Confessions on a dance floor: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of May 19, 2025

Nicole to Ted on Beyond the Gates: “What doesn't look right?”

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? This week, plots moved forward all over, with Anita getting into why she left The Articulettes, Chelsea revealing her sexual orientation, and Dani preferring to keep Andre a secret. But Leslie and Vanessa topped them all, with Ms. Thomas pulling a you-know-who by making a big announcement that she walked back and Van finally telling Doug that he wasn't her only man! Get into that confession booth and let's find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

Why can't we live together?

TIDE WATCH: 1

FEBREZE WATCH: 0

Wow, only one rogue bottle of laundry detergent this week (in Leslie's crib)? Guess everybody was too busy moving and shaking to product place. The couple I have more than once labeled as boring got four episodes to prove me wrong. It's just that the one really good nugget from their cohabitation conflict got buried the second after it got dug up. Allow me to elaborate.

It started with Ashley and Derek – Ashley mostly – fighting over the fact that he unwittingly scratched up her fridge trying to do the good deed of cleaning it, and accidentally chucked out her fresh-but-rank-smelling lunch while he was at it. Derek worked his guy magic on buffing out the scratches, but nothing he did could make Ashley happy. This is drama?

I could appreciate having a simpler story that regular people can resonate with (Who doesn't spat with a live-in loved one?), but I really did have to work to keep my eyes from rolling back into their sockets. Plus, it just seemed like Ashley was finding any excuse to make Derek wrong. Finally, Derek advanced things by pondering if they'd been premature in moving in together, and I was like, “Ya think?”

But the real truth came out – by omission – when Derek point blank asked whether or not Ashley thought they should even be together...and she couldn't answer. That was enough for Derek to pack up his junk and bolt, but for some reason, we never came back to this important game changer. Instead, Ashley cried to Andre, who, while dropping a few hints, thankfully never leveled up to beyond platonic with her.

And there was nary a spark flying from Ashley, either, which pleased me. I don't particularly care if “Dashley” breaks up, but y'all know by now I like Andre much better with Dani. But I digress. Ashley, having even silent doubts about continuing on with Derek, should have been the main topic of discussion, yet both Naomi and Jacob, separately, implored Derek to communicate with Ashley in a love language she could understand.

Nope! Derek's a hunk of the clueless variety, but Ashley's the one who kept coming down on Derek about molehills that she made mountains out of. Derek followed the Hawthornes' lead and tapped into Ashley's feelings, wanting to return to dating and suggesting they table living together until a later time. Ashley agreed and was all happy...but this couple has way deeper problems than that. Perhaps it's part of the relatability that they're still not dealing with the real issue...as couples do.

Unfaithful

Diego was let out of the one set we've ever seen him in – the country club – and allowed to venture to Uptown wearing something besides his customary T-shirt and sweats! And lambs, he looks just as good, if not better, in street clothes! Vanessa was such a bitch to him, though, practically sneering at the sight of him. I loved that Diego fired back with “Like you care” instead of answering her query about how he was doing.

Thinking on feet that must also be bulked up, Diego saw Pamela coming in and engaged her in a deep dive kiss! ¡Caliente! But it was kinda sad that he just did it in an attempt to make Vanessa jealous. Dude, she used you for sex, and catching feelings wasn't part of the deal. Move on. As for Pamela, I'm glad she's around more, but we need her in more of a real storyline. To find out more about her. It's only Cady McClain over here we're talking about.

Joey came around and was so on fire with his flirting that Uptown's sprinkler system almost kicked on. Vanessa might have turned down his offer to see the casino owner's craps stick before, but she's so still into it. So much so that Doug caught them together and lied about a problem with the McBrides' off-screen daughter to get Doug away from her. And this is where this arc finally got out of first gear.

Doug has more than once cornered Vanessa about her apparent lack of faithfulness, but she'd always, frustratingly, wriggled her way out of making a direct confession. Until now. This time, Van-Van admitted it point blank, and she went the extra step of hoping that Doug was seeing other women. She figured he'd been, because why else would he be away from home all the time and not pay attention to her?

Little does Vanessa know that Doug is in a dom-sub relationship with Lady Luck, and he ain't the one wearing leather. Curiously, Dani saw Doug at the casino with Joey and raised an eyebrow, because the sighting was in the middle of the day. Wonder if that seed is gonna sprout eventually? And Joey, he's gonna have to turn his mob card in soon.

Instead of Doug getting his wrist cast off, Joey should have put Doug in a full-body cast by now. Has not the week that Joey allowed for Doug to pay him back elapsed? Doug keeps getting chance after chance after chance – and Joey says Doug has lousy luck. The stakes are high, but the payoff is...well, so far there hasn't been one. Ya better get on it, Joey. Or Imma hafta move to another table here.

Doug caught Vanessa with Joey again later in the week and basically had a jealous hissy fit. Why? Granted, the doc hasn't had much time to process the confirmation of his wife's cheating, but how blind would he have had to have been to not see the chemistry between his wife and his creditor? Is Doug just mad that Joey now has a hand in his wallet and his bedroom? Doug's rather a wimp, anyway. I can't see him going toe-to-toe with Joey about this and coming out on top.

Speaking of getting in people's faces, Vanessa returned to the hospital, and while she didn't find Doug, she did find Ted and did her best to rip him a new one. She may have been right about Ted doing Nicole wrong by cheating on her, but who the hell is Vanessa to talk? I got the feeling her tirade was much more about her own guilt than any stepping out that Ted did. Vanessa needs to take every seat in the waiting room.

Here and now

Anita had gotten her former Articulettes co-singer, Tracy, to meet with her, but she was sure Tracy wasn't going to show up. And if she did, she would probably be uncomfortable with the opulence of the country club, which is why, after the entertainers finally had their reunion with a sense of cautious optimism, Anita invited Tracy to stay the night with her...at the Dupree mansion.

If Anita was so worried about flaunting her money in Tracy's grill, why didn't she set up the meeting at Orphey Gene's? No one in this place goes a day without grabbing a meal from the establishment. Anyway, Tracy was cool, until she wasn't; she must have taken the overnight to cop an attitude about all the finery surrounding Anita, because she was suddenly commenting that Anita's grand piano probably cost more than the building where they used to rehearse.

Naomi got to fangirl a bit when Anita brought her over to meet Tracy, and that eased things off a bit until Anita popped off about the proposed comeback concert. Naomi peaced out, and Tracy felt like Anita had used Naomi to soften her up. Didn't she, kinda? Tracy decided to at least consider doing the show, but she knew there was no way in hell that Sharon – who had hung up on Anita previous – was going to come around.

Now, there was a lot of talk about Tracy not being able to get a gig on her own without someone mentioning or comparing her to Anita, and Anita needing to go solo because she had to have a career that was hers only. And if you're a novice soaper, you might figure that was the big secret that Anita had been hiding about why The Articulettes split up. But y'all, I've been at this a long damn time.

Tracy had nothing but bad things to say about Dante Green, who I presume was the girl group's manager. He had deemed Tracy “the pretty one,” which she hated, and apparently, he had been the one to get in Anita's ear about breaking away. But pay attention: Anita hadn't been able to look at Tracy or Sharon “after what happened,” and Tracy made a point of mentioning Sharon's lingering anger.

Yeah, I think Dante raped Sharon. Anita, who'd seemingly had a better working relationship with the guy, felt guilty, and Tracy is still furious because she was left alone to pick up the pieces with Sharon by herself. Makes sense, yes? Dante is never spoken of with anything but derision, and obviously, there's something bigger that went on besides Sharon and Tracy being hung out to dry professionally after Anita left. What do you guys think?

Pound the alarm

It wasn't clear from what we saw exactly what Smitty wanted to discuss that was so important (though now I think it was the things Bill had told Smitty to ask Martin about), but Martin didn't know, either. Smitty could have wanted to yap about fixing the A/C in the condo or doing over that dated wallpaper in the master bathroom – yet Martin didn't seem interested in conversing with Smitty at all.

Kat was right a few weeks ago – Martin doesn't deserve our Mr. Smith. First, the guy tries to avoid a discussion by suggesting sexy time, and when Smitty declined, suddenly Martin was busy and had to take a gang of Zoom calls. I don't want to see GATES' one gay couple divorce, and while Samantha and Tyrell are old enough to handle it, it would be awful for them. But Smitty doesn't need this guy.

Indeed, Smitty lost his shot when Vernon showed up to school, Sam on how her great-great-grandfather, Paul Cheeks Dupree, had organized a huge civil rights demonstration in 1972 (Fairmont Crest history!). And when Smitty took Martin aside to suggest they hit Orphey Gene's and chat over lunch, Martin thought it was a great idea...and obstructed Smitty from having his daughter and granddaddy join them!

No wonder Smitty was steaming more than the plates of okra being served around him. The usually mellow guy surprised everyone by popping off in front of them, snarking, “Maybe if you'd stop avoiding the obvious” when it was clear to everyone but Martin that fellow diners Vanessa and Joey were on the make. Martin retorted that reporter Smitty needed to stop making Federal investigations out of everything, which torqued Smitty off more.

Indirectly told he needed to let sleeping dogs lie, Smitty clapped back, “And some folks need to be honest when something isn't right.” Whoo! Charged statement there, Smits! Martin has been gaslighting Smitty from the beginning of the show, when Martin first blew off Smitty's concerns about his nightmares. And Martin doesn't do anything but act out and keep secrets.

Smitty got Vernon to usher Samantha out, and before Martin could get the bill, Smitty adamantly said they were talking this time, and Martin wasn't getting out of it again. I guess we'll find out Monday what the topic is, but I think Martin's real ish is coming up for a visit soon. Note how he complained that “Suddenly folks are spooked to even talk to me!” when they flaked on his Zoom meetings. How much you wanna bet that studly leather-clad dude who appeared to be spying on Martin the week before is a tabloid dude and has been spreading stuff around? Or maybe Bill is the spreader!

I heard it through the grapevine

Andre finally got Dani to admit that she was just fine having sex with him in secret and not telling anyone they were involved. The shutterbug was butt-hurt to be shuttered out, but this isn't anything he wasn't told from the jump. Dani's actually being insightful enough to realize she's still not ready for a full-on relationship. Though these two have certainly bonded and matured since their first-week humping.

I guess Dani's not an alcoholic anymore? That seems to have been dropped, or she somehow had the willpower to ditch fermented spirits for good spirits. And good spirited she was, as she listened to Pamela lament how Diego wasn't really interested in her...and Dani out and kissed her to make her feel better! A “palette cleanser,” Dani called it! Wasn't expecting that! So glad I'm not doing spoilers for this show!

If that was unexpected, the reactions were even more unexpected. Bill, on a break from having sex with Hayley (don't know that I need to see these guys trying to make babies on every available surface), saw the Dani/Pamela buss and thought it was about him. For real – he concluded it was just another of Dani's attempts to make him jealous! Conceited AF of him, but nice story point generally.

I was worried, when GATES started, that it was all going to be about Dani trying to get Bill to take her back; I'm grateful Dani is in a different space already. Turned out, Chelsea, also having seen her former manager making out with her own former manager, thought the same thing that Bill did! Dani was just trippin' again! And how dare she make a mockery of women who love other women?

Chelsea's upset, however, unlike Bill's, wasn't ego-driven. Poor kid had been looking forward to getting to know Allison better through dating, but Allison – who had expressed the same intention with Chelsea – seemingly reconsidered and named her husband as her person. Chelsea wasn't supposed to be getting all emotional. Isn't that a one-eighty? Allison was fine with Chels' feelings before!

Whatever, girl – Chelsea don't need you. But Chelsea was feeling raw and her defenses were down, and after she got done blowing up at Dani for unknowingly disrespecting her, she explained to her mom that she was bi and queer. She was finally verbalizing it! And Dani was ready to celebrate her Chelsea. I'm almost sad we didn't get to see the “couture Pride flag” Chelsea figured Dani was ready to wrap herself in.

The implication, though, was that Chelsea hadn't come out earlier because of fear of Bill's reaction. That seemed to play through when Bill came by to see what was wrong with his daughter, and she basically froze him out. Bill had his own worries, though. He finally couldn't keep his hand from shaking in front of Hayley. He attributed it to the appendage falling asleep, but now both Hayley and Tomás know. I don't think it's gonna be much longer before we find out what's causing Bill's tremors.

Finally, there's June! It was odd that Jacob casually mentioned that the unhoused “pistol,” as Jacob called her, had given him and Naomi a fake name. Shouldn't that have been a discovery we were privy to? But what came next almost made me forget about it. Jacob smartly brought shrink Nicole in to gently probe the apparent mental health issues June had that we also found out about off-screen...

...and got a giant As the World Turns tribute out of it! I'd already loved the wink when June said that her real name was Jessica Griffin, since that's who Tamara Tunie (Anita) played on ATWT. But then she described a daughter named Bonnie and a husband who had left her for a presumed dead ex-wife with amnesia. Nicole figured out that these were all names and storylines from the former CBS soap!

It's not often that soaps go meta and mention the medium in-story – let alone reference a real daytime drama instead of making one up. Let's just say I about needed one of those bottles of Tide to wash up my pants. And Nicole adding that her mom, Anita, looks like Jessica? The smelling salts...where are my smelling salts! That was so choice. I loved it. Thank you, June!

I always feel like somebody's watching me

Eva continued having The Longest Birthday Ever™, enjoying a celebratory lunch with Ted. But before the afternoon was over, Tomás ran into her still hanging out at Orphey Gene's, and he hadn't had the best day so far. You see, he was hoping to move things along with Kat, with whom he felt there had been a loss of momentum. They played some tonsil hockey at the country club, but when Tomás suggested dinner, Kat had other items on her menu.

Everything else, Kat had decided (which I assume also means development of ChelseaKat; whatever happened to their purse business?), needed to be shelved until Kat could extricate Eva from all things Richardson and Dupree. Tomás wasn't thrilled, and shared with Eva how he was in limbo with Kat because of her. In fact, Tomás couldn't even define himself as Kat's boyfriend under the current parameters.

Then Eva got a birthday present she wished she had a return receipt for – Tomás said that Kat said that Leslie said Eva had tried to kill Laura. Eva was stunned that her mother could have even gone there, and her dismay prompted Tomás to commiserate by opening up about his dad, who apparently shared Leslie's penchant for making kids wrong and manipulating them seven ways to Sunday.

For a, shall we say, friendship, that started with Eva dropping sexual innuendos on Tomás that would make Cardi B blush, there's been a definite turn. Kat better watch out, because Eva now seems much better suited for Tomás than she does. Watching them express their hurt over their parents making them feel less than, they had rooting value. How 'bout y'all? Are you Team Eva or Team Kat on this one?

Over at the hospital, Nicole made herself come back to work, not to work, but to see what it was like to step back into that part of her world again. Plus, she really needed to get out of the house. No sooner than Ashley, Shanice, and the others praised her return did Ted come off the elevator to test her resolve. I think it was wise to put NuTed in scenes with Kat, Leslie, Bill, etc., first and save Nicole for later, like now.

Kat found her parents and played her recording of Leslie for them. Nicole considered Leslie's confession evidence, but Ted wasn't so sure that it wasn't “Dana” who had sideswiped Laura, not Eva. While the estranged Richardsons were united in warning true crime aficionado Kat to stop hovering around Leslie, Nicole took Ted to task for being the one to bring Leslie into their lives. Now Ted needed to step up and protect them from his former mistress!

Nicole and Ted then learned that Kat had caught Leslie “visiting” Laura, and how Kat and Laura had put their heads together and realized that either Eva or Kat – or both – had been the one to juice up Laura's potassium levels and cause her a heart attack. Nicole didn't want to believe anyone could induce heart failure in someone on purpose...but I guess Nicole forgot that she'd promised Laura she'd be the one to get to the bottom of Laura's flatlining.

I know, Nicole's been busy with the fallout from Ted/Leslie. But she still dropped the ball. Anyway, Nicole now knows that Laura's potassium could have spiked unnaturally, and Jacob is scouring hospital security footage for anything suspect. And Kat found out from Shanice that a mystery nurse showed up just before Laura's myocardial infarction and was never seen again. The noose is tightening, eh, Leslie?

Smooth criminal

Leslie did more dance moves this week than Michael Jackson in that famous 1988 video. She tried to slide out of what she'd told Kat on the recording about Eva targeting Laura by suggesting to the interrogating Jacob that she had only been trying to mess with Kat. Leslie was outraged that she had been taped without her knowledge, leading the show to answer a major question for me.

I'd said last week that it was my understanding that it was illegal for someone to record someone else secretly. I was working off B&B's explanation; apparently, this is true in California, but not in D.C., as Jacob pointed out, where a recording can be made as long as one party consents. Since Kat made the voice memo, that was all the consent that was required. Who says television isn't educational?

Leslie continued trying to be an oil slick until she tripped herself up by not having an alibi for the time Laura was run off the road; she intimated that she'd been at work, but couldn't tell Jacob who her employer was. Whoops. Later, Eva, who was pissed that Leslie had put her at the scene of the crime against Laura, confronted her mom, who of course tried to crawl sideways out of it like a crab on a Maryland beach.

Until she didn't! Out of options, Leslie simply said, “I did it for us, baby.” That's right! Leslie had forced Laura's car off the road! But, Leslie advised, Eva was now an accessory after the fact for knowing about the crime. That Leslie. She plays all the angles. And Eva had to decide whether or not to out mama when Jacob came around following those fingers pointing at her!

We learned that Eva did have an alibi – she'd been at the casino when Laura wrecked her car. Had we not seen Eva winning at the Lakeview tables last week, that might not have stuck in my mind. Good foreshadowing and retroshadowing, GATES. But when Jacob brought the subject around to Leslie, Eva covered. And wasn't Leslie all ready to forgive and forget because her dearest darling daughter hadn't ratted her out to the 5-0!

One thing I've been meaning to say for weeks is that we should have gotten to see Laura having her heart attack. After all, we were shown Leslie/”Lulu” sneaking into Laura's room and injecting her IV with a foreign substance; we were entitled to see the result of that action for ourselves. It kind of weakened that part of the plot that we were only ever told about it. But that's neither here nor there now.

Later on in her hotel room, Eva told Leslie that she had only protected Leslie because even if Leslie went to jail, no one would believe that Eva hadn't been a part of Leslie's schemes. Then, when Eva called it insane that Leslie felt Ted would come back to her despite everything that had been said and done, Leslie snarled, “I know the hell you just did not call me crazy.” “Maybe I did,” Eva sassed. Great stuff!

I like that Eva is getting stronger in standing up against Leslie. Ms. Thomas, on the other hand, snuck back into Eva's room, boosted a bunch of stuff, and got caught by Ted. Leslie proceeded to flirt with Ted, and in the next breath told her ex-boo that she'd put more heat on Eva if Ted went to anyone with his theory that Leslie had victimized Laura! Hey...only a mother's love.

Leslie got home, passed her bottle of Tide (that was on the kitchen table?), and tried on a new guise: Leslie-as-Nicole. And even with Leslie's distinctive facial features, she did rather present well as a Nicole. Uh oh! Is Leslie going to drug Ted so he thinks he's making love to Nicole? Because I wouldn't put that past Leslie at this point. Which is what makes her so fun!

Unfortunately, with Kat putting things together and Jacob putting his professional resources on the case, I don't think it's going to be long now before Leslie actually does go to jail. And we'll soon see if GATES will let criminal punishment stick, or do like B&B and spring their felons after being freed through convoluted, hard-to-believe-even-for-a-soap methods.

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. Confess all about your take on BTG in the comments below – and, until next we meet, Scoopers, live your life beyond!

(Purchase Adam-Michael James' books on Amazon.)

(Listen to isletunes, AMJ's podcast featuring nothing but music from the artists of Prince Edward Island, Canada.)