-- So Bill passed out at the end of yesterday's show because he was TIRED? THAT'S what they came up with?

-- I am sooooo tired of stupid criminals on this show. Hayley and Randy are absolute morons. How could Hayley not check to see if Bill was dead? Why would Randy show up at the Hamilton house? Just ridiculous.

-- The problem with dragging out a story like Hayley poisoning Bill is that the scenes written to drag it out are ever dumber.

-- That hotel room that Dani and Andre are in is nothing special. Too much white, for one thing. Doesn't look expensive to me and nothing about it said Seoul.

-- The sweatshop story is all filler so far. Waste of time.

-- It's becoming laughable the way Heather is making her way through town -- pushing herself on every single Fairmont Crest character she sees. I know she's unhinged, but as I said, I'm also sick of stupid criminals.

The housekeeper? Poor woman doesn't even have a name. They'll introduce 2 brothers for Shanice but not bother with a day player for Bill and Hayley.

Actually, a housekeeper would be a good angle. Someone who has Hayley's number and clashes with her.

Bill falling asleep is ridiculous. Timon is spending a lot of time on the floor these days.

I am so behind on BTG. I am going to binge this weekend.

I want to start my comments on this past week with the positives. First of all, I really like the direction and lighting on this show, and I particularly liked the camera angle they used during Ted and Heather’s conversation. It made for a beautiful shot. I see there’s also more movement each episode with character interactions and sets.

One thing that drove me absolutely mad about Friday’s episode, though, was the sheer number of text messages being exchanged. There’s a constant stream of texts, DMs, or messages popping up on people’s phones, and to me they’re incredibly anticlimactic and completely avoidable 99% of the time. Take Randy texting his boss to say that Vanessa had shown up and he couldn’t talk to Deanna. Was that really necessary? I think these constant messages actually drain the drama out of scenes. They’re simply not well suited to an audiovisual medium, especially when the same information could be conveyed much more effectively through action or dialogue.

As for the Bill and Hayley storyline, I honestly don’t even know where to begin. First of all, Leslie suddenly showing up at Bill’s house is a huge stretch for me. Leslie ‘persuading’ the housekeeper just to get into his house feels incredibly contrived, and I didn’t buy it. And what did she even go there for? To have yet another version of the exact same conversation she’s been having with Hayley for over a year. Not only does the conversation accomplish absolutely nothing and go nowhere, but I also have to wonder what Leslie could possibly gain from aligning herself with an outcast like Hayley. There is literally nothing in it for her. This obsession with Hayley feels completely unmotivated.

As for Bill, I think it’s a storytelling mistake to end multiple episodes on essentially the same cliffhanger. I’m talking, of course, about Bill collapsing unconscious on the floor. Over the months, they’ve dressed it up with sound effects and more creative camera work, but ultimately it’s still the exact same cliffhanger being recycled over and over again… and every single time, it leads to nothing. To me, that’s a fundamental storytelling mistake, on top of being obviously repetitive and boring.

As for Naomi suffering no consequences after eating Bill’s sandwich, I actually don’t have a problem with that. We’ve already seen that this mysterious poison Hayley is using doesn’t have an immediate effect and, more importantly, that it takes repeated doses for it to build up in someone’s system.

Moving on to Heather. She’s a classic example of Beyond the Gates’ overly layered and unnecessarily convoluted writing. We were specifically told that Heather doesn’t use the Armstrong last name. We were also told that Heather knew nothing about Joey’s online cooking persona and that when they were younger he wouldn’t cook because of his father (he was Italian, then macho!). And now suddenly she’s introducing herself to everyone as Heather Armstrong, and when she saw Joey’s poppy scones, her reaction was, “Oh, your famous poppy scones.”

At this point, all that extra layering doesn’t add depth, it just creates continuity problems. Another example of this overly layered writing is Heather not telling her brother that she’s the Impaler when we all know she’s the Impaler. It makes no sense. What additional shock is this supposed to create down the line when Joey finds out that Heather doesn’t just work for the Impaler—she is the Impaler? What does that extra layer actually add?

Heather’s behavior within the gated community doesn’t make much sense either. She’s introducing herself to everyone and inserting herself into everyone’s lives, when the only thing that would make sense in her position would be to keep a low profile and manipulate people from behind the scenes. Instead, she’s making herself increasingly visible. It makes no sense.

That said, I don’t like seeing Joey manhandle a woman, even if she is his sister. It’s not a good look, and I don’t understand why the show thinks that’s okay.

Speaking of Joey, judging by next week’s previews, they’re clearly about to unveil the new casino set. It’s burgundy, by the way, which makes me wonder how Joey is going to wear his iconic burgundy leather jacket now that he’ll practically blend into the background. 🤣

Joey, who already had two sets associated with him, is now getting yet another revamped set, has had a sister brought onto the canvas, and will probably end up uncovering all of Hayley’s schemes and saving Bill’s life while he’s at it. Pretty unusual treatment for a character who supposedly has such a limited shelf life lmao

ETA: I forgot to mention that I almost feel sorry for the actor playing Jacob. Not that I think he’s particularly good (if anything, I’d put him only a notch above the actor playing Tomas.) But the writing makes Jacob look like a terrible detective: now he’s finally discovered a connection between the two Red Market cases that ChatGPT could have figured out in half a second.

What bothers me even more is the dialogue surrounding Lia’s death. On top of what I see as the writers’ careless use of the S word, some of the characters almost seemed to rationalize her decision. The dialogue basically amounted to, “Well, given what she was going through, you can understand why she did it,” at times almost validating the decision rather than simply acknowledging her distress. I found that incredibly careless, especially with such a sensitive subject.

Edited September 5Sep 5 by Aback

24 minutes ago, Aback said:

At this point, all that extra layering doesn’t add depth, it just creates continuity problems. Another example of this overly layered writing is Heather not telling her brother that she’s the Impaler when we all know she’s the Impaler. It makes no sense. What additional shock is this supposed to create down the line when Joey finds out that Heather doesn’t just work for the Impaler—she is the Impaler? What does that extra layer actually add?

Heather’s behavior within the gated community doesn’t make much sense either. She’s introducing herself to everyone and inserting herself into everyone’s lives, when the only thing that would make sense in her position would be to keep a low profile and manipulate people from behind the scenes. Instead, she’s making herself increasingly visible. It makes no sense.

I think that Heather told Joey that she was the Impaler in her introduction episodes when he assumed she was working for the Impaler and she gleefully told him that she was the Impaler.

Yes, Joey knows that Heather is the Impaler. She directly told him this.

4 hours ago, Aback said:

As for the Bill and Hayley storyline, I honestly don’t even know where to begin. First of all, Leslie suddenly showing up at Bill’s house is a huge stretch for me. Leslie ‘persuading’ the housekeeper just to get into his house feels incredibly contrived, and I didn’t buy it. And what did she even go there for? To have yet another version of the exact same conversation she’s been having with Hayley for over a year. Not only does the conversation accomplish absolutely nothing and go nowhere, but I also have to wonder what Leslie could possibly gain from aligning herself with an outcast like Hayley. There is literally nothing in it for her. This obsession with Hayley feels completely unmotivated.

This comes back to two issues I have with the show. One is the lack of showing and the constant telling us what happened. Had we seen Leslie push her way past the housekeeper and startled Bill wakes up to see Leslie standing over him looking for Hayley, I could totally buy that. We have already seen enough of Leslie being a mess that it fits the charcter. However, the scene opening with Leslie standing over a sleeping Bill and all we hear is that the housekeeper let her in feels off. Why would a housekeeper let someone unknown into the house to roam it as she pleased. Nonetheless, I agree that Leslie's purpose for coming to the house was pointless.

This aspect of telling us vs showing us extends to other important moments recently like Smitty's meetings with Lia. Also Grayson's interrogation was just an aftermath with Jacob. We clearly see they can put together a hotel room for Dani and Andre. I'm sure they could have out something basic together for these scenes.

The second issue is pacing which has been talked about extensively on here. When I think back to everything that has happened on this soap in a year and a half I'm like wow that's a lot of story. We've had a shooting at a wedding, an exposed affair/child reveal, a kidnapping, a murder cover up reveal + murder, a tornado, a ball, a plasma ring, a fashion show, a blackmail/gambling/murder/affair, a con artist/ poisioning, etc. However, the irony is that on a day to day basis it feels like very little is happening on this soap. It is shocking to think about everything that has gone down but many episodes feel like a standstill.

7 hours ago, Aback said:

One thing that drove me absolutely mad about Friday’s episode, though, was the sheer number of text messages being exchanged. There’s a constant stream of texts, DMs, or messages popping up on people’s phones, and to me they’re incredibly anticlimactic and completely avoidable 99% of the time.

I agree. I think the show wants us to know how tech savvy and relevant they are, but sometimes they overdo it. But then they also give us web looks at the sweatshop stuff -- as if a tabloid report of pulling out of a deal with a company would sink a brand. And why should we care? Where are they going with this sweatshop stuff?

7 hours ago, Aback said:

Moving on to Heather. She’s a classic example of Beyond the Gates’ overly layered and unnecessarily convoluted writing. We were specifically told that Heather doesn’t use the Armstrong last name. We were also told that Heather knew nothing about Joey’s online cooking persona and that when they were younger he wouldn’t cook because of his father (he was Italian, then macho!). And now suddenly she’s introducing herself to everyone as Heather Armstrong, and when she saw Joey’s poppy scones, her reaction was, “Oh, your famous poppy scones.”

These are self-inflicted errors that I cannot understand.

7 hours ago, Aback said:

Heather’s behavior within the gated community doesn’t make much sense either. She’s introducing herself to everyone and inserting herself into everyone’s lives, when the only thing that would make sense in her position would be to keep a low profile and manipulate people from behind the scenes. Instead, she’s making herself increasingly visible. It makes no sense.

It doesn't make any sense. As I posted, I'm now laughing at Heather showing up EVERYWHERE and confronting EVERY character in the cast. Next week it's Tyrell and Jessica. Are you kidding me with this? Heather is quickly becoming nuttier than Allison, and that's a mistake.

7 hours ago, Aback said:

That said, I don’t like seeing Joey manhandle a woman, even if she is his sister. It’s not a good look, and I don’t understand why the show thinks that’s okay.

I've consistently said the writing for Joey is problematic, and this stuff with Heather is the latest example. I still cringe when he barks orders and yells at his employees -- all POC -- in a demeaning, condescending way. For a show that worries about optics, that goes out the door when it comes to Joey.

7 hours ago, Aback said:

But the writing makes Jacob look like a terrible detective: now he’s finally discovered a connection between the two Red Market cases that ChatGPT could have figured out in half a second.

The Red Market story has been poorly written from the jump, and if you spend more than 10 seconds thinking about it, none of it makes sense. We have no idea how anything is being investigated or uncovered. We have no idea of anyone doing anything.

Smitty writes articles? About what? What did he uncover? What is he investigating now? All you can do is pretend things are happening. And this Lia stuff -- killing her offscreen with no appearances since the shootings -- is horrendous. Why should I believe that Lia knew enough to have a hit put out on her? Again, it works only if you avoid thinking about any of it.

2 hours ago, GLATWT88 said:

This comes back to two issues I have with the show. One is the lack of showing and the constant telling us what happened. Had we seen Leslie push her way past the housekeeper and startled Bill wakes up to see Leslie standing over him looking for Hayley, I could totally buy that. We have already seen enough of Leslie being a mess that it fits the charcter. However, the scene opening with Leslie standing over a sleeping Bill and all we hear is that the housekeeper let her in feels off. Why would a housekeeper let someone unknown into the house to roam it as she pleased. Nonetheless, I agree that Leslie's purpose for coming to the house was pointless.

Completely pointless. The housekeeper failing this badly makes no sense. Neither did Randy getting in unnoticed when we've been told how security was tightened so much. Regardless, Randy showing up at their house is the chef's kiss of stupidity.

I'm also really fed up with stories getting started and then ignored -- mentioned once a week or even dropped for months. It happens so much and so often that my head spins. And then? MORE new cast members are added with side stories.

Izaiah? Give him a job and never show it. Let him mention every few weeks that he was aa bad boy. Tease us with a scene showing his mother and father. Then that's it. Do it again in a month.

Kial? Give him a son. Let the son make an appearance and give him a job he's supremely unqualified her. Let him sing a song in the Dupree living room. Then make him disappear.

Tyrell? Tell us we should care about his relationship ending. Then make him disappear.

Allison? Bring her back after a year and show her writing stalker letters and possibly making stalker calls. Then make her disappear.

Madison's lawsuit? Talk about it as if it's crucial. Then make it disappear.

But yeah, there's not enough going on, so let's bring on Shanice's brothers so they can act like they're bodyguards for Jay-Z's daughter.

Anyone know the song used during Eva and Isaiah's love scene on September 2?

21 hours ago, GLATWT88 said:

The second issue is pacing which has been talked about extensively on here. When I think back to everything that has happened on this soap in a year and a half I'm like wow that's a lot of story.

What's odd about it is that a lot of those stories that they zipped themselves through are stories where they genuinely could've explored various aspects of them, while for whatever reason they've chosen to drag out the Hayley poisoning Bill story for months now and that's a fairly one note, especially since we know Bill is very unlikely to die. It's just odd choices.

Anyone else thinking that Lia didnt die and could be int he witness protection program? Heather definitely did try to kill her but what if they were able to save her in the infirmary. The feds then decide to move her and fake her death to trip up the Impaler. Since there are operations across the country, its a federal case and they wouldnt need to inform Jacob about what this as its beyond his jurisdiction

On 9/5/2026 at 10:47 AM, Aback said:

At this point, all that extra layering doesn’t add depth, it just creates continuity problems. Another example of this overly layered writing is Heather not telling her brother that she’s the Impaler when we all know she’s the Impaler. It makes no sense. What additional shock is this supposed to create down the line when Joey finds out that Heather doesn’t just work for the Impaler—she is the Impaler? What does that extra layer actually add?

I thought he did know and that's how we were informed? Idk, I've been distracted lately.

4 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

Anyone else thinking that Lia didnt die and could be int he witness protection program? Heather definitely did try to kill her but what if they were able to save her in the infirmary. The feds then decide to move her and fake her death to trip up the Impaler. Since there are operations across the country, its a federal case and they wouldnt need to inform Jacob about what this as its beyond his jurisdiction

That wouldn't be a bad idea, but I don't see any of it happening -- not on a show that dispensed with Lia almost 4 months ago.

It's bad enough that we never saw any of her meetings with Smitty, but telling us she's in witness protection would be even worse. Also, I don't know how saving her would trip up the Impaler. We've never had an indication that Lia knew who was in charge.

Of course, that reminds me that it doesn't make sense for Lia to be killed by Heather. Bottom line? The entire story is a mess.

20 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

That wouldn't be a bad idea, but I don't see any of it happening -- not on a show that dispensed with Lia almost 4 months ago.

It's bad enough that we never saw any of her meetings with Smitty, but telling us she's in witness protection would be even worse. Also, I don't know how saving her would trip up the Impaler. We've never had an indication that Lia knew who was in charge.

Of course, that reminds me that it doesn't make sense for Lia to be killed by Heather. Bottom line? The entire story is a mess.

In Lia's last appearance on the show, Jacob had offered her a deal if she could name the Impaler... and Lia had this defeated look on her face as she said that she wished she could take the deal.. but that she had no idea who the Impaler was. Part of me thinks she was telling the truth especially after the 180 she pulled after the cops got to the warehouse... and how she only got mixed up in the ring because of Lynette conning her out of her retirement savings (I think that was what it was).

It's a shame that Ashley Jones is cast as Heather, a character that most likely has a shelf life, because she actually fits in on the show and has good rapport with everyone she's interacted with.

It's odd that the show has had Heather interacting with most of the cast in such a short amount of time while Hayley has been stuck in the vortex of Randy, Bill, and Dani without much interaction with the rest of the cast. Perhaps if Hayley had been mixing it up with the other characters... the poisoning story wouldn't seem so bad... maybe LOL

21 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

It's a shame that Ashley Jones is cast as Heather, a character that most likely has a shelf life, because she actually fits in on the show and has good rapport with everyone she's interacted with.

I agree, AJ has been great. I just think it's the wrong choice to make her so unhinged this early. It does indicate a short shelf life, but as we know, this show tends to keep characters long after their shelf life has expired.

23 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

It's odd that the show has had Heather interacting with most of the cast in such a short amount of time while Hayley has been stuck in the vortex of Randy, Bill, and Dani without much interaction with the rest of the cast.

For me, watching Heather interact with and introduce herself to so many characters is laughable. The only way this works is if they want us to see her as a whack job, and I don't think they do.

Heather runs this entire Red Market operation across the country, yet bothers with all of these Fairmont Crest denizens? Make it make sense.

The Hayley/Bill story is officially in Passions territory with all of the near misses and lack of movement. Based on the past couple months, this was the perfect time to end this and here we are back in circles. Bill Bell was the master of drawing stories out but the reason it worked for him is because he didn't make the big reveal the focus of the story. Look at Sheila! In her initial run there was so much going on that allowed them to plausibly stretch out the reveal without you getting sick of it. Now I'm so irritated I don't even care when this ends.

The sad thing is this would've been easy to handle without getting rid of Hayley (which I believe is likely the issue). Have a big reveal and then say she's pregnant if you want to keep her around. The more they keep the characters in the dark the more dumb it makes them look. Bill is almost past the point of no return for me. There is no way he should be this clueless.

In other news, I do continue to enjoy Heather and think she's a step in the right direction. The only issue I have is that I still don't understand why Andre is keeping their relationship a secret. He is allowed to have an ex girlfriend. I hope there is a bigger secret there, if not this will fall flat for me.

Also...I'm to the point where I do think there needs to be a change. Based on the pacing I'm very worried knowing they've filmed through January. There is clearly a reason I've watched her work for years and have no memory of Tracy Thomson. She needs to go and they need to give MVJ a co-headwriter who can help her pick up the pace. The story ideas are fine but they gotta get moving.