Beyond The Gates Weekly Recap 05/18–05/22/26

This week on Beyond The Gates, the Cotillion begins, the plasma ring comes to an explosive head, and someone meets fatal consequences. I don’t want to give too much away, but this week was good. Really good. I’ll be hitting the overarching storylines that dominated the week.

Let’s discuss.

Cotillion

Cotillion preparation begins at Nicole’s, where Chelsea helps the girls and June with their makeup while Eva does their hair. I must say, the hair and makeup were done nicely. The ladies sip champagne and talk about Cotillions' past, and honestly, it was nice to have family scenes like this. Kat and Eva side-eye each other, and Nicole reminds Kat that the night is about Samantha, not rivalries that should have died months ago.

Eva gives Samantha words of encouragement as she helps her prepare for the ball. The scenes were sweet, and I know a lot of haters will say it was about Eva, but I beg to differ. The Cotillion was centered on the Duprees, as it should be. Eva was giving up her birthday to help, and Sam gave her a birthday gift to show her appreciation.

It is customary for the Debs to walk down the stairs of the Dupree mansion as their pre-introduction. We got to see Bill remembering Naomi’s coming out, while Chelsea, just like her mother, chose not to participate because her modeling career was her focus. Andre is both the photographer and videographer of the night. Samantha comes down the stairs looking beautiful, and he captures the moment.

The Cotillion kicks off, but not without a few bumps. Ms. Imogene is sick, and the others who usually host the Cotillion are unable to do so. Anita has an idea: Kat and Chelsea can host alongside Nicole and Dani. It was a nice touch. Behind the scenes, Samantha worries because her date has yet to arrive. Chessie throws shade because of course she does.

Kat and Chelsea begin introducing the Debs, and when Samantha is called, Chessie trips her. Thankfully, Donnell is there just in time to offer his hand. About five girls are introduced. Nathan is there as Chessie’s date, proving once again that he is a piece of garbage.

Jessica makes her debut with an extra dip in her hip, which embarrasses her stuffy parents, who seem to dislike Tyrell for no real reason right out of the gate. The teens do the waltz, and it is fabulous. They even get to put their own little spin on it.

When it is time to announce who won Platinum Deb, Deanna makes the announcement, but something looks strange. The decision apparently came down to a peer vote. It looks like Chessie won, which Dani immediately cannot believe, but

Anastasia makes a big show of demanding that Chessie be crowned. Then Donnell finds the real card in Nathan’s pocket. Nathan has been drinking and gets escorted out. Samantha wins Platinum Deb, keeping the Dupree tradition intact.

Tyrell isn’t around to see his sister get the crown because he is too busy sneaking off with Jessica to lose his V-card.

Deanna notices that Donnell isn’t wearing Doug’s cufflinks but someone else’s. Donnell gives a cover, but dim Vanessa says the cufflinks were from Joey. Now why would she trigger her daughter like that? Did she think cufflinks would suddenly make

Deanna accept him? No. It sent Deanna reeling.

The Plasma Ring

It is about to go down. A big shipment is coming in, and the big boss is going to be there. Ren tells Jacob to be on his best behavior.

Meanwhile, Derek catches Grayson stealing plasma from the clinic because that makes a lot of sense. A free clinic storing plasma? Anyway, Grayson tells him the truth, but Derek isn’t buying it. Grayson says Ashley is in danger and that if he doesn’t make the delivery, it could be curtains for her. Derek lets him go, but follows him.

At the warehouse, things appear to be in order. Jacob tries to keep his head down because Lia is there. Soon, she asks him to lift his hat, and when he does, she folds like a pretzel. She says she was forced into it. Blah, blah.

Ren gets a call from someone at the prosecutor’s office telling him there is a rat in his crew. This prompts him to demand that Jacob kill Grayson. Jacob turns the gun on Ren and tells him he is under arrest. One of Ren’s men sneaks up on Jacob, but

Derek sees him and jumps in the way, taking the bullet.

Chaos ensues, and by the end of it, Derek loses his life and Ashley makes it all about her.

The Aftermath

Dull Ashley continues to make Derek’s death about her. She blames Grayson and acts like she and Derek were some great love story when she could barely stand him and gaslit him most of the time they were together. He warned her about Grayson, and she called him obsessed, so please spare me the glycerin tears. This storyline only proves what a horrible character she is.

Ren vows to get revenge and tells Jacob that it isn’t over because the Impaler is still out there. I truly hate that name.

Naomi serves as Ashley’s support person, as though she hasn’t had her own traumatic experience. I won’t hop on my soapbox yet, but I am beginning to wonder if this is a soap about the Duprees or if I’ve been had.

Kat and Tomas talk about Lia, and Tomas belittles her as always. Vanessa joins them and trash-talks Deanna, who overhears. Instead of owning up to it, Vanessa gaslights her. Kat gives Deanna bad advice, but of course she does, because it will let Vanessa off the hook.

We end on a cliffhanger: Deanna sees Doug. And while I would love for it to be real, I know it is a mere hallucination.

Weekly Wrap

Because the Cotillion exceeded my expectations, I won’t go in on the flaws this week. Well, not too much. There is one thing I want to discuss, and it involves the focus on Ashley again. It is the kind of focus no Dupree woman has received, and it is beginning to stink of favoritism. It also makes me wonder if this show is truly for who they said it was for in the beginning.

Still, I will give credit where credit is due because I fully expected the Cotillion to happen at the country club while everyone merely talked about it. Instead, the show actually gave us the Cotillion, and it was magnificent. That is what I am talking about. Though we missed out on some of the prep and build-up, they gave us glam, ballroom, waltz, presentation, and tradition. I enjoyed every moment.

The plasma climax was also good. Finally. However, I do not think Derek should have been the one to die. He had potential with several actresses on canvas, and once he was free of Ashley, he shined. Personally, Ashley or Grayson could have gone, and I would not have cared.

This week was the best the show has been in a long time. I hope they continue to keep up the momentum, but I don’t expect that to happen.