Beyond the Gates Recap, August 28, 2025: Chelsea had the most bizarre soap wedding of all time

Here's what went down Thursday, August 28, 2025 on Beyond the Gates when Ted once again wussed out on winning back Nicole, Leslie had to stall U-Haul, and Derek couldn't take direction.

What happened on Beyond the Gates

On Beyond the Gates, Shanice asked the arriving Madison if she had an update on Chelsea. Madison didn't; Shanice was surprised that Madison had come to work at the hospital, but Madison said she needed to help patients to keep herself sane. Madison checked on Derek and felt he was making progress, but Derek wanted to advance faster. Ashley promised Madison that she'd make sure Derek didn't set himself back by pushing himself too much. However, when Shanice put Derek through a physical therapy exercise, he was determined to do more reps than she recommended.

Once Shanice left, Derek was still raring to go, saying that Ashley had always made him want to be his best self. Ashley reminded Derek that Shanice had instructed him to stop, but Derek scoffed, “I can rest when I'm dead.” Though Ashley realized it went against Derek's nature to let himself breathe, Derek was sure Ashley was thinking he had paralyzed himself because he hadn't exercised caution at the triathlon. Ashley refuted Derek's assumption, but Derek felt they were only dancing around the likelihood that he would never walk again no matter how much physical therapy he did.

Ashley passed along that mobility-impaired people often led full lives, yet Derek had felt a purpose when he'd been able to help people as a firefighter. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with himself otherwise; Ashley promised to remind him that he was still extraordinary even if he didn't end up regaining the full use of his legs.

Madison told Shanice there was still no news and marveled at how the Duprees had been so welcoming to her ever since she had started dating Chelsea. Shanice comforted Madison as she shared her dreams for the future with Chelsea – moving in, maybe even getting married. But Madison couldn't hold back her tears at the thought that she might never see her girlfriend again.

Andre sat with Ted at the country club, asking his uncle if he had spoken to his aunt. Ted hadn't since Nicole had filed for divorce; he concluded that he'd better say something if he had any hope of saving his marriage. Ted squared his eyes when Leslie and Eva walked in; Leslie made a beeline for Vanessa and hoped that the offer to buy the residence across from the Duprees had been finalized. Vanessa winced as Leslie envisioned painting the mansion magenta, and Eva thought such a brash move would piss off the Duprees. Vanessa informed Leslie that she wasn't moving in that day: the present owners reserved their right to stay 90 days until they found another place to live.

Eva figured that Leslie could just stay at her apartment, but Leslie, staring at Ted, was anxious – she wanted to stake her claim on Fairmont Crest. When Vanessa suggested that Leslie check out other, newer gated communities, Leslie uttered, “Well, aren't you a precious little Barbie?” Eva didn't want Leslie burning through her money, but Leslie chirped that she'd have money coming in every six months from investments and “whatever.”

Vanessa watched as Eva attempted to convince Leslie that she might be happier living in a neighborhood where people didn't hate her; perhaps Leslie might make friends. When Leslie mentioned Jan and Mona, Eva said she meant friends who still wanted to talk to her. Leslie pointed to Ted after Eva challenged her to name one thing Fairmont Crest had that she couldn't find elsewhere.

Ted listened as Andre explained how he'd been wrong to insist that Ted go after Nicole. He attributed his shift in perspective to his recent letdown with Ashley and told Ted that, before Chelsea had gone missing, he and Dani had been considering venturing into more romantic territory beyond their previous friends-with-benefits situation. Ted wondered if both Andre and Ashley's reunions with their exes had been born out of crises...and examined whether something similar could happen with him and Nicole.

Dani had spent the night at her parents' place; she didn't want to sleep or eat until Chelsea was home. Dani fretted that statistics said the odds of a kidnap victim returning safely lessened the more time passed. Vernon announced that his FBI contact had gone nationwide in the search. Dani was surprised that 95% of the tips that had come in so far were false leads. Just then, Naomi ran in and reported that Jacob might have broken the case. While Naomi caught the family up on Jacob's discovery, Bill assured Dani that Chelsea was just as indestructible as she was.

The doorbell rang, and Nicole was approached by a process server. The about-to-be divorcée was annoyed to read that Ted was trying to stall the dissolution of their marriage by requesting an audit of their finances. The family was none too pleased to learn that Bill was representing Ted. Bill corrected that one of his partners was working on Ted's behalf, but Nicole yelled that it was Bill's name on the door. Dani, Vernon, and Nicole all took Bill to task; he reasoned that it was better for him to handle the Richardson divorce rather than a stranger who might leak details to gossip outlets.

The Duprees balked when Bill relayed that Ted had only moved to delay the proceedings because Ted still loved Nicole. Mrs. Richardson reminded Bill that she had meant it when she had replaced him as the family fixer. Vernon diplomatically counseled his squabbling clan not to act out of the raw emotions they were all feeling because of Chelsea's disappearance.

Leslie privately griped to Eva that she didn't want to stare at her apartment's “cruddy popcorn ceiling” for another three months. Eva suggested Leslie indulge in retail therapy as a salve; Leslie lamented that she couldn't give Mona and Jan guest passes to the club so they could play pickleball with her there. After Leslie sashayed past Ted, he shook his head and received a text from Bill, who warned him to stay away from the Duprees, since Nicole and her family were on the warpath about his stall tactic.

Eva visited Ted at the bar and offered her condolences about Chelsea's disappearance, intuiting that Kat must be going through hell. Ted didn't know from the source because Kat hadn't returned any of his texts or voicemails; he figured she was with the Duprees and alluded to keeping his distance. Eva hated the timing, but she wanted Ted's help in preventing Leslie from moving into the gated community, feeling that Ted had more influence over her mother than anyone. Ted wasn't unaware that Nicole would be grateful if he could stop Leslie from being her neighbor.

At her apartment, Leslie was practicing with her new pickleball racket when there was a knock on the door. It was Bill; Leslie held her racket in a protective stance as Bill warned her to stay away from the Duprees – forever, because nobody wanted her living in Fairmont Crest. “Well, that's just too damn bad,” Leslie spat, relishing the power her money gave her. Bill was sure Leslie remembered how far he was willing to go in service to his clients and grumbled that he'd had to take time out of looking for his daughter to deal with her. If Leslie didn't back off, he would make sure she did...permanently.

Vanessa buoyed the Duprees by telling them she had arranged with the owners of the house across the street to add a clause to their contract that kept them from vacating the property for 90 days. Dani and Bill were each impressed at Vanessa's maneuvering, but Dani suspected there had to be another loophole that could keep Leslie out for even longer – and she expected Bill to find it, since he owed it to Nicole for legally siding with Ted in her divorce.

Andre came at the mansion to see Dani, who stopped him from addressing their in-flux relationship parameters. Dani was glad that Andre vowed to be there for her while Chelsea was missing, though she affirmed that she had her whole family behind her. Andre couldn't disagree when Dani described Chelsea as her “mini me” and called the two of them the Duprees, who couldn't color within the lines. While praising how good Madison was for Chelsea, Dani began to break down at the idea of Allison turning Chelsea into a victim, falling into Andre's arms, sobbing.

Jacob checked on Kat at the guest house. She was busying herself cleaning up after the officers who had dusted her home for prints and was critical of the mess they had made. Kat hadn't slept and had spent most of her night waiting to hear Chelsea's key in the lock. Jacob shared that he had discovered a trail of online purchases Allison had made, which had been shipped to a different address than was listed on her ID; the detective suspected that was where Chelsea was being held. He didn't want Kat following along, but Kat begged him to let her accompany him, certain that her cousin would need her. Jacob agreed reluctantly.

Once they returned, Jacob was frustrated that there had been nothing out of the ordinary to be had at Allison's place – but Kat showed Jacob a key to a storage locker that she had swiped from the premises. As the cousins-in-law headed to the facility, the Duprees joined hands in prayer and asked for Chelsea's safe return.

Scanning through a thumb drive found in Allison's locker, Jacob and Kat came across a journal in which Allison had tracked Chelsea's movements; Kat was shocked that Allison had been stalking her cousin for years – and posited that kidnapping Chelsea had been Allison's long game.

Chelsea awoke to a feather gently tickling her; Allison had donned a wedding dress. Though Chelsea grumbled that she wouldn't feel better until Allison was locked up, Allison proposed to her. When Chelsea refused to marry her captor, Allison mused that she would find a way to make Chelsea cooperate. Chelsea thought she had an out when she noted that Allison was already married to Craig, but Allison nonchalantly mentioned that Craig was only an escort she'd hired. Chelsea was stunned.

Allison confessed that she had used Craig to lure Chelsea because, at the time, it had seemed like Chelsea was into men. Chelsea realized that Allison had set her up from the beginning but wondered why, then, Allison had pushed her away. Allison grinned that she had been playing hard to get, like Chelsea had advised doing in one of her videos; Chelsea grunted that the “advice” had only been lyrics to a random song she had been dancing to. After Chelsea spurned Allison again, Allison threatened to get Madison out of the way for good...unless Chelsea said “I do.” Chelsea replied that she needed to think about it, while Allison was confident there would be a wedding that day.

Chelsea led the conversation to Allison having to unchain her if they wanted to go in front of a justice of the peace. Allison beamed that she could perform the ceremony herself, as she had become ordained. After Chelsea objected that it wouldn't be legally binding, and Allison responded that they only needed God as their witness, Chelsea said to herself that she could use some divine intervention. Having heard the crack, Allison produced a butcher knife – so Chelsea agreed to marry her.

“You don't wanna marry someone lookin' all busted,” Chelsea reckoned, holding up her shackled hands to show it wasn't possible for her to fix herself up. Allison smeared lipstick on Chelsea's lips and set a veil in Chelsea's hair before cueing up “The Wedding March” on her phone. Chelsea sat stiffly as Allison began the ceremony and read her vows, articulating that she loved Chelsea so much that she'd forget “that doctor.” “Her name is Madison,” Chelsea rectified, rigid. Allison breezed past the correction and wrapped up, excited to hear Chelsea's pledges.

“It's hard to put into words what I feel for you,” Chelsea stated, not dishonestly. Chelsea added that Allison was unlike anyone she'd ever met and vowed to treat her as well as Allison treated her. The under-duress bride promised to be a good partner and to do her best to keep Allison calm; she would bring the values she was raised with into their marriage. A tear streamed down the happy Allison's face as Chelsea swore – through gritted teeth – to be the wife Allison deserved.

Allison declared them wife and wife, though Chelsea hesitated when it was time for her to kiss her bride.

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