Beyond the Gates: First Impressions

History was made today, February 24, 2025, as Beyond the Gates, the first new soap of this century, premiered! And, no less important, history was made as this first one-hour Black daytime drama made its debut. It's a rare thing to get into the elevator with a soap on the ground floor, and so everything's new, and it's not really possible to form hard and fast opinions. But, as a soap viewer who got hooked on the original Dynasty in 1986, I feel qualified to share my initial thoughts on this groundbreaking sudser. Did you watch it today? See if you agree with my perceptions...or disagree!

The gate opening of Beyond the Gates

The first character to appear on-screen on Beyond the Gates was Nicole Dupree as she drove up to, opened, and drove past the titular gates of Fairmont Crest, the Maryland community founded and developed by Nicole's grandfather, Paul Cheeks Dupree, in 1951. Nicole approached the opulent Fairmont Crest Country Club, but the true entrance was made by matriarch Anita Dupree – at first we only saw Anita's back, and speaking of Dynasty, I'd be willing to bet Anita's arrival was an homage to the similar first appearance in 1984 of Diahann Carroll's Dominique Deveraux, who was considered soaps' “first Black bitch.” And with the line, “Good morning, Mrs. Dupree,” uttered by a day player country club employee, Beyond the Gates was off and rolling.

I should mention that I enjoyed the soap's opening credits – at once part Y&R and As the World Turns, and I can't help thinking All My Children. Now, while we heard much about the 27 separate sets during last week's Beyond the Gates: Welcome to the Neighborhood primers – and let's be real, all the sets we saw were gorgeous – that intro said nothing about the cinematography, and “sumptuous” is the only word for it. Just beautiful.

Anita and Nicole then sat down to breakfast, and they fell into a bit of a trap where new shows are concerned. To begin with, their discussion was more about Nicole's sister, Dani Dupree, who was still steaming over her husband, Bill Hamilton, having left her for his paralegal, Hayley Lawson, than it was about themselves. And when Nicole and Anita did touch on their own lives, it was in the same vein in which they dished Dani: exposition, which is where characters tell each other things they already know for the benefit of the audience. Of course, ya gotta work backstory in there, but I felt the mother-daughter duo relied too much on that device.

Outside of Fairmont Crest, it was sexy time! Dani's daughter, Naomi Hamilton Hawthorne, spent her time getting busy with her husband Jacob twice before finally meeting her fam jam at the club. And, with the promise of fuzzy handcuffs inspired by Jacob's new position at the D.C. Metro Police Department, more Hamilton-Hawthorne hijinks were promised to ensue. Regular Energizer Bunnies, these two!

Also sexy and with a new job to celebrate was Ashley Morgan, who was about to begin a nursing gig at the area's Garland Memorial Hospital. Her 2-year love, Derek, greeted her with breakfast and an apron over his hunky bod, and I couldn't tell which meal was supposed to be more nutritious, though I can venture a guess. While I liked this couple, Derek seemed more sincere than Ashley, and it felt like maybe their union was a little too perfect. But maybe that was the intention.

For everything we've heard about Dupree patriarch Vernon ahead of today's premiere...he didn't show up until halfway through the episode! And his first scene was not with his wife Anita, but with his grandson, Martin, who clearly idolizes Vernon. They met at the hoppin' diner Orphey Gene's, and I really loved that set. It was almost like a different show with it just being an everyday locale – I mean that in a good way; the blue-collaredness of it was a nice balance with the grandeur we had seen leading up to it. Former senator Vernon and current congressman Martin also got caught in an expositional whirlpool as they raised each other up about their careers and were joined by a fan, Bessie, who filled in some establishing blanks in that more obvious way.

On the flip side, we saw shark lawyer Bill at his firm, and his groundwork was laid in an example of how not to be expositional. After his secretary crammed his schedule ahead of his wedding to Hayley, Bill agreed to take on the case of his friend, Wayne, whose son was facing a drug rap. With a simple phone call, Bill made the charges go away – but Bill didn't want money for the service. He simply told Wayne that now, Wayne owed Bill one. We didn't need an extended family to tell us what Bill does or what he's like – we picked that up for ourselves watching Bill in action, and it was very effective.

While we have not yet gotten to meet 7 of the 22 characters on the roster (the missing are Tom, Ted, Dana/Leslie, Eva, Smitty, Joey, and Pamela), out of the 15 we did see, there was no mistaking that Dani was not only the breakout character, but Karla Mosley (formerly Maya on B&B) was the breakout actor. It wasn't just because of her character's feistiness, hostility, and snark – it was the way Dani lit up every scene she was in. Though her whole family basically told her to get over Bill, Dani sparred with sister Nicole over it the most – and when Dani spied Bill's mistress/about-to-be-wife Hayley at the club, there were no holds barred in Dani going up against her. Dani made sparks fly more than Jacob and Naomi did in bed.

Dani thankfully did avoid being a one-note character with a shot of vulnerability as she described having married Bill at 19 and not knowing what to do with him gone. Vernon augmented this by bringing tenderness and warmth out of Dani, and his deep connection to his long-time love Anita was equally engaging. When granddaughter Chelsea's BFF/business partner/cousin Kat looked at the Duprees and said, “That's relationship goals right there,” it served as the best and truest line of the series so far. Ultimately all the Duprees and their direct connections to them amassed at the country club, and even Dani's spirits managed to stay above zero...

...until realtor Vanessa hesitantly dropped the bomb that Bill and Hayley were going to be the Duprees' new neighbors in Fairmont Crest. Incensed that her ex and the woman he left her for planned to live down the street, Dani spotted Hayley – and even Anita couldn't stop Dani's confrontational march. After giving Hayley another piece of her mind – and nuancing it with some of that aforementioned vulnerability, Dani presented Hayley with the wedding gift of a fist to the face. Making it a one-two punch was all the Duprees silently following Dani out, giving the embarrassed Hayley the evil eye as they left. “Welcome to Fairmont Crest!” an elegant onlooker shouted.

Episode #1 in the books! Overall, I'd have to say it was a pretty good first start – though I'm looking forward to getting past the “here's who our characters are” phase and putting them into an actual story. Full disclosure – and maybe this is only because I'm a gay man myself – I was disappointed that so far, it hasn't been mentioned that Martin is gay, not in today's episode nor in all the pre-premiere hype last week. But I will give Vernon his props in saying “Of course a lot of that hard work is being undone” in terms of the civil rights that he and Anita (and Bessie!) fought for – ain't that the truth. There's a lot – a lot – of terrific stuff here. I'm looking forward to Tuesday's second installment and finding out more about what makes the folks we've been introduced to tick – not to mention making the acquaintance of those we have yet to encounter! Join us, won't you?

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