Beyond the Gates Recap, July 21, 2025: Nicole had harsh words for Ted and soft ones for Martin

Here's what went down Monday, July 21, 2025 on Beyond the Gates when Ashley and Shanice competed in The Flirtation Games, the Hawthornes got into a spat, and Chelsea gave her lawyer an out.

What happened on Beyond the Gates

On Beyond the Gates, Anita pleaded with Vernon not to berate himself over how he had covered up Martin's bloody defense of him during the hate crime against them. Vernon had intended for Martin to “walk away from it clean,” but now the fallout included his husband leaving him. While Anita reminded Vernon that at least Martin hadn't spent the last two years in prison, Vernon felt horrible for condemning his grandson to guilt and nightmares. Anita managed to convince Vernon that they had done the best they could at the time, and all they could do in the present was to move forward. The Duprees were joined by Martin, who, having had time to process things, decided he needed to have a long talk with Nicole.

Ted was surprised to see Nicole at his hotel room door; he told her he understood why she had attacked Leslie. But when Nicole came down hard about Ted having kept yet another major secret from her, he became confused. Nicole was appalled that Ted had operated on “Kenneth” and kept quiet about the events preceding that procedure, as it had involved their son. Ted shot back that Martin could have been killed or gone to prison, yet it seemed to him that Nicole only cared about having been kept in the dark, not that he had come to the aid of their child.

Knowing what it was like to have committed regretful actions and wanting them to go away, Ted asserted that he had helped Vernon cover up Martin's violent act to protect Nicole and all the Duprees. Nicole was stunned that Ted had never even told Martin about reconstructing “Kenneth's" face; Ted hadn't seen the need in making Martin relive disfiguring one man and killing another. “Nothing ever is,” Nicole spat when Ted said that situation wasn't about her. “That self-pity crap is beneath you,” Ted countered. Nicole wanted her feelings validated – the sense that none of her loved ones valued her enough to be honest with her.

Nicole seethed that Ted had been ordered by the “Dupree High Command” to protect Martin from his own mother. Ted maintained that Vernon had wanted the circle of those in the know to be as small as possible; Nicole marveled that her father, son, and husband could just go on as if nothing had happened. The psychiatrist cried that Martin had had no one to turn to about his torment because of the secrecy and called Ted's actions careless and cruel. Given Ted had taken boy Martin along to visit his mistress and had prevented Nicole from being able to guide Martin in recovering emotionally, Nicole was coming to the opinion that Ted had never been the man she'd thought he was. Any chance they'd had of reconciling, however slim, had been ruined.

Ted balked at Nicole using their son's tribulations as an excuse to give up on their marriage. Nicole didn't think she was supposed to keep abiding secrets and wondered how Ted would have reacted if Nicole had withheld such vital information from him about Kat. Ted hoped he would have understood and stated that, with Nicole out of the loop, she would have been in the clear if the secret somehow went public. When Ted avowed that he loved Nicole, she questioned whether he had while burying Martin's trauma or while he was sleeping with “that basket case.” She declared she was taking “next steps” but wouldn't elaborate as she walked out on Ted.

Jacob asked Naomi's opinion about why Smitty had gone from openly helping to dig up info on Marcel to shutting down completely. Naomi didn't think it possible that Smitty had switched to protecting Martin – especially since Jacob had been sure that Martin was afraid of Marcel. Jacob couldn't let go of the fact that Martin had ended his press conference at roughly the same time as Marcel found a body. Naomi didn't believe Martin could be connected to a crime and got her feathers ruffled when Jacob replied, “Stranger things have happened – this is your family we're talking about.”

Lawyer Naomi felt that Smitty had been smart to invoke spousal privilege. Jacob couldn't be swayed from thinking how strange it was for Smitty to come to him with questions and concerns, only to suddenly clam up about them. Hearing that Smitty had thrown Martin out of the house, Naomi looked to her experience with husband Jacob to opine that dynamics between couples were fluid. When the subject changed to how Elon had quashed Jacob's desire to follow up on the identity of the dead man, Naomi conceded that it looked like Marcel and Martin were tied to the death. She wasn't entirely convinced, however – and, for the sake of argument, she asked Jacob if he really wanted to “kick that hornet's nest” if Elon knew about something nefarious that tethered Martin to Marcel.

Jacob was annoyed that Naomi seemed to be implying he should ignore what was right in front of him. Naomi just didn't want her detective husband to rush in, but he made a wise crack about the Duprees and their reputations; Naomi defended her family, and the attorney reminded the cop that he had no solid proof of his suspicions. Playing devil's advocate, Naomi went on to say that if Jacob pursued the matter and he turned out to be right, he would lose his father, his father would lose his job, Martin would have to step down as congressman, and the community would suffer for Martin not being there. Not to mention, Naomi added, Jacob would harm the family who had treated him as one of their own. Jacob couldn't believe that his counselor wife would choose blood over the law, but Naomi begged him to let Marcel and Elon handle the case of the dead man.

After another bedroom romp, Andre suspected that Dani had needed him to be a distraction. To Andre's annoyance, Dani admitted that she'd just had a “confounding” conversation with Bill. When Andre shifted gears and smirked that he was all for Dani having him take her mind off Bill if it meant lovemaking, Dani teased Andre about “candy striper” Ashley. Andre grinned that Dani was jealous; Dani claimed Andre could “do whomever” he wanted, but Andre swore that he would make her eat those words in the future. Dani wanted to fool around more in the moment but was interrupted by a phone call from Vernon asking her to come to the Dupree mansion immediately.

Learning of the hate crime against Martin and Vernon, and its aftermath, all Dani wanted to do was cry. She was at a loss for why “Kenneth” and his brother were so filled with fear or anger that they were compelled to commit violence against her relatives. Martin recounted how terrifying the ordeal had been, and Vernon and Anita commented they had still been brought to this point despite all their work changing minds and laws about discrimination. Thinking back, Martin couldn't be sure if he had instinctively known the brothers meant harm, or if he had made assumptions about them the way they had made assumptions about two Black men.

Vernon was adamant that Martin hadn't acted until it was clear Vernon was in danger. Dani thanked her nephew for protecting her father and suddenly realized that her sister needed to be told. Anita relayed that it had already been done, and Martin wondered if Nicole would forgive him. As Martin railed that he had been brought up to eschew violence, Anita firmly pointed out that Nicole had raised her son right, unlike “Kenneth” and his brother, whose intrinsic beliefs had set them on a path to destruction. Dani, Anita, and Vernon all assured Martin that he hadn't caused the situation, and that he had done what was required to ensure his and Vernon's survival. Martin was still afraid that Tyrell and Samantha wouldn't understand his responses and that he could lose his family entirely.

Martin didn't think Smitty would turn the kids against him, but that the facts of the incident might. As his aunt and grandparents consoled him, Nicole walked in; Anita, Vernon, and Dani all took the silent cue to give Martin and Nicole their privacy. Once alone, they cried and hugged each other tightly. Nicole advised her son to sleep instead of talking, and in the new day, they would get to work healing the psychological damage. Later, Martin texted his teens, letting them know that he loved them and that tomorrow was another day.

Dani, eating cookies, returned to Nicole; the younger Dupree sister laughed that Rowena, their housekeeper, had a stash she didn't know Dani knew about. “More secrets,” Nicole said sourly. Dani asked if Nicole wanted to run away; where would she go? Nicole wanted to venture back 25 to 30 years, when it was just her and Dani and before all of the problems. “I miss who we used to be,” Nicole revealed, a tear escaping. Dani believed that being in their family meant they were never alone, no matter how imperfect the clan was. When Dani urged Nicole to stop pushing her loved ones away and let them help her heal, Nicole agreed, and the sisters reaffirmed their love for each other.

Chelsea barged into Bill's office, livid that her father had been unreachable for hours and that he had “put us in this position.” Bill worried when Chelsea fumed that his irresponsibility would cause blowback for the entire family, but he soon realized Chelsea was talking about the other design company that was accusing Chelsea of copyright infringement; they were now seeking a summary judgment against her. Mr. Hamilton apologized profusely for not handling his daughter's case, letting her know how busy he had been. Chelsea felt let down and found it odd that the meticulous Bill had slipped up in missing correspondence from the plaintiffs. Bill tried to explain that he had had a lot on his mind, causing Chelsea to ask what was wrong.

When Bill cited how unusual it had been for Chelsea to come to him for help, the former model pondered if it had been too soon to do so – but she offered to have Tomás tackle her legal troubles if it would take strain off of Bill. She also made herself available to help Bill through whatever was distressing him. Bill looked humbled as Chelsea declared there should be no more secrets within their family.

Derek came to the hospital but passed Ashley wordlessly at the nurses station. Instead, he brought a set of resistance bands to Shanice and beamed that the exercises she had recommended had worked. Ashley listened as Shanice purred that she had magic in her fingers and that she was willing to help Derek work out his kinks. As Shanice continued to flirt with Derek, Ashley got on a call and said she needed “back-up.” Derek and Shanice admitted they had given each other reasons to smile, but Shanice wanted to know if Derek's sentiment was genuine or for “the benefit of others” – something she posited while eyeing Ashley peripherally. “What if it's both?” Derek asked. Shanice giggled, saying her own motive was to flex her dormant flirt muscles.

Shanice offered to help Derek get back to the woman he wanted and loudly played up the flirtation so Ashley could hear. The supervisor didn't mind “getting messy,” while Derek felt that “this” could be the beginning of something fun. Just then, Andre got off the elevator, and Ashley made a show of his arrival. Derek and Shanice were as amused as Andre was confused as Ashley tried to make it look like Andre was heavily coming on to her. Andre judged Ashley as overdoing it, and she observed that it wasn't having any effect on Derek at all. Ashley said years of monogamy had left her out of practice with flirting and sent Andre on his way.

Ashley thought that Shanice and Derek had left, but Derek surprised Ashley by coming up behind her. Derek got Ashley to agree that it was difficult to balance work with grieving a lost love. Ashley took care to mention that she wasn't necessarily moving on with Andre; she just appreciated his support. Derek listed off Shanice's more stellar qualities and shared that Ashley possessed them as well. The exes acknowledged the difficulty of breaking up; while Derek wanted Ashley to be happy, he had just been hoping that she'd be happy with him. Ashley wanted to know that Derek didn't hate her. He assured her he'd never be able to.

“Helluva day,” Bill reflected as Ted showed him into his hotel room. Ted sullenly said it could get worse, as he might have to retain Bill as his divorce lawyer. Bill reasoned that Nicole had given Ted a dressing down after learning of what had happened to Martin; Ted was perplexed as to why Nicole had suddenly been apprised, especially with “Kenneth” having been paid to leave town again. “Oh, my God, Bill – what did you do?” Ted asked after Bill divulged that “Kenneth” was dead. Bill didn't disagree that, by virtue of the press conference, he, Vernon, and Martin all had airtight alibis.

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Ted learned that Nicole hadn't been told about “Kenneth”'s death, and he worried that the presumption of a robbery gone wrong could fall apart if the police dug too deep. Bill confirmed that they had “friends” on the force and agreed with Ted that Jacob being on the case was the last thing anyone needed. Ted was floored that Bill could be so cavalier about “Kenneth” being murdered, but Bill cut the man no slack after he had targeted Samantha and Tyrell. All they could do now was let Marcel and Elon do their jobs in sweeping “Kenneth”'s existence under the rug.

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

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