Chris B

Out of these, I hope she isn't connected to Samantha and Tyrell. I just don't see a long term story there. I hadn't thought of a connection to Leslie but now that you bring it up...what if we find out June is Haley's sister and both were abandoned and raised in foster care. June ended up on the streets and Haley ended up with the Duprees. The mother who dumped them in foster care? Leslie. If they end up making Eva a stolen child of Nicole's, it would be a good way to develop some family for Leslie to help keep her on the canvas. She could ultimately make up with her kids and then she'd have access to Bill's money/power which could help her become a long term rival for the Duprees.

This was an excellent "filler" episode but I'd prefer to refer to it as a character building episode. I love that BTG is paced in a way that they can have episodes like this as opposed to the repetitive nature of the other soaps which don't leave room for this. The highlight for me was Eva with Martin's family. They've talked so much about her doing hair and I was so excited to finally get to see that in action. I thought the tension with Samantha was nice since she is a Dupree woman. I also love that Martin is trying to help Eva feel welcomed. I struggled a bit with Martin but he really shines when put across Eva, Kat and his grandparents. He definitely gets my vote for most improved. I also loved the scenes with Dani, Nicole and Andre. I love that Nicole clocked them so easily lol. I know many haven't enjoyed how Dani has acted since the Ted/Eva reveal but I find it so heartwarming watching her with Nicole. They clearly have a deep love for each other despite their differences and I love that Dani still tries even though her approach isn't always great and her whole life is a mess. Nicole/Dani is another one of the star pairs on the show. Anita and Vernon's scenes were excellent and the more I see of this story, the more I can't wait for the Articulettes to show up. I wonder if they've already been quietly cast and are filming. Not that I'm complaining, but the set is like Fort Knox so we really have no clue what is going on there. I can only hope we will see them soon. I also must say, Tamara Tunie looked stunning today. The Jacob/Naomi scenes were another highlight. I like the working class vibe they give to the show. I'm also becoming intrigued about June and want to know more about how she ended up on the streets and who she's connected to. I hope it's Haley because she's in dire need of some backstory and development. The weak point of the episode were the Bill and Haley scenes. How are you going to have them having sex on his desk and we couldn't see a little bra or shirtless action from Bill? That was tired and a waste of time. They need to work on integrating them more with the rest of the canvas. I do not care about them anymore.

So many of the problems stem from there being one main family. As a result, Vernon and Anita don't have contemporaries to interact with which leaves them primarily as talk-to's. If and when they bring on her bandmates, it would benefit them to establish at least one as a main character with a family. If they ever brought on Jacob's mom, she could be another person that Anita could regularly interact with.

@FaulknerI do agree with you about the male characters. I feel like I've been overlooking that because a female-driven soap has been so rare these days. They have some relationships they could build upon but not nearly enough. The male characters for the most part don't have any friends or family to help develop them. This is also part of the issue with having only one main family.

I'm aware of that but I was more curious about which characters were going to be included and what actors they were loooking at.

I highly doubt it. I recall Tunie's scenes being limited to a hotel room with Bonnie. By that time both Bonnie and Jessica had been severely diminished on the canvas.

I see people saying this a lot but I always thought both things were plot points with a specific purpose. Martin running for president (something that would've been years down the line) was just to give us an opportunity to learn about his secret and that it involves Anita and Vernon. Naomi's lawsuit was used to develop her relationship with Bill and highlight his health issue. Those cases are almost always settled out of court so I didn't find anything odd about that, it was all about Naomi and Bill. I do wonder if Mike might've had better chemistry with Jen Jacob. At this point I feel he's right there with Derek in terms of being a weak link. He's a better actor but he doesn't have chemistry with anyone. These are the two characters I really hope they get a handle on in coming months.

That would've been a good pick! She was great on B&B and like you said, she's already in Atlanta.

I feel like AMC would be the easiest of their soaps to revive but a reboot seems cursed at this point. I wish we had more insight on what was pitched for the primetime reboot as well as these movies. That would give us a better idea of why it keeps getting shot down.

Ashley and Derek have been so isolated that I need the show to develop something, anything to justify their presence. It's not that I think Joey being her father will be the greatest story ever told but at least it would be something and connect her to more characters. I just need the show to move forward with them. Out of all the characters, these are the only two with no storyline/development. We have recurring characters who are better used with less screentime. If the show is going to keep them on contract they need to do something with them.

Jon is stuck in a story that isn't popular but with Cady I feel like the issue is that she was clearly thrown in with no real purpose. I still don't understand why she pops up. I recall early on it being said she owned a spa but we've never seen it. That could've been an interesting location for people to meet. She also could've worked better as Smitty's mom, but instead we get this random agent of Dani's who pops up twice a month? A total waste. I mostly agree. I do feel like Jan could be elevated with a name soap actress, someone like Judi Evans or Kassie DePaiva comes to mind, but they're limited to who is in Atlanta. Keeping that in mind I think the current actress is fine.

When I see how bad the Ashley/Derek scenes are, I know there must be a larger purpose and Joey being her father is the thing that makes the most sense. My take on it is that Ashley knows Joey is her father but doesn't know Joey. Maybe he was there when she was a child or just not around at all but I believe Jan when she says she didn't lie to her daughter about who her father was. Maybe she left him when she discovered his dangerous lifestyle. I do think they could really jump start the character of Ashley if they hurry and do this. Jan is a great character and her scenes with Ashley have been helpful. This would further integrate Ashley into the canvas and give her something dramatic to do. With her working at the hospital along with Doug, it could lead to complications if she learns Doug is involved with her father. I just need is sooner rather than later because Derek is tanking her character. I need a distraction.

I still can't get over how awkward the Derek actor is. He looks so uncomfortable no matter what. Even when he took his shirt off and walked away it was goofy. This is one element I need them to hurry and explain because we know these characters aren't going anywhere. I just need to know why and with a quickness.

Today's episode was excellent. Clearly it was confrontation day and they didn't disappoint. I'm glad they didn't forget Mona in all of this and gave us an opportunity to see how she's dealing with this. A major highlight for me were the Kat and Martin scenes. Their chemistry is off the charts and I don't understand why we haven't gotten more of this. I love how they take turns calming each other down. They feel really well matched and believable as siblings. Speaking of siblings, they anvils were dropping strong that Kat and Eva are twins but I do wish someone would mention that they are essentially hood twins which might throw people off the scent. I'm one of the people who enjoyed Joey and the gambling storyline so it was nice to see him again. It was nice to see different characters like Mona and Eva in that element instead of the usual players. When Doug arrived I don't know what hit me but I just see a funeral in his future. He seems so hopeless and has the worst luck. I just can't see him surviving the year at this rate.

I feel like the reason they went with these two stories is because these are common stories told on soaps that allowed them to really tie the entire canvas in and help develop their relationships. I do understand the implications of having two cheating stories and these being Black characters but MVJ has always been clear that she wanted to show us the same way characters are featured on any soap. I don't think any story should be off limits just because the majority of the characters are Black. We have several positive representations of Black men so it's not like everybody is a cheater or a bad spouse. I also think the two stories and relationships are different enough that the stories don't feel similar in any way.

I'm excited for us to get back to a full weeks worth of episodes and also us beginning to move into the episodes filmed once the show premiered. We're already starting to see changes in the lighting and the way certain characters are styled. Of course we know this week we have our first recast as well. After the big Eva reveal, I hope the show continues to move into a positive direction and that we see them starting to fix some of the things we've all had issues with.

I 100% agree that Bill and Haley's set would work better as a bedroom. I also think it might have made more sense to give them a penthouse instead of a mansion. Realistically they aren't going to have the room for multiple mansions, even with the larger studios. A more open concept penthouse would've been fine. I also wish more people lived together. The age confusion kinda messes that up but I would at least have Chelsea living with Dani. If Martin were Anita and Vernon's child (as he should be), I'd have these families living together as well. By doing that, the space used for Martin and Smitty's house could be used to build a dining room for the Dupree home and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to throw a couple bedrooms in as needed.

I have no use for Derek but I was happy to see them exploring Naomi and Ashley's friendship again. More of that, please! I was stunned when Ashley asked Naomi about the Ted drama. We actually got a lot of interesting combos today. Tomas/Eva, Kat/Smitty, a rare Martin/Ted sighting and Vanessa/Nicole, among others. This was a good breather from all of the drama of the past few days. Because of pre-emptions I expected a random ending and not a proper cliffhanger but I literally jumped when I saw Leslie walk into Nicole's house! That was the perfect way to end things and along with the prevent, I'm excited to finally get back to a full 5 episodes next week!

I feel like Leslie has only begun to reveal her secrets. If she's so willing to throw Eva away, she must have another trump card. She doesn't seem like someone who is going to give up or go away easy.

Nobody is acting like it's the end of the world. This is a thread about Beyond the Gates, people were excited to watch it and are expressing their disappointment that couldn't happen. If anybody needs to chill, it's you.

It's airing in Canada so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed they just put it on Paramount Plus.

In the US they *constantly* break into the soaps for pretty much any news story which is why fans are annoyed. So yeah, it may not be an everyday occurrence but it's a common enough occurrence that people are annoyed. BTG has been on for less than 3 months and has already been broken into many times.

My thing is, I'm okay with you breaking in to announce it but does it really require wall-to-wall coverage? Couldn't you break in for 5 minutes, announce it, then just run a chyron announcing it at the bottom of the screen? The wall to wall coverage for things like this has always confused me because there usually isn't any info to present so it never amounts to much.

This is my guess and my hope. I will take anything I can get but doing a multi-year renewal shows they have faith in the show and I think would be nice to let viewers know it's safe to tune in. I also think the cast and crew would benefit from not having that pressure over their heads.

She is truly in such a delusional state that it's hard to know what's true but I'm sure there are some easter eggs in there. I am very curious to see how they utilize Leslie now that everybody knows who she is. If they do go with a connection to Anita in someway that would definitely be interesting. Anita was the first and only person so far that Leslie seemed intimidated by.