Kiss and Make Up: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of July 21, 2025

Beyond the Gates: Work da runway, sweetie!

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? This week, Nicole left her Febreze behind to go on the warpath while both Leslie and Allison used injuries to get what they want. Meanwhile, Tomás joined the ranks of soaps' legendary wafflers by bouncing between Kat and Eva, the phone number on June's photo turned out to have an address linked to it, and Hayley made a mysterious phone call! Any Dad-gummed guesses? Let's fill up those Two Scoops and find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

You down with O.P.P.?

First of all, happy early birthday, anniversary, whatever you want to call it, to Beyond the Gates, which will be airing its 100th episode on Tuesday! By my calculations, that should have aired July 11, but pre-emptions. Anyhoo, here we are – and it's the soap's second major milestone, outside of its premiere, of course. In my view, it's goin' strong and I say here's to 200!

Now, on to Episodes 94 through 98. Oh, Tomás. You just put yourself in the running for the Ridge Forrester/Liam Spencer Waffling Contest of 2025 (if you're at all familiar with B&B, you know). But let me backtrack. Eva did some underhanded technobabble stuff to get Kat and Ted to meet with her together, and Leslie's daughter made Kat sweat it out while she made it look like she was gonna fink on Kat for sabotaging her.

But surprise! Eva had taken steps to renew the accreditation certificate for Ted's clinic – the same document Kat had led Eva to believe wasn't urgent. Ted was thrilled, and Kat was so steamed her mascara nearly melted. Eva later ran into Tomás at Orphey Gene's and told him that the reason she hadn't spilled Kat's tea was because she didn't want to cause any more trouble between Kat and Ted, whose relationship was already strained enough thanks to her.

Tomás was about it and admitted that the crappy way Kat treated Eva was a major turn-off. In fact, it was part of the reason he and Kat hadn't...psyche! We ain't gonna talk about that! But Tomás must have had it on his mind, because his leisurely convo with Eva turned into some major sloppy kissing right there in the diner! Just what people wanna see when they're ordering their fried okra!

Moments later, the passion bubble burst, with Eva not wanting Tomás to think she'd manipulated him into smearing her lip gloss, and half of Tomás feeling bad for smooching around on Kat while the other half felt pretty damn good about it. I guess it was that half that decided to tell Eva all of Kat's business...not only had Tomás and Ms. Richardson not done the do, she was a virgin to boot!

Tom, Tom, Tom. I don't care if you do say you don't have a lot of friends; you don't pop off about stuff like that...especially to the girl who's your girlfriend's rival. Major faux pas. But Tomás didn't know what he and Kat were...they certainly weren't exclusive. “Does Kat know that?” Eva asked. Indeed. So, you may remember that Eva and Tomás are both into the same book series; Tomás decided to accompany Eva to her hotel room so she could loan him installment number two.

You mean Round Two, because before long, these two were at it again! Buttons unbuttoned and spit was swapped, but before Tomás could make a run for second base, Eva stopped him at first. It dawned on her that, if she slept with Tomás, she would be exactly the person Kat had made her out to be. There wasn't much time to debate it, because Kat showed up at the door wanting to talk to Eva!

Kat stopped short when she saw Tomás in Eva's room, and she barely let him get a word out before she bounced. If Tomás' amorous mood wasn't killed by that, it was killed by Eva noticing how hurt he was by Kat dissing him. Eva was glad they hadn't bumped uglies; she basically told the lawyer they could only be friends and sent him on his way. That took a lot of balls. Unlike Tomás', which were blue.

The next day, Kat ordered Tomás to make an appearance, during which he explained to her Majesty that he hadn't actually slept with Eva. Kat didn't like hearing that Tomás liked her rival/half-sister, but when he noted that, whenever he wanted to talk about their relationship, Kat inevitably shifted to Eva and/or Leslie, our brat had to concede that Tomás wasn't wrong. She had done exactly that.

Kat got vulnerable and told Tomás she was crazy about him. He wanted to show her his feelings, and things got heated...and when they reached the boiling point, Kat let him know she was ready to no longer be sponsored by the letter V. Afterwards, freshly devirginized, Tomás kept kissing on Kat's shoulder while she stared off into space, sullen. Uh oh! Girlfriend didn't play the V-card for the right reasons!

That's assuming they actually had sex; maybe she was looking bummed because she couldn't go through with it. But it was the wrong time for both of these peeps. You don't take one of the most important steps for a girl after an argument, and Tomás just seemed like he was desperate to get some from whoever was willing to give it. He lost points with me this week. Though I will say he's way better suited to Eva! What do y'all think?

Break up to make up

Chelsea was hangin' at Orphey Gene's when suddenly Allison showed up, her forehead bloodied. Apparently Allison had literally been trippin' and ended up testing the durability of the sidewalk with her face. Feeling compassion, Chelsea declared she was taking Allison to the hospital, but Ally took that moment to get all gushy about how good-hearted her former hookup was. Sus meter rising.

Madison wasn't thrilled to find Allison on Chelsea's arm, but went into doctor mode anyway. Later, she peeked into Allison's room only to find the injured woman holding her girlfriend's hand. Mads split, so she didn't wind up hearing the part where Allison was all, naw, for real, I didn't fall. My husband Craig got pissed at me for not being over you, Chelsea, and pushed me so hard I smacked my head on the kitchen table!

Chelsea went on alert, which Allison loved, but when Chelsea picked up her phone to call Bill so her dad could represent Allison against Craig, Allison freaked. The hell. Out. She went on a diatribe about how all Chelsea cared about was Madison and booted Chels out to the hallway. Yeah, nothing shady there! Madison, after getting over her silly jealous pique, told Chelsea as much. Something was off with Allison, and it was just too convenient that she sought Chelsea out at the diner instead of taking herself to the hospital!

The youngest Hamilton sis had to agree and returned to see Allison, who apologized all over the place. She gave multiple reasons why she didn't want to prosecute Craig, but by then, Chelsea decided she didn't want to hear anymore. Her advice: leave Craig and don't reach out to me again. Kudos, Chels! But we know Allison ain't done. What's her next trick – yanking her arm out of her socket to get Chelsea's attention?

Allison might have been willing to bang herself up to play on Chelsea's sympathies, but y'all know Leslie ain't gonna put herself out like that. Instead, she went to Ted's hotel room, scarf draped carefully around her neck, and lamented to her one-time lover how that awful Nicole had wounded her with her chokehold. Plastic surgeon Ted wanted to see, and when Leslie displayed her abrasion, he said that Nicole couldn't have caused something that bad.

Leslie didn't want to make another pitch to replace Nicole in the Mrs. Richardson Sweepstakes, but she did advise Ted to choose between the mother-daughter duo who had his back and the one who kept working against him. Teddy-boo wasn't havin' it, and after “Dana” sauntered out to buy more scarves, he got a visit from Jacob, who wanted Ted to make a statement regarding Nicole's attack on Leslie.

See, Nicole had already gotten a similar visit, because Leslie filed a complaint at the station, causing Jacob to have to investigate the matter. Nicole so loudly barked that she wished she had choked Leslie to death that the present Kat had to dial her mama down. The shrink was ready to get cuffed, but Jacob had only been there for questioning and then moved on to her estranged husband, who had nothing to say.

Nope. Ted pulled a Vernon and “chose silence,” affirming it was his right not to make a statement and realizing that doing so would alienate Nicole even more. Jacob was on board, and so was Nicole...in proving Leslie's bruise was a snooze. Nic went right over to Leslie's and smeared the lesion with her fingers...which were soon covered with purple eye shadow. Next time, Nicole promised, Leslie wouldn't need makeup!

Leslie, seriously? That's some amateur-level deception that's beneath you. Did she really think skin expert Ted would buy it? Girl was lucky her black-and-white scarf didn't end up stained with purple. Story-wise, the trick was nice – but now that we've gotten over the peak of Martin's secret coming out, let's step on the gas and get Leslie arrested for attempted murder! And then give me a big, dramatic court case and an arc with Leslie behind bars! You can do it, GATES.

Run this town

Dani had too much else going on to think further about whether or not she wanted to model again, but ride-or-die Pamela hadn't forgotten. No, Ms. Curtis came over with some bidding war figures from two design houses that wanted Dani to be their exclusive spokesperson. (Was one of them Forrester Creations? Imagine B&B's Eric and Ridge meeting Dani and going, “God, you look just like Maya!” Ya know, maybe a GATES/B&B crossover might make sense.)

Pamela didn't seem to mind that Dani was miffed about not having been consulted and insisted that Dani working the runway again would give their unlaunched agency the clout it needed to shoot off into the stratosphere. (Wouldn't it only amplify Dani and leave the agency in the dust?) Dani was still pretty meh, so Pammy brought Andre in for a test shoot, and you know Dani Dupree can't resist no damn camera.

Dani got right back into modeling harness and sashayed and shantayed for all she was worth. Andre and Pamela deemed the results gold, but Dani still needed to think about it. I admit, I'm on the fence, too. I'm all for sending the message that women (and men, and everybody, no matter how they identify!) can still be sexy at any age. It's not just for the young'uns! But we already have Anita revisiting her old career. Does Dani need to be following suit? I can't freakin' decide.

Speaking of Anita, she was just minding her own business, walking amongst the detritus that used to be Martin's secret, when Sharon and Tracy made the trip from Chicago to convince Anita to do the reunion show anyway – even though they'd all fought about choreography and old wounds and all that. Anita was about ready to call the dogs on the other singers, and Sharon was mockingly willing to bow if Queen Anita would come back.

Not the olive branch you wanna lead with there, Sharon. Tracy picked up on this and got her friend to fade her bitch meter from ten to three. But Vernon popped in, and the one thing The Articulettes could agree on was that they wanted the used-to-be senator to mediate. And mediate he did, going full orator and reminding the feuding females that they still had music in common, no matter what.

It didn't take long for even Sharon to mellow out, and soon they were all “Articulettes strong” once again. Lawdy. On-again, off-again – pick one. (I guess they will, because previews indicate the big concert is next week.) Here's a thought: if Anita allowing Barbara to become collateral damage to the point the woman killed herself is still such a bone of contention, how about this?

Write a song about Barbara together and then perform it as the finale of the show. Dedicate the show to Barbara. Then record the tune and release it as a single in Barbara's name, donating all proceeds to some cause that Barbara believed in. That wouldn't erase everything, but it would be a big healing step in the right direction. Y'all can use that, Articulettes. I won't sue you for copyright infringement like Chelsea is being right now.

You can also use my idea for Ashley getting fired, having to take a job at Joey's casino, and ending up being the darling of his escort service. Because Ms. Morgan needs something better than the schoolyard foolishness she's being saddled with now. I mean, Derek shows up and Shanice flirts with him, so Ashley calls Andre over and breaks the sound barrier, making “plans” with him, all in her ex's earshot.

I know my girl Shanice was smart enough to pick up on this juvenile delinquency, and she basically told Ash to knock it off. This is how we do it! Derek and Ashley later had a talk about how hard it was to be broken up, and we got the bread crumb that they might reunite, but you can miss me with all of that. Something about Derek brings out the worst in Ashley – unless she's like that with all guys – and I really need to see her doing something else. Ash, the casino's number is 1-800-LAKEVIEW...

Secret rendezvous

Nicole's another character who needs to change costumes, if you know what I mean. She's had the indignant ensemble on so long that even her Febreze can't remove the odor. I get that she's pissed about all the secret keeping in her family, but dang – that chip on her shoulder is going to cause her scoliosis. What happened to Nicole finding out why Laura had so much extra potassium in her system? And Nicole teaming up with Kat and Mona to find Leslie's smoking gun? Did y'all forget? Because I didn't.

I'll also be fair to Nicole, though, and say she had a right to be outraged when she found out Ted had been part of the plan to cover up Martin's violent handling of the hate crime against him and Vernon – handling that had required “Kenneth” to have plastic surgery...which Ted had performed. Mrs. Richardson dressed the estranged Mr. Richardson down for making Martin's trauma worse by burying the incident and not giving their son a chance to heal.

I can't fault Nicole for that one. Ted had other ideas, however. It was his opinion that Nicole was only concerned with the fact that she had been kept in the dark about yet another occurrence – and that she was engaging in self-pity about it! Ooh, can't fault Ted for that one, either. When they're right, they're right! Ted went on to say that what he had done had kept Martin out of prison, but Nicole was done with Ted faking her out.

Yep, Nicole icily told Ted that any chance of a reconciliation, slim as it had been, was out the window, and it was time for “next steps.” Ted had to ask what that meant, but I knew! I think it's pretty obvious this marriage is dead. Time for Nicole to get herself a divorce lawyer and start calling herself Dupree again. Ted hasn't really tried all that hard to redeem himself, anyway. Wouldn't it be scandalous if Ted really did move on with Leslie?

Dani finding out about Martin and Vernon's unfortunate encounter with bigot “Kenneth” and his brother was just one more part of the peripheral characters to a story being brought up to speed, but GATES used it to broker a peace treaty between Dani and Nicole. The wind was taken out of both sisters by the news, and Dani reached out to Nicole and implored her to stop pushing everyone away. And Nicole agreed. Aww!

Just in time, too, because Martin came over to tell moms the one part of the story that he hadn't shared with her, or the kids. The congressman hoped that, by doing so, he could show Smitty he was committed to honesty going forward. You want my honesty? Don't go for it, Smitty! Maybe he and Nicole can get group rates at Marriage Dissolution R Us.

Yeah, so Nicole heard the ugliness about how “Kenneth” had died just as Martin was about to tell all to the press. Question: Wasn't the implication that the Duprees et al were going to have to deal with the fallout from pulling the plug on the conference — and from Martin having called one in the first place? Because there wasn't word one about that this past week. The public is a fact of Martin's political life. There's no way he wasn't being hounded by reporters about his erratic actions.

Nicole did something next that again made me think of B&B. To help Martin start to work through the nightmare he had been through...she offered to take him on as a patient! Now, wait a minute, people! That's unethical! I mean, I know B&B's Taylor performed head shrinking on relatives all the time, but that show's realism has been wafer-thin for too long. I didn't think GATES was gonna go there.

Martin can't be treated by Nicole! How about she refers him to some hunky dude who Martin ultimately leaves Smitty for? Because falling in love with your therapist? That's coded in the Soap 101 course. Nicole did act as a shrink in an unofficial capacity with Tyrell and Samantha, who wanted Grandma to help put Smitty and Martin back together...and affirm their belief that more was going on than their fathers had told them.

Nicole may have been right that Martin and Smitty had to work things out for themselves. And maybe it wasn't Nicole's place to be all, “Oh, yeah, and two brothers are dead because of your pop.” Still, she tried some Hallmarky sidestepping on them, and the teens weren't falling for it. I hope it just makes them more determined. Remember what I said last column about Sam and Ty finding stuff out on their own? That would be cool – and show some initiative!

Gangsta's paradise

Do you hear that, Hayley? That's the clock, and you're in a race with it. For some reason I can't fathom, she sent Bill stills from the ultrasound she (said she) had done...when Bill was in the hospital over a month ago! Why dredge that up again? All that did was get ultrasounds on Bill's brain again, and naturally, he wanted Hayley to have an updated one to check on the progress of their oven bun.

Like, duh, Hayley, you didn't see that coming? Is your fiyah high pony too tight? Now she had to dance around the topic, which should only have made hotshot attorney Bill even more suspicious. As it had to have been when Hayley went parading around in a slinky dress, causing Bill to say he would never know she was pregnant. The Duprees paint her as a master manipulator, but personally, I don't think she's very good at it.

What happened after that brought the intrigue, though! Hayley got on her phone, called someone, and exclaimed, “You had me worried!” She asked the person if they needed anything; apparently they said no, and Hayley said she would be in touch. Wasn't that out of nowhere! And who could this mystery person be? I have a theory...because GATES dropped what I feel is a hint about it.

Week before last, Bill and Dani talked about his uncomplimentary father. This past week, Bill brought up the “bum” to Hayley. I'd be willing to bet all my vintage original Soap Opera Digests that Bill's papa is going to show up soon, because one mention you could write off as random – but not two. Maybe Hayley is working to heal the obviously strained relationship between her husband and her father-in-law? Who do you think she called?

Going back to the whole hotshot lawyer thing, Bill was apparently so busy and distracted with his “Kenneth” assignment that Tomás actually welcomed his boss back, and Bill forgot to deal with the design firm that was suing Chelsea over intellectual property. No wonder Chelsea was pissed! The show made it sound like she was mad due to finding out the secret, but here's a red herring for you. The soap makes good use of those!

Martin's presser might have been buried, but “Kenneth”'s death sure wasn't, because Vernon, Bill, and Ted were seen reading the article about the “anonymous” dead man found in Stance Park. Bill had to tell his “excellent” partner Ted (see what I did there?) that, yeah, the dead guy was “Kenneth”, and Bill had arranged for his exit from this world. Bill wasn't sorry, either, after what he had done to Martin and Vernon.

Bill promised Ted that Team Melon (Ecel?) was on it, and that they would fudge facts and figures so that no one would ever connect “Kenneth”'s death to any of them. Nay, it was Ted's wife that just about did that for them...when she stormed into the House of Hamilton and called Bill a murderer – in front of Hayley! Maybe all of Bill's secrecy is Hayley's payback for running game on her hubby?

After Hayley was once again sequestered (that wouldn't make me curious), Nicole went off, pretty much using the same arguments she had used with Ted, only adding the corpse she had learned about to the festivities. Bill didn't want to hear it – he repeated Ted's party line about having kept Martin out of jail, adding that, if he hadn't stopped Martin from baring his soul to the public, Martin's political career would be over.

Nicole made the valid point about how Bill was supposed to be a good enough defense attorney that he could have gotten Martin acquitted for disfiguring “Kenneth” and killing his brother in self-defense. Bill turned his vitriol on Vernon, seething that good people lived their lives in ways that didn't require people like Bill to clean up their messes. Which brings me to another observance.

So far Nicole has blamed both Ted and Bill for the cover-up that, yes, has scarred her son. But she knows her dad set the camouflage in motion – why hasn't she ripped Vernon a new one? Sure, probably because it's her dad, but Team Till (Bed?) only did what Vernon told them to do. That part was lost on Nicole, who screamed to Bill that, going forward, she was going to take care of matters involving her boy. “I'm the fixer now!”

That declaration was both bold and...laughable. It was a great twist on Bill's title as “the fixer,” but Nicole hasn't exactly been proactive in anything since finding out Ted cheated with Leslie. I'd love to watch Nicole be more go-getting! Let's see some of that Dupree fighting spirit! Her fam is shocked that Nicole tried to strangle Leslie...maybe it's time Nic stopped playing the victim and used her powers for good instead.

Remember I suggested that Hayley would be curious? She was. She actually went to former bestie Naomi and asked her if her father could be capable of murder! Naomi didn't want to play marriage counselor and imparted the simple advice that Hayley should go to Bill with her concerns herself. So Hayley did...and Bill told her the story – well, part of it, anyway. Wait 'til Hayley finds out that some of his clients never breathe again!

Have to ask my lawyer

The Hawthornes are unique in that hubby is a cop and wifey is a lawyer. Sometimes their vocations allow them to work together. Other times, they cause them strife – usually when Jacob is put in the position of having to detain Naomi's relatives. First they scrapped over Jacob arresting Dani; this week they just about went to bed mad because of Jacob's active investigations into Nicole and Martin. (What was that about group rates?)

Jacob's contention was, the law has to be followed, even when it's loved ones who are suspected of going against it. Naomi's...hers was, well, they're family, so you shouldn't investigate them. Naomi...really? In this day and age when leaders think they're above the law and undeserving people are getting pardons left and right? Not a good look. And Naomi's a lawyer, so she should definitely know better.

Naomi didn't like that Jacob still had so many questions about Martin. Naomi liked it even less when she went to her grandparents about it (see? Naomi went to Vernon – why not Nicole?). They wanted to tell Naomi, but warned that she'd be committing to a lifetime of secrets, because she wouldn't be able to share the tale with Jacob. Grandparents and grandchild did a workaround as Vernon hired Naomi as his lawyer (don't know if that's ethical, either), which allowed Naomi to keep the news under her hat owing to attorney-client confidentiality.

It all made so much more sense to Naomi – especially when she realized that Marcel really was the dirty cop Jacob had pegged him as. But Naomi felt kicked in the teeth when she found out Bill had seen to “Kenneth”'s death, and I foresee a big messy father-daughter confrontation in the not-too-distant future. Good! Naomi also dropped the bomb that they weren't going to be able to keep the big ugly to-do from the public much longer.

That is, if Jacob doesn't blow the whole thing open first. He was smart enough to see that Martin had joined Smitty in freezing him out when he tried to find out why the enterprising Smitty had suddenly ditched his piece on Marcel. The body in the park showing up at the same time Martin's press conference got called to a halt didn't sit well with Jacob, either.

But Martin just deflected – except to say how grateful he was that Marcel was on the case, which Jacob knew was a line of bulls**t! This after hearing that Martin was somehow terrified of Marcel. Jacob might be a “boy scout,” but he's a good one, and you can't keep feeding this guy baloney and telling him it's steak. Imagine the soapy goodness if Jacob did have to turn against his wife's fam – and his own dirty pop (thank you *NSYNC) – to uphold the law?

Lastly, June was back – and somehow dressed a lot better; I could hardly believe it when she said she was back living under the overpass. We got a little more of a glimpse into her mental state, too, because she paid for lunch with some kind of fake money. What's wrong with our dear June? Maybe her sister will know, because the woman who hung up on Naomi twice is now back on the radar.

Jacob traced the phone number on that kiddie picture June grasps onto as a lifeline and found an address connected to it. So Naomi is taking it upon herself to drive the hour and do some door-knocking. This should be good! Plus GATES hasn't been out of its metropolitan area yet, so it would be nice to perhaps see a quick location shoot in a real neighborhood. Even if it is Atlanta filling in for the DMV (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia – not the DMV where you get your driver's license renewed!)

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. Don't kiss it all goodbye yet – tell me your thoughts on all things Beyond the Gates in the comments below. And, if you want us to be doing more articles on this soap, tell us that, too! Until next we meet, Scoopers, live your life beyond!

(Purchase Adam-Michael James' ”Bewitched” books on Amazon.)

(Listen to isletunes, AMJ's podcast featuring nothing but music from the artists of Prince Edward Island, Canada.)