiscretion; a man who, rightfully, ended an affair with someone but also thought he'd paid that someone to have an abortion. While Ted is seen as impossibly "good," Johnson's portrayal of Ted turns the character into an actual decent person, not perfect, but always trying to do and be better.

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Beyond the Gates presents us with a man who has hit rock bottom. Johnson takes on this depiction and shows his character's grit and determination; Ted has not given up hope. Johnson's Ted is a family man, and his portrayal leaves no room for questioning that fact for a second, even now. While other characters have now written Ted off as, again, an impostor, Johnson is letting the audience know that Ted plans on getting his family back. Johnson makes it believable, and made our hearts ache for Ted with his portrayal of a man who messed up, kept the secret, and then made the biggest effort for twenty-plus years to make up for it the only way he knew how: by making them his world. Nicely done, Mr. Johnson.

Find out what happens next for Ted on Beyond the Gates, weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus.

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