Fifty shades of Gray(son): Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of January 12, 2026

Treatment #1 was in the books for Anita on Beyond the Gates

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? This past week, Nicole channelled her daughter, Hayley couldn't decide if she was jealous of Dani or if she wanted Bill dead, Eva found herself in storyline purgatory, and Ashley got experimented on by a lab tech. Meanwhile, Leslie liked Marcel's concealed weapon while Anita realized that chemo ain't no joke – and Naomi participated in a cover-up so big it rivaled Epstein! Let's fill up those Two Scoops and find out what happened inside and outside the gates of Fairmont Crest!

PRODUCT PLACEMENT PLACARD:

FEBREZE: 1

Blame it

Nicole did Dani right this week, snuggling with her sis as she reeled over the news that she got the cancer-amplifying BRCA gene variant from her mom (Nicole, for her part, tested negative). The shrink remembered when she broke her arm falling off a horse as a ten-year-old – a time Dani was so upset she didn't also have a cast, young Nicole made her one in a show of solidarity.

Oh, Nicole said, if only some cardboard and some Scotch tape could be of help now. Dani didn't want Nicole feeling guilty for winning the genetic lottery, as it were, which Dani hadn't, but I guess there wasn't any Scotch tape in the house, because it didn't stick. Nicole went the rather odd route of inviting Carlton up to Uptown to watch her down Long Island ice teas like her name was Lipton.

Which would have been a unique twist for the usually in-control head doctor...if Kat hadn't done the exact same thing the week before in her refusal to even test for the gene mutation! Wait, what? Did Nicole hear about Kat boogieing with the bottle and decide she wanted to get on that particular dance floor herself? And what is it with the Dupree women turning to booze to handle their problems?

First Dani (she was thisclose to needing AA and/or rehab but magically got over it), then Kat, now Nicole? I'd almost be more worried about there being a genetic predisposition toward alcoholism (it is a disease, after all) than any of them carrying broken BRCA, since that's certainly not a guarantee of cancer. Strange writing choice, having all three of these women drown their sorrows. It's also not the greatest message.

Did it give Nicole a chance to let go her inhibitions and act out a little bit? Sure. But she didn't come across like one of those funny drunks. No, I think Nic is probably a mean drunk. She bitched at Carlton, who was just sitting there, trying to cuck him for supposedly not being able to deal with the real her. Once Carlton managed to get Nicole home safely, she demanded that he leave, again thinking he found her true self repulsive.

There are lots of y'all out there who don't like Nicole with Carlton, don't like Carlton, period, and think Carlton is up to something. How can you guys conclude that when dude tucked Nicole in after she passed out and left her a “self-care tray” to help with her inevitable hangover? Carlton deserved a prize for putting up with Nicole's antics that night. Plus, I think the fact that he didn't run off shows he really cares about her.

It was only Vanessa, however, who clued in that Nicole was putting herself through some severe survivor guilt – which is a legitimate reaction, given Nicole was spared Anita and Dani's genetic mutation. Good on Van-Van for telling her BFF to kick that s**t to the curb. But how about her trying to get Nicole and Carlton to join her and Joey on a double date, tho! Heifer will do anything to legitimize her relationship with the man she knows deep down can't be legitimized, won't she!

Pull up and stunt

Talk about the times a'changin'. Even a couple of months ago, Dani would have thrilled to find Bill running up to her bedroom to support her after she tested positive for the boo-boo brand of BRCA. But now, Dani is settled enough into her marriage to Andre that she told the egocentric Bill it wasn't his place to offer his broad shoulders for her to lean on. There wasn't anything he could do about the sitch, besides.

“Don't bet on it, beautiful,” Bill swaggered – this while Andre was downstairs, having come home to find Nicole warning him that Dani's first husband had burst in to be Dani's one-man support system. Andre didn't like that but kept himself composed as he went to the boudoir where Bill was hugging on his wife – next to his own marital bed. If photographer Andre had had flash cubes handy (remember those?), he would have blinded Bill with them right then and there.

Instead, Andre managed to get Bill into more neutral territory and spat that he'd better not see Bill all over Dani again like one of his designer suits. Bill basically dared Andre to say that was a threat, so Andre clapped back, “I don't think I stuttered, counselor!” Great stuff! Andre also reminded Bill that he had been a crappy husband to Dani, so trying to be a great ex-husband wasn't going to cut it, either.

It's about time Andre took a harder stand with Bill, though I don't think this first one is necessarily going to stop our “Fixer.” Maybe if Andre finds out Hayley is poisoning his rival, he might jump on board with that! And how about Hayley, though – or at least Fantasy Hayley, who somehow had access to Chelsea and Naomi's test results and taunted Dani about them. Dani waved a hand. She didn't want to know what they said!

Turned out Dani was just having a “daymare,” as Pamela put it. GATES does some of the best fantasy sequences. And it's always good to see Dani's ride-or-die, but I feel like there are more significant things for Pamela to do than actually co-sign Dani accepting support from Bill – this when she essentially told Bill where to stick it not long ago. When is their modeling agency gonna open? Leslie's shouse will be ready first!

Back at the law firm, Hayley took Tomás' instruction to investigate Lynette's boss to mean looking into Lynette's credibility instead. She must have been sharing distraction cooties with Bill, because he was not with it. Hayley was so mad afterwards about Bill taking off to Dani's that she told “Dani” she would soon be crying over his casket!

Well, “Val,” you had your chance to make that happen last year already, but you botched it. And I can't quite figure her out. If Hayley's only interest in Bill is getting every penny out of him she can as his widow, why would she care if Bill was hovering around Dani? I know she told Randy before that it would take the focus off her being Bill's wife, but there's some definite mixed motivations going on.

I have a hard time believing at this point that even such a specimen of masculinity as Bill wouldn't be feeling the slightest symptom from all that poison Hayley is pumping into his body. Not a bit of blurred vision, no elevated heart beat – not even the occasional sneeze? Bunch of you got fooled by the preview where Bill told Hayley he wasn't going to drink any more of her poison. Ha! Not me! Not after watching soaps for 40 years!

Yeah, they weren't going to spoiler Bill catching on to Hayley's scheme in a preview. As I predicted, Bill had simply been referring to Hayley's herbal tea as poison (why doesn't she dose something else – anything else?). Hayley laughed it off, then later left a message complaining to Randy about having to “step things up.” A directive that Tomás overheard outside the door!

Good, because it's time we see this poisoning arc to a climax already. Not to mention, a reason why Hayley keeps acting jealous of Dani. She had to scramble with Bill after she casually told Dani that at least Bill would be there for their daughters should “worse come to worst!” Dani's “daymare” wasn't that far off, eh? Bill was pissed, and Dani yelped that he was always taking Dani's side.

Speaking of sides, Hayley, pick one. Bill canceled his silent treatment of Hayley once he found out that, on his suggestion, Hayley had actually reached out to Naomi to offer sympathy about waiting on her test results. So does Hayley actually care about her former friend? About Bill? Or is all that just part of playing the devoted wife? As I said, it's time to move this Hayley story along to the next phase. It feels stalled to me.

Hard place

Ted turned a corner this week, after Andre advised him to get over himself where Carlton was concerned, that is. Carlton was surprised – and so was I – when Ted approached him and took some responsibility for their falling out, coming to the realization that Nicole was a single woman now and could go out with whomever she pleased. Ted all but gave Carlton and Nicole his blessing!

And I'm glad, because Ted being all butt-hurt was getting pretty old, too. Not only did he F up by having a long-ago affair which produced a child, but his make-up game sucked donkey balls. It was high time for Ted to remove his tail from between his legs and feel his huevos there instead. And we finally see this happening – all thanks to a certain nurses supervisor named Shanice.

Encouraged by Ashley to bust a move on Ted (more on Ash in a bit), Shanice ran up on Dr. R with some chocolate ice cream, and before you could say “Ben & Jerry's,” she was using the frozen dessert as a seduction device. And it worked, because Ted was ready to give Shanice carpet burns for the first time right there in his office...until he wasn't. Not to worry...it was for a good reason.

Ted realized he'd been about to put dessert before dinner and asked Shanice to share that gift certificate package he'd won at WinterFest for that fancy restaurant, Obelisk (nice callback!). Shanice had at first been afraid that Ted wanted to go back to simply functioning as professionals, so she was glad he still wanted to date her. So flustered was she that later, Ashley noticed Shanice had her scrubs on inside-out.

Love it! Now we just need “Neecy” to find out Leslie is shagging Marcel so she can rub it in Leslie's face the next time she tries to step up on Ted. Anyway, Ted relayed the sad truth of Anita's cancer to Eva, who also was just hearing about Kat and her denial reaction to possibly carrying the BRCA mutation. Eva didn't want to, but she could tell how much it would mean to Ted if she tried to make peace with Kat again, so Eva gave it another try.

Not that you didn't know Kat was so not going to be about it. Eva looked so hurt that even Kat seemed to notice, and Eva promised that, one day, Kat was going to need her. Only, when she did, Eva wasn't going to be there for her. Hmm, wonder what that bread crumb meant? Eva followed by doing the only thing she does these days, which is hanging out with Izaiah.

Don't get me wrong; I like Izaiah with Eva and they might be possible now that they're venturing out of rebound territory, which would only stunt their relationship growth. But...well...Eva doesn't really have anything else to do anymore, and she's too dynamic a character to have so little happening. She needs to factor into Leslie finally getting justice. Imagine how deliciously conflicted she would be. Bring it.

Let a ho be a ho

I know some people don't like to let grass grow under their feet, but damn. Lab tech Grayson (no last name yet but played by Y&R vet Jordi Vilasuso) made his debut this week, the red carpet of his “magic touch” being rolled out ahead of him. Even Chelsea, after having gotten blood drawn from him, joked that the experience was the closest she'd come to a threesome (with Madison in the room) since she gave those up for “true love.”

Naomi was a first-class passenger on the Grayson train, too, practically pushing Ashley down the aisle with a man she'd only just accepted a coffee date with. Things changed, though, when Grayson finally strode in and told the ladies that “alleviating tension” was his thing. Soon Ashley was agreeing to Naomi's suggestion of a double date with her and Jacob. And soon after that, Ashley was inviting Grayson to her apartment!

Seems all it took was Grayson taking note of how the booze bottles at Uptown were arranged by size instead of type. Y'all know Ashley loves that kind of detail, so I kind of get it. But he was so smooth with his line about Ashley's shape being sexier than the decanters that even she called him out on the tiredness of it. Not that that stopped her from being tired after pulling a Lionel Richie and doing him all night long!

Yeah, she came into the hospital all blissed out the next day, telling the eager Shanice and Naomi that Grayson was basically a new ice cream flavor after she'd only ever had one variety before – and she couldn't wait to try his cone again! Grayson nearly set Garland's fire alarms off all on his own, flirting with Ashley in view of everyone and telling her how good she looked in her scrubs...and out of them.

Okay. We need to stop here. Because I am not getting the feeling that we're being set up for some grand Grayson/Ashley (Grashley?) romance. Not when they boffed ten minutes into one date, which we didn't even get to see. Then Ashley is all going on about new experiences, and Grayson looked ready to have at her again right there in front of the rest of the staff (and his).

No, I'm so far very much seeing these two just ending up as friends with bennies – and that's perfectly all right, especially for this show. Ashley is still too fresh out of an engagement (and too immature) to jump right into another relationship, and of course we only have three episodes of info about Grayson. So far I think dude's a big himbo. Hey, ladykiller Andre settled down; I guess someone had to fill his shoes.

The one thing I truly don't get is, why bring in another high-profile soap vet so soon after Greg Vaughn's big entrance in December? If you count two episodes as big, anyway. That's right: Kial appeared on December 8 and December 10, and we haven't seen hide nor gray hair of him since. What was the point of adding Kial to the cast if he was just going to vanish and be sidelined by Grayson?

Then there's Derek. After his portrayer, Ben Gavin, got cut from the opening credits, the general consensus was that we wouldn't be seeing Derek again. Hell, if that had happened on modern-day B&B, Derek would have been gone without an exit scene, and his very existence would never have received another mention. So it was good to see Derek striding into Uptown to see Jacob. He can walk!

What the big ol' hunk can't do, however, is think. The sound waves of Jacob telling him that Ashley was seeing someone knew had barely reached Derek's ears before he ran over to the hospital and happened upon lab tech Grayson trying to give Ashley an injection. Did Derek man up and remember that his days with Ashley are over? For real – you kidding? He followed Grayson into the elevator and pelted him with questions.

I feel like Grayson saw through the reasons for Derek's “How do you know Ashley” queries – especially when Derek lied and only said he'd known Ashley for years, skipping the part about their romance. Next, Derek called Jan, of all people (we found out her new cruise man is named Owen!), and oh, oops – he just happened to mention that Ashley had traded his fire pole for someone else's. Is Derek over Ashley? Sure, Jan!

Fellow Soap Central writer Leigh mentioned his theory to me that Derek might be going to the dark side, and not only can I see the clues as well – it's an intriguing possible direction. We've already seen that Derek is plenty capable of lies and deception via his “oh I still can't walk” shtick, and he's mega possessive, the way he was always marking his territory with Andre.

Evil Derek is even medically possible. He already had a concussion and medical problems because a roof fell in on him, and I'm sure he banged his head when he fell off of that triathlon bike. Does Derek just want to make sure Grayson is good for Ashley, or is he priming up stalker mode? Either way, he needs to be made more interesting. Go dark or move on with someone new. I know Ben Gavin can tackle a different acting challenge!

Rollout

The way Leslie wants to stamp her name on buildings...well, let's just say it reminds me of someone I'd rather not be reminded of. Nevertheless, she tried to stick to her guns about the Leslie Thomas Outreach Project when Joey wanted to have the clinic named after Doug instead. She figured out that Joey was doing that to please Vanessa and smirked that Van-Van was the Bonnie to Joey's Clyde.

If you only knew, Lulu! Joey didn't like Leslie even peripherally making fun of Vanessa and “kidded” that he'd had people killed for infractions far less egregious than even that. Leslie cooed that she liked to play with fire, but there was something in her expression that indicated to me she realized he was being serious. Better step off, Leslie, or you'll end up in your own clinic!

Does Samantha even care that “her” clinic is now completely out of her own hands, with no credit forthcoming? Anyway, Leslie next encountered Marcel, who hoped she had washed her hands of any further partnership with Joey. Finding out that she hadn't, more police-related innuendo ensued, to the point Marcel heaved that Leslie was either driving him crazy or to her place.

Have we lost the thread here? When Marcel first tracked down Leslie, it seemed his plan was to sweet talk her so he could extract a confession from her about twice trying to kill Laura. Now he only seems to be leading with his nightstick. And what of Miss Leslie? She wouldn't take a breath before unless it was for her TED-dee...today she's good with playing Sit 'n' Spin in Marcel's lap. What's going on with these two?

For those of you grossed out by watching older folks getting their groove on, gather up your ageism and take several seats. A whole stadium full of 'em. That's not my issue with the story. Marcel may be legit falling for Leslie, which would be a classic soap twist, but we need to see more than them in bed. Is all this an act on Marcel's part? Is Leslie on to him, or is she going to accidentally spill her tea? Let's get them wheels moving.

As for Joey, he made the very smart move of going to Bill and asking him to somehow put “protections” in place to keep Leslie and her self-aggrandizing in line. I like it! Bill found it odd that Joey wanted to name the clinic after Doug, a man Joey had killed (you helped set that in motion, Bill). Vanessa was overjoyed at the news, but Joey remembered Marcel's words about Joey making Mrs. McBride a widow. Is guilt starting to eat through Joey's veneer?

Juju on that beat

June got another only-June moment when Jessica sarcastically started ordering stuff like ratatouille and June was all “the hell?” The now housed woman could barely keep up; once she found out Jessica was joshing, she requested that the teen order in English going forward, even though she had a hard enough time with that tongue. Classic. Jessica, for her part, was still roiling over the “elitist nonsense” of the cotillion.

Tyrell really felt split down the middle. He tended to agree with Jessica's contention that the debutante stuff was as “fake bougie” as she maintained – but he couldn't not go to the ball, because he had to be there to support Samantha. So what's a deb to do? Jess decided that, if Tyrell was going to be in attendance anyway, he might as well be her escort to the dadburned thing.

Did you ever think we weren't going to see the coming out gala? Should be quite the bash; GATES certainly does know how to throw parties. I just hope it's more eventful than WinterFest ended up being. That was Anita's gig, and now that she had sat through her first dose of chemo, she was finding it was a bit more of a knockout punch than she'd been anticipating.

The previous day had already seen her running over to Dani's – much like Bill had, only welcomed – because she'd found out that Vernon had kept Dani testing positive for the BRCA variant to himself. Anita wasn't gonna abide that, and together the Dupree women declared cancer an unworthy foe. Yet, as I mentioned, chemo may ultimately be Anita's ally in getting rid of her tumor, but for now it was a real energy drain.

Anita found that out when Kat arrived at the Dupree manse with Samantha, who wanted to go over a binder full of potential ball gowns to wear to the cotillion. La Dupree was happy to talk and think about anything but cancer, but all the activity had her looking like she was about to hurl. She had to admit, to her husband, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter, that she had underestimated just how lousy the chemo was going to make her feel.

My dad went through chemo (over the years dude had cancer in seven different places – yet it was the emphysema that got 'im!), and that last time out he said he would rather skip it completely than deal with how sick the regimen made him. So I'm glad that the soap is taking us through that part of Anita's journey. It's much more realistic than the matriarch suddenly getting a miracle cure. Again, that's B&B territory!

Who are you trying to fool

When Dani's positive test result meant that she and Chelsea could be next on the mutation recipient list, Naomi sprung into action to set up bloodletting for her and sister, as the lawyer is wont to do. But – and this is consistent – she fell into her thing of stiff upper lipping and shutting down all emotional systems. Jacob had to sigh to his dad that the onus was on him to do the feeling for both himself and his wife.

Elon, though, crooked cop as he may be, pushed the “Awww!” button and reminded Jacob that he and the rest of the Hawthornes all considered Naomi family. Ergo, she could lean on them if she didn't want to lean on the Duprees! Did you think the gruff ol' police chief had it in him? He even took Jacob off duty so he could “go see [his] woman.” There's a heart in there somewhere after all.

After waiting through the (soap) week for their corpuscles to be analyzed, Chelsea got a ping and found out she hadn't inherited the BRCA variant! Yay! She snatched up her phone to call Naomi...who grinned that she was good to go, too! But wait, Jacob said – Naomi hadn't even looked at her results yet. And Naomi didn't want to. What Naomi wanted to do was plan a party while they were there at the country club and do it up.

Now, as an attorney, Naomi should know from conflicting stories. But when she invited Bill (and Hayley!) to the informal wingding, citing Chelsea's negative result as its inspo, Bill's ever-questioning litigant mind wondered why his daughters hadn't both gotten their results at the same time. Naomi slithered her way out of it, but it turns out she's not a really great liar. Which is certainly not a bad thing.

Jacob knew his wife was frontin' and found her in the hallway looking perturbed instead of chasing down the chef like she said she was going to do. Naomi finally confessed that she just wasn't ready to see her results – especially not while they were at the country club in a room full of Fairmont Crest's finest. Jacob got where Naomi was coming from and gave her permission to examine her status later.

This would have worked, except Dani, who never met a contradiction she didn't like, found Naomi and wanted to know which story was true: that Naomi was negative, or that she hadn't gotten her results yet. Naomi sheepishly revealed it was the latter, and, knowing that her mom would drive herself crazy until she learned something concrete, Naomi logged into her patient portal to get the news.

And didn't she look like the Labubu she wanted was sold out instead of happy that she had joined Nicole, Kat, Martin, and Chelsea in their negativity! Yet, Naomi turned around, wide smile on her face, and announced that she was “all good.” Let the party commence! Jacob made a big literal speech acknowledging Naomi and Chelsea's continued strength and health while Naomi seemed like she'd rather be alone with Hayley than be with her fam in that moment.

Yup! Naomi's got the mutation! And we know, from Derek asking Jacob if he and Naomi had resolved their differences about having children (they hadn't; they had just learned to communicate better thanks to the therapist), that this is going to be the nail in the coffin of Naomi's procreation. She surely won't want a kid to pass the variant down to now! And with Jacob really keen on babies by now...I might just call this marriage over!

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. What do y'all think of Grayson – and Naomi's behavior where the BRCA mutation is concerned? The comment section below is big enough to hold every gallon of your tea. Episode alert: they're doing a cast interview show on Monday, I guess to take off for Martin Luther King Day. Regular airing will continue Tuesday. And until next we meet, Scoopers, live your life beyond!

(Purchase Adam-Michael James' ”Bewitched” books on Amazon.)

(Listen to isletunes, AMJ's podcast featuring nothing but music from the artists of Prince Edward Island, Canada.)