The naughty and nice of Fairmont Crest: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of December 15, 2025

Beyond the Gates goes old-school soap social issue

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? Joey traded a naughty list for a political list, Marcel served and protected in a different way, and Hayley turned out to be a Val-ley girl. Meanwhile, Nicole got two Christmas presents this year, Tomás gave Kat another lump of coal, and Anita got news that would suck to hear at any time of year! Let's fill up those Two Scoops and find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

PRODUCT PLACEMENT PLACARD:

FEBREZE: 1

What you want for Christmas

I admit that anything government makes my head freeze up; it's probably why I used to fall asleep in my American Government class senior year...though maybe it being first period had something to do with it. Anyway, Congressman Martin was involved in an in-the-works bill that would allocate tax revenue from gambling establishments toward treatment centers for gambling addicts and do something about money laundering...or something like that.

Martin had to hear it from both Smitty and Nicole about whether or not he was going to flake on supporting the bill because Joey, to whom Martin still owed a favor, wouldn't like it. Allaying their worries, Martin said he was only holding off until it was clear how the potential legislation would evolve. I'm actually glad to see Martin getting a chance to do his elected job, but the 17-year-old in me was waiting for the bell to ring.

Randy rang a bell in a different way, alerting Joey to the bill's existence. I was rather amazed Joey didn't already know about it; he has ears all over the DMV and usually is in the know long before Randy is. Well, of course Joey didn't like any measure that would measure less profit for his casino, and he was even less thrilled that it might pop the bubbles in his precious money laundering. So he decided to do something about it.

Outside influences in politics! Say it isn't so! Ah, you just have to laugh at it these days to keep from crying. Breaking a sort of unspoken code that they were to maintain radio silence, Joey showed up at Bill's law firm to have an unauthorized chat. And guess what our Joey wanted our Bill to do? He wanted the Fixer to do some real fixing – by challenging Martin's congressional seat!

Bill run for office? I can't say it's not kind of delicious. And Bill always wears some kind of pin in his lapels like politicos do; maybe that's been a subtle signal all along. Joey could see that Bill wasn't dismissing the idea out of hand and tapped right into the fact that Bill has an axe to grind with the Duprees, who have mostly given Bill the cold shoulder since he ditched Dani for Hayley. Could you hear Bill's wheels turning?

I definitely think this is where we're going, though – why else address Martin campaigning for re-election and Vernon warning that he was going to have to step up his game if Martin wasn't going to get an opponent? And Bill vs. Martin wouldn't be the first example of quasi-familial political adversaries – remember when exes Alexis and Blake were vying for the governorship of Colorado on the original Dynasty?

Maybe that's before most of y'all's time. But Hayley didn't have time to hear it when Bill told her about Joey's suggestion – she all but blurted out that a political campaign would ruin her plans! For St. Bart's, she meant...St. Bart's. Right. Hayley couldn't very well off a congressional candidate, could she? Better hurry up, girl...you already blew one shot at passing go and collecting $10 million by letting Bill live!

Joey's moment of political finessing was enough to distract him from Vanessa getting all possessive on him...until Vanessa showed up at the casino, at least. He showed her some grace by expressing his confusion over why it was so damned important to her to take their relationship public despite all the very good reasons not to. Vanessa rattled off a bunch of stuff, but she has yet to convince me.

All right – I understand about her having felt like she was living her life for Doug and the kids and not much for herself (though we've heard that from her before). And okay – Doug's death made Vanessa realize how precious time was, and how she should start coming from a place of authenticity every day. But girl. Joey must be packing more heat than just guns, because Vanessa honey, you're clearly blinded by something.

She actually thought Donnell, especially, would appreciate her openness about her relationship with Joey because of all the secrets Doug had kept about his own life! Really? Donnell has already proven to be a good little investigator – imagine if he does even a cursory Google search on Joey. And I have a hard time believing Vanessa wants to live her truth considering a lot of that could land her in jail! Does she only has poker chips between her ears?

My gift to you

Leslie made the rounds this week, first tapping her watch at Naomi, with whom she wanted to go over legalities for funding the free clinic that she heard about from Eva who heard about it from Samantha. Wait – wasn't Eva calling the boot-knocking Naomi as we left off week before last? Suddenly Naomi was taking a meeting, and with Leslie instead of Eva.

Oh, well. Typical Leslie: she didn't really want to put in the work, she just wanted to slap her name on the building (ahem; lot of that going around this week). The dollars coming out of her wallet gave her the right to delegate but take all the credit! Just how much money was in Barbara's trust, anyway? Leslie's building a mansion, she bought Eva's apartment building, she's building a wing at the country club. Now a free clinic? And weren't Leslie's payouts supposed to be staggered?

Samantha was butt-hurt twice over: first Leslie chided the not-on-Orphey-Gene's-payroll teen for the not-hot coffee, then she shooed her away when she heard that the clinic was actually her idea. I love Leslie as a soap villain, and Tricia Mann-Grant plays the absolute hell out of her, but it's really beyond time that Leslie starts paying some pipers instead of wig manufacturers. Perhaps a certain crooked cop can finally bring that about.

Leslie had only snotty words for Marcel when he showed up at Uptown – because Laura had finked to Eva that the Duprees had put him on Leslie Watch. Marcel seemed to tame Leslie a bit by admitting that the coin involved in the gig had been too much to turn down. The detective began ordering Leslie drinks to the point she wondered if he was trying to get her drunk; he said no, but the martinis started doing their thing.

Her words coming out more slowly than normal, Leslie confided to Marcel that Ted was the only man she had ever loved. Yet...had she just been a convenience for him all this time? (Add 'em up, Leslie...you're getting it.) Marcel let the testosterone flow, prompting Leslie to tell him that whatever they might end up having, it wasn't gonna be no whirlwind romance. Instead, they ended up in a whirlwind kiss.

I am so of two minds here! My need for Leslie to pay for her crimes against Laura has me wanting the otherwise sleazy Marcel to do the right thing like Spike Lee and trick Leslie into confessing so she can do some jail time. (She doesn't have to stay in there – though how cool would a Leslie-in-prison story be?) On the other...Leslie and Marcel are both so devious, and have chemistry to boot, that they'd make entertaining partners in crime.

I'm mostly in the go-to-jail camp. We're already living in a day and age where criminals are pardoned and too many people are above the law. Even in Soapland, justice must prevail. Just as long as we don't lose Tricia Mann-Grant. She's already shown us that she can do anything. So I could see her redeeming Leslie for real after some money-losing bottom-hitting! Where are y'all at about Ms. Thomas?

Santa Claus go straight to the ghetto

I'm gonna have to see where this goes, but inserting Lynette just when Hayley was about to “succeed” in poisoning Bill (you know the show's not gonna kill him off) seems like an unnecessary layer to me. One thing Lynette's appearance hasgiven us so far is some life deets about Miss Hayley. Lynette knows her as “Val” (could be Hayley's real name, could be another alias). And it seems she and Hayley are from the Philadelphia area!

Lynette mentioned Allegheny West – there's a neighborhood with that name in Pittsburgh, too, but it's not a poor Black area like the one in Philly is; given Hayley didn't come from money, the latter is the best guess. I like that we got some more info about Hayley...such as the fact that she conned an old man into writing her into his will by pretending to be his long-long granddaughter. Hayley/Val's been busy!

But Lynette's presence in Hayley's storyline, that I don't understand yet. Hayley working on Lynette's case per Bill's instruction only distracts her from her murder plot, plus Lynette can easily find Hayley out (notice that Hayley told Lynette that her love for Bill is real to throw her off the scent). And it's not like Lynette can help Hayley; she'd only want a cut, and Hayley can play this out on her own.

There's a reason GATES wrote Lynette into everything, so we'll just have to watch how she ties in. What I really need to know is whether or not Lynette is kin to Hayley and/or Randy. It doesn't seem so yet, but that door is open. Perhaps Lynette, who has more than once brought up how she was left high and dry, has a score to settle, which will either have her and Hayley fighting right under Bill's nose or exposing “Val”'s identity to him!

Warm in December

Geez, Nicole. Everyone should have such problems. I know – being blissfully happy with a man for 30 years only to find out he not only cheated on you, but had a love child with his mistress was sucky all the way around. And Nicole couldn't keep spraying misery around forever like her beloved Febreze. But she ain't got nothin' on Stella – Nicole has been getting her groove back, and how.

I don't know when she decided to skip just being friends with Carlton and accept a date from him – but then, with all that Carlton muscly smoothness, I'd have had a hard time saying no, too. To be fair, Carlton only suggested the date; Nicole jumped on it and advocated having it pretty much right then and there. Carlton didn't have much time but he understood the assignment; he must have tipped DoorDash mega!

Before you could say “Ted who” (look at him all sad and what-not when Nicole said she wasn't going to Martin's holiday shindig like he was), Carlton had set a place on the floor with all kinds of festive foodstuffs...and Nicole had set the stage with a liberal spritzing of her Pine & Berries scent (not gonna lie, I just bought three cans; I like using that smell year-round!).

Oh, and Nicole had a time. Would have been difficult not to, with Carlton laying on the romance and creating some serious moods. No wonder Nicole ended up doing the move-busting by not waiting for Carlton to initiate a kiss. Are they fiyah or what! I know some of you don't like Carlton with Nicole for some reason. But, Carlton being Nicole's ex's business partner aside, these two have mad chemistry to me.

Which again makes me wonder why Kial is in this mix. Not that we saw him at all this week; it was like the show forgot about him. Just like when Carlton suddenly couldn't go to WinterFest and it seemed like he was forgotten about while Kial was squiring Nicole around the country club. Nicole told the shocked Dani that she was “keeping [her] options open,” and more power to her. But...

In my eyes, Nicole and Carlton have the home team advantage. Not only have they known each other off screen for decades, but we've now known them since before the Richardsons' marriage blew up (Carlton was the one who let Eva out of the closet Leslie had locked her in, remember?). Kial...so far he only has two episodes under his belt; he's a stranger to Nicole, and a stranger to us.

I don't know who I'd like to see Kial with yet, but it's not Nicole. Having Nicole be a gateway for the character to enter the canvas, sure, I'm fine with that. Who would you put Kial with? It can't be Ashley since he's too old (and he better not be her father since I need Joey to be that). Who do you think would be good for Kial? Ooh...how 'bout Smitty? He may have forgiven Martin for his secrecy shenanigans but I haven't!

Player's ball

The Law Offices of Bill Hamilton, Esq. taking on Lynette's embezzlement case looks to have implications reaching even further into the DMV. Tomás was tasked with handling it, even though he's never taken a criminal action to trial before. Bill was all for it, after goading Tomás into declaring his dedication by making fun of his broken peen. (Let's be honest – one rarely lives down broken peen.)

Tomás did a Home Alone “Yessss!” once by himself, but it looks as though his home will continue to be alone. Kat's still not grooving on moving in with him, and you know...for as bratty as she is, I think she's on point with this one. It was interesting that Kat was wary of giving herself up the way Dani had with Bill, and naturally the destruction of her parents' marriage still looms large.

But then Kat reminded Chelsea that Tomás had slept with Eva. That may sound like she's holding a grudge – and sure, she and Tomás were “on a break” like Friends' Ross and Rachel – but deep down she hasn't let that one go, and let's not forget, she only took Tomás back after that because she didn't want Eva to have him. Kat knows on some level that this relationship isn't right, and that's why she hasn't called U-Haul.

Tomás's likely promotion was one more thing point against this coupling that had slipped between my couch cushions. Kat was never really fond of Tomás working for her hated uncle, though she seemed to have sucked it up for the sake of dating him. Now it's right back in the forefront: when Tomás delivered his career-changing news, Kat was basically, “Yeah, but do you have to work for Bill?”

It was actually an astute touch to have Kat suggest that Tomás open his own practice, like Naomi had. But for Señor Navarro, that was a big no bueno. He had something to prove to the kids back in Puerto Rico who teased him and his family for being poor! Great bit of character development, but that Tomás put his ambition over Kat kinda tells you everything you need to know. Get out now, Kat, while you can!

As for the Big Boss Man, Bill ran into Dani at the country club; when he deemed her luminous, Dani had to remind him how happy she was with Andre. She figured the subject of Christmas presents was safe enough and coaxed Bill into telling her what he'd gotten for their daughters. Naomi was to be gifted an attaché case that had belonged to Charlotte E. Ray, the first Black woman to become a lawyer in the U.S. Considering she died in 1911, that's quite the antique!

Even though I'm a pasty ol' white guy, I love that GATES constantly includes bits of Black history and culture, and not in a preachy way. I had to look Ms. Ray up, but I learned something! We got a different history regarding Chelsea, somewhat of the retcon variety – Bill was owed a favor by Genoa City lawyer Michael Baldwin, who got his department store heiress wife Lauren Fenmore to distribute ChelseaKat merch!

First Y&R's Devon Winters, then B&B's Ridge Forrester – I am geeking out over these shows and GATES existing in the same universe. Imagine all the juicy crossover potential! But what should have been a one-off gimmick wasn't. A few weeks ago, Bill and Dani flashed back to themselves in the '90s; sure, you couldn't have Timon Kyle Durrett and Karla Mosley playing them, but their younger recasts, though game (especially Junior Dani), weren't exactly a match.

Might have been better to go there only once, but this week we saw the newlyweds snowed in at the Dupree family cabin, where Dani announced that she was pregnant with the child who would become Naomi. While I like the blank-filling components of these “flashbacks,” again, it's hard to take them seriously. Maybe if Durrett and Mosley had done overdubs for their counterparts so the characters would at least sound right?

Anyway, all the yakking about kids had Bill feeling nostalgic, to use his own word – and when Hayley showed up, she got a shock bigger than if the country club was out of her favorite vintage of Cristal. Bill wanted Hayley to chuck the hormone-regulating birth control she was on so they could once again try for a baby! This time Hayley wasn't about it. She couldn't very well pop out a shorty after killing her babydaddy!

Yup, Hayley – you had one window of opportunity to “kill Bill,” and you've missed it. Bill's not gonna stop wanting a kid and Lynette doesn't look to be going anywhere. I do have to say, the intricateness of these characters and their stories impresses me. It's so refreshing after 15 years of covering B&B here; their stuff has become so lightweight and repetitive that it's all highly predictable!

Soul holidays

Rather than shunt every single mention of Christmas into one holiday episode (ahem, B&B), GATES has been doling it out gradually, like when you get a Christmas card only to build up to the stocking stuffer before getting your hands on the big pressies. Dani designing a card with Anita impersonator Jackie Tyree officiating her wedding to Andre on it was a hoot – and so on brand for that couple.

That Andre wanted to instead choose a photo that more reflected the love they'd found since the wedding was just as much sweet. Then we had Chelsea rifling through Dani's house on a mission to find her presents – apparently this is something all the Dupree women do, so each has gotten as good at hiding gifts as they have searching for them.

Ted invited Eva to Martin and Smitty's holiday get-together, only for Eva to beg off because Kat would probably be there. (Off-screen, Kat begged off that same party because of Eva.) Samantha made sure June joined them, at least. And who knew that Eva and Marcel would make a good team – separately, they worked on Izaiah and Elon, respectively, to get them to coexist at the Hawthornes' Christmas wingding.

We had some gifts going around, too. It was a little weird that Ted gave Shanice, who is afraid of birds, a feeder outfitted with a camera – but you could also see that he was trying to help her over the phobia. Dude – Ted lights up when he's with Shanice; he's only ever miserable around Nicole and Leslie. Then Shanice got her second gift: time off, thanks to Ashley.

I don't know why Jan took off on a Love Boat themed cruise when Ashley is having her first Christmas in three years without Derek, but c'est la vie. Ashley wanted to keep herself busy in her solitude, so Shanice got the freedom...and a container labeled for human organs to keep people from stealing Shanice's lunch. Classic. Shanice told Ashley to not think of Derek, but who she'd like to see under the tree going forward.

Girl! Do not be encouraging Ashley to rebound! She'll do it! Ashley may not know it, but she's gotten her biggest gift – getting unenmeshed from both Derek and Andre; now she can get back to getting to know herself, like she started to do before Derek had his accident. Our biggest gift will be not seeing Derek and Ashley together anymore. Please, GATES! Let these two go in new directions.

No happy holidays

You didn't think I'd forget to talk about Miss Nita, did you? Wow, did she get a whopper of a storyline for the holidays – and not anything cheery. In fact, quite the opposite; it's rather renegade that the show is going here right at Christmas. I should have known that Anita's seemingly inconspicuous doctor visits the last several weeks were anything but. Again, I love that GATES still so easily surprises me!

Before we get to that, Andre visited Vernon to show him his progress on restoring the photo from the 1973 newspaper that captured Anita and Vernon's first meeting. Vernon had to lie that he was getting together with his son-in-law to talk about juicing up Martin's weak sauce social media presence ahead of his campaign. When Anita saw Andre looking longingly at the snap of the full Dupree brood, she acknowledged the loss of his family and further enveloped him in hers. Dang, I love that woman.

Anita was out with Nicole when she got a call telling her that there had been an opening – she could have her biopsy done in an hour. Nicole knew something had upset her mom, but Anita did that stiff upper lip thing we've seen her doing since the beginning. Then our soap did something it had slipped my mind soaps were big on at one time. It tackled an issue head-on.

Sure, every soap has characters fall victim to common and mystery diseases, milking the drama for everything it's worth. But watching Anita actually experience her biopsy (retrofitted for daytime consumption, that is) reminded me of how soaps used to do it. Like Y&R's Katherine having plastic surgery on-air in 1984, or Mac's long-term arc in the '90s dealing with Alzheimer's on As the World Turns. I also can't help thinking of the early days of All My Children, when creator Agnes Nixon put issues in front of soap audiences for the first time.

That's how I felt when Anita was getting tissue extracted. It was like we were in the exam room with her. And, while it's easy for socially conscious scenes to get heavy-handed, this one was handled rather well, with Anita's doctor explaining the procedure and what would follow it. Given how many things have started to happen off-screen on this soap, it's particularly commendable that this was shown.

There was only a 20% chance of Anita's mass being malignant, as we learned, but she was still worried – she blew off her preoccupation as tiredness when Vernon caught on to it, yet La Dupree did a big slip when she very abruptly asked Dani to take care of Vernon, should something happen to her. Anita should know Dani is like a dog with a bone – and Dani already told Chelsea that she knows something isn't right.

Anita chose not to burden Vernon, at least not until the moment she had to – but she did confide in her fellow Articulettes, Sharon and Tracy. Turned out, Tracy had been subjected to a similar agonizing wait until her own results came in, which Sharon had helped her through. It was one more reason Anita regretted having been estranged from them; that was a nice bit of keeping that fallout going.

There is so much debate as to whether or not Vernon is having an affair with Sharon, which I think is exactly what the show wanted! That they haven't shown anything confirming one way or the other is just having us trying to put puzzle pieces together even more. I'm still erring on the side of Vernon getting singing lessons to surprise Anita with, but Sharon was very insistent on seeing the man...at the same time Anita was heading to Garland to get her results.

Surely Sharon isn't trying to mark her territory in Anita's time of need! I'm thinking it's more Sharon feeling the urgency with Anita's imminent diagnosis and so wanting to have Vernon stage ready after he crapped out of doing WinterFest. But Tracy has now twice seen Sharon acting shady, and we left off with Ms. Tyler confronting Ms. Winger about it.

Yeah, this is coming to a head now, because on Friday, Leslie just happened to drop seeing Vernon and Sharon together into a conversation with Ted. He's only two degrees of separation away from Anita; he probably won't want to keep even that rumor from Nicole. That is, if Leslie doesn't do the blabbing herself! And won't y'all feel foolish when Vernon starts crooning out of nowhere and thanks his teacher, Sharon!

But all that's going to have to wait, because Friday's cliffhanger was perhaps the biggest of Beyond the Gates so far – the biopsy revealed that Anita indeed has breast cancer. Pow! What a gut punch to the audience, and just days before Christmas, too! As I alluded, it's atypical for a soap to drop something so heavy right at the frothiness of the holidays. Tamara Tunie is gonna take this story and rock down to Electric Avenue! And back!

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. Talk about the characters you think have been naughty and nice in the comments below. And next week, it's the first ever Beyond the Gates Best & Worst edition! Call it my Christmas gift to y'all! 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.)