Social media, social issues: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of September 8, 2025

Beyond the Gates is about representation

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? This week, it wasn't Chelsea who got choked up – at least not until she was freed from Allison. Ted learned not to bet on himself with the Duprees, while Leslie bet she could still share a zip code with them, and Hayley gambled her marriage on the old jealousy approach. Elsewhere in D.C., several couples played broken records, Doug couldn't stop getting emasculated, and too many people got upset about Smitty and Martin getting masculine! Let's fill up those Two Scoops and find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

The tired influencer

Vernon had to call his FBI contact again to see what progress had been made toward finding Chelsea. Wouldn't you know, nada. It took our soap's most intrepid cop, Jacob, with the help of crime podcast-loving Kat, to make any real headway. In fact, they were in a speeding car with Madison when suddenly Kat yelled out for Jacob to watch out for a truck, and her video call with the Duprees went blank!

Psyche! They'd put that moment in the previews to make us think there was going to be an accident, but Chelsea's loved ones all got to the Virginia cabin safely. I didn't feel punked, though – I like that GATES adds stuff to their promos to purposely lead us astray so we can't predict absolutely everything. However, it would have been very 24 for Allison's torment of Chelsea to continue because her rescuers were lying unconscious in a ditch somewhere.

As for Chelsea, well, you guys were screaming for her to choke a bitch – so she did! After pretty much playing victim during her kidnapping and not even taking her own subliminal advice to fake Allison out in a bid to get free, Chelsea managed to stop the advancing Allison and knock the marzipan-covered butcher knife out of her hand. During the struggle, Chelsea pulled on Allison's ankle to keep her from reclaiming the weapon.

And with Allison in a wedding dress, too! How OG Dynasty! Anyway, Chelsea used the tool she'd had available all along and wrapped her imprisoning chains around Allison's neck. How you like dat necklace, bish? Fortunately for Chels, Jacob and the others got there in time, and Allison was apprehended. Chelsea didn't know if she would have actually killed Allison if help hadn't arrived, which shook her.

The rescued designer was brought to the hospital, where she didn't want to spend time in a bed being examined after just spending the better part of a day shackled to one. Nice touch. Also, nice touch that doctor Madison felt she was too emotionally involved to conduct Chelsea's examination herself. I did have to take issue, though, with the rotating Duprees championing how tough Chelsea was.

Our girl spent most of her time with Allison yelling how crazy she was, and her alone time crying that she couldn't get free. Soapwise, some of that is necessary, but as I said in my previous column, I would have liked to have seen Chelsea playing cat-and-mouse with her abductor. The whole captivity arc was pretty weak sauce, as Chelsea herself might say.

The most interesting part of the story began the next morning, as Vernon arranged a celebratory gathering for Chelsea – and the idea of being surrounded by so many people, no matter how well-meaning, freaked Chelsea out. Nicole's not always the most proactive character, but when she gets into psychology, she usually knocks it out of the park – like when she felt Chelsea was experiencing PTSD after suffering through Allison's “psychological warfare.”

Then, Chelsea declared to Kat that she was done with social media. This from the girl whom even Kat described as having a codependent relationship with her phone! Chels wailed that she had nearly died in her efforts to get engagement and that, to her beloved followers, she was just a character on a feed. What a great cautionary tale about our obsession with posting and consuming digital content! And not at all in a preachy way.

Chelsea had come to these conclusions after stepping up to Allison at the police station, where Allison gloated that she had given Chelsea the kind of viral content that she longed for. The statement was enough for Chelsea to try to have a go at Allison, but we could also see that Allison had hit her where she lived. Humbled, Chelsea was ready to delete all her accounts. She couldn't attract stalkers that way.

This was where Dani and Kat provided twists of their own. Dani understood why Chelsea would want to feel safer by erasing her digital presence, but she also felt that it would be giving Allison the victory to disappear herself. Why not turn it around, Dani suggested, by using her notoriety to advocate for organizations that helped women get out of abusive relationships?

Then Kat came up with the idea to design a special purse whose profits would go to such a foundation. Love, love, love it! And it's so in character for all these ladies. Plus it would sure be a solid way for Chelsea to transform her tragedy into something positive. Made me wonder later why Chelsea told Naomi she didn't know how to move forward when she was just told how, but details.

Oh! About Naomi! Allison, who couldn't stop quoting text from Chelsea's posts and listing off how many likes they had gotten, actually had the huevos to ask Naomi if she would represent her in court! Ya know, because sisters-in-law and all! Naomi's been hot-tempered before, but I don't ever recall seeing her ready to throw hands like she was Cookie on Empire!

Allison more than once referred to Chelsea as her wife, and Chelsea made a point of telling Madison about the “wedding,” adding that her “marriage” hadn't been consummated. Guys, I'm tellin' ya – Chelsea and Allison actually are married! Allison said she was ordained to perform ceremonies, and do you really think she wasn't smart enough to file a forged marriage certificate ahead of time?

I think it would suck out the drama for the wedlock to be instantly invalidated. I'd be willing to bet there's a curveball coming on that front yet. Interestingly, Chelsea wanted Naomi to be Allison's lawyer, if only so Naomi could be sure Allison got sent up the river! Cool bit of realism that Naomi pointed out, it would be a conflict of interest for her to be hired by her sister's kidnapper. You don't see recusals like that much anymore these days!

It's all about the Benjamins

Leslie really needs to go back and learn that phrase about not counting chickens before they're hatched. This wasn't the first time she ended up with egg on her face because of it. She couldn't wait to flaunt ownership of the house Nicole lived in and serve her a verbal eviction notice, but when Nicole heard that Ted had given Leslie the property, she realized what her soon-to-be-ex-husband had done.

Nicole did take some delight in informing Leslie that she, not Ted owned the house (good, since a lot of us knew that and were wondering why the retcon) – so Ted couldn't hand over something that belonged to her! Leslie was so torqued off that she could barely hold it together while in Nicole's presence, and she stomped right over to the hotel to fill Eva in, only to find Ted visiting her.

Eva, who had been expressing her gratitude to Ted for preventing her mom from purchasing the Dupree-adjacent mansion – but didn't want to know how he'd pulled it off – got an earful when Leslie shouted about Ted's deception. Hearing her dad boast about how her mom had deserved all that and more, Eva actually threw Ted out of her room! And she let Leslie cry on her shoulder. “I am...I am somebody,” Leslie sobbed.

Though Eva has been on her redemption tour since the beginning of May, it seems like this week, she pulled the rest of her shows. Strategizing that her mom needed some kind of legal defense against Bill and his latest round of threats, Eva went to Tomás...and asked him to represent Leslie! And Bill is only Tomás' boss! Fool actually considered it, too, with Eva getting all flirty and seductive.

Looks like Eva needn't have worried, though, because Leslie had her own side of the street covered. She made a beeline right for Vanessa and declared that she wanted to make a new offer on the house she'd given up. And Vanessa tried to give her some ish about the owners finding rare trees on their grounds that could only be moved at certain times of the year. Leslie saw through that faster than Nicole saw through her own lipstick-augmented neck abrasion!

Leslie wasn't there to play, either. Here was her deal: if Vanessa didn't persuade the owners to sell to her, she would report her for racial discrimination and basically topple Vanessa's real estate business in the doing of it. I haven't seen Vanessa look that scared since Joey threatened to snuff her for nosing in his affairs. I couldn't help but think, wouldn't it be kick-ass if Leslie found out about Vanessa's money laundering with Joey and it used it to blackmail her way into Fairmont Crest?

Now, let's go back to the chickens/hatching thing. Leslie doubled her offer. Quite the flex, right? Except so far, Leslie's only received one check for one million dollars – that's probably not even enough for a down payment on this pad. How's she gonna verify she can afford the thing if she only gets paid every six months? I know – it's a soap. But I wonder this stuff so you don't have to.

Ain't enough wondering can track Ted's train of thought these days, though. Dude was all hot to run to Nicole and blab about how he had foiled Leslie, thinking it would earn him enough points to score a get-out-of-divorce card. More fool you, Teddy-boo! Nicole acknowledged that Ted had done a good deed but was painfully aware that he was trying to butter her up.

So what did he do for an encore? He went back to the house with flowers, coated the living room with Nicole's bottle of Febreze (we haven't seen one of those since June 5! And we didn't need to see one now!), and resprayed his bit about having wrecked Leslie's house-buying. Nicole was so not about it! She was like, what part of Chelsea being kidnapped not being the right time to tell my parents about this do you not get?

Maybe those Febreze fumes got to him, because the very next time we saw him...he went to Nicole's parents to tell them what he did. “Resourceful,” Anita eye-rolled. But that was the only applause Ted got, outside of the mock clapping Nicole provided him. Ooh, she was pissed! And I really couldn't blame her; he displayed a level of desperation I've never watched come out of him.

A most amusing thing happened afterwards. Bill sided with Nicole, told Ted to give it up, and plunked down ten bucks on the side of his former sister-in-law. Ted did not like that! He berated the family for making him the new villain instead of continuing to ostracize Bill, but Anita, Dani, and even Naomi showed him the money. Ted finally waged a Benjamin on himself in frustration!

Sorry, Ted – stick a fork in yourself, 'cuz you're done. And so is your marriage. There is no way back for the Richardsons outside of some plot-driven nonsense that would go against their characters. Nicole held the line – even if she felt kinda bad for razzing Ted afterwards – and Ted needs to man up and move on. He got caught out there, like Kelis sang about, and Nicole. Hates him. So much right now! Aaaaahhhhhh!

Breakups 2 makeups

Dani and Bill have been so obvious in their new camaraderie that Orphey Gene's damn near put up another neon sign commemorating it. Yup. Naomi noticed it and got in her father's face about not doing anything to lead her mother on, not when she was finally in a better place. Nicole found the exes to be “awfully chummy.” And even Chelsea did some eyebrow raising when Bill offered a “Thanks, babe” to Dani for the coffee she handed him.

I won't deny that Bill and Dani have been exhibiting chemistry to spare lately, and Hayley has been losing credit supreme – not just because Bill hovered over Dani throughout Chelsea's disappearance and continues to in its aftermath, but I get the feeling that Hayley's very blatant insecurity is pushing Bill away. He may not realize it on a conscious level, but y'all know animals can smell fear.

The one thing on Hayley's side is that she is Bill's wife, and it does seem he's been forgetting that lately. She was right to call him out for dismissing her and treating her like she was invisible. Though Bill did make a convincing case for Hayley to cut him some slack as he and Dani navigate their daughter's adversity. Let's face it: Hayley's not been wrong for wanting to support Bill through it, but she's sure been needy about it.

None of this is to say I'm clamoring for a Bill/Dani reunion. Outside of a handful of manufactured flashbacks, we only know about their marriage from what we've been told, and Bill treated Dani like crap toward the end – why else did Dani end up sticking a gun in his face during his wedding to Hayley? The former Hamiltons might be getting along now, but there's no guarantee that would hold in a rematch.

Hayley is worried about Dani taking advantage of the situation, but for my Benjamins, it's Hayley who is playing right into Dani's hands. She's only lucky Dani's been too preoccupied with Chelsea to not dig around and find out she was never pregnant after all – or, if we believe Hayley, that she miscarried much earlier than she claimed she did. Now Hayley wants to get Bill's attention by making him jealous.

This was based on Caroline's astute summation that Dani still fiending for Bill appeals to his ego. But Hayley's plot to pull the green-eyed monster out of Bill is so going to backfire. I mean, the object of her feigned flirtation is going to be...Tomás? Granted, he thinks he's helping to plan a surprise birthday party for Bill, but Navarro is already putting himself on the hook by even thinking about going up against Bill in court on Leslie's behalf.

Plus, Bill knows Tomás, and he knows Tomás is with Kat, so this will never work. Why didn't Hayley call up Randy instead? Bill already caught “Sammy” in his house one time before, which looked totally sus; Hayley could easily build on that. Not to mention, we might finally learn how Randy and Hayley know each other, a question I explored in an article last week.

After getting Tomás into position, Hayley got all nervous. “I've never lied to Bill,” she told Caroline...with the straightest of straight faces! What do you call staging an after-the-fact miscarriage – assuming she had one in the first place? And the jury is still out as to whether she was ever actually carrying Bill's child. No, Hayley doesn't have to worry about Dani...she's gonna tank her marriage all by herself.

I do like that Bill was almost hurt that Chelsea didn't feel she could come to him about her sexual identity and relationship with Madison. True, there's no conflict in him being automatically accepting, but it makes him kind of cool, too. I did half expect Bill to have a problem with Chels on that subject. Extra points for him remembering that Madison is his neurologist. Is he still doing PT? His stroke wasn't all that long ago!

Whip appeal

It's official – Doug talks a big game, but when the chips are figuratively down (and probably literally, too), he wusses out. Randy, at least, had a reason for pulling out of their plan to take Joey down: he didn't want to get killed. Doug, on the other hand...bailed after his talk with Vanessa. You remember – the one where she threatened to defund his unemployed ass if he squealed.

Instead of doing this song and dance for Randy about taking Vanessa on a second honeymoon (I think he really believes that their marriage merits one, but where did that even come from?), Doug could have just brought up the point that nailing Joey on the money laundering would get Vanessa arrested, too. I realize that's why they decided to go after Joey, tasking Randy with murdering “Kenneth” instead, but Doug could have expressed fear that Vanessa would be collateral damage somehow anyway.

I'm bummed – I wanted to see Randy and Doug get Joey. That would have been fun, and Joey, like Leslie, shouldn't just be left to commit crimes with no punishment. But that was only the beginning of Doug's emasculation. He was hip enough to the fact that Vanessa could have been snowing him about actually cutting Joey off, but that he seemed to have put a tracker on her phone made him look weaker than stronger.

Then, Doug followed this unspoken signal to the casino, where Vanessa got an Arctic-level cold shoulder from Joey, who didn't want to hear about whatever property she had found for them to do illegal things with. Vanessa was all butt-hurt, and Joey made another one of those borderline misogynist comments that she knew she wanted him...and soon she proved it. And Doug walked in while the floor was being covered with clothes!

Ha, ha, Doug! Yes, I'm actually chortling. It was hilarious. He looked so cucked, he might as well have just sat down and watched his wife and one-time creditor get it on. Dis. Guy. Has. No. Balls! It's impossible to feel sorry for him because he never maintains any backbone. He needs to divorce Vanessa (their kids are in college! They can handle it) and do his best to nail Joey to the wall. Maybe he will, now that he's basically been castrated once again.

Misled

Okay, Scoopers. It's like this. On Wednesday, when Martin and Smitty made out and fell onto a bed together, I saw way too much stuff in Facebook groups about how disgusting it was, how people didn't want to watch it, how the Bible was against it, and all that. And to y'all, I say, you gotta get a grip. This is 2025. And GATES is not the first sudser to show two guys being affectionate and/or romantic.

This soap has been about inclusion and representation from the very beginning! Plus, I don't hear any fussing when it's Chelsea and Madison making out. Yeah, fine, the Richardson-Smiths had some tongue action going on. That was a lot tamer than Dani and Andre tearing off each other's clothes in Friday's final scene! I'm a gay man who has had to watch straight couples kissing ever since I discovered what television was in the '70s. You don't hear me complaining!

Know what my real problem was? Smitty's spine liquefying and him sending Martin messages so mixed, the CIA couldn't unscramble them. I will give Martin props for taking some more responsibility, admitting that he had raged over Ted's betrayal of Nicole because it had shone a halogen spotlight on how much he'd been lying to Smitty. And I'll cop to Martin getting off-screen therapy, though it's still unethical as hell for Mama Nicole to be administering it.

So, all right, maybe Smitty was moved. But he shouldn't have stuck his hand out and led Martin up to the bedroom. Whether you could handle what they did in there is irrelevant. It's that Smitty letting Martin make love to him was a clear signal of reconciliation that Martin interpreted thusly...only for Smitty to turn around and say hell no!

Martin was confused, and so was I. Then Smitty gave some spiel about how needing someone was different than trusting someone. You been inhaling Nicole's Febreze, Smits? I actually felt bad for Martin; Smitty was so unfair. Y'all are on a break. You got needs? Call Heart Attach! Or get on Grindr! Or whatever! Don't lead Martin around by his...I don't have to tell ya.

“Next time I accidentally kill someone on the side of the road, I'll call you first,” Martin snarked – and Smitty had that coming. If not because of Smitty's continued mistrust of him, because of letting things get physical. I honestly don't think this marriage should be saved – I wrote an article about that, too – and it really cast Smitty in a bad light to have him tease Martin with a reunion, even if not purposefully. At least save the tongue until you're actually back together!

My first last kiss

Martin and Smitty weren't the only Richardson-Smiths getting in on lip-locking. Out of nowhere, Samantha brought a boy to Kat and Chelsea's guest house, which also functions as ChelseaKat headquarters. Sam went on about how she represented the company, and it turned out that these teens had been assigned to work on an English project together. So far, so good.

But I saw two warning flags being raised right there. One, this guy, who wasn't even given a name (they couldn't have had Samantha casually call him by something; anything?) hadn't even started the research on his half of the homework...so Samantha gave him her notes, which also covered most of his subject. The kid thanked her by inviting her to a party and mentioning how lit it would be because she was a model...and a Dupree.

Run, Samantha, run! But she didn't care, because she had just been given permission to date and didn't have to be told twice when Nameless Boy moved in to kiss her. She grabbed dat head and got some for herself! Too bad Kat, who I thought was about to bust out some Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation moves in her reminiscent outfit, walked in and put a stop to the teen tonsil hockey.

Kat kicked the kisser out and let Samantha know that she was not supposed to use her place for a shaggin' wagon. Sam promised to give up boys completely if Kat wouldn't fink to her dads, who would of course get all dramatic and want to know everything about this boy, including his blood type and Social Security Number. Kat agreed to stay quiet as long as Samantha told her fathers herself...

But you know she ain't going to. And we know that because, as soon as Kat was gone, Samantha invited The Unidentifiable One back and purred that she wanted to pick up where they'd left off! Oh...this is not gonna end well. I'd love to party up to mark Samantha's first kiss and potentially first love, but I'm not getting good vibes from this. Though I didn't vibe on Madison at first, either, and she's turning out okay!

Déjà vu

Friday was more like a Freaky Friday, because it was like I'd seen that episode before, only weeks and months ago. Where to start? In alphabetical order, I guess, starting with Andre. He had this in-depth convo with Ashley, all in his leather shirt, about how they might be the coupled ones now had Ashley not thought Andre was still sleeping with Dani...just because he was making out with her like a madman and all.

Have we not settled the Andre/Ashley/Derek triangle already? Ashley chose Derek! Andre reupped with Dani! So why are we still on Ashdre (Andley?) and their connection? Making it seem even more like six months ago, Derek overheard part of this talk and got his feewings huwt. Boo-boo Derek. That's just the beginning of the exasperation. Stick with me.

So Ashley goes to see Derek, who for some reason has started to get feeling back in his legs but hasn't told anyone about it. Either he doesn't want to get Ashley's hopes up, or he sees her devotion to him since the accident and wants to keep things status quo. Derek acted like he didn't just hear Ashley popping off about being with him because he needs her and proceeded to proclaim her his “one and only.”

Ashley should have been thrilled, right? No, she looked like she was going to throw up and couldn't get out of the room fast enough. She called Jan away from her job and suddenly started going on about Derek being the reliable one and Andre being the exciting one and oh dear how can I choose? What choice? She made her choice! Why are we rolling like this is a month or two ago?

Naturally, Jan had to lobby for Derek and his stability (did you think she wouldn't?), though at least she got the line “You are hardly the first to have butterflies over the edgy guy.” This isn't the first time Ash's mom has intimated her own such interest – I still think that Joey was her edgy guy, and that he's Ash's dad! (See why here!) Jan said Ashley had a decision to make. Again, she already made it. What is she, Ridge from B&B, who has to make a “decision” between Brooke and Taylor every other year?

So Ashley had just considered ditching the paralyzed Derek for Andre, who is already back with Dani. Minutes later, what does she do? She sputters into Derek's hospital room, drops all this mess about how she'd treated him like an “invasive species” the brief time he lived with her (facts)...and proposes to him! Whaaaat? I just can't with this foolishness. It doesn't even make sense anymore. Make it stop, GATES!

As for Andre, he saw Bill with Dani and got all jealous again. What for? If Andre is so threatened by Dani having even a justifiable interaction with Bill (their kid did just come back from being kidnapped), then he needs to walk. And again, this is all so several months ago. Dani got strangely mouthy with Bill once Andre showed up – this after trumpeting their truce – and took Andre to bed, despite telling him before that he'd need to romance her first before she gave him any again. What happened to that?

Our final couple to hit the repeat button on Friday – and I can't figure out why – was Kat and Tomás. She marveled over how what Chelsea and Madison had was “love with no filter.” “Like us,” Tomás beamed. Um, since when? You guys haven't really even been seen together since Kat was unimpressed with y'all's second attempt at lovemaking, though at least Tomás was determined to figure out how to rock her world.

This contrived happiness was over the minute Eva popped by their table at the diner and...tried to apologize for Leslie's attempt to move in across from Kat's grandparents? Why? Just sounded like an excuse to put Eva in Tomás and Kat's orbit, and all Kat did was revert to winter-spring form, screaming about how Eva was irredeemable and that Tomás could choke on his pity for “that basic bitch!”

No wonder Tomás complained to Eva that Kat's attitude was wearing on him – but this is a complaint we heard from him months ago. Geez, just split Tomás from Kat and put him with Eva already! That is so where this is going. I don't know why we took Friday's episode to suddenly run around in circles with these folks. It was a letdown after an otherwise good week!

However, there's always next week. And “beyond” – when the aforementioned Ridge Forrester from B&B will cross over onto Beyond the Gates! I don't know the airdate for that, but it should be interesting seeing Ridge interact with Dani, as he reportedly will, since Dani's portrayer Karla Mosley was Maya Avant on B&B from 2013 to 2019 and had tons of scenes with Thorsten Kaye (Ridge). Jacob is also getting a brother, Izaiah, who will be causing trouble between him and Naomi. Good! All Jacob does is cop stuff! 'Twill be good to see him in more personal stories.

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. Spill all your opinion tea in the comments below, and check out my other articles about GATES' biggest unanswered questions: Who is Leslie's dad? Is Dani an alcoholic? What happened to Nicole investigating Leslie? And who can Tyrell and Samantha – and Bill – claim as their fathers? 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.)