Beyond the Gates Performer of the Week: Tricia Mann-Grant as Leslie Thomas

Beyond the Gates has barely been on three months – and though it was cast with a lot of newbies and/or actors who didn't have a lot of credits to their names, the ensemble has proven by now that it's quite capable. That doesn't mean that some performers don't stand out over others, and one who has led the pack from the beginning has been Tricia Mann-Grant, who embodies Leslie, or Dana, or Sherry, or Anna, or Lulu, or whichever of her personas does it the most for you. Mann-Grant has been absolutely fearless in tackling the erratic emotionality of her alter ego(s), and this week there were some new levels she successfully plumbed – that makes her Soap Central's Performer of the Week.

Tricia Mann-Grant showed us some of what was beyond the gates of Leslie's heart

Dana Leslie Thomas (we don't know what her maiden name is; Thomas was shown to be her deceased husband Alan's surname in a flashback) quickly gets the “crazy” label slapped on her by pretty much everyone who meets her, but that isn't necessarily accurate. Is she cold-blooded? Yes. Calculating? Yes. Conniving? Oh, hell, yes. But crazy? The jury – likely the one she's going to be facing pretty soon – is still out on that one. Leslie hasn't shown any evident psychosis; she just wants what she wants and isn't afraid to do whatever she has to (especially if it's outside the box) in order to get whatever that happens to be.

Leslie's high degree of volatility isn't an iron-clad indication of mental instability either, but a character like hers isn't exactly the easiest to play. Guided by a less skillful actor, it wouldn't take much for Leslie to come off as over-the-top, cliché, and, as Kat or Chelsea might say, “cringe.” Thankfully, Mann-Grant can navigate Leslie's eccentricities without crossing the line into caricature, and this week, Leslie's mood ring got a few new colors for the actor to sink her teeth into.

We've seen Leslie tease before – coming on to both Teds (previous portrayer Maurice Johnson and his replacement Keith D. Robinson), for example – but this week Mann-Grant got to up Leslie's ante. She brought some extra naughtiness as Leslie accelerated her attempt to entice Ted with memories of their extramarital lovemaking. Mann-Grant made Leslie slinky and flirty, and one has to imagine that it's been a very long time – probably long before Alan's death – since Leslie got some TLC, and not the '90s group.

But in Mann-Grant's hands, Leslie proficiently rode the wave from sinuous to serious. Lying that Eva had asked Leslie if her parents were getting back together, Leslie had to brave Ted's voracious reply in the negative, after which she found an opening to pose the most sincere question we've seen her ask: “Was there ever anything real between us, Ted?” In that moment, Mann-Grant let us see behind the enigmatic façade Leslie usually labors under, and she also made the hurt Leslie usually buries under anger palpable when Ted snapped that, while he agreed he should team up with Leslie to co-parent Eva, there really wasn't anything Eva could learn from Leslie's example of goal setting. Ouch.

Of course, Leslie's gleeful gaslighting was back on full display when Kat walked in and Leslie pretended that Ted was trying to have sex with her. Mann-Grant also brought the fun as Leslie returned home from the encounter and gave herself a pep talk in front of her now-infamous mirror. It's this vibe that's made Leslie a hoot from the start, but her portrayer indeed brought Leslie to the doorstep of madness this time, the way Leslie flopped on the couch and kicked her legs in the air, praising herself for her chaos-causing brilliance.

Finally, we've seen Leslie cold as ice as well – particularly to Eva, lately, by whom Leslie feels betrayed for choosing the Richardsons over her. Leslie said as much as she advised her estranged daughter to pick up her garbage-bagged belongings and git – yet it was at that moment Mann-Grant showed us a humanity in Leslie that had never come across before. On the surface, Leslie was mocking, ordering the near-sobbing Eva to go back to her new fam, who were all better than Leslie. But while Mann-Grant maintained the chilliness, she also brought in sadness laid just beneath it, during which even the controlled Leslie couldn't prevent the tears from escaping. Many soap characters cry on the regular, but Leslie had never let herself succumb to that vulnerability until that moment, and it gave the wicked, villainous Leslie something she hadn't earned before – rooting value.

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Who knew that Leslie has more layers than she has wigs? And Tricia Mann-Grant has command of all of them. Here's hoping we see even more of this complicated lady's nuances...before she inevitably gets carted off to jail, that is!

Beyond the Gates airs weekdays on CBS and streams on Paramount Plus.

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