On the Wednesday, August 5 episode of “Beyond the Gates,” Tyrell’s (Jaden Lucas Miller) plans for Jessica (Camyrn Jade) upset everybody, Vernon (Clifton Davis) found himself crossing swords with Leslie (Tricia Mann-Grant), and Carlton (Robert Christopher Riley) put aside his personal issues to deal with some professional ones.
Anita Hits The Right Note
At the Dupree mansion, Anita (Tamara Tunie) struggled with vocal warm-ups as Vernon entered the living room. The couple reflected on the fact that it had been a year since The Articulettes’ reunion concert, and Anita was still determined to get into the studio with Tracy and Sharon to re-record the group’s classic tracks and add Barbara’s archived vocals to the mix. Anita said that her radiation treatment hadn’t been nearly as hard on her as the chemotherapy, but Vernon stated that Anita’s lungs had taken a beating from the regimen and advised her to take it easy on herself; he suggested that she reschedule the session with Genoa City recording mogul Devon Winters until she had healed more.
Carlton found Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix) at the country club and wondered what had a smile glued to her face, not letting on that he had seen her leaving the hospital with Kial the night before. Nicole lied that she had gone home alone but was in the middle of setting up a day date with Carlton when Leslie slinked by, smirking about how she had spent time with Ted before dark “once upon a mattress.” Leslie went on to blurt out that “Darling Nikki” was always with Kial, since she knew that her new employee Noah was always at Kial’s condo by himself at night. Carlton became annoyed but consented to having a get-together with Nicole later.
Anita nearly called Devon Winters (Bryton James from “The Young and the Restless”) but pivoted when Nicole paid a visit. Nicole wondered if she was handling things all wrong in her romantic life. Anita didn’t think so but disputed Nicole’s claim that she was finished with love after Ted’s betrayal. Nicole was confused: Carlton was familiar and safe, but Kial was sensitive and carefree. While Nicole didn’t want to hurt either of them, Anita maintained that Kial and Carlton were both grown men – and that Nicole needed to set herself a deadline within which to decide who she wanted to be with; such a decision didn’t mean a commitment. Nicole decided that she would give herself exactly a week to make her choice.
Scars
Izaiah (Lami) had breakfast at Orphey Gene’s with Eva (Ambyr Michelle), who seemed tired and distracted. When Izaiah suspected that Eva was still feeling self-conscious about her surgery scar despite his assurances, Eva put the kibosh on the topic. However, Eva did appreciate Izaiah saying how much he admired her, and the two exchanged I-love-yous.
Although she’d told Izaiah that she was going to put in work at Ted’s clinic, Eva went to see Carlton, asking about plastic surgery options to get rid of her scar and breaking down while admitting she couldn’t look herself in the mirror anymore. Carlton had a look at the site of the surgery and told Eva that she was healing well, but also that it was too soon for her to be considering the procedure she wanted – and even then, it would only minimize the appearance of the scar, not get rid of it. Seeing Eva’s distress, Carlton recommended she talk to a therapist, but that wasn’t what Eva wanted to hear. Carlton gave her the freedom to seek a second opinion but noted that even Ted would come to the same conclusion as he had.
Haunting Past
While hanging out with Ted (Keith D. Robinson) at the country club, Andre (Sean Freeman) got an ad on his phone for the vintage of champagne he had anonymously received, griping about AI listening in on conversations. Ted told Andre to simply change his settings, but Andre replied that there were things one couldn’t ignore in real life. Before he could elaborate, Izaiah came by, and the men talked about how terrifying the tornado had been; they each confided that it still shook them up to even be in the building in which they’d been trapped. Ted reminded the others that everyone they loved had survived.
Once Izaiah left, Andre asked Ted, hypothetically, whether he would have told Nicole about his affair with Leslie when it happened instead of waiting decades. Ted felt he would have, but that his marriage would have ended anyway; he wondered what had Andre posing that line of questioning. Andre admitted that there was something he had done while away in Europe that was now threatening to catch up with him. Ted posited that whatever Andre had done before marrying Dani was irrelevant and couldn’t hurt them – but still, he implored his nephew to “be better than me” and tell Dani what was bothering him.
Teenage Dream
When Tyrell suddenly came home with breakfast for his fathers, both Martin (Brandon Claybon) and Smitty (Mike Manning) deduced that Tyrell had something on his mind that they weren’t going to like. Tyrell announced that, while attending Banneker locally during the week, he was going to fly out every weekend to see Jessica at UCLA. Martin became agitated, Smitty tried to take a higher road, and Tyrell barked that he was 18 and tired of being treated like “a dumb-ass kid.”
Smitty saw red flags when learning that Tyrell hadn’t even run his plans by Jessica. Martin was even more upset after Tyrell placed Jessica at the top of his priority list, with his family coming in a distant third behind college. Once Martin cracked that Tyrell was going to have to take a job as a flight attendant to afford the constant round trips, Tyrell stormed out.
Samantha (Najah Jackson) was with Jessica at the diner, talking about her post-cotillion duties and the ChelseaKat work she had to do for Tokyo Fashion Week. Though Jessica happily participated in a live stream on the company’s socials, she was still glum enough that Samantha noticed. Jessica described how she had gone to California to begin getting settled into her dorm – she had met her roommate and gone out partying with her. Samantha surmised that Jessica was feeling like straight arrow Tyrell wouldn’t fit into that scene.
Jessica saw Samantha’s point about a breakup hurting less now than down the road. Tyrell entered, angry that Martin and Smitty had poured cold water on his idea of jetting out to see Jessica every weekend. Seeing Jessica’s shock at hearing about this for the first time, Samantha left, and Jessica told Tyrell that he couldn’t just fly in when he wanted because she didn’t know what her university schedule was going to look like yet. She didn’t want either of them to miss out on the full college experience, either, calling Tyrell desperate when he protested. Jessica wanted things to work out, but she didn’t see how and broke up with Tyrell right then and there.
Samantha returned home, hearing her father’s dismay about Tyrell’s choice. She relayed how Tyrell had a tendency to ignore warnings – when they were still in foster care, he would often break out and go off in search of June. Smitty realized that Tyrell was acting more out of his early childhood trauma than he was out of anything having to do with Jessica, and Martin acknowledged that Tyrell had always had a “death grip” when it came to the people he loved. Samantha got a text from Jessica about the breakup and worried that Tyrell would lose it.
Tyrell went to the hospital looking for either Ted or Nicole, but Carlton told them that they were both out. Carlton allowed the teen to explain his dilemma and seemed to touch on his own situation with Nicole when he said that sometimes people ended up sidelining their own needs in relationships.
In My House
Vernon got cornered in a country club hallway by Leslie, who bragged that construction on her “shouse” was going to resume; the tornado had laid waste to the original structure, but that meant that Leslie could redraw property lines that wouldn’t be a violation like her last ones had been. When Vernon tried to walk away, Leslie barked that she would not be ignored and continued her harassment.
Izaiah approached Vernon, having set up a meeting with the former senator to talk about internship possibilities with Banneker. Leslie tried to horn in on the discussion, citing the clinic, but Izaiah smoothly said Eva would have to be involved and that they could all talk that over later. That satisfied Leslie enough that she left, and Vernon joked that Izaiah should be brokering peace at the United Nations. Vernon saw fire in Izaiah and observed that he made Vernon think of what he’d been like when he’d been younger.
Leslie arrived unannounced at Eva’s; Eva warned her mother that she was in a bad mood. After Leslie gently encouraged Eva to open up, she cried that her liver surgery had left her maimed. Leslie apologized for having taught Eva that appearances were most important and told her that all she could see was that Eva was alive and healthy. Plus, Leslie added, Izaiah was hopelessly in love with Eva and didn’t care that she had a scar. Eva admitted that Izaiah had said exactly that, and Leslie called on her to lean on the man – and her. When Eva asked if Leslie was now going to pay less attention to appearances herself, Leslie smirked that she would…a “teensy weensy” bit.
Watch a clip from “Beyond the Gates” below.
