I'm a gambler, and I will take you by surprise: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of April 21, 2025

People were makin' moves on Beyond the Gates

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? This week Samantha saw Tyrell and Jessica sittin' in a tree and assumed they were K-I-S-S-I-N-G while Dani pushed Stella aside and got her groove back. Elsewhere, Bill wasn't a mover, just a shaker. All bets were off for Doug when The United Bank of Joey called in his loan. And Kat was on the case to trap Eva, only to find herself trapped in the domain of Leslie. Roll them dice and let's find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

I like the way you work it

Andre launched a surprise inspection on Dani, who got caught nursing a brimming glass...of water. Dani joked about Andre accusing the tumbler of being an alcoholic, and Andre apologized for implying Dani was back on the sauce. I didn't get the apology, though. The shutterbug had every reason to think Dani could be knocking 'em back again, given their previous encounter where she was three sheets to the wind.

Dani announced that she was doing better, and, perhaps for the first time since she began to depend on booze, it felt like she was sincere. Her “ride or die,” Pamela, had apparently accomplished her mission of giving Dani something to feel hopeful and useful about with the idea of their running a modeling agency together. “Dani, that is you all day!” Andre exclaimed. You know he was right, too.

The former model turned things around not only by jumping behind the camera, but by making photographer Andre the subject of photos. He acted all resistant...sometimes. I recall the indication in the beginning was that Andre had a secret reason for not liking to have his picture taken, but he didn't totally seem to mind beefcaking it for the camera, outside of feeling like a piece of meat.

Welcome to modeling, 'Dre. I'm going to keep shipping Andre and Dani, because they keep giving me reasons to. I absolutely do not miss Ashley spinning in Andre's orbit. Hopefully, TPTB caught the lack of chemistry there and have decided to have him focus on Dani. This not-couple even got around to talking about maybe going public. Tell me that's just two people humpin' around like Bobby Brown.

But Dani isn't all play and no work. While she was trying to decide whether or not to actually go into business with Pamela, Chelsea was mulling over yet another decision having to do with her mother. First, it was whether to tell Dani she was quitting modeling; now it was whether to invite Dani to come on board as ChelseaKat's marketing manager. Chelsea can't seem to stop stressing about Dani!

Somehow, Kat trying to convince Chelsea to make the offer wasn't working – it was only when Samantha dished out some out-of-the-mouths-of-babes advice about how the “nepo thing” was effective that Chelsea finally made up her mind to give Dani a try. Chels managed to interrupt Dani's photo play with Andre (girl, it's called timing) and put the word out there. Dani appreciated being approached. But she said no!

Actually, the reason we would have thought yes was the exact reason that Dani said no: Dani knew it would be easy to fall back into the familiar pattern of working with Chelsea, and, while Dani would have loved it, she needed to do something she hadn't already done before. Amazingly, it was ChelseaKat's bid that prompted Dani to accept Pamela's offer instead! It was really a nice direction to take.

Pamela, while still in need of character development, was thrilled and laundry-listed all the administrative things they'd need to do before opening their doors. Dani, being Dani, of course, wanted a photo sesh first, and brought in her favorite photographer. I'm surprised Pam didn't catch the acknowledging glance Dani shot to Andre, but hey, maybe now Ms. Curtis will indeed be fleshed out. As for Dani, she was back, baby!

Reach out and touch (somebody's hand)

Hayley joined Bill for an evening drink in their living room, and Bill wanted to fix the possibly, supposedly expectant mother a mocktail. But Hayley went for the real thing, baby uh huh, assuring Bill that she could indeed have liquor...because she wasn't pregnant. Three home pregnancy tests had confirmed it. Gee, lotta faith there in Clear Blue Easy, eh, Hayley? A quick doctor trip to be officially sure shouldn't be off the table.

Wouldn't it be a gas if this admittedly tiny loophole meant Hayley was pregnant after all? For now, she does not seem to have earned the title of first babymaker of Beyond the Gates. Bill was bummed and explained his attitude adjustment – remember how he was meh at first but then was all for the idea of being a dad again? He revealed that he hadn't been sure he could cut it at his age. But the Hamiltons opted to at least do the work involved to fertilize eggs.

So Bill carried Hayley to bed, which was nothing unusual. But surprise! Bill's hand started shaking again! And here I thought that had only been a quickie plot device designed to pull at Naomi's heart strings and get her to drop her suit! Well, well, well. Bill wasn't even stressed like he was the first time his hand tripped out, so we know it isn't caused by strain. How about that...Bill's still got a handsy problem.

I was sure he'd end up collapsing when he went into verbal battle with Martin, who just happened to be at the country club at the same time. And ooh...Martin's secret isn't over yet by a long shot. Because Bill lorded potential favors over Martin in terms of his political ambitions and advised his former nephew-in-law that it would behoove them to sustain a mutually beneficial situation. “You know what I mean,” Bill growled.

Yeah, Bill knows what the secret is, all right – even if it seemed in the show's first week that the Duprees wanted to keep him in the dark about it. Either they course corrected, or I misunderstood. Anyway, Bill's next deed was a meeting with Tomás, whom Bill had sicced on the review board created for Mike's sexual harassment victims as part of their settlement. Bill wanted Navarro to I spy with his little eye.

Hayley wasn't wrong – that's underhanded. But Bill's M.O. is that he wants to monitor everything having to do with his company – and it did seem odd to me that the women were ready to make systemic changes without running them by Bill first, at least according to Tomás. Isn't that weird? You'd think Bill would still have to approve anything the board wanted to implement.

Bill pulled a B&B Bill and pressured Tomás into drinking whiskey (weren't other D.C. denizens just then having breakfast?), but Tomás is nothing if not observant – he saw his boss' hand trembling and suggested the guy see a doctor. But Bill went all caveman and refused, demanding that Tomás keep the meandering meat hook on the down low, else Bill would look compromised and weak. Such a guy. Wonder what's wrong with our Sir Hamilton? Early onset Parkinson's? What do you all think?

I'm busted

You know, for a recurring character (ie, a non-contract player not in the opening credits), Doug McBride is sure on screen a lot. And that's okay! I found him kind of inconsequential at first, but his story – and his portrayer, Jason Graham – has been growing on me. Dougie's gambling addiction arc has certainly wrapped its talons around the whole of Fairmont Crest, and the stakes (no pun intended...for once) have started to get higher with each episode.

To begin with, Joey saw Doug's hand nestled carefully in its cast and realized that Doug would no longer be able to shake his surgery moneymaker to pay him back, at least not until the break had healed. Rather than cut Doug a break, Armstrong moved to break Doug. He said it was time he got every cent back, and too bad if Doug didn't have it. Joey didn't want to wait for investment liquidation, either. Didn't Doug know someone with some zeros?

Mr. McBride realized that Mrs. McBride was the only person he knew who had access to that kind of cash, and at that moment, Vanessa found her crush with her husband. At the risk of getting into the territory of the dumb blonde trope, Vanessa sure doesn't catch on well, does she? First, she bought Joey's dumb story about being afraid she'd think he was ancient, and here she didn't pick up on Doug's distress with Joey hovering right over him.

That girl may well have a dark side, as Joey suggested to Randy, but she also thinks with her hormones. Seeing Doug cowing to Joey should have at least switched her radar on instead of her nether regions. Despite Nicole having recommended that Vanessa reach out to Doug and see what kind of compatibility they still had, Vanessa saw Joey at Uptown and kept putting out feelers in regard to his compatibility.

I admit, Vanessa has much more chemistry with Joey than with Doug, and she's so awful to Doug, anyway, cheating on him and all. And she's even worse with Diego, being all salty with him because he didn't drop everything the second she called! Seems our trainer is finally smartening up where she's concerned, because he basically blew her off. And not in the way she would have liked.

This is where I think Joey turning the tables on her, and using her, sounds like a delightful scenario that I can't wait to see play out. It may be soon, because the casino owner and the realtor were flirting so heavily that Uptown nearly had to change their restaurant letter grade from A to NC-17. And whaddaya know, Doug saw this. Oddly, next thing we knew, Doug and Vanessa were getting it on in a hotel!

I thought that someone was having a fantasy, because how on earth were the McBrides suddenly in a hotel when Vanessa had just been coming on to Joey? But GATES seems to pace that way sometimes. It's okay as long as I know that's the wavelength. I don't know why Doug was so horny – over and above his creditor grooving on his wife, the fool had just lost $50K in a horse race.

Even Randy thought that Doug should have used his unexpected scratch-off winnings to make an effort in repaying Joey, but dude thought he could grow his cash into enough for a full payoff – and of course Doug bet on a subpar steed. That and being turned into a cuck made Doug horny? Whatever floats ya. In bed, both Doug and Vanessa got wistful about the fact that they hadn't schtupped in eons. Hey, maybe the reconnection worked.

Not! Vanessa, still wearing her freshly...funked look, picked up her phone not to order room service, but an escort! It's not delivery, it's De-horn-o! Soap gods preserve us, this woman has no shame. Just divorce Doug already and get it over with! But there is such a thing as karma, because it turned out Joey owned the escort service and pimped himself out to Vanessa instead. And didn't girlfriend get all indignant.

Yeah, she even tried to slap Joey like she was the poster child for purity, but bish was just mad that Joey figured her out. And it's not like Joey was wrong: Vanessa isn't in love with Doug. Armstrong cast himself as the better man and seductively swore he'd never disappoint her. Yup. These two are gonna...funk, all right. Hey! They could do it right there at that bar and it would be Uptown funk! “Don't believe me? Just watch!”

Something about finally getting to make love to his wife got Doug thinking, and he turned his colleague, Nicole, into his therapist. Dr. Richardson set the meter to running, and Doug came right out and admitted he was a gambling addict. It had started when he used to bet other kids in his youth, and by teendom he was hanging out with dice hustlers. He was into the rush and the validation, and the risk.

Nicole texted Doug some info about support groups, but that was one road he didn't want to travel down, not if it meant someone might recognize him. But Nicole applied the old adage that we're only as sick as our secrets, and made the point that the only people who knew Doug gambled were the people who profited off of it. Ooh! Astute. No wonder Nicole won that award.

Doug took to heart the recommendation that he come clean to Vanessa, and he started to, but the convo veered into the status of their marriage. He knew that Vanessa wasn't in love with him...which this chick actually tried to deny! This was her out! Why did she get all teary-eyed like she still wants to be with him? Anyway, we'll have to wait 'til next week to find out if he tells her about his addiction, or if something comes up. I tell ya, this arc is getting good.

But who can stand when she's in demand, her schemes and plans

Eva's not really a character scripted for comedy, but she got some this week as she met with the prissy party planners now in charge of the Richardsons' anniversary shindig (following on their bringing the fashion show to life), and they threw names of expensive caviar and champagne at Eva like they were competing in a boomerang throw in Australia. “Whatever's the most bougie,” the confused hairdresser replied.

Yeah. That was funny. I will also give the snooty duo – and the show – props for their admission that neither of them had come from money themselves, either, and if Eva ever finked, they would “destroy” her. It was a strangely nice moment. Eva then got a moment of vulnerability when, instead of plying Tomás with more raunchy suggestions that would make Cardi B blush, she found herself telling him about her upbringing.

She had heard about his boss' daughter suing his boss and couldn't imagine a father and daughter battling like that. Eva had enough presence of mind to keep up the lie about Leslie being her “surrogate” mother, but she 'fessed up about how stepfather Alan had remained distant because he hadn't wanted an instant daughter. Eva still longed to have a real pop...which has become evident in every scene she has with Ted.

Eva arrived home to find that Leslie had dropped a significant chunk of her extortion money from Ted to buy them both fancy dresses for the Richardsons' wingding. But Eva's lack of enthusiasm launched the Thomas ladies into what's become a too common cycle: Leslie calling Eva out for her party pooping with Eva coming back and saying she's still into Leslie's revenge scheme. This is a recording...recording...

They've had this conversation before, and Leslie is sharp: she should either be digging deeper into Eva's resistance or dismissing it and acting on her own without Eva at all. It doesn't seem likely that they would come out of each round of this dialogue without having shifted perspectives or behaviors whatsoever. Eva also knows enough that something's off with Leslie (she keeps accusing her mom of doing shady shizz to Laura, then backing down) that she shouldn't have left her phone behind.

Yep, Leslie sent Eva on an errand and lucked into Eva's phone sitting there, on which Leslie learned that Eva was going to see Nicole, not cake decorators as Eva had reported. Why Leslie got torqued about this later, I'm not sure. Leslie's the only one allowed to lie? Besides, it gave Leslie – er, “Sherry,” a chance to run over to the country club and pay Nicole a visit.

Well, not before Eva saw her first, at least. Eva demanded that “Sherry” leave, which didn't sit well with Leslie, and the second the coast was clear, “Sherry” came back in and had said convo with nemesis Nicole. “Sherry” just wanted to say goodbye, and Nicole asked why the staffer from her awards gala had been axed so summarily. If Nicole got an answer, we don't know. Next we saw, Leslie was home.

It seems Eva may have made a mistake, though it didn't end up being a fatal one – even figuratively. Furious that Leslie had crept back into the country club after promising to bounce, Eva raged that Leslie wasn't just a liar – she was a diabolical, pathological one! And this caused Leslie to do her best Sheila Carter and menacingly ask how Eva could talk to her like that!

For real – Leslie likes her stories; you really think she didn't name her “Sherry Carter” alter ego after Sheila Carter? Leslie and Eva went a few more go-rounds as earlier indicated, with tempers flaring and receding, and no real movement in their positions. Like I said, either Eva needs to warn Ted and Nicole already, or Leslie needs to pretend to back off her plan only to bypass Eva and deliver it doubly hard.

Speaking of Ted, he again suggested to Nicole that they just ditch the party and run off to St. Bart's. (How about Maui, where they first met?) Nicole thought it was funny that her hubby wanted to cancel the celebration after so much planning had gone into it, so Ted did that soap thing of talking about how much he loved his wife no matter what, which can only mean he's gonna be in deep doo-doo with her before long.

You know, I wasn't that impressed with Ted at first, either, but as he has had to deal with the ramifications of “Dana” coming back and laying down the smackdown, I have quite started to like Maurice Johnson in the role. I might not even be thinking about that were it not for the fact that Ted is about to be recast with Keith D. Robinson. I'm sure Robinson will be fine, but I'd really like to see Johnson's Ted dealing with the fallout of Leslie's reveal. It seems we're gonna be switching horses mid-race.

Kat, who had been like a dog with a bone in terms of being sure Eva is up to no good – even when they first met, when Eva hadn't done anything remotely suspicious – basically let the whole thing go after her security footage of Eva went missing. Kat told her dubious parents that she was done with the Eva bashing. But this week, out of nowhere, Kat was back at it by online shopping for a new nanny cam after Nicole had gotten rid of the original one ages ago.

What took Kat so long to get back on the anti-Eva train? Whatevs – it's full steam ahead now that she got some intel from Tomás: the info Eva had trusted him with about her childhood. Granted, Tomás felt bad about ratting Eva out, but he still did it, didn't he? Anyway, when Kat heard that the woman who had raised Eva was named Leslie, Kat remembered meeting the protective “Anna” (also Leslie in disguise) and sensed a disconnect.

I would have thought that Kat would start rifling through birth certificates or something, but instead Kat obtained Eva's address and showed up on her door. Lucky for Eva, Leslie was out buying moo juice. Kat wasn't exactly subtle, looking around while making it sound like she wanted to call a truce – a real truce this time – with Eva. I'm pretty sure Kat saw the “Sherry” wig in the recliner, but this didn't come up later.

Now, Eva knows Kat is on to her. So what made Eva leave Kat alone in the living room while she ran to answer her phone in her bedroom? It was just long enough for Kat to spock the framed pic of Leslie and Eva...and for Leslie to return home with the milk. Again, unable to effect a poker face, Kat looked shocked when she saw Leslie, but Kat did put it together that Leslie and “Anna” are the same person!

Kat couldn't get out of the Thomas apartment fast enough, further giving herself away. I'm surprised Leslie didn't clock Kat over the head and get Eva to help hold Kat hostage! Even so, the suspense is rising with this storyline, and I hope Leslie spills all the Ted tea this time instead of being stopped like she was with Nicole's tribute night. Leslie, you're doing your stories proud!

DC or nothing

Taking a quick joyride around “the DMV” (just learned that means “D.C., Maryland, and Virginia; the show mentions it all the time), Anita agreed to help organize a pre-intervention intervention for Dani – only to learn it was an intervention for herself to get her up and singing again. La Dupree was none too pleased, despite her secret longings to get on the mic once more...but for a reason that came as a surprise.

Turns out Anita was worried about the state of her voice now that she was older, and she couldn't imagine going in front of an audience without proper prep and rehearsal. The latter I would have expected from a pro like Anita (we found out this week that her star turn was as Anita Williams, her maiden name), but I hadn't considered that she might be worried about how time may have affected her instrument.

It took Anita several minutes in real time, as her fam kept chanting and cheering, to finally be persuaded by Vernon to take a chance, but Anita took the stage with fellow singer Naomi and surprisingly good entertainer Dani (it seems she doesn't just work runways) and a good time was had by all. But the next day, Anita was ready to smack Vernon because he'd set her up with a talent agent who wanted to stage an official comeback concert for the diva.

I say diva because Anita gave the agent such a hard time that he nearly turned to stone. But she finally agreed to at least think about doing the gig. I've been saying it – I'd love to see Anita cut a new track! In today's music scene, you don't even need to record a full album. Anita could just do a single, and it would probably blow up given her notoriety. Wouldn't that be fun?

Samantha thought the convo she witnessed between Tyrell and Jessica was enough to make their “relationship” blow up – she was already talking about having Jess as a sister-in-law! OMG, Sam is such a teen. It annoyed me when she suddenly wanted to be a model after being exposed to the runway for five seconds, and now she's got her bro married off. But then, teens do speak in absolutes, don't they? It's just been 40 years since I was one.

Tyrell seems to hold the family position of being repeatedly embarrassed by his sis and dads. This time he slinked away to his room because Martin – fueled by Samantha's overdone enthusiasm – was ready to invite Jessica to dinner. Tyrell felt much better after Marty slowed his roll upon hearing that only two Tessica (Jyrell?) chats had taken place. But Martin liked Jessica for standing up for Tyrell, and frankly – assuming it isn't a punk – so do I.

I think our GATES gatekeepers have realized that inserting Andre into the Derek/Ashley coupling didn't work. Andre is too dynamic, and...honestly? Ashley and Derek are too boring. They were relegated to taking a women's magazine relationship test, where they stereotypically gave incompatible Mars/Venus answers. These are both likable characters (and you know I think Derek is a hunk), but...yawn.

This week, Derek flailed so much trying to ask a question that Ashley thought he was about to propose. I guess that's a girl thing. Score another one for Venus. She was butt-hurt when he didn't; instead, he suggested that they move in together. I hope the close proximity will do something to infuse this duo with some much needed B-12, because so far, they are the weakest link, and I'd hate to see them likewise go “goodbye!”

Finally, Chelsea got with her throuple again! Not so much newsworthy in and of itself, but that part of her life hadn't been touched on for weeks and the reminder was most welcome. And Naomi, seemingly done with the lawsuit arc with Bill, got a new storyline already when she easily could have been backburnered. She looks ready to take on the case of June, a homeless woman who basically snatched a social worker bald. June's a spitfire – watching Naomi handle her should be highly entertaining.

And glory be, Scoopers – no in-episode ads this week! The closest we got was Nicole spraying her office with a different flavor of Febreze and the bottle being witness to Doug's gambling admission, but that we can handle. I hope last week's “Hey! I use this product and I love it!” bits were just feelers to see how audiences would react. This audience member wasn't about it, and with any luck, the rest of you weren't, either.

I really wanna hear all y'all's thoughts on this two-month-old soap (they grow up so fast!), so let your fingers fly in the comments below! Until next we meet, my soapy reader, 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.)