On the Monday, October 26, 2026 episode of ‘Beyond the Gates’, Ted (Keith D. Robinson) and Shanice (Ernestine Johnson) differed on the meaning of “home sweet home,” Jacob (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi (Arielle Prepetit) separately tried to help Smitty, and Hayley (Marquita Goings) went from “no baby” to “ooh baby.”
A House Is Not A Home
Ted showed Shanice a listing of a Fairmont Crest house famous for Paul Cheeks Dupree’s architecture. Shanice admired the 6-bedroom, 8-bathroom mansion, but felt like it would be more of a showplace than a home no matter how much Ted tried to sell her on it. Shanice also not enamored by the idea of having to hire a full staff to keep the place clean. Ted understood, but after spending a year and a half holed up in a hotel, he was ready to make guest rooms available and do some entertaining.
Shanice worried that if she and Ted were that much out of sync in choosing a home, it might signal they’d have difficulty living together. Ted assured Shanice that if she wasn’t happy with any house choice, then he wasn’t either – though he did convince her to at least have a look at the property. If it didn’t work for Shanice, Ted said, they would keep looking until they found something that did; Ted proved his stance by calling Vanessa and putting the realtor on the lookout for new listings.
Million Dollar Baby
Randy (Maurice P. Kerry) came to Hayley’s hotel room only for her to wave her “pee stick” test in his face. Hayley was enraged that “that bastard got me pregnant!” and fumed because the half a million she had gotten from Bill wouldn’t even be enough to cover property taxes on the home in St. Bart’s – and no one would buy it because it was hurricane season. Randy saw Hayley’s pregnancy as a blessing in disguise: she could claim child support from Bill, and she wouldn’t have to keep reinventing herself in endless hustles.
Hayley, however, had no use for children, and didn’t think a baby deserved someone like her who was only out for herself. She remembered how her own parents had resented her, and how it had taught her that she was the only one she could count on. Randy kept pushing the idea of Hayley using the baby as insurance, especially with Joey still being a threat to both their lives. Then Hayley had a brainstorm: she’d give Bill full custody of their child in exchange for “a crapton of cash” that would make the $10 million life insurance policy she’d been working for “look like pocket change.”
Pieces To The Puzzle
Grayson (Jordi Vilasuso) nervously met Naomi at her behest, but didn’t want to address the subject of The Impaler. He was happy that he’d gotten out of the blood plasma ring with his immunity deal – though when Naomi said she wanted to help Smitty, Grayson had to admit that Smitty’s arrest didn’t make sense. Naomi asked into Lia; Grayson replied that he hadn’t known her well, but enough to see that she disapproved of drugs and that she wouldn’t have asked for any to overdose on.
Ashley (Jen Jacob) arrived as Naomi asked Grayson if he would be willing to testify, fearing that his life would be ruined again if he went public with anything. Grayson felt he owed Smitty and agreed to help, though he couldn’t answer Naomi’s questions about the ring employing anyone capable of faking video. Naomi was intrigued when Grayson suggested that The Impaler could have had someone working in the prison infirmary who had gotten the drugs to Lia, and they wondered why the crime boss would strike now when the ring’s activity in the DMV had been dormant for months.
DNA
Heather (Ashley Jones) arrived for her dinner with Joey (Jon Lindstrom) and Vanessa (Lauren Buglioli) with a bottle of wine that Joey refused to open. Joey knew that Heather had had a nefarious reason for buying Uptown, but Vanessa inadvertently interrupted the argument. Vanessa remained hopeful when Joey served some of his homemade appetizers, but Joey announced that they were the main course. As Vanessa reminded him that he had promised to be nice, Heather suddenly snapped, “Don’t do me any favors!”
After catching herself and apologizing for the outburst, Heather decided to leave, and Vanessa was pissed that Joey had driven his sister away. Joey noted that Heather’s comment had simply been her mask slipping, and that she always lashed out when she didn’t get what she wanted. Vanessa continued to champion Heather, accusing Joey of shutting Heather out, but Joey stated that Vanessa had received a second warning by virtue of Heather’s eruption…and that Vanessa would do well to heed that warning.
U Ain’t Fresh, U Ain’t Fresh
Jacob sat down with Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett), hoping that the lawyer could poke holes in his case against Smitty. Bill found it odd that Jacob continued to suspect Smitty in Lia’s death after the two had been “Batman and Robin” while Jacob had been undercover and sensed that The Impaler had manipulated Jacob into turning against Smitty. Jacob grumbled about the pressure he was under from the department and the media attention the case was getting.
Bill deduced that The Impaler would slip up eventually, while Jacob felt the crime lord was more local, despite the appearance of having a global operation. Just as Jacob realized The Impaler could be right under their noses, Heather suddenly approached and introduced herself. Bill remained polite when Heather said she was friends with Dani, but Jacob’s eyebrow rose when Heather mentioned Smitty’s articles about the blood ring. After she left, both Jacob and Bill concluded that something about Heather was off.
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