Beyond the Gates: Daily Episode Discussion

[Rodney]

So Hayley's not pregnant.  Oh, my God, I am so relieved.  Bill being disappointed was not something that I expected.  But he was right that he was getting a bit old to raise another child.

I did like hearing more about Doug and Vanessa's relationship.  So Vanessa grew up rich, while Doug came from humbler beginnings.  I liked the story of their first meeting.  But Doug's now in even deeper with Joey due to the lost horse bet.

Doug is nice, but I prefer Vanessa with Joey.  If only Jon lived in Atlanta so he could signed to a contract.

Kat and Tomas were cut once again, and I like that Tomas offered to help figure out whom Eva was.  But she really should've taken him with her to confront Eva, especially with how crazy Leslie is.

Good to see Laura again.  Nice to see Nicole being a smart doctor and realizing that Laura was likely sabotaged with the potassium.

Leslie could simply throw Eva off her trail by just telling her that she doesn't tell her some things because she wants her to have total deniability for some of them.  It is true, to an extent.  But Eva keeps getting close to figuring out that her mother hurt Laura, but she keeps letting Leslie chase her away getting there.

Nice episode.  The storylines featured today felt more balanced.

[JAYJAY1979]

When an episode doesn't feature Dani nor how wonderful the Dupree's are...it gets good marks in my book.

I think I've fully recovered from the cringe/stench of Monday and the Dupree's pick me attitude.

Kat had her brain turned on, and I hope she manages to warn someone about Leslie.

Vanessa/Doug:  lots of good exposition on their history together. 

Joey: Of course he would own an escort service LoL

I'm wondering if the scene of Ashley messing up the dosage on a chart will come back now that Nicole realizes something is off with what happened to Laura.

[TiffanyNichelle]

The fact that Leslie really thought a wig was going to keep her from being recognized by people she's met before. Ted was able to see it was her from across a dark bar. How did she think she could talk to Kat face to face without the pussycat wig and the accent and Kat wouldn't realize she was the same person?

[AnimeMania]

S01.E43: Friday, April 25, 2025

[ShadowHunter]

Nicole spraying Febreze again lol. She uses it the most I mean does every room she is in stink? It's starting to feel that way.  I am glad Doug confessed to her he has a gambling problem. That is a good first step for him. Even though I feel Vanessa has better chemistry with Joey.

Ashley and Derek feel like they are on a different show. They feel isolated from the rest of the cast at times. 

Jacob and the stuff at the police station I didn't care at all about any of it.

Martin was actually bearable today lol.

[AnimeMania]

I wouldn't mind if they skipped or shortened the make out sessions, they are way too long and don't really add anything except some eye-candy. There was only one this episode (Ashley), they take too long and it doesn't add anything to the episode. They can also get rid of all the praise giving speeches, the one time that someone might have needed one (Doug), Nicole chose to keep it 100. There was so much more plot development when these things are removed.

Nicole: To get an idea of the severity of your problem, how much money did you lose gambling yesterday?

Nicole: $50,000?! Come over here so I can smack the taste out of yo mouth!

7 minutes ago, ShadowHunter said:

Nicole spraying Febreze again lol.

She didn't do it right, since she didn't turn the label towards the camera.

How long ago has Chelsea been wanting to quit modeling, if she had that conversation with her father before she knew Bill was sleeping with Hayley?

[Irlandesa]

I said a while ago that I thought Doug and Vanessa were the "best" couple on the show in that I thought they had the best chemistry and an actual story.  With more of their background, I continue to think that. 

The problem with the character of Dani isn't necessarily with the performance for me.  It's the fact that she feels like they came up with a concept to her character (unpredictable, a touch unhinged, jilted) but 40 episodes in, she doesn't really have a story.  She sleeps with Andrew every now and then.  She gets mad about her ex.  She feels left behind a little by her daughter but she doesn't do anything.  When I think of characters I think she's meant to be modeled after like Erica Kane, the difference is jarring. 

And frankly, it's almost malpractice to create a bible for a show and have no real story for the character clearly deemed to be its star. This is true for a few of the show's characters (Ashley and Derek, Chelsea...kind of) but those characters don't get the screentime Dani gets. 

Was today's episode incredibly boring for anyone else?  I know I was tired but I felt like nothing really happened. 

[JAYJAY1979]

3 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I said a while ago that I thought Doug and Vanessa were the "best" couple on the show in that I thought they had the best chemistry and an actual story.  With more of their background, I continue to think that. 

The problem with the character of Dani isn't necessarily with the performance for me.  It's the fact that she feels like they came up with a concept to her character (unpredictable, a touch unhinged, jilted) but 40 episodes in, she doesn't really have a story.  She sleeps with Andrew every now and then.  She gets mad about her ex.  She feels left behind a little by her daughter but she doesn't do anything.  When I think of characters I think she's meant to be modeled after like Erica Kane, the difference is jarring. 

And frankly, it's almost malpractice to create a bible for a show and have no real story for the character clearly deemed to be its star. This is true for a few of the show's characters (Ashley and Derek, Chelsea...kind of) but those characters don't get the screentime Dani gets. 

Was today's episode incredibly boring for anyone else?  I know I was tired but I felt like nothing really happened. 

For me, a Dani free episode is a win for me.

 

[Elizabeth233]

5 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I said a while ago that I thought Doug and Vanessa were the "best" couple on the show in that I thought they had the best chemistry and an actual story.  With more of their background, I continue to think that. 

The problem with the character of Dani isn't necessarily with the performance for me.  It's the fact that she feels like they came up with a concept to her character (unpredictable, a touch unhinged, jilted) but 40 episodes in, she doesn't really have a story.  She sleeps with Andrew every now and then.  She gets mad about her ex.  She feels left behind a little by her daughter but she doesn't do anything.  When I think of characters I think she's meant to be modeled after like Erica Kane, the difference is jarring. 

And frankly, it's almost malpractice to create a bible for a show and have no real story for the character clearly deemed to be its star. This is true for a few of the show's characters (Ashley and Derek, Chelsea...kind of) but those characters don't get the screentime Dani gets. 

Was today's episode incredibly boring for anyone else?  I know I was tired but I felt like nothing really happened. 

Honestly most interesting scenes today for me was bill and martin.

[Rodney]

Good thing that Doug finally admitted his addiction.  But he's making it worse by not wanting to go to the support group.  Nicole told him like it was, so he should listen.  He did listen to an extent, as he confessed something to Vanessa, but he didn't tell her the whole thing.

Diego actually rejected Vanessa this time.  Wow.

Even though Naomi's on speaking terms with Bill again, I'm glad that she still hasn't fully forgiven him for his affair.  And I liked her scenes with the homeless woman, June.  Although June's actress could be a bit too much at times.  I wonder if that was her first job?

Bill and Chelsea's flashback scene was nicely done.  But the fact that he'd already had a foot out the door with Dani at the time that Chelsea had confided in him . . . wow.

Was Bill subtly threatening Martin with his secret?

Tyrell and Jessica are cute.  But I don't know why he won't admit that, yeah, they're working toward something.  Samantha called him out right.

So Tyrell and Samantha's school is called Forten High School.  Good to know.

Bill clearly has healthy problems, giving his shaking hand while talking to Tomas.

Derek and Ashley do sometimes feel like they're part of a different show.  But at the same time, I do enjoy them well enough.  But this living together thing is clearly meant to make things even more intense when things between Ashley and Andre really start heating up.

Kind of a sedate episode, but that's okay.  Not every episode of any soap has to be exciting.

But next week . . . shit.  Looks like Leslie and Eva finally drop the bomb.

[drivethroo]

8 hours ago, ShadowHunter said:

Ashley and Derek feel like they are on a different show. They feel isolated from the rest of the cast at times. 

Because they are. Derek mainly only interacts with Ashley. Ashley at least interacts with the hospital people. I was thinking perhaps they should make Ashley Joey's daughter but maybe they can make her Mike's daughter instead. Maybe Jan had enough of Mike's misogyny and left him with baby Ashley or maybe Mike slept with Jan and left her when she got pregnant.

Even this story is not about Ashley LOL.

7 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

How long ago has Chelsea been wanting to quit modeling, if she had that conversation with her father before she knew Bill was sleeping with Hayley?

I don't think Chelsea ever actually wanted to model.  She was the cuter of Dani's children* so Dani tried to relive her modeling heyday through Chelsea.

The 3 musketeers continue to get on my nerves as they implement how they think Bill's company should be run. Bill needs to figure out a legal way to get rid of them, starting with the one who is a lawyer.

*Naomi is also beautiful but she's a bit plainer and more under Bill and more studious.  Chelsea was Dani's little doll she could dress up.

 

Edited Saturday at 06:57 AM by drivethroo

[YaddaYadda]

I totally understand why Chelsea will not speak to her father. It's not just that he betrayed her mother by sleeping and marrying her sister's best friend. Those flashbacks of her and Bill talking about Dani while he was very clearly already cheating on her with Hayley were super cringy because he was lying to his daughter. And it seems like Dani was volatile because she might have known there was something happening.

Yesterday reinforced just how absolutely shady Bill is. That overt threat to Martin because he wouldn't give him the time of day, the meeting with his little spy, the lying to his youngest daughter as he was sitting there looking sweatier than usual . . . Hope the jazz hand is brutal. 

And then we have those previews for next week, Hayley and Bill laughing about Ted cheating on Nicole. That was something. Hayley, you empty-headed dumb dumb of a little mistress. Remember. You married a serial cheater. What goes around comes around.

[Kerri]

I think I dislike Hayley the most out of all the characters. She is just insufferable. She didn't give a shit what Mike may have done to those women, tried to get Naomi to drop the suit, and then was all - oh I might have a daughter so suddenly this affects me? 

The affair, the lying, the poor me, the I want a baby to solidify my position, she and Bill are both terrible self centered people, not hard to see why they made a match.

[ShadowHunter]

1 hour ago, Kerri said:

I think I dislike Hayley the most out of all the characters. She is just insufferable. She didn't give a shit what Mike may have done to those women, tried to get Naomi to drop the suit, and then was all - oh I might have a daughter so suddenly this affects me? 

The affair, the lying, the poor me, the I want a baby to solidify my position, she and Bill are both terrible self centered people, not hard to see why they made a match.

Hayley is very blah. Honestly that's her true Sin being boring.

I didn't care how Bill was almost pushing Tomas to have a drink of alcohol when he didn't want too.

[AnimeMania]

It is funny how people say the food at all the restaurants on the show is so delicious, yet I haven't seen anybody eat everything on their plate by the time they are about to leave.