Beyond the Gates Recap 09/22-09/26/25

Vegas Wedding and the Fallout

Last week on Beyond the Gates, we got murder, a grieving wife, a surprise Vegas wedding, and the return of Peaches. Let’s start with the chaos in Vegas.

Andre and Dani get drunk, head down the strip, and end up married by an Anita Williams impersonator. They wake up hungover and clueless, only to find the marriage certificate waiting like a bombshell. Dani is horrified and wants to annul the marriage. Andre, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to like the annulment, showing once again that he’s as flaky as the vanilla they want us to believe is his star-crossed love. Heavy eyeroll.

Back home, Dani calls a lawyer to start the annulment. Andre heads to the Dupree Mansion at Nicole’s summons, only to walk into a full-on inquisition. It turns out that someone posted the wedding photo, and the Duprees are not happy. Nicole goes off about Dani being irresponsible. Andre stands up for himself and Dani. Honestly, Nicole acts like she waits for Dani to screw up so that she can sit perched in judgment. It is beginning to come across less like a concerned family member and more like a jealous critic. Nicole, please, not too much on my girl.

Meanwhile, Bill and his “Temu Barbie”; I learned that on BlueSky, are busy talking Dani, because apparently, she lives rent-free in both their heads. Bill claims Dani can't get over him, as though he isn’t the one clinging to her every move. When Temu Barbie spots the photo, she gushes over it, trying subtly to rub it in Bill's face. It backfires because Bill says it is not good. He storms out in anger, forgetting his briefcase. Hmm...where do we think he is going?

If you guessed that he went to Dani's, chocolates for you. He marches over to Dani's to confront her, and she gives him the one-liners we love her for. His meltdown backfires: Dani clocks the jealousy and whispers “Score” after he leaves. Later, when Andre returns, she suggests they hold off on dissolving the marriage.

Murder, a Hit

On the darker side of town, Joey takes Vanessa to Puerto Rico after she turns down a getaway with her actual husband. Behind the scenes, Joey orders a hit on Doug, and Marcel steps up to the plate. By week’s end, Doug is dead. Vanessa learns the truth and has to break it to the kids. (If you read my farewell post, you know how I feel about this whole mess, and none of it is good.)

Peaches Returns

Leslie, never one to miss a chance at bad advice, buys Eva the condo they once lived in and moves into Eva's hotel room to be close to her victim. Instead of steering Eva toward self-respect, she encourages her to embrace side-chick status just like she did. She tells her to forget Kat and pursue Tomas. Blank stare. What kind of mother tells her daughter to play second? Peaches returns, and Leslie offers her a place to stay along with a check.

Final Thoughts on the Week

This week had highs and lows. Doug’s death is a huge low. Joey’s power grab is another. I don’t want him to become a Sonny Corinthos clone on this show. Jon Lindstrom is talented, but Joey shouldn’t be a long-term character. I quit GH because of Sonny, Carly, and the sidelining of Black characters. I don’t want BTG going down the same road.

The Vegas wedding was entertaining, but Dani deserves better than being treated as second fiddle to bland toast. Shanice and Naomi are both dynamic characters with screen presence and story potential to carry front-burner plots, yet they’re sidelined. That needs to change. Hopefully, for Naomi it is changing. Her panic at losing the ring, Ted and June talking about the missing rings could be foreshadowing for trouble on the horizon for my sweet babies Jaomi. Based on next week's preview, I may be right.

Real talk: MVJ can bristle at fan feedback all she wants, but feedback comes from love. We want this show to succeed. The danger isn’t fans talking, it’s when they stop talking altogether. I’ve walked away from soaps before when they wore me down. BTG still has me, but it won’t forever if the writing continues to make the same mistakes, such as telling rather than showing. Another big mistake was rewarding Leslie with endless wins. You can’t redeem a character who never loses. Trisha Mann Grant is one reason I haven't given up on Leslie. She is great. The convo with Anita was great, but you reduced the impact by writing Leslie so ridiculously.