Simply the 'Fest: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of November 17, 2025

Kat the Brat wasn't all that on Beyond the Gates

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? Hayley risked her poisoning scheme by getting overconfident, the new Richardsons liked it and put a ring on it, and Kat couldn't find a single ally in her feud with Eva. Meanwhile, Martin had only one seat to take, Eva and Izaiah turned up the heat, and Vernon got caught in the no-tell motel. Plus Leslie didn't just send invitations to Fairmont Crest, she sent them to Karma! Let's fill up those Two Scoops and find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

One of the living

What up, Scoopers? Sorry I was away so long! Let's just say that I had my own WinterFest to organize, and I didn't have a Laura to help me like Anita and Nicole do. Also, as of this column, I have been writing for Soap Central for 16 years! Can you believe it? That's like 44 in soap years. Even harder to believe that 15 of those years I spent covering B&B. Here's my first-ever 2009 column for that whole full circle thing.

Now for the tea! No, I mean actual tea. I don't understand why Hayley is making Bill drink so much herbal blend. Sure, she's using the stuff to administer her slow-acting poison, but why only in the tea? What Randy has Hayley dropping is supposed to be tasteless along with colorless, so it's not like this particular kind of tea is covering up some noxious flavor.

Besides, we saw Hayley spike Bill's Orphey Gene's soup at one point, too, so I'm surprised she's not putting it in everything, including his toothpaste. It's gotten so Bill is groaning about not being allowed to drink coffee – why make him suspicious? Just tox his mountain grown beans already! Maybe it's good Hayley seems to be a crappy criminal – just look at her cackling about her $10 million payday in Bill's office where anyone could just walk in.

And that's exactly what Naomi did! Hayley (or whatever her name is) is a sucky liar, too – first she didn't go along with Randy's claim that they were sleeping together to satisfy Joey's curiosity; now she was trying to act like this one case of Bill's was going to net the firm $10 million when both Bill and Naomi knew the amount was only $2 million. Hayley already raised Caroline's eyebrow clicking around in Bill's laptop; pretty soon everyone's gonna smell a rat like it was Hayley's probably overdone perfume.

And surprise: Jacob and Naomi both tried to tattle about Hayley's “secret” birth control pills, only for Bill to be all, “Sucker! I already know about those.” Nice touch, having Hayley saying she's taking the pills to regulate her post-”miscarriage” hormones; it's not like Bill would know the difference. But if Hayley doesn't dial back her lust for Izaiah, she's totally going to give herself away.

How much more obvious could she be? Although Izaiah was willing to strike up the friendship she said she wanted, and we don't know him that well yet, surely a guy who works at a college can't be that dumb. Isn't Hayley considering how weird it would be for her husband to die only to take up with Izzy soon after? Especially when she's supposed to be running off to the tropics once that life insurance clears? For real.

If Hayley doesn't end up sabotaging herself before Bill's ticker gives out from her poison, my soap money says that he will keel over during WinterFest. He'll probably be up co-hosting with Dani and go into a dead faint in front of everyone. Isn't that what these big entire-cast events are all about? They're designed for maximum drama and there's another WinterFest wow brewing, I think...but we'll get to that.

What you get is what you see

Now I know Andre and Dani had their honeymoon in Los Angeles, where B&B takes place. Because why else would we spend three entire episodes on their marital bliss as if it was taking place at Forrester Creations? That's a B&B move. I'm sorry – I actually love that they're happy, but one episode would have covered it. And I didn't need to hear Andre 'fessing up about Ashley trying it...though at least it seemed to cement the shutterbug's love for Dani.

No Ashley or Derek this week; no complaints. Now that Ashley is down and out I need for Madam Vanessa to lure dopey Ash into her escort service and get her into some kind of trouble – only for Joey to save her and discover that Ashley is his daughter! Think she ain't? Jan always goes on about some man who used her back in the day, and there was that one time she “met” Joey. This stuff writes itself.

Anyway, Dani and Andre. Yeah. They had sex, they exchanged rings, they had more sex, they exchanged vows. And that wasn't all they exchanged. The only part I really liked was that they both actually said they loved each other. Dani, too! And she meant it! So how wild is it that now that Bill absolutely cannot have her...he's all jonesing for her again?

Bill may not know what Hayley is up to in trying to collect his life insurance, but he knows enough that something is off, or he wouldn't keep doing Dani throwbacks. (Question: if Hayley's entire marriage to Bill is an act, why does she keep expressing jealousy over Dani? Is that just to make it look good, or to keep Bill from going back to Dani before Hayley can siphon off his money? Some combination of both?)

So Dani's in the middle of her honeymoon when Bill calls trying to act like they need to talk about their upcoming duties for WinterFest. Even Dani was like are you for real right now? Meanwhile he's staring at the bronzed key Dani gave him like it was his old wedding ring. I realize the allure of wanting someone you can't have (boy, do I), but Bill suddenly recatching feelings for Dani doesn't seem genuine. Does it to you?

Better be good to me

Kat couldn't catch a break this week, but that was largely because she alienated almost everyone she came in contact with. Almost everybody. The two she didn't were Tomás...and Hayley??!! Yup, believe it or not (I'm walking on air), Kat went to Hayley for relationship advice...because Hayley was a homewrecker and Eva had been all up in Kat's man like a wannabe homewrecker.

Strangely, Hayley gave the niece of the man she's trying to kill sound advice about fixing things up with Tomás so that not Eva or any other girl could squeeze their way in through the cracks. Let's backtrack: I wonder why Eva, who supposedly wants to make peace with her half-sis, hasn't told Kat that she's into Izaiah now? Kat might not even feel so hostile toward Eva anymore if she knew Tomás was out of the equation.

Though how much you wanna bet that, armed with that information, Kat wouldn't be into Tomás anymore, either? She directly told Chelsea a while back that she wanted Tomás because she didn't want Eva to win. You can't tell me Kat's developed real feelings for the guy. Conversely, y'all know Tomás is still pining over Eva, and I want to see him bummed as hell when he finds out Eva has moved on with Izaiah.

The one sibling relationship Kat was interested in repairing was the one she had with Martin, so, after Anita pulled Kat out of her pout, Kat went to meet Smarty Marty at Uptown. Too bad by then he had sat down with Eva, and they were having a grand old time laughing about Kat breaking Tomás' penis; Martin also made sure to add how pissed he was at Kat for going all Dr. Ruth with Samantha within a thousand miles.

Kat and Martin really are cut from the same cloth: they're both self-indulgent, volatile, and...brats! It doesn't come from Ted, so Nicole...I guess your DNA is up. Kat didn't like being talked about behind her back (can't fault her for that one), nor did she like the fact that Martin so easily accepted Eva as his sister, so once the congressman peaced out, Kat went after Eva like she was a department store Labubu marked half off.

Finally saying the quiet part out loud, Kat spat that she wished Eva had never been born, because it would have made her and her family's lives easier. Martin, coming back for his errant scarf, caught wind of that...and took Eva's side, both in conversation and literally, sitting next to her at the table in a kind of symbolic gesture. Kat didn't believe she wasn't being replaced and tried to move the goalpost by telling Martin how Eva had moved to replace her as Tomás' girlfriend.

That rather went over Martin's head; he's still so torqued about Kat supposedly introducing Samantha to sex that even Kat's legitimate concerns go in one ear and out the other. Brats! Kat finally implied that Eva was trying to score political points by cozying up to Martin (huh??), but when that didn't work, she booked. While Martin eventually accepted that Kat and Tomás had been “on a break” when Eva got him (Ross and Rachel never die), Kat went to her beloved cuz for some supportive words.

But even Chelsea was all girl you went too far! Kat granted that she might be a bitch, and I know a lot of you agree. It's not that I don't, but at least Kat's consistent, and Colby Muhammad clearly has a ball playing her. Kat's eyes nearly rolled back into her head when Chelsea suggested that Kat find one thing about Eva she could like – her hair, for example. Betcha money Kat becomes besties with Eva once she knows Tomás is safe from her. Betcha!

Two people

Lots going on with the Richardson-Smith fam this week. For one thing, Samantha was still pouting over being grounded and locked out from tech. At least it's more realistic that her punishment isn't over and that she reverted to being snarky about it. Jealous of Tyrell spending time with Jessica, Sam finked that Ty's boo was coming over, prompting Smitty and Martin to invite Jessica along with everyone to Orphey Gene's so Tyrell and Jessica wouldn't be left alone together.

Way to go, dads, penalizing the more sensible Tyrell because of Samantha's actions. And none of what Samantha tried to do with Nathan was worth it, because Jessica only corroborated what Tyrell had already told her about Nathan being a total skank. In fact, Jessica made sure Samantha knew how Nathan had been bragging about adding Samantha to his “body count,” and how Tyrell had nearly gotten punched out standing up for his sassy sis.

So dang, girl! You made a mistake with your first boy; it happens. Be grateful you didn't actually sleep with the sleaze, ride out your punishment with grace, and move on. You can tell Samantha has been working for Kat because she's acting just like her! Even June described Samantha to Smitty as a bit of a brat. But Smitty had more important things to say, like thanking June for saving his family!

Yes, though Smitty had had doubts about June before, he had really come to realize that he was more afraid of the kids loving her more than him and Martin than anything else. June understood that and nearly got verklempt when Smitty said that he was glad she was a part of their brood. Ecch, would those be cawfee milkshakes she was making! Oy. Tawkamongst yerselves.

I'll give you a tawpic: Tyrell wants to go to UCLA now that Jessica is applying there – discuss. She didn't want to study in Los Angeles; it was just that it was a family tradition and she was afraid of disappointing her parents. Tyrell was in the same boat, except that one had charted a course for D.C.'s Banneker University. What to do now? I liked that Tyrell used his meeting with Izaiah to ask for advice on that score.

It was another way of weaving Izaiah into the canvas; his character has tethers to nearly half the existing cast by now. As for Tyrell's dilemma, Samantha ratted him out to Smitty about that, too (Imma ground her anew if she doesn't stop!), and Smitty tried to impress upon the lovesick chess master that, if what he and Jessica had was indeed real, their thing would survive studying on different coasts.

Leave it to Martin to have the not-calm reaction. His head nearly popped off at the mere mention of Tyrell applying for pretty much any different university except Banneker. Like Kat, the one thing you gotta say about most GATES characters is, they're consistent! I guess Martin's trying to change, but his default is still freak out first, ask questions later. (He stole it from me!)

Thankfully, Smitty was once again able to talk his hubby off the ceiling; I hope there are awards for that, because Smitty should get the highest honors. I'm gay myself so I can say that Martin is such a drama queen! And maybe that's why he should worry about not being able to keep his seat in Congress, which we learned from Vernon this week wasn't a guarantee.

Not only had Martin been concentrating on everything else but his legislative duties, Vernon damn near scolded, but the scuttlebutt was that Martin might be getting a challenger – from his own party, not the opposite one. And likely, this person was gonna go hard in digging up dirt on Martin and his family to score points with voters. How many of you think the recently cast Greg Vaughn is going to end up playing this opponent? My fellow Soap Central writer Leigh and I have dibs on it!

It's a good idea to get back into the fact that Martin is a Congressman. It's not like we have to see him in session, but he does seem to be up in everybody else's business besides his constituents'. Anita thinks Martin is safe now that the “Kenneth” saga is locked up, but there's so much more a rival candidate could torpedo Martin with. Martin grappling with that – with the fam at his side – should be fun.

Steamy windows

It's a rare day when Eva gets her mother's approval about a guy. Okay – Leslie did eventually come around to Eva wanting Tomás, but that was only because she wanted Eva to win out over Kat. Now that that's not a factor, Eva was surprised that Leslie was encouraging her to explore things with Izaiah if she wanted. And that was because Eva didn't need to be sizing up Izaiah's bank account since the Thomas women now had all the money they could ever need.

The way Leslie's been spending it – and with Anita no longer making deposits into Barbara's trust – one has to wonder just how much money Leslie has and that she's not out of it by now, but we were talking about the investment Eva was looking to make with Izaiah. I got the pot bet on them, too – they have chemistry for days. Make that weeks. They about burned out the monitor on my laptop!

The only thing I worry about is that neither of these potential lovebirds are going into this potentialness with a clean slate. Though Eva never had anything but one shag and an unrequited groove with Tomás, it seems rather obvious that whatever Izaiah had with this Yolanda, it was serious. Eva herself said she didn't want to be Izaiah's rebound, yet now she's acting like that isn't even a factor.

Also, I might have liked to see these guys having their first kiss after a proper first date. But that's another page out of B&B's playbook. I did have to snicker when Leslie asked Eva if Izaiah's kisses were enough to make Eva forget Tomás, and Eva replied, “Tomás who?” – because those were the exact two words I was thinking during Izaiah and Eva's makeout sesh!

Eva doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that Izaiah is Jacob's brother anymore, though. Maybe once Eva found out that Izzy Iz purposely stayed away from the law enforcement game, that made her feel safe. Oddly, Eva was put in the position of having to explain her sexy time with Tomás to both Martin and Ted. I'm sure Eva was thinking, that was so last month!

Typical male

You guys! I can't believe how many of you I've seen all up in arms on social media that Vernon is cheating on Anita! How could he! says post after post. Relax. Vernon ain't pulling a Ted or Bill! The way I see it, we're being set up to thinkVernon is, with his compliments to Sharon and his double orders of peach cobbler (why does everything from Orphey Gene's sound so good?) and his left-behind cufflinks.

June even wondered why “The Mayor of Orphey Gene's” was doubling up on dessert, only for Vern to say it would be “tantamount to adultery” for him to suggest that Anita, or their cook, Rowena, use the cobbler recipe from June's “big mama” instead of their go-to ingredients. Dude! Y'all know how to cook some red herrings? Because they are making it sound like Vernon is having an affair with Sharon, and a lot of you are falling for it.

I would be absolutely shocked if it turned out Vernon was really articulating with another Articulette, if you know what I mean – because I strongly feel that Vernon is only taking singing lessons from Sharon, and that all their supposedly illicit statements are all references to that. Remember, more than once, Vernon has offended Anita's sensitive sensibilities with his warbling.

He wanted to sing at WinterFest, and Anita was totally “boy bye.” If you don't already know, Vernon's portrayer, Clifton Davis, is himself an accomplished singer – hell, he only wrote “Never Can Say Goodbye,” which was made famous by The Jacksons and Gloria Gaynor in the '70s! So it's a joke that Vernon can't sing – and of course, once all the drama and suspicion is over, he will bust one out at WinterFest, I'm sure.

Not that it isn't gonna be a bumpy road getting there. Anita was already squaring her eyes – or her nose, more specifically – over Vernon coming home smelling like perfume, which he never explained and Anita never followed up on. But is there only one hotel in the DMV? Surely Vernon knows that his new neighbor, Leslie, is living at the Bowman until the intentionally annoying construction of her shouse is completed.

So why meet Sharon over there? Or let Sharon take a room on the same damn floor as Leslie, kitty-corner from Leslie's suite, at that? A bit contrived, but it did serve for Leslie to catch his supposedly philandering ass, and for Leslie to attempt to blackmail Vernon into giving her a bigger role in WinterFest with her knowledge of it. Vernon played dumb, however, and wouldn't give in, and it's always nice to see folks stand firm against Sherryluludana.

Wouldn't you know, though, Anita caught Leslie confronting Vernon about catching him with Sharon, and on the merriment goes. Once Leslie dropped enough bread crumbs to make Hansel and Gretel come running, most directly about WinterFest being a family “affair,” Anita's radar did ping, and she started asking Vernon questions, but he used his politician swagger to deflect his way out of it.

Here's how it's gonna go: Anita's going to get substantial “information” right before WinterFest that has her thinking Vernon's having an affair. She'll even tell Dani and Nicole about it, and they'll be all bummed and pissed off, too. And then, Vernon will surprise everyone by taking the stage and belting out a tune or two, and they'll find out how Sharon coached him. And won't everyone – including y'all who think Vernon is tricking – feel foolish then!

Break every rule

Now, here's your biggest WinterFest participant, and I don't mean because she was tasked with addressing envelopes to its guests. Maybe not the best look in this fascist age to have her uninviting people at whim – though you have to admit gossip girl Anastasia deserved it. Poor Leslie. She actually thought Mona would be so impressed that Anita had her doing grunt work that she would take her back as a friend “toot sweet.”

But Mona essentially told Leslie where to stick her envelopes, and it didn't matter that Leslie had even awarded never-been Jan a ticket to the big to-do. Leslie still stank of the smoke Mona had burned her with when she got a call from the hospital about Peaches. And from there, Ms. Leslie walked a fine, amusing line between genuinely concerned and Big Ma'am on Campus.

Leslie threw all the weight around, starting with Shanice – of course, it didn't help that Leslie had just caught Shanice having a moment with Ted. Hmm, are we heading for a Ted/Shanice pairing? Could happen! Leslie didn't want Shanice fluttering her fake lashes at her man and lamented that Doctor Doug was dead, because she didn't want no Dr. Wilkes getting up in her surrogate mom's business.

That's all right, Leslie – I'll take him. He is fine! Whoops, I got distracted – after Leslie grilled Wilkes, who admirably held his own, Shanice barked that the surgeon was more qualified than any of those wigs or personas Leslie had! Hellyeah! I even learned a new (to me) phrase: “I am not the one or the two!” Which Shanice promised Leslie she wasn't after the nouveau riche nutjob threatened to get the nurse fired.

That only enraged Leslie more, and later, Leslie demanded that Shanice dope up the suffering Peaches with morphine right now! It took Shanice and Ted both to get through to Leslie, that duh, Peaches had just had a jolt 25 minutes before. At least Leslie calmed down for a while when Ted granted Leslie's request to see if Peaches could be entered into an experimental drug trial, which could possibly heal up the woman's heart condition.

Leslie certainly meant it when she hugged Ted in thanks, but she was sure to side-eye Shanice while doing it. Later, Leslie was so loving with Peaches that Ted declared he liked “this new Dana” – this despite just having had to referee between the frothing Leslie and Shanice. No matter – Leslie went right back to antagonizing our girl, but Shanice didn't come to play, and told Leslie so. I need Shanice to positively identify “Lulu,” the “nurse” she saw the night of Laura's potassium poisoning!

Oh – did I mention Laura? Yeah, she ran across Leslie twice, and both times, Laura's eyes turned into saucers, with the girl almost doing a Blair Witch Project and dripping snot out her nose from fear. Amazingly, during the second confrontation, Laura womaned up and told Leslie, who was blocking her from exiting Garland's elevator, to get out of her damn way!

Leslie seems to respect when people stand up to her, and she liked Laura's spunk. But she didn't like Laura yelping that she knew Leslie had tried to kill her twice. The cops might have lamed out, but Laura was 100% sure it was true! Leslie put on her Sheila Carter from B&B face and growled to Laura that, if she'd wanted her dead, worms would be in-and-outing through her rotten corpse by now!

But oh, HAHAHAHAHA, Leslie was just kidding; she'd just wanted to see the look on the fragile female's face. Ooh, is Leslie playing with fire. And I think that fire will erupt into an inferno at WinterFest, melting all those pretty ice sculptures Nicole and Anita have been talking about. I don't think it's at all a coincidence that Leslie's crimes against Laura have started coming up again – or that Laura has suddenly been so prevalent herself.

Let's also not forget, Leslie has been making enemies left and right: Anita, Shanice, Mona, June – the list goes on. So either Leslie will be arrested at WinterFest, with someone, if not the police, finally discovering enough evidence to positively connect Leslie to the murder attempts, or someone will try to take Leslie out at the event, probably while Leslie is hogging the stage.

Again, soaps don't do up these events simply as a way for characters to pass the time. Like Bill and Hayley's wedding, and Nicole's award ceremony, and the Richardsons' anniversary party, WinterFest will be a juicy, messy, soapy wingding which will significantly alter many lives. And my guess is that both Bill's and Leslie's stories will come to a head before the dessert tray goes around!

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. Unfortunately, we only get two all-new eps on Monday and Tuesday – both Wednesday and Thursday are reruns, and Friday the show's being pre-empted altogether, dagnab it. That just means December is going to be delicious. Private dance your way into the comments below with your thoughts – and 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.)