What do you buy for a first anniversary: Beyond the Gates Two Scoops for the week of February 23, 2026

It's not just about the core families on Beyond the Gates

Are y'all ready to go Beyond the Gates? February 24th marked the one-year anniversary of this history-making soap – the first hour-long daytime drama to boast a predominantly Black cast. And what a year it's been! It's a rare thing to get to watch a soap from its premiere episode (something that hadn't happened since 1999), and of course it took a while to get to know the Duprees, Richardsons, Hawthornes, and Hamiltons. But GATES pretty came out of the factory fully-formed, and they've weaved a complex, intriguing tapestry these past 365 days. Let's fill up those Two Scoops and find out how character evolved in the first year of Fairmont Crest!

For the sake of brevity (though I'm kind of too verbose to be brief), I'm going to focus on the contract players we've followed from the beginning – though I'm still including Derek, even though he was bumped down to recurring, and Joey, even though he was bumped up from recurring. One of the things I've found most interesting about this show is that there are actually more recurring characters than contract ones, and, unlike other soaps, they don't just pop up for an appearance here and there. Many of them factor directly into stories as if they were main characters. It's just made the canvas so much richer, and it's been an unexpected surprise.

GATES has also broken ground with...well, those product placements. I've been watching soaps for 40 years (I started with the OG Dynasty!), and never in that time have I seen characters suddenly wax poetic about cleaning products. Yes, yes – they call it a soap opera for a reason; that fact isn't lost on me. But stopping the action to do in-universe commercials? That was a new one. And it rubs me the wrong way. I guess I can handle seeing a bottle of Tide in the background, and it is rather consistent that Nicole is always the one to liberally spray her Febreze around her various rooms. We'll call that a compromise. But please, no more sudden ads within the show. What's next – Jacob gets shot by The Impaler and begs to have his shirt washed in Tide before he passes out?

Something I've begun to see more about on GATES Facebook pages is an observation I definitely have to agree with – the show starts up too many story points and doesn't wrap up enough of them. It makes things a little clunky and we end up struggling to remember things brought up months ago that suddenly become relevant. Is Jacob ever going to find out that Naomi knows it was “Kenneth” who was killed in the park last summer? Why bring Lynette into the story when Hayley was already plenty busy poisoning Bill, which went nowhere? Why have Izaiah, Kial, and Grayson all been on for months and we still barely knew anything about them? Hey – it's better than whizzing us through stories at lightning speed and skipping over details to get there. I just think GATES could use a little more balance in this regard. Like the way Martin's nightmare ran for a few months but tied up neatly after finding out he'd been traumatized defending Vernon in a hate crime. More of that, please!

All that being said, I love GATES and am thrilled it's made it into its second year. The characters are solid and the drama is based on their personalities; these folks aren't crammed into doing things because the plot abruptly demands it. See if you agree or disagree of my assessment of their year-long evolutions!

ANDRE

Over the past year, Andre Richardson has made quite the journey – from playboy to happily married man. If that nonsense crush on Ashley got him to that Vegas chapel with the Anita impersonator, then I'm glad it happened. Andre has proven to be one of the most loyal and loving spouses on the show (rivaling Vernon!), which no one could have predicted when he first showed up with his camera and fell into bed with Dani. The question remains, though, why does Andre not like his picture taken? That's been hanging since the early days of the show, and, though Bill hired a private investigator to look into it, this detail has been dropped. If something's spooking our 'Dre, we have to know about it!

ANITA

We all knew that Anita Williams Dupree was going to be one fierce-ass diva, simply by virtue of the fact that soap vet Tamara Tunie got the assignment to wear her multiple rings. And we weren't disappointed: Anita has indeed been a force to be reckoned with – country club hags and former bandmates beware. La Dupree has shown a vulnerable side, too; even before her cancer diagnosis, she got almost maternal with Leslie when she begged to know about her biomom, ex-Articulette Barbara. Anita's got spirit, she's reliable, and she's fun when the occasion merits (can this woman throw a party!). Naturally the big issue right now is whether or not she'll make it through her chemo, let alone the disease it's supposed to help cure. The rest of 2026 is going to be taken up with that one.

ASHLEY

Oh, Ms. Morgan. It's not portrayer Jen Jacob's fault that our girl has emerged as one of the show's most boring characters, but Ash might be emerging from that state. Certainly her wishy-washiness with Derek – a nurse/firefighter coupling that should have worked – and her moping around about the exceedingly mismatched Andre were not her best looks. Despite her supposed independent streak, she jumped too quickly into a new romance with Grayson...yet that could be her salvation. The lab tech apparently having a dark side might give Ashley something to sink her teeth into. And how about if we make Joey her father? Good girl Ashley with a sleazeball dad? The drama writes itself.

BILL

He was drawn as unscrupulous from the beginning, and The Fixer has stuck to that path. Trying to skirt his way around the firm's sexual harassment case, arranging for family threat “Kenneth” to be taken down – and let's not forget it's because of Bill's mouth diarrhea that Doug is dead. Yet the big lug has shown a softer side the past several months; he clearly has a soft spot for his daughters, and something lingering for Dani. His more balanced personality almost makes one wish for an original Hamiltons reunion. But could Bill be any dumber when it comes to Hayley? Is he so blinded by her Val-gina that he can't see how she did him over with a fake pregnancy and tried to poison him with all that tea? Dude's razor sharp except when it involves his wife. Time to wake up, Billy Goat!

CHELSEA

I adore RhonniRose Mantilla in the role of the youngest Hamilton daughter, and it's kick-ass that the show has portrayed her as bi/queer, bringing her through throuples and now an engagement to Madison. Represent! For all that, though, I feel like, as a character, Chels is a little on the bland side. The stakes didn't seem very high while she hedged over telling momager Dani she was quitting modeling, and even her captivity by Allison didn't bring that much spunk out of her. Her best moments, truly, are with her beloved cousin and business partner Kat, even when they fight, like they did on last Friday's episode. Chelsea has a lot of potential (and humor)...she just needs something. Only I'm not entirely sure what that is.

DANI

Dani Dupree is basically the same woman we were introduced to a year ago. Feisty, funny, the picture of over the top. And of course, fabulous. Thankfully the former supermodel has leveled up her life, because when we first saw her, she was heading into cartoon territory. Shooting up her ex's wedding, plotting his new marriage's demise, drinking like she had a bottomless stomach. It was gonna get old real fast. But if she's only marginally matured as a person (who else would drunkenly marry her friend with bennies at a Vegas chapel?), she's matured as a character. Bill is still her Achilles heel, though the love she feels for Andre has actually tempered it. Instead of being laser focused on a reunion with the man who cheated on her repeatedly, she's allowed herself to see a life beyond him. And she's taken back the career she gave up at his behest. Now if we could only see this modeling agency she and Pamela have supposedly opened! It's the DMV's best kept secret.

DEREK

It's probably not surprising that Mr. Baldwin found himself sent to the kiddie table, or rather, becoming a recurring character after a year on contract. The muscle-clad firefighter hasn't exactly lit a fire with viewers. One gets the feeling Ben Gavin could adeptly handle more compelling material, but Derek went from arguing over closet space with Ashley to proposing because he could sense her grooving on Andre to paralyzing himself out of being careless, only to lie about his recovery to keep Ashley with him. Talk about smothering the flames. Post-Ashley, he was as dry with new date Tavia, and even the muy caliente Sheryl couldn't heat him up. Let's hope that this new turn into managing the Phoenix Street Free Clinic will, like the mythological bird its location is named after, give Derek a chance to rise from his own ashes.

EVA

The one-time “Evillene,” as Kat calls her, has been on an apology tour longer than Taylor Swift's Eras! It's true that the show could have kept her in the scheming zone in which Leslie trained her to excel – yet ever since Eva tried to stop her mother from outing her paternity at Ted and Nicole's anniversary party, she's been regular as basically a nice girl who got caught up in “mama”'s web of foolishness. Eva actually had more of a connection with Tomás than Kat ever has (sorry, kitty), even if getting into a sister triangle wasn't her finest moment. Her pairing with Izaiah has been much better, not just from a chemistry standpoint, but from a compatibility standpoint. She has been sitting on Leslie's crimes, though – now that Izzy prompted a flashback of Leslie's confession, will Eva choose him over protecting the Wig Lady?

HAYLEY

Hayley was always going to be a pariah in that she was considered a homewrecker by every single Dupree. But she quickly went from ostracized to painfully insecure, whether or not Bill's pull to Dani was lit up with neon. The soap did a storyline save by – surprise! – revealing her as a serial scammer whose real name may or may not be Val. Her plot to bleed Bill gave her a confidant in sudden cousin Randy, but now her anxiety over Dani doesn't make sense (“I have to hurry and get Bill's money before he goes back to Dani” isn't cutting it). She's not even a good scammer, it turns out – she essentially had Bill dead on the floor but revived him because she didn't want him to be found in his office? Though it may end with her in jail (wouldn't it be fun if she and Leslie did time in the same cell block?), Hayley's arc here needs a nice pretty bow to tie itself up with, because she's not coming off as the brightest diamond in the jewelry box.

JACOB

Detective Hawthorne is a good guy. He's steadfast, he's loving, he's dedicated. What he's not, though, is a capable cop. Jacob dug into Marcel's shady dealings only to let them go when Smitty asked him to – and does anything else need to be said about crime podcast enthusiast Kat finding more dirt on Leslie than Jacob did? The only time Naomi's husband has shone as a cop so far was when he rescued Chelsea from Allison. Also, as a character, he's a little one-note. Jacob acts from passion, but doesn't seem particularly passionate. Even the discovery that he really wants children after all, which goes against what he and Naomi agreed on, fell a little flat. Maybe his eventual encounter with The Impaler (which has to happen) will get his, er, blood boiling.

JOEY

Perhaps Joey hasn't so much grown as he's just felt safe to show us other layers to himself. He started out as your run-of-the-mill bad guy, accepting bribes, running who knows how many crimes rings – and of course extorting gamblers like Doug. Even he's probably forgotten by now that his romance with Vanessa started with him targeting her so Doug could pay back his exorbitant debt to the casino with her money. But somewhere along the line, Joey got more gray areas. Sure, he expected favors after he helped locate Chelsea and neutralize “Kenneth” – but he still helped. And lo, we learned he was downright paternal in getting Izaiah Hawthorne off the streets! Vanessa has definitely enlarged his soft spot; though we need to have her find out that her lover killed her husband and see how strong Armstrong is after that.

KAT

Ooh, that Kat brat! Love or hate her (and there are legions in both camps), she is every bit the entitled snob we were promised she'd be. Not that she hasn't turned out to have very human components hidden between those snarky one-liners. No one expected Kat to be a virgin who had difficulty enjoying sex when she finally had it. And while her lack of filter puts others off, Kat is intensely loyal and unafraid to go to extremes for her loved ones (crawling in Leslie's window and hiding under Eva's bed to find evidence, anyone?). Her endless hats also sit atop quite a brain – the whole of DC Metro couldn't connect Leslie to the dual attacks on Laura, but Kat did, and she was also instrumental in finding out where kidnap victim Chelsea was. Her tight bond with her cuz remains heart-warming – Kat just needs to stop singing Eva's unpraises to whoever doesn't really want to listen. Her amour with Tomás is kind of meh, too. A different guy might suit her better.

LESLIE

There is absolutely no denying it: Tricia Mann-Grant quickly emerged as the highlight of Beyond the Gates. She's made Leslie/Dana/Sherry/Anna/Lulu wicked, menacing, spiteful, scheming and entitled – and through TMG, we can tell Leslie is having a ball through every moment of it. Not that we haven't gotten a chance to see Leslie's carefully guarded heart, whether apologizing to Eva for her unstable childhood, showing mom-who-raised-her Peaches her appreciation, or stripping herself bare to Anita to find out more about natural mother Barbara. Getting Barbara's bajillions has only given Leslie an air of pomposity – again, fun, but unless it's leading to an epic downfall, it was a mistake to make Ms. Thomas rich beyond rich. Plus, pretty much any fan will tell you we've gone too long without making Leslie pay for trying to kill Laura twice. Even Mann-Grant wants Leslie to go to jail...because she'd rule the place. Now that would be must-see TV.

MARTIN

He's getting better, anyway. One of the two main representatives for the gay male community on this show started out as one bitchy queen of a husband, controlling Smitty by steamrolling him when it came to their adopted kids, doing him out of a job, and commanding him not to reboot his career. Where's that divorce court, Smitty? Ended up a lot of that sprung out of Martin repressing memories of maiming one brother and killing another while trying to save Vernon during an attempted hate crime. The congressman said afterwards that he would work on his ish, and he seems to be doing so. Still, Martin doesn't particularly stand out as a character. The idea of pitting him against Bill in his re-election campaign looked to be an inspired one. Maybe that would give the guy some rizz?

NAOMI

She's very much Bill and Dani's daughter: Naomi's got dad's hard-assery and mom's warmth. And she's consistent about holding things back, whether it's her possible pregnancy from Jacob or her BRCA gene mutation from the entire family. It's too bad we don't actually get to see this lawyer in court, because she'd probably be a firebrand: she showed a passionate side fighting for the women sexually harassed at her pop's firm, and she went out of her way to advocate for the homeless June. So why does she feel two-dimensional? Naomi has heart for days; maybe she just hasn't been given the right story. It's gotten buried that Mrs. Hamilton-Hawthorne likes to sing as much as her grandma Anita does...how about letting her cut a record when she's not cutting down defendants in front of a jury?

NICOLE

GATES's resident shrink has probably had the curviest character arc of anyone on the show, no pun intended. Nicole started as the dutiful wife, then spun into depression and drawn-out indignance after news of Ted's betrayal with Leslie and being cast as the last to know about family situations. It almost seemed she was stuck there, but then what a reinvention crusade she went on. She picked herself up, sexed up her wardrobe, and pulled a Chelsea by rotating between doctor hunks Carlton and Kial, feeling her way through her discomfort about it and allowing herself to enjoy her newfound freedom. The shift has had some viewers bent out of shape, but the woman was married for 30 years. Why nottry a few new...scents?

SMITTY

Mr. Bradley Smith seems to be infected by the malady that rules other folks in the DMV – he comes to life more at work than at home. Smits was relegated to laundering with Tide and raising the kids until he got on the case of Marcel and his money-fueled corruption...a case he almost cracked until Martin ended up part of it through his disfiguring of “Kenneth.” Though Smitty gave his hubby appropriate hell for years of secrecy and endangering the kids, he caved on sitting in couples therapy with him in favor of a vow renewal. Ouch. Currently Smitty is knee-deep in investigating The Impaler and his blood plasma ring, so he's sparking again, but after a year, his career is the only independent thing about him; every other part of his identity is tied to the Duprees. We know nothing about his own family or his pre-Martin life. That's something about the reporter that would be worth investigating at this point.

TED

Okay, so he changed faces three months into his run – which was ill-timed since it happened right after Ted got busted for cheating with Leslie and producing Eva out of the affair. Whether played by Maurice Johnson or Keith D. Robinson, though, Ted was more than a bit of a wuss there for too long. The months he spent whining about losing Nicole without really acting on winning her back did not give him rooting value. His first peak didn't come until we learned that he had fixed “Kenneth”'s face after Martin rearranged it. Then it was more longing for Nicole with a side trip to bed with Leslie; eww. Ted only finally started his renaissance when he became friends with Shanice, and their mutual New Year's resolution of leveling up to romance has been a highlight of 2026 so far. Neither iteration of Ted ever had this much chemistry with Nicole! Ted is really blossoming in his new era.

TOMÁS

Isn't Puerto Rican food supposed to be on the spicier side? Somehow that hasn't translated to Señor Navarro, who at least has been stable the past year in his unfortunate flavorlessness. For an ambitious lawyer, Tomás hasn't really popped at work, and he hasn't particularly benefitted from his mismatched romance with Kat, either. He was actually more interesting with Eva, but just barely. There's also the matter of not being able to tell whether he's been using Kat for his upward mobility or not. And though he seems to be aware that something isn't right regarding Hayley and Lynette, he's not especially doing anything about it. As the soap's sole main Latino character, he shouldn't be stereotypically fiery, necessarily; it's just time to sprinkle some sazón on this guy.

VANESSA

One thing you need to know about Vanessa McBride (though it may be nice to lear her maiden name): she's a ho and she's perfectly fine with that. Of course her sexual liberation might not have made her seem horrible if husband Doug had been cool with it; he wasn't. Vanessa also did her best to be awful by enjoying her foray into illegal money laundering and mourning Doug for about five seconds by ruining bedsheets (and poker tables) with Joey. She even shipped Donnell back to college to throw him off the scent about her casino owner lover. Sounds like she's a total skank – it's just that she's also fun. And she's a faithful friend. It's almost easy now to accept her pairing with Joey (even if she was more than a little codependent getting there) except for that little matter of her BF wasting her hubby. Her reaction to that – and her twins shunning her for sleeping with their father's killer – is reason to rub hands together in anticipation.

VERNON

To list Vernon as the heart of this show is probably an understatement – and besides, it's clear he was designed that way. His essence fills any room he's in, his love for Anita is unmistakable (months of singing lessons just to surprise her with a song!), and his shoulders are wide enough for his entire family to lean on at once. No, he hasn't evolved in any noticeable way over the past year, but he hasn't needed to; he's fine the way he is. And he's not just your jovial husband/father/grandfather/great-grandfather: this man can throw down. Vern has the ability to reduce tough guy Bill to mush with one glare, he stood up to his attackers even before Martin subdued them, and he can even go toe-to-toe with Joey. Vernon Dupree just has that kind of energy that makes you want to hang out with him. As long as you don't piss him off.

This brings us to the end of another Two Scoops, D.C. Edition. Happy first anniversary, Beyond the Gates! Who are your favorite characters, and who could you do without? Talk about it the comments below. And until next we should meet, Scoopers, live your life beyond!

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