Broderick

I think the writers are purposefully ignoring the potential rivalry between Ted & Carlton simply because Carlton is such a "non-entity". He doesn't really seem positioned to have any lasting impact in Miss Nicole's life. He's barely worth Ted getting mad about, lol. Izaiah's head-bobbing wouldn't have been as noticeable if that little pom-pom wasn't bouncing around on top of his head every time he moved. If he continues doing it, it probably won't look as strange with his hair down. Plus, it's our first time to see Eva with a guy who actually moves his head and his hands -- we're getting accustomed to her usual Robot.

Just got caught up on a week's worth of shows. I could have THROTTLED the Hideous Wig Hag for pulling that fire alarm & ruining the reunion between Ted and Miss Nicole. That was a good episode. I sure enjoyed the contrast between Dani and Nicole in the following episode. Dani is such a chatterbox and wears her heart on her sleeve at all times. Meanwhile, poor ole Mona had to meticulously d-r-a-g each tiny detail out of Miss Nicole, who never wants to tell anyone anything. It's really great to see a character as reserved & discreet as Nicole in a medium where the emphasis is on talking TOO MUCH.

I'm kinda thinking the same thing. If I remember right, Mona Wilson was manipulated (by Leslie) into vouching for Eva's "upstanding qualities" and "virtues", convincing Nicole to hire Eva as a temporary replacement for Laura. Then when everything blew up, Nicole turned in bewilderment to Mona who lamely said, "I didn't know these folks had ulterior motives!" The whole situation made Mona look as though she was involved in the deception. Jan was exempt from all that. I can see Jan being more compassionate toward Leslie, while Mona likely hopes to never see Leslie again.

I enjoyed Mona and Jan having differing viewpoints on forgiving Leslie. Mona was treated worse (and used more flagrantly) by the horrible bitch than Jan was. I can see Jan forgiving and forgetting, and I can see Mona NEVER getting over it.

Y'all understood Smitty & Martin's "thin, gray" hair differently from me. Martin was talking about where he hoped to be 10 years from now: "I see myself still in love with my handsome, sexy, kind, generous husband. And we get back to sharing our first love -- politics! -- and our son is chess champion! Our daughter, who modeled a bit, has decided on something else she loves just as much, but way SAFER! And we're older, our hair is grayer and thinner, but we still love each even more than that day I lent you a pen and you wrote your phone number on that card. We dream big." (That's the way I heard it.) And then Smitty looked at him all starry-eyed, because he was enraptured by Martin's idea of the future. (But I wasn't sure "Gran" would let Sweet Baby move back into the brownstone, because she loves tucking him in at night.)

That's exactly right! Hayley was snarking that Dani is in Bill's past, and Dani retorted that sometimes past is prologue. Thanks! (I remembered the line when it was said, because I thought it was a wise observation, just couldn't remember who & why.)

WHO previously said, "Past is prologue", and what was the context? I distinctly recall that line having been said a few weeks or months ago, but can't remember the context. Was it Anita who said it earlier?

Watching the scenes between Dani & Miss Nicole, you'd think those two had been playing sisters for 7 years (instead of 7 months). I don't want Donnell to stumble into any additional Gloomy News, but the evil part of me hopes he's about to find out Real Estate Barbie is WAY worse than he'd thought. It's bad enough to lose your daddy, but then to find out right after the funeral your mother is the Dollar Store Gangster's whore, that'll be an awful lot for the kid to digest.

I think it's Martin & Smitty (of all people). They've had trials & tribulations from Day One (well, I believe it started on Day Two, to be exact) and haven't really "connected" the entire 7 months the show has been on the air, despite the fact that they're in love with each other. It's an unusual situation for a soap, because (a) they're a same-sex couple, and (b) their problems involve honesty and trust issues, rather than the usual soap trope of a "villain" keeping them apart.

They can't afford to give Alex Cheeks a contract; they tied up their payroll allocation on the award-winning Tomas. Real Estate Barbie is mighty cute, and I always enjoy her scenes with Dani Dupree & Miss Nicole. Real genuineness among them. I'm glad Carlton finally got a thin shred of personality today. It's sorta a shame that Dapnee Duplaix is wasted on a "relationship" with some recurring character who's barely even given a storyline crumb.

That's an excellent example of a line that should've never seen the light of day. I'll fix it for them. VERNON: Which Jackie? ANITA: Jackie Tyree -- the Anita Williams Impersonator from Vegas. VERNON: I hope you told her she shouldn't have conducted that --- ANITA: What's the point? It's too late. Dani and Andre are married. VERNON: They were drunk. ANITA: What we need to concentrate on now is getting the marriage annulled. She offered us an open invitation to come see her act the next time we're in Las Vegas.

The same thing happened to Chelsea that happened to Martin a few months earlier. Neither of them (RhonniRose or Brandon) was very good in the first weeks of the show. Someone on the board pointed out in the initial episodes that Brandon Claybon delivered all his lines like a Southwest Airlines flight attendant telling us where the emergency exits are located in the aircraft 😉 ) Chelsea wasn't much better. Late in the spring, Martin was given a storyline in which he was required to express fear, desperation, anger, remorse -- sometimes all in the same scene. At times he did fine, and at other times he was pretty awful. But by the time the storyline came to its temporary conclusion, he was like a whole new actor. He found his character, he found his range, and now he exudes the confidence of an actor who knows what he's doing. Chelsea got the same treatment during the kidnapping storyline. She had to express a host of different emotions all in the same scenes. It was a tough job. Sometimes she was good; other times she came across as an absolute amateur. But by the time she was rescued and brought home, RhonniRose's confidence in her character and in her talent range had increased 100%. Those two storylines were the best experiences that could have possibly happened to those two actors. They were "baptized by fire", and they survived it. I hope we're not subjected to a storyline like that with Alex Alegria. lol. It won't do any good.

Leslie called it wrong. This hare-brained fool ain't a "Bad Bunny". He's just a plain ole Dumb Bunny.

I liked his stories, but Douglas Marland's dialogue was often laughable. ("I ran into Lisa earlier, and she said she'd talked with Bob and Kim, who mentioned to her that Frannie had learned from Kirk that Duncan and Shannon are out of town until tomorrow" -- instead of just saying, "I think Duncan and Shannon are out of town.")

I cringed at that one too. I believe literary folks call it "over-writing", when extra words are haphazardly thrown in, making the sentence (or question) clumsy, awkward, and repetitious. In theory, the dialogue writer should've caught that line when he reviewed his completed script with an editing pen. Then the script went to a "script editor", who should've caught it if the dialogue writer didn't. Next, it went to a member of the headwriting team, who definitely should've caught it. And lastly, it went to the director, who would've scratched out the clunky, unnecessary words immediately. But somehow, on Beyond the Gates, those glaring errors often slide right through the entire editing process and end up on our TV screens. Hopefully, they'll become more proficient in fixing them.

BIG BILL: "So ... why aren't you with your nearly-incestuous, underage husband?" 🤣 I'm mighty impressed with that little boy who's playing Donnell McBride. I wish TPTB would suggest he give some acting lessons to that grown-ass Tomas. I'm sure we'll find out more about Hayley's "pregnancy" as time passes. In fact, if she was lying about it (and I still suspect she was), that might ultimately be what pushes Bill back to Dani Dupree for Round #2. I can always find something to complain about with this show (June's warp speed move from the underpass to the soul food cafe), but typically they never drop a storyline thread. Even immediately after Doug's death, when Vanessa was in the police station with Jacob, she was being assured that if any foul play was involved in Doug's wreck, Jacob would crack the case. She said, "What about Laura Peterson? Did you solve that?" Everything that's happened seems to still be on the writers' minds and comes back into play at some point.

Good Ole Banneker U has been hovering in the background since the first day. It's a make-believe HBCU in Washington. Ted and Madison both got their medical degrees there. Big Bill got his law degree there. Vernon is an instructor there and is on the board of trustees. Vanessa's kids go there. And we're being led to believe Jacob might have a close relative who's on the staff. I'm expecting we'll soon be seeing Good Ole Banneker U, because back in February, during their "get to know Beyond the Gates" specials, they kind of teased that the university would come into play later on in the series. It's named for Benjamin Banneker, and they made a point of letting us know that, along with Orphey Gene's being based on the Florida Ave Grill in DC.

The scenes between Smitty & Martin were very honest & real. (Brandon Claybon has really stepped up his game in the past 4 or 5 months.)

The girls playing Eva & Kat are just acting their asses off, and that poor guy playing Tomas stands there looking like he's wondering if he can beat rush hour traffic on I-85 when he leaves the studio, or if she go around by I-285. Bless his heart.

After Eva gave Tomas that glowing 5-star review and he sauntered into the shower, I was hoping she would roll her eyes.

Well, in Eva's defense, she did TRY shooing Kat out the door before her 5-Star Review With Droopy Eyelids wandered aimlessly back into the room. And was Vanessa in the bathroom while Allison monitored the (dull) ChelseaKat QVC Expo? Vanessa was talking to Jacob at his desk, I looked away for a minute, suddenly Allison was sitting there babbling about the Eyes of God, and next thing I knew Vanessa was back again & Allison was gone. I feel like Jacob got whiplash during that.

I find it "entertaining", but only because I suspect Leslie will soon have a financial awakening that causes her to crash & burn. This storyline is in no way reflective of real life or how "rich people live". Assuming the Jarvis family owns a "modest" $5 million mansion, the bank carrying the mortgage will expect Leslie to put approximately 20% down at closing ($1,000,000). That's every cent Leslie ever had! She'll have nothing left for renovations. In fact, she'll have nothing left to buy Ramen noodles with, until she receives her next trust distribution. But as we know, Leslie told Vanessa to "double my offer". If she offered $10 million for a house that appraises for $5 million, the bank holding the mortgage will expect her pay approximately $6 million at closing. She obviously doesn't have access to that type of money; nor does she have any method to acquire an additional loan for the down payment. Meanwhile, she's also purchased a condo for Eva, and made various financial promises to Peaches. Plus, she's got a hotel bill to pay. Not to mention, she threw $50,000 in Ted's face on day one, plus she's (theoretically) had to pay-off that $50,000 credit card bill she owed for the wigs. On top of THAT, she has a substantial monthly bill at the country club, and in a matter of months, the board of directors will be looking for Installment #1 of the multi-million gift she's promised to the club for the new building to be named in her honor. I think we have to view this as "dark humor" that's leading to financial disaster. If Michele Val Jean believes there's any semblance of reality in this storyline, she's sadly mistaken, and she takes the viewers for financial ignoramuses. The only possible "out" I see for Leslie in this "negative net worth" scenario is a bail-out from Joey Armstrong, which of course will make Joey the de facto beneficiary of Barbara's trust, until his loan to Leslie is repaid in full, which could take years & years. (And that's assuming Donnell McBride doesn't take Joey to the cleaners first, per the previews for next week.)

No sir, Leslie will have no luck at all securing a bank loan using trust assets as collateral, because she obviously holds no ownership interest in the trust assets. The assets of the trust belong to the trustee, not to the beneficiary. No one (aside from possibly some shady, high-risk loan shark) will grant Leslie a loan under those circumstances. Bank loan officers are savvy enough to understand that if the trustee misappropriates trust assets, there will be no future distributions to the beneficiary, and the bank's loan will go into default. After a lengthy lawsuit against the beneficiary & the trustee, the bank will likely receive pennies on the dollar, which won't even cover the bank's legal fees. Not worth the risk to the bank. ALSO, in the case of the trust Anita established, if another child of Barbara appears on the scene, Leslie's share of distributions will be instantly diminished by 50%. If a third child of Barbara should appear, Leslie becomes a 1/3 beneficiary, rather than a 100% beneficiary. Again, not worth the risk to the bank. I'm only mentioning this, because I serve as trustee for four different trusts and have years of experience dealing with it. The trust document is clear that I as the trustee can utilize the trust assets as collateral for a loan, which I've done on several occasions -- such as to pay property taxes, make a large repair to a building, or to advance a distribution to a beneficiary who's in desperate need of cash. The bank's happy to give ME the money, because I'm the trustee, and as such, I'm the owner of the trust assets. I've seen various beneficiaries go to the bank and try this with zero success. A bank will typically only lend money to a borrower using assets owned by the borrower as collateral. Leslie's got NO collateral; the trustee holds the collateral. The show failed in its research of this issue. All we can do is shake our heads & realize that writers often don't understand what they're writing.

Ha! Thanks, I hadn't seen this. I really enjoyed what Donnell was saying in the preview for next week. If his dad drank himself to oblivion in the casino and was then killed in a fiery car crash, the family would definitely have a wrongful death claim against the casino, the bartender, and the man who brought the drinks to the table (Marcel). Will be fun to see how this plays out. The Cheeks kid looks SHOCKINGLY like I'd imagined Vanessa & Doug's son would be.

While most of us here were complaining that the "Chelsea is Kidnapped" story arc came out of nowhere practically, skipped most of the beats, and ended too quickly, I stumbled into a Facebook discussion where everyone agreed that it should have been completed in ONE day instead of five. lol. The "short attention span issue" definitely is at play. A lot of viewers now seem to want a solution to every issue in an hour.