On the Monday, September 28 episode of “Beyond the Gates,” Kat (Colby Nixon) leaned on Izaiah (Lami) again, Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) and Smitty (Mike Manning) got boosts from Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix), and Hayley (Marquita Goings) put the screws to Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett).
Count On Me
Nicole was at her parents’ house, shocked to learn that Hayley had held Dani at gunpoint. Vernon (Clifton Davis) hoped that Hayley would soon be “caged like the rabid little beast she is,” but Nicole stepped in, saying that Bill deserved to be poisoned… just as Chelsea walked in. Nicole apologized, saying her remark had simply come from her protectiveness toward Dani and the pain Bill had caused her. Chelsea understood, but wished things would stabilize for the family after Anita’s cancer, Bill’s hospitalizations, and Allison’s torment of her.
Later, Nicole got Chelsea to admit that she was still struggling with the specter of Allison; she was afraid to be alone. Plus, if justice wasn’t served for Allison, Chelsea went on, what would that mean for Hayley? The informal family gathering expanded with the arrival of Martin (Brandon Claybon) and Smitty, who fretted to Nicole that Jacob seemed to be ignoring his texts in light of the damning security video Smitty had been featured in. Nicole was certain that Jacob was just doing his job and that Smitty would be cleared of all suspicion.
Protector
Eva (Ambyr Michelle) still couldn’t believe that Leslie had paid Hayley’s bail. Izaiah could see how, in Leslie’s eyes, Bill’s poisoning was karma, but Eva felt that Leslie had gone too far. Then, heading into work, Eva arrived at Garland just as Ted (Keith D. Robinson), Ashley (Jen Jacob), and Shanice (Ernestine Johnson) were talking about how Bill loved Kat as if she were one of his own daughters. Eva smirked that, unlike “favorite niece” Kat, Bill had tried to prevent her birth.
Shanice felt bad, but Eva quickly came around and granted that Ted had forgiven her for the “crap” she had pulled when she’d first come to town. Ted admitted his part in having paid Bill to get the pregnant “Dana” out of town – but he and the nurses were blown away when Eva revealed that her mother had gotten Hayley out of jail. Shanice called the women “birds of a hateful feather,” then privately expressed her regret to Ted for dissing Eva’s mother in front of her. She felt she should have known better, since “Black women do not play about their mamas.”
Think Of Me As Pages In Your Diary
Izaiah got a text from Kat, who wanted to talk to him about her latest scuffle with Tomas, since Izaiah wasn’t biased like all her family members. After Kat explained that she’d been upset about Tomas deciding to represent Hayley, only to later learn that he had rejected her because of her attempted murder allegations, Izaiah wondered why Kat had assumed Tomas had been doing something shady. Kat admitted that, having come from privilege, she wasn’t sure how far the workaday Tomas would go to realize his ambitions – after all, Tomas saw the unscrupulous Bill as a role model.
Kat added that things between her and Tomas had been strained since she’d turned down his marriage proposal; Izaiah encouraged her to open up a dialogue with Tomas, which is how he and Eva kept their communication going. Following his own example, Izaiah next met with Eva and was honest about Kat asking him to lend an ear. Eva wasn’t unempathetic, but she did wonder why Kat was okay with confiding in her boyfriend when Kat had gone nuts about Tomas leaning on her. That said, Eva didn’t want to be led by jealousy the way her mother was.
Joy And Pains
The Duprees welcomed latecomer Kat to the gathering, but Kat wanted to have a private chat with Chelsea. Once Kat described how she had taken Izaiah into her confidence, Chelsea had a similar reaction to Eva’s – why was Kat talking to Izaiah all right, but Eva, having been friends with Tomas, hadn’t been? Martin joined the conversation and didn’t see anything wrong in Kat chatting with Izaiah; they had hung out years before they’d even known Eva had existed.
Martin wanted to make it clear that he was also trying to be more sensitive to how Kat felt about Eva, rather than pushing his sisters to get along. Chelsea remembered Vernon and Anita’s frequent words about the importance of family and was glad she could count on support from hers: “Duprees before wannabes,” she said. Martin laughed that Kat and Chelsea had been little when they’d come up with that, and the three shared a hug.
Whuss The Deal
From his hospital bed, Bill was aghast that Hayley had tried to kill him for his money and couldn’t wait to serve her with divorce papers and a restraining order. “That ain’t how this ends,” Hayley retorted. When Bill barked that even a “third-rate paralegal” like Hayley should understand that there was no way a jury wouldn’t find her guilty, Hayley assured Bill that the case would never go to court. If Bill didn’t start making phone calls and get her charges dropped, she would “destroy the lives of everyone [he cared] about.”
Bill threatened to “snap [Hayley] like a twig” if she went near Dani or their children. In response, Hayley taunted Bill, scoffing at how easily he had been manipulated and crowing that she had conned men who were richer, smarter, and better than him – though Bill was good in bed, Hayley admitted. Hayley then played her card: Bill was to give her the money assured her in their prenup and the house in St. Barts… or else Hayley would ruin Martin’s chances of being re-elected by going public with the fact Martin had killed someone, and that Bill and Vernon had helped cover it up.
When Bill couldn’t fathom how Hayley could know about the hate crime during which Martin had brained one of his attackers to protect Vernon, Hayley announced that not only had she eavesdropped on some of Bill and Vernon’s conversations, she had placed recording devices to learn what they’d been discussing in secret. Bill couldn’t believe that Hayley had been that calculating, and his hand shook.
I Hate You So Much Right Now
When Bill asked if anything in their relationship had been real, Hayley sniffed, “What do you think?” freely going over how she had targeted Bill and done her homework on him before she’d ever come to D.C. Bill’s face fell when he realized that Hayley had even lied about being pregnant and used blood to pretend she was having a miscarriage. When Hayley laughed that their “baby” had led Bill to open a trust fund for it, Bill deemed Hayley a monster.
Reiterating that Bill had a choice – meet her demands or risk going to prison with Vernon and the others – Bill capitulated on the condition that Hayley turn over all her recordings (including any copies) and that devices that had made them. Furthermore, Hayley was to leave the DMV. Hayley couldn’t wait to put her feet up in St. Bart’s and demanded that Bill give her a sizable advance immediately. Bill grudgingly agreed but ordered Hayley out, saying that he couldn’t stand the sight of her. Hayley snapped back that the feeling was mutual.
Beyond the Gates: Clip Of The Day
Check out a clip from today’s episode below.
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