21 minutes ago, detroitpiston said:

His line reading is verging on worst of the lot for me (“Sometimes the ANger just BUILDS and boils over until you just don’t have a choice” was so 😬) and he has very little screen presence to make up for it. The fact he’s given what feels like the most focus of the grandkids makes that a hard watch for me, hopefully he improves as the weeks continue but I wish they had cast a more experienced actor

He is just... cringe at best... Gives me "model trying to act" vibe. Again, with talents like Tamara Tunie around... maybe he'll learn something and improve. We'll see.  

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Unless Andre is a total p***y hound can't understand what he would see in a dowdy nurse. Sorry Jen/Ashley!

1. Yes, Andre clearly IS.

2. Nothing AT ALL wrong with Ashley's look! Pretty gal. HUH?!! Dowdy?!!

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Wonder if Danni will be on every day this week?

3. Is this rhetorical? The answer is so obvious.

7 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Not a fan of Cady's look, what's with the braid?

4. I think this was just one look, for one day.

Still no ratings from last week?

Me if Dani continues to be on 5 days a week:

 

When you realize you have hours to wait until the next episode of #BeyondTheGates pic.twitter.com/g0deDi0dKT

— The Gatekeepers Podcast (@TGKPod) March 4, 2025

2 hours ago, detroitpiston said:

Cady McClain is doing that Cady thing and a little too mannered and dramatic but this is what they envisioned for the Pam character so I’ll go with it. I will say I bought Vanessa more as Dani’s bffs than Nicole’s but whatever

I have a theory that the original plan was for Vanessa to be Dani’s BFF and then they got Cady and switched plans to give Cady’s character a link to the Duprees - Cady’s presence so far seems very shoehorned into things as if it was filmed and inserted later on - Karla did say in an interview there was a bunch of new material shot later and inserted in so the scenes with Dani and Pamela could have been some and then the scenes with Nicole and Vanessa - one thing I’m not vibing with so far is the HEAVY exposition of how each person knows each other, I get they’re trying to establish the connections between characters but they’re laying it on a little too thick.

27 minutes ago, Marco Dane said:

Still no ratings from last week?

Maybe today

1 hour ago, detroitpiston said:

His line reading is verging on worst of the lot for me (“Sometimes the ANger just BUILDS and boils over until you just don’t have a choice” was so 😬) and he has very little screen presence to make up for it. The fact he’s given what feels like the most focus of the grandkids makes that a hard watch for me, hopefully he improves as the weeks continue but I wish they had cast a more experienced actor

Pretty much. I think a lot of the other weaker actors have some leeway since they can always write less for them or try to adjust the writing a bit - even Ashley's lughead boyfriend only really needs to reach "Soap Opera Meathead" type of acting to be okay until he has to actually cry or something (and hopefully they'll just off him before it comes to that). Martin is a pretty unforgiving role to put in the hands of an inexperienced actor unfortunately.

Still, give him 13 weeks and see where we're at after that. It's at least not Charity Rahmer levels yet. 

On a related note, maybe it's knowing that they had some production issues with lightning, but that looked so much better on Monday's episode. I agree with those that are saying that Colby Muhammad is a find - not that I necessarily want them to expand on her role too much at this point but she's delightful. I'd wouldn't mind for her and Vanessa to function as recap characters (not to each other, obviously) at this point before they let them off into their own storylines. 

Edited March 4Mar 4 by te.

I was not crazy about the wedding drama. It felt like a telenovela.

So this is Bill's living room? Did Hayley move her furniture from her apartment?

I don't mind Martin at all. I like all the kids of the family.

Hayley is becoming Megan Markle annoying.

You know it is a soap and eventually there will be no room for two white best friends. Either Pamela or Vanessa will have to go. And I don't find Pamela interesting at all.

The scene with Derek and the bartender was painful.

So nobody pays attention when an elevator stops working in a hospital?

And none of the Duprees were contacted by their friends after the gun video went viral.

Loving Leslie and Eva. 

1 hour ago, Joseph said:

So it's safe to say that Eva doesn't know the lengths that Leslie/Dana is willing to go for their revenge?!

This is the story I'm most interested in. I do think Eva is a victim of her moms lies but I wonder how it will turn out. Will she be Andre's sister or will she truly be Ted's daughter and thus a sibling for Martin and Kat? The actress who plays Eva is great and I know she's going to know it out of the part as they develop this story.

1 hour ago, Rmodelboy said:

I'm not seeing the Martin is so bad that he needs recasting like others are.

Now it could be my bias because I think the actor is handsome ha, but I feel like he's playing it exactly how we're supposed to see the character right now.

 

 

I agree with you to  point. He needs an acting coach, but I don't think he needs to be recast this soon.

1 minute ago, Sapounopera said:

So this is Bill's living room? Did Hayley move her furniture from her apartment?

 

I audably gasped when I saw that living room! Just yikes:

Maybe we're supposed to read it as Bill being a complete pushover and completely leaves any decorating up to his current beau?    

4 minutes ago, Sapounopera said:

You know it is a soap and eventually there will be no room for two white best friends. Either Pamela or Vanessa will have to go. And I don't find Pamela interesting at all.

I hope / think that there might be more to Pamela than just being Dani's best friend. I think she briefly mentioned being a writer? Maybe her husband can be filthy rich and eventually become nemesis to the Duprees for whatever reason once Silkpress Sheila is done with her revenge.  

47 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

 Nothing AT ALL wrong with Ashley's look! Pretty gal. HUH?!! Dowdy?!!

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with Ashley either. I can clearly see why Andre might like her.

3 minutes ago, te. said:

I audably gasped when I saw that living room! Just yikes:

Maybe we're supposed to read it as Bill being a complete pushover and completely leaves any decorating up to his current beau?    

 

This set was so disappointing, and I've LOVED all the sets so far (even though they all look TOO pristine and almost clinical, but I guess as time goes on they'll build on them and work on thing), they have the lovely round foyer with the double doors and marble floors and then they go through the little random door that I thought would be a closet instead of the double doors that would lead to the living room. Then the living room doesn't seem to be in the same house, stylistically. It looks small and dingy and I'm not sure why there's a tiny dining table in the corner when this is supposed to be a mansion within the gated community? If anything this room would make more sense redressed as their master bedroom and give them a living room off the double doors, but I do get that the design choices are probably supposed to reflect Hayley's style (going by her outfits that we've seen so far) and interestingly, Hayley's fashion and interiors taste doesn't seem too dissimilar to Dani's, which I have to suppose is intentional.

11 minutes ago, MontyB said:

I agree with you to  point. He needs an acting coach, but I don't think he needs to be recast this soon.

I agree. I feel like he'll work it out with time. He's one of the more experienced actors in the cast. I'm very curious how episodes will be 2-3 months in once people are more comfortable and settled into the job of working on a soap.

The one thing that is keeping me going with Martin so far is the chemistry he has with his family. I love any moment we get of him with Vernon and the brief moments with Dani really work for me. 

12 minutes ago, MontyB said:

I agree with you to  point. He needs an acting coach, but I don't think he needs to be recast this soon.

Definitely. First of all, the man is BEAUTIFUL. For research purposes we need him shirtless asap. But also, I have to wonder if part of the reason he's coming across a little stilted and wooden is because he's trying to play up how reserved and uptight Martin is and is just overdoing it.