Beyond the Gates Recap 01/05–01/09: One Sister Gets Relief, the Other Gets a Life-Altering Truth

Last week on Beyond The Gates, two sisters get results as their mother begins treatment. Cotillion looms, and Leslie receives an offer she should absolutely refuse. Let’s get into it.

The Dupree Family in Crisis

Tracey stopped by the Dupree Mansion on a mission: wear Anita down until she finally faces what she’s going through. It felt a little unnecessary, but I’ll admit—effective is effective. Anita broke down, and by the time she pulled herself together, she’d made a decision that felt painfully human: one good day before treatment begins.

So she planned Mardi Gras-themed joy for her family, the kind that tries to make laughter louder than fear. And for a moment, it worked.

Kat, however, continues refusing to deal with what she could be facing. She and Chelsea argue, and Kat misses the celebration entirely—ditching her family in favor of spending time with the block of wood she calls a boyfriend. I’m not even trying to be mean. The man has the charisma of a beige wall.

Meanwhile, Nicole, while waiting for her results on the genetic testing she and Dani both received, tries to anchor the family with small, intentional gestures. She shows up at Martin’s with breakfast and pushes for family togetherness. No phones. No distractions. Just family time. She also tries to help Samantha prep for cotillion, which is looming like a storm cloud in the background.

And then… Tyrell.

Tyrell climbs onto his high horse about privilege, and the “purpose” of cotillions and sororities, and the problem isn’t even his opinion—it’s how he delivers it. He’s rude, disrespectful to Nicole, and parroting talking points he didn’t even build himself. You can have a critique without being a jerk. He chose jerk.

Send this ungrateful brat off to college. Immediately.

Over at the club, Vanessa and Dani have lunch, and Dani is physically present but mentally elsewhere. Still, I appreciated the honesty between them—two women speaking plainly about their relationships without turning it into a competition or a lecture. These moments matter because this show is strongest when it lets characters breathe.

Then we get to the emotional gut punch of the week: the results.

Andre has been Dani’s rock, and she needed that. Nicole doesn’t have the gene, but Dani does. And those final scenes? Heartbreaking. Nicole, climbing into bed to comfort her sister, was quiet, intimate devastation—the kind of scene soaps are built for. This storyline has been one long emotional roller coaster, but the acting and the restraint in that final beat made it land.

Ted and Shanice

Shanice and Ashley catch up, and I truly do not like this forced friendship. It still reads like the show decided they should be close and is trying to make us accept it through repetition.

But I did notice something else: Shanice is feeling Ted.

Not the relationship I would’ve chosen for her, but here we are. Ted flirts, Shanice responds, and it’s shaping up as a slow burn… with one major issue hovering over it: the writers have done real damage to Ted’s character in service of Leslie’s mess. It’s going to take time for viewers to respect him again—if the show even plans to rebuild him.

Leslie, Marcel, Vanessa, Joey… and The Clinic

Let’s talk about this clinic, because it’s giving “front” more than “philanthropy.”

A clinic could be a great idea—especially in a show like this where wealth, optics, and power games are baked into every storyline. But the execution? I don’t like it. I don’t like Joey being involved, and I really don’t like that Leslie bulldozed Samantha out of something that should’ve been hers to shape. The clinic should not be a redemption arc. Using Leslie and Joey’s money to do the right thing? Fine. But making Leslie the face of it is absurd.

Vanessa and Joey, meanwhile, are moving deeper into something that’s no longer ambiguous. Any thoughts that she was playing him for revenge are gone. She’s in love with that man. She’s faithful to that man. And it’s giving that old trend where people rapped about what they’d do for “love”… except the word choice back then wasn’t love. Yeah. That’s Vanessa.

Joey tells Vanessa that Leslie came to see him about investing in the clinic. And here’s the thing—Joey’s guilt is real. He feels for Vanessa and for what he’s done to her family by taking her husband away from their children. That guilt is what prompts him to call Leslie.

Leslie comes to the casino and, surprisingly, has instant chemistry with Randy.

And you know what? I’d like to see it.

Leslie assumes every man wants her, and her belief that Joey was looking for a little “pull and tug” on the side gave me secondhand embarrassment so strong I nearly left my own living room. Eeeeyuck. But minus that bump, Jon and Trisha played well off each other in the negotiation.

Leslie wants full credit and for Joey to be the silent partner. Joey wants to dedicate the clinic to Doug. And speaking of Doug? Doug and Leslie could’ve been interesting in another timeline.

Leslie clocks Joey fast, pointing out the guilt he must carry about Doug. She’s not a fool—Joey has Doug’s wife not long after Doug died, and nobody’s buying the “it just happened” routine. Joey, though, finds guilt useless. And the show leans hard into rewriting Doug like he was some terrible man, which brings me to…

Weekly Wrap

Dear BTG writers: what did Jason Graham do to y’all to keep crapping on Doug’s character?

Doug is no longer on the show, and you are still dragging him as if we didn’t watch with our own eyes. He wasn’t an alcoholic.

He was drinking a little more when he knew Joey, the man who trapped him in gambling debt and posed a threat to his life, was sleeping with his wife. Even then, those scenes were limited. Doug’s story was always about gambling. That’s what you showed us.

So don’t suddenly tell us he was this horrible alcoholic if you never established it on screen. And at this point, it’s unnecessary unless you plan to follow up with a recast and a redemption arc. Otherwise, it just feels like lazy character assassination to justify Joey.

On the romance front: Leslie and Marcel do not have chemistry. But Leslie and Randy? Chemistry in two seconds. Randy is a scammer, sure—we know that—but he also has a heart. That’s the lane. Let him try to scam her and then, when she ends up on trial, or he’s tasked to hurt her, let him realize he’s actually caught feelings. That’s messy. That’s soap.

As for Eva and Izaiah… they’ve become boring. They had potential, but the show rushed them together with no real build, and Izaiah—who started as an interesting character—is now being centered around Eva. You made that mistake with Tomas.

Stop doing that. The YA group is gorgeous, but it still feels like the show doesn’t know what to do with them.

Currently, this show lacks a young super couple in the making. There’s no “we’re going to remember them forever” pairing brewing—no Sprina, no Robin/Jason, no Liz/Jason, no Sami/Lucas, no Lily/Daniel. They’re pretty, but the relationships lack substance.

The best among them are Madison and Chelsea. And honestly? The best written, fully fleshed-out romance on this show continues to be Andre and Dani, with Ted and Shanice catching up behind them.

With that said, this week was a good one. The emotional beats hit, the family stuff landed, and the stakes are setting up nicely.

Now tighten the weak areas—and stop trying to rewrite history we all watched in real time.