Beyond the Gates Recap, July 24, 2025: Kenneth’s ghost loomed large over Nicole and Naomi

Here's what went down Thursday, July 24, 2025 on Beyond the Gates when Hayley's shape nearly gave her away, a race against time developed between Naomi and Jacob, and poor Tomás still couldn't get any.

What happened on Beyond the Gates

On Beyond the Gates, Anita was rehearsing a routine to one of the old Articulettes songs as Vernon came in. He agreed that concertgoers would be flocking to hear all three of the singers; it was just that he was partial to one particular singer. Martin was on his way to visit Nicole and reported that Smitty still wouldn't talk to him because he had only told the family part of the story of his ordeal, leaving out that it had ended with “Kenneth” dying. Anita doubted that Nicole could handle the whole truth after she was so resentful over secrets being kept from her, but Martin saw coming forth as the only way he could reunite with Smitty.

Nicole was on a call relaying that she was ready to begin seeing patients again; she cracked that at least there were no more surprises awaiting her. Martin entered, noticing Nicole's good mood – and revealing that what he had to say might cause her to regress. Nicole didn't like that there was still more to Martin's story that she hadn't heard, with Martin admitting it was like he was addicted to withholding the truth. Martin sat his mother down and brought her up to speed on “Kenneth” returning and getting to his kids...and how Bill, Joey, Marcel, and Elon had seen to “Kenneth”'s demise.

Martin assured Nicole that he didn't know “Kenneth” was going to be killed, and that Vernon hadn't ordered the hit. Nicole found the news a bitter pill but was glad that Martin had come to her; she railed against the family's vision of her as someone fragile who couldn't hear hard truths. Martin gritted his teeth and confessed that another reason he had kept silent was because he hadn't wanted disfiguring “Kenneth” and killing his brother, albeit in self-defense, to come back to haunt him in a presidential run.

Nicole blamed herself for not sensing what both Martin and Ted had been hiding. Martin blamed himself for allowing the cover-up instead of being forthright from the beginning about what had happened with “Kenneth.” Nicole offered to help Martin heal as a psychiatric patient, not as her son; Martin accepted. Nicole left things there and announced that she had somewhere to be.

Jacob met Naomi at Orphey Gene's, grousing that he once again had to look into her family. Naomi reiterated that Jacob had agreed not to investigate Martin, but Jacob said he had a case relating to Naomi's aunt. “Aunt Nicole wouldn't even jaywalk!” Naomi exclaimed. Jacob told her how Leslie had claimed that Nicole had tried to strangle her. Naomi thought it was smart for Ted, who had witnessed the assault, to decline making a statement, but she hoped Jacob hadn't arrested another relative. The detective explained to Naomi that the lack of witnesses or security footage hadn't provided enough for him to make an arrest.

Naomi acknowledged that her family had been exploring their “vigilante streak” but asked Jacob not to probe any more Duprees. Jacob replied that that wasn't entirely up to him; besides, he still had a lot of questions about Martin. When Naomi offered that there was no clear connection between Martin and the dead John Doe, Jacob quoted her a line from one of Vernon's speeches which labeled justice as not knowing last names, colors, or genders. Naomi countered that Vernon would protect his family above all else.

The Duprees greeted Naomi, who told her grandparents about Jacob's case that implied Martin had been keeping some secret for two years. “We have a family meeting when somebody has a hangnail,” Naomi pointed out, yet there had been no discussion about Martin shouldering a problem. After Naomi wondered if she was the only one in the dark, Vernon divulged that Martin's issue had been a legal one; Naomi realized there could be no elaboration because she was married to a police officer. Vernon warned that letting Naomi in on Martin's troubles would subject her to a lifetime of secrets.

Naomi wanted to help. The Duprees gazed at each other silently, then Vernon handed Naomi money and retained her legal services...meaning that anything he told her was covered by attorney-client privilege. Consenting, Naomi sat down as Vernon began the story of how a flat tire had turned into a hate crime. When the patriarch got to the part about Marcel killing “Kenneth,” Naomi understood why Jacob had long pegged Marcel as a dirty cop. Anita contributed that Elon was a good man; he had just helped protect Martin by suppressing both his violent defense of Vernon and “Kenneth” being taken out. Naomi was relieved that neither Martin nor Vernon had had a hand in the murder, but she was crestfallen to hear about Bill's involvement.

Vernon deemed himself responsible, as he'd brought Bill in to help; he just hadn't thought Bill would go as far as he did. Naomi rued having given Bill another chance after hurting her mother and couldn't abide being half Bill's. Anita avowed that Naomi was nothing like Bill. Naomi knew that the truth, awful as it was, would allow her to help Martin going forward, and she let the Duprees know that Martin was being investigated by Jacob. Given how quickly Jacob was putting the pieces together, and looking at things from a legal standpoint, Naomi regretfully told Vernon and Anita that they could be named as accessories in “Kenneth's" death because of the cover-up. The attorney didn't think it was possible for the truth to be contained much longer.

Kat got into Eva's work computer at Ted's clinic to determine Eva's location. Meanwhile, Eva escorted Tomás into her hotel room and searched for the book she wanted to loan him, picking up a bra during her effort. She didn't want Tomás to think she was trying to make a move on him by letting him see the undergarment; Tomás marveled that he had never known Eva to be so shy. Eva attributed it to their kiss; Tomás offered to leave, but preferred to stay. Eva was unsettled and didn't know what, if anything, should happen next. Tomás presented the choice of pretending their kiss hadn't happened or capitalizing on it; they chose the latter.

Falling onto the bed, Eva told Tomás that she didn't want to stop – but after a moment she did, coming to the conclusion that making love to Tomás would fulfill what Kat had been accusing her of trying to do the whole time. When Tomás promised that he and Kat weren't exclusive, Eva asked, “Does she know that?” Eva didn't want to be Tomás' side piece – she wanted to be the main character in her own story for the first time in her life. Tomás tried to convince Eva that she didn't have to wait for everything to be perfect, but in that moment Kat came knocking on Eva's door, claiming Nicole needed Eva's help.

Eva wanted to hide Tomás in the bathroom, but Tomás thought it better he explain his presence. Allowed in, Kat went off on Eva about Leslie framing Nicole, only to glare when she found Tomás in Eva's room. Kat no longer wanted Eva's assistance in restraining Leslie; Tomás said he was only there to borrow the next book in the series that he and Eva were reading. He made to leave, but Kat huffed that Tomás hadn't gotten what he'd come for yet and stomped out.

After Kat left, Eva was bothered that Tomás hadn't been honest about why he was really there; Eva deduced that Tomás had wanted to preserve his relationship with Kat. Tomás stated that he just hadn't wanted Kat to further attack Eva, but the aggrieved Eva was thankful things had stopped before they'd gotten messy. Eva found the book Tomás wanted to borrow and told him she was capable of letting go of a story. Tomás insisted that he liked Eva and hoped he could still be a part of her story, kissing her on the cheek as he left. “The end,” Eva told herself.

Bill looked up from his papers to notice Hayley wearing a slinky new dress. He declared her a wonder and said that, to look at her, he would never know she was pregnant. Hayley seductively purred that her days of being able to fit into such an outfit were numbered. Bill soothingly said he would find Hayley attractive even by the time she was “out to here.” When Bill added that he had made further contributions to their child's college fund, Hayley remarked that it was a little soon to do so...but that she was proud that she and their baby were Hamiltons.

Hayley knew that Bill had been meeting with Vernon and had crashed Martin's press conference; she wanted to know if the Duprees considered Bill friend or foe. “Neither,” Bill replied. While he stated that his former in-laws only got in touch when they needed something from him, Hayley felt that Bill couldn't “quit the Duprees.” Bill conceded that had been true before, but no longer was. Just then, Nicole stormed in and denounced Bill as a murderer...in front of Hayley.

Nicole quietly picked up that Hayley hadn't been clued in, while Hayley snarked that, in Nicole's outlandish pronouncement, she finally saw Nicole's resemblance to Dani. Bill asked for the room, after which Nicole wondered if Hayley really knew who her babydaddy was and intimated that she'd tell her. Though Bill cast himself as a secondary player in “Kenneth's" death, Nicole fumed that her one-time brother-in-law had arranged for it. She felt that Bill was supposed to be enough of a hot shot that he could have easily defended Martin against “Kenneth” in court, but instead, he had dragged Martin further into the dirt.

Bill seethed that he had had to clean up the Duprees' messes while they sat watching from on high, which had prevented Martin from going on trial for killing “Kenneth”'s brother. Nicole was cowed when Bill opined that Martin still could have gone to prison if he'd ended up confessing everything at the press conference, which would have ended Martin's political career, but she rebounded and stood firm that there were more important things at play. Bill growled that Naomi couldn't accept the fact that he had saved her son instead of her. “Must rock your whole worldview,” he frowned.

Nicole berated Bill for damaging Martin instead – and the entire Dupree family. Bill retorted that the clan's wound was self-inflicted...thanks to Vernon. Mr. Hamilton went on to say that good people lived lives that didn't require bringing in a clean-up crew, the way Vernon had recruited Bill. Nicole bit her tongue as Bill said that, for a time, he had looked up to Vernon as much as Nicole had; to Bill, Vernon had been an improved father figure over his own father, whom Bill classed as a bum. In the end, Bill had meant nothing more to Vernon than an enabler assigned to keep the reputation of the Duprees pristine. He was as disappointed in Vernon as Nicole was.

Mrs. Richardson performed a sarcastic slow clap and sniffed that Bill brought out people's baser instincts. When she commanded Bill to stay away from her family, Bill scoffed that her family always came looking for him. “Then just say no, Bill!” Nicole roared. She stated that her loved ones would have been better off without Bill being the devil on their collective shoulders, adding that Martin could barely see how traumatized he was. From now on, Nicole asserted, she was going to be the one to help Martin. “I am the fixer now!” Nicole yelled to “The Fixer.”

Jacob saw Martin entering Orphey Gene's and expressed his hope that Martin and Smitty could work things out. Martin was dubious; Jacob proclaimed they were family and how he'd heard that Marcel had been appointed to protect Tyrell and Samantha from someone who had been stalking them. Jacob wondered if Martin had distanced himself from Smitty because of the threat and volunteered to help incarcerate their harasser. Martin sighed that being a public figure came with its share of threats and was confident that he and Smitty would bridge their gap. Jacob found it suspicious that both of the Richardson-Smiths were evading his questions.

Martin addressed Smitty's article about Marcel and noted that he hadn't been associated with it. Jacob mentioned that Smitty had stopped working on his piece at the same time he had gone silent. While Martin felt that Jacob was fishing, Jacob felt there were too many coincidences for everything to be on the up-and-up – especially the mysterious death that concluded Martin's presser. Martin talked up Marcel and showed gratitude that the veteran was on the case, to which Jacob tried not to react.

Later, Kat stormed into the diner, unleashing on Martin about how someone could just stand there like nothing had happened. Martin apologized, but Kat exclaimed, “Why? You weren't there,” and proceeded to tell her brother how she had found Tomás in Eva's room. Kat nattered about the two being caught before or after sex and how Tomás knew she couldn't abide cheating because of what Ted had done. Martin wanted Kat to be sure about what she had seen; Kat shared how Tomás had looked guilty, but by the time she got around to demonizing all men, she stopped herself and commented that Martin was one of the good ones. Martin hugged Kat but looked sick.

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