Beyond the Gates: Three is a magic number

Day 3 of Beyond the Gates just did its thing, y'all! And the new CBS soap got even more comfortable in its designer shoes by charting a course past the expositional hi-I'm-a-new-character backstory talk and into some juicier stuff known as plot. Of course, the big ish still seems to be orbiting Dani and the upcoming wedding of Bill and Hayley, but other characters got their due, too. And names! Let's find out more about these people, shall we – now that this info is canon!

It was finally the game of the name on Beyond the Gates

Yesterday (Day 2), I was a bit torqued that our new sudser debuted characters without revealing their names. Today, we got monikers! Though some of that came from clues sleuthed using closed captioning. Ashley's mom is named Jan, and her friends who work with Nicole at her practice are the older Mona and the younger Laura. Eva's mother, whom we also met yesterday, was finally said to be Leslie; previews had listed her as Dana “Leslie” Thomas, so it's good to get the confirmation.

Leslie, Jan, and Mona dished the beatdown Dani had given Hayley at Fairmont Crest's country club, but then Leslie got wistful, staring at a man who reminded her of Alan, an apparent loved one she hadn't lost all that long ago. Toward the end of the episode, Laura was driving home after a long day at work and was run off the road by a motorcycle! And when the rider removed their helmet, it was Leslie! Hold the soap phone! What could newbie Laura have done to deserve Leslie playing Frogger with her? All I can figure is, Laura works for Nicole, Nicole is married to Ted, and Leslie had her eye on Ted yesterday. Seems an awfully roundabout way for Leslie to get to the plastic surgeon, doesn't it?

Speaking of maybe less senseless violence, Dani was three for three: in the premiere, she punched Hayley, yesterday she threatened Bill with a golf club, and today she smacked Bill in the face. Is this going to be a daily thing for Dani? Will she pull a Dynasty Moldavian Massacre by the time Bill's wedding comes around (look it up; at 1:46 you'll find out how I landed on the name Adam-Michael!)? Bill wasn't about Dani saying she had made him; if anything, he told Dani to get over herself and exhorted her to understand that people changed and fell out of love. If anything, Bill still seems the more sympathetic; if Dani has always been this volatile, as daughters Chelsea and Naomi hinted today, then maybe Bill had a dang good reason for ditching Dani!

Chelsea and Naomi did get some sisterly bonding in this third episode, as younger sis Chelsea confided to older sis Naomi that she wanted to quit the modeling biz. Chelsea asked Naomi to predict how Dani, who was managing Chelsea's career with an iron fist (see Dani replacing Chelsea's salami with veggies later in the episode), would react to Chelsea following her own purse-purveying star instead. Naomi felt that Dani had transferred all her smother mothering to Chelsea once Naomi had left Fairmont Crest 5 years earlier. Then Naomi had some choice words for father Bill; the one-time daddy's girl now hated Pop for popping Hayley. “I don't have a father,” Naomi snorted. At least she'll save on a Father's Day card this summer.

Nicole, Ted, and Kat got their first fam jam moment, but it appeared to function solely as a way of revealing Andre's history. We learned that Andre's parents were Ted's brother Stan and Stan's wife Ira, who died in a plane crash circa 2015. Andre had understandably had a tough time, given that the math suggests Andre was a pre-teen when he lost his mom and dad, but Ted, Nicole, and Kat had pulled him through. Only thing was, Andre didn't want my-phone-is-glued-to-my-hand social media butterfly Kat snapping and posting pictures of him. Hmm. Did he do something sketchy in his last residence of Bali?

Realtor Vanessa got a quick scene where she was trying to acquire a property known as a hunky blond dude in leather. Just when he was about to close escrow, Dani walked into the restaurant and blew the rendezvous. Vanessa admitted that she'd hired a man to do some role-playing with her, but Dani didn't believe it! So, Vanessa lied that Leather Scruff was “Zeke from the office”, which Dani did go for. But I wonder, which was the lie? Dani reported that Vanessa was doing whatever she was doing outside her marriage to new character Doug, who we briefly saw handing some sort of keycard to a guy named Randy. Looks like spouses Doug and Vanessa have one thing in common: they're both into disreputable behavior!

Elsewhere, Martin napped fitfully on the couch and looked to be dreaming of something disturbing involving gunshots! Martin's husband noticed and lo, he has a name: Smitty! 'Bout time. Smitty wondered if Martin's nightmares had something to do with an event Martin didn't want to remember, but once again, Martin blew Smitty off. Not that way.

Martin somehow factored into Anita and Vernon's conundrum over whether or not to attend Bill and Hayley's wedding; for reasons yet unknown, skipping the ceremony would cast an unwelcome spotlight on their congressman grandson. Vernon and Anita renewed their vow to “never speak about that night!” Goodness, what did Martin do? And how would the Duprees refusing Bill's request to appear at the nuptials clue Bill in to whatever Martin's secret is? The situation was so dire that Mama and Papa Dupree summoned the whole clan and announced that they had to witness the marriage. Vernon even took the expectedly resistant Dani aside and implored her, “If I'm not telling you [the reason we're going], it's because I can't.” Now you know this has gotta be pretty serious. It's always the quiet ones!

Dani managed to change clothes for the third time the same soap day as her girls Naomi and Chelsea later rallied at her side. And that side of Dani's did turn out to be warmer as the daughters decided to use the ceremony to make Bill and Hayley as uncomfortable as possible. Yep, the soap stuff is starting to happen. But can Dani get through her fourth episode without assaulting anybody? We'll find out tomorrow – though I'm not sure I'd be willing to place a bet on it!

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