original release date: Thursday, July 9, 2026 (#321) | writers: Sara A. Bibel, Danielle Paige | director: Steven Williford

Thoughts:

• Love that Dani is referring to Naomi as her sunshine at the start of her day. And love just how 'there' she is for her children. So precious.

• Not Samantha just flat-out outing Jessica's plans to end things with Tyrell to Bradley and Martin.

• Tyrell's obsession over Jessica is genuinely beginning to concern me, and him allowing his sexual desires to overrun his mind is also very on par with a teenager his age.

• A matter of weeks for her condo? Interesting. And using Dani's decorator? That is exciting. Hopefully the end result is everything that Katherine wants her own space to be.

• I am glad that Naomi is finally deciding to [hopefully] open up about her BRCA2 test results. I know it has been weighing heavily on her and now with Jacob being safe and at home, it is just quickly coming back up to emotionally smack her like a tonne of bricks.

• Oh... Tyrell, this is not the location to be discussing sex with your girlfriend. And your obsession with sex is a bit overdone. It's on par with a teenager, but... yeah, you need to calm it down. And a tattoo?!? Oh, this does not sound... right.

• Aw, I love that both Anita and Vernon do not want Katherine to move out of the family home. It is nice that they enjoy having her around.

• Andre and Jacob trying to one-up each other in their hangout session is kind of cool. It is nice that their friendship is budding in the way that it is.

• Oh, good. I am glad that Naomi finally told someone other than Ashley!

• Tyrell, the sentiment is cute, but matching tattoos is just not a good idea. I could be with someone for twenty-five, thirty years, and I would never get a matching tattoo. You never know what could happen down the line. No, Jessica... do not agree to this.

• Well, Anita and Vernon are about to hit the "empty nest". milestone once again. And her song? So beautiful.

• Oh, thank goodness Naomi told Jacob, too. It is overdue at this point.

• I like that Katherine and Martin are making up; however, Martin had every single right to pop off on her in the way that he did. It was overdue.

• I understand why Jacob is feeling the way that he does, but I really hope he does understand why Naomi kept this from him while he was an undercover op.

• Ooh, la-la! I love that Anita and Vernon have not lost their romantic spark with each other. It feels like, so often, "older" couples are often depicted as sexless, non-romantic entities. This continues to be refreshing.

• Glad Katherine is opening up about the dream/nightmare she had post-surgery.

• Not Jessica thinking 40 is "super old", and Bradley and Martin reacting in the way they did. And "J"? Really? Tyrell, you are going to regret that. I know you are. And it is huge! Why?!

• Okay, if the "J" is truly for June, then that is a very sweet sentiment. I really hope that is why he chose the letter.

• Wow. It is truly brave for any woman to consider the weight of having a double mastectomy. It is a huge step, and I applaud Naomi for weighing it.

Notes:

• Bibel and Paige did a beautiful job with today's script. There was movement, the emotional beats that needed to be hit were hit, and everything felt natural and like it belonged.

Back in October, I was confirmed to carry an inherited cancer gene, not BRCA but something parallel with a different body part. I just haven't had the heart to watch that storyline on BTG, even though I thoroughly applaud that they are doing it. I need further medical testing to see if I have any "preliminary symptoms or signs" or if it's only a future possibility -- yet I have procrastinated that testing for months. I can totally relate to Naomi trying to pretend to herself that it's not a factor. Please don't be like me or Naomi, just get tested and do the follow-ups.

-- The "J" tattoo that Tyrell gets to honor June makes little sense to me. Have we seen him have this type of connection to her? The same day he thinks of a tattoo, he gets one for June an hour later? Not buying it.

-- And spare me the message tattoo that Jessica got.

-- If Dani runs to Bill after her argument with Andre, I am going to GAG.

-- This show is becoming The Illness Hour. Anita, Kat, Dani, Naomi -- it's all cancer and liver and BRCA and double mastectomy.

-- Some of the conversations today were good, but I'm just not crazy about those conversations consuming almost the entire hour.

3 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

-- The "J" tattoo that Tyrell gets to honor June makes little sense to me. Have we seen him have this type of connection to her? The same day he thinks of a tattoo, he gets one for June an hour later? Not buying it.

-- And spare me the message tattoo that Jessica got.

-- If Dani runs to Bill after her argument with Andre, I am going to GAG.

-- This show is becoming The Illness Hour. Anita, Kat, Dani, Naomi -- it's all cancer and liver and BRCA and double mastectomy.

-- Some of the conversations today were good, but I'm just not crazy about those conversations consuming almost the entire hour.

This is what happens when you don't have a diverse voice in the writing room.. and what I mean by that is someone that is all about action and pacing. There are some days that the show resembles a very bad version of Lifetime movie without the conflict or urgency.

Samantha deserves a punch in the face.

Tyrell.. I might be interested if we see someone become unhinged and obsessed.. would be more interesting then the whole Hallmark/Lifetime channel vibe going on right now.

The character Tyrell Richardson on the CBS soap opera Beyond the Gates is played by actor Jaden Lucas Miller. In real life, he probably has the tattoo for Jaden. The writers just had to make a connection for the show.

18 minutes ago, watson71 said:

The character Tyrell Richardson on the CBS soap opera Beyond the Gates is played by actor Jaden Lucas Miller. In real life, he probably has the tattoo for Jaden. The writers just had to make a connection for the show.

Doesn't mean the tattoo had to be written into the script.

Now the definition of "lie" is withholding private medical information from family members?

Someone needs to stage an invention with MVJ and remind her what a soap does. 'Cause this is about the lamest "lie" ever.

Ugh...Dani proving exactly why Naomi can't confide in her. All her support/ "stability" is like a leaky balloon. She's headed straight for Bill, isn't she?

So this tweet was floating around online this week with clips from various shows - I assume it's Alex Alegria's reel. He is not amazing in it but still much better in the clips starting around the 2 minute mark than he has ever been on this show, where he is possibly the worst actor I've ever seen on daytime. Maybe it's the pace and rehearsal time?

Edited yesterday at 12:53 AM1 day by Vee

26 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Now the definition of "lie" is withholding private medical information from family members?

Someone needs to stage an invention with MVJ and remind her what a soap does. 'Cause this is about the lamest "lie" ever.

Ugh...Dani proving exactly why Naomi can't confide in her. All her support/ "stability" is like a leaky balloon. She's headed straight for Bill, isn't she?

It's one thing to withhold information, but another to lie. Naomi did say that her test was all good which was different than just withholding. Not the biggest lie in the world, but not something but an increased risk of cancer is something family would like to be clued in on.

Daytime takes some getting used to but AA has had over a year and hasn't improved.

And Tomas' latest embracing of sexist culture isn't doing the character any favors.

I’m sorry but MVJ desperately needs a better Co-HW to help plot this show and be conscientious of how to build and maintain momentum, and they need a stronger day to day producer than Julie Hanan Carruthers to expertly translate the material on screen in a way that pops.

This week has been a total snore to me so far and I think that’s very disappointing coming right after a hiatus.

-- That clip is Alex Alegria shows us an actor we have NEVER seen on the show. I cannot explain the robot we get every day.

-- I agree that showing a Tomas who embraces his (sexist) culture damages the character even more. I don't care how real it is.

-- This week has been a snore to me, too. After a couple on fire weeks, I can't pretend that this week is any good. I've been disappointed every day this week.

I think this week has been middle of the road and a character-centric place setter after such a hectic couple months. I've certainly seen many more boring weeks of this show than this lol. The problem with BTG has always been momentum and finding organic stories beyond just character beats, but I can't render a judgment on where it is going yet.

I do think Naomi holding this damn BRCA secret for almost 7 months followed by hitting Jacob with a double mastectomy announcement on top was wild even for her gloomy, uptight ass. Divorce her, Rashad!

Edited yesterday at 01:47 AM1 day by Vee

I think I should have used the word "blah" instead of boring. I just didn't leave any episode thinking "Can't wait until tomorrow.

And I agree about Naomi's gloomy, uptight ass. Delivering the " I want a double mastectomy" line after saying " I lied for 7 months" is some kind of romance killer.

As I mentioned earlier, I think we're getting too much illness and disease and cancer on this show.

The show put a lot of things in motion last year and there has been limited culmination of some of those plots. Lots could have been in the pipeline to fill in lulls and keep the show moving. Not having Martin's opponent present and stretching that plot out a little more was a mistake. Some snarky, disrespectful candidate to really shake Martin up would have been dynamite.