Beyond the Gates: The 6-month anniversary report card

When Beyond the Gates aired its first episode six months (and one day; hey, yesterday was Sunday) ago, all bets were off. There hadn't been a new soap since 1999, and television's changed a lot in the 21st century. Could a new daytime drama keep up with our increasingly shorter attention spans, and – let's be frank – could any show with a predominantly Black cast survive in our current societal climate? Thankfully for us lovers of soap, this extended tale of Fairmont Crest pretty much hit the ground running from its very first episode on February 24, 2025, and if you're not watching – dude, are you missing out! Let's grade this first half year of Fairmont Crest...

Other soaps could take lessons from Beyond the Gates

Introducing some 20 brand-new characters, in a brand-new locale, and writing them in a way where not only are their stories interesting, but their personalities are distinct and consistent enough from each other that you can tell new faces apart is a Herculean task of the highest order. But series creator Michele Val Jean (General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, and more) took her years-long dream of launching her own soap and realized it with clearly drawn denizens who, over these ensuing months, behave in ways that are true to their natures and don't leave us scratching our heads.

Cutthroat lawyer Bill has grown into his gray area and evolved within it to become quite the Fairmont Crest force. Kat's been a snob from Day One, but she's also got heart, plus fierce determination when it comes to protecting her loved ones – and who knew she'd be a virgin who'd have trouble navigating her newfound sexuality? Patriarch Vernon remains the rock of the Dupree dynasty while Anita – seemingly unmovable – has a vulnerable side and can feel intense guilt.

Then there's stalwart Jacob, the “boy scout” detective whose only blind spot is his apparently crooked dad Elon, D.C.'s chief of police; Jacob's wife Naomi provides legal services to the underdog but has a tendency to take responsibility for outcomes onto herself; and Ted, the plastic surgeon who, while having had two faces himself (by first Maurice Johnson inhabiting the role, then Keith D. Robinson), is dedicated to his family yet rather a wuss when it comes to trying to save his marriage to Nicole, which crumbled after his long-ago affair with Leslie – and resulting love child Eva – came to light.

The standout from the beginning was Dani Dupree, whose portrayer, Karla Mosley, has clearly been having a blast exploring all of her alter ego's volatile facets. Dani spent her first week on the show punching out her rival Hayley and using planters as target practice during Hayley's wedding to her ex-husband Bill! While it seemed, the first month or so, that Dani and her exploits would be the main focus of the show, Val Jean and her team wisely pulled back from that and gave other characters their own sunlight so they could grow. A huge fan fave is the aforementioned Leslie, played to glorious perfection by Tricia Mann-Grant, who brings an infectious glee to everything the naughty other woman of old does. But Leslie's no one-note villain – she has a soul under all that mayhem and mischief, and she can get real when the occasion calls for it. In other words, she's a classic soap character for modern times.

Speaking of modern times, Beyond the Gates celebrates diversity by of course bringing together characters of varying skin tones, and also those of different sexual identities. Martin and Smitty are gay marrieds raising adopted children. Chelsea's journey has brought her from gender fluid to the realization that she's bi/queer, and she is currently in a relationship with a woman (and being held captive by another, but you know how it goes). And none of these folks are treated any differently because their ways of being are outside of expected norms. In fact, this show's most compelling storyline so far revolved around Martin's torment over having disfigured racist “Kenneth” while protecting Vernon from a hate crime – and killing “Kenneth”'s brother – and none of that had anything to do with Martin being gay.

The beauty of this soap is that everybody gets a story. There's no backburnering half the cast while the other half dominates airtime; the rotations happen at different speeds, but every Beyond the Gates character's arc sees development, and that kind of balancing is not easy to do. Also unusual for this genre is the fact that there are as many recurring characters as there are main players – and most of them have their own storylines, too; they don't just pop in every few months. Teens Tyrell and Samantha have been in the front for most of the run so far, and now June, who has been appearing in her own story since spring, has been proven to be the kids' biological mother. Mobster Joey runs the town, with his victim, gambler Doug, on screen as much as his contract wife, Vanessa. And Articulettes Tracy and Sharon were on for months, culminating in the concert they performed with Anita.

There's not a lot of character isolation on this show, either. Characters in one story often end up interacting with characters in an unrelated story, and, as the weeks progress, the interweaving gets tighter and more complex. It's as if this version of D.C. is starting to function as one unit, and there's something very fulfilling about that as a soap watcher. Also contributing to the fun of this show is that the directions it takes are not always predictable. Most of us are savvy enough to see a twist coming a mile away (without spoilers, that is), but Beyond the Gates has been able to keep us guessing and subvert our expectations; there are definitely serials which could benefit from that example. And, soap gods be praised, this show doesn't engage in constantly repetitive dialogue. If you don't see an episode, you've missed something – exactly the way it should be.

Is Beyond the Gates a perfect show? No, of course not. We've experienced our share of dropped balls and missteps so far. Dani was clearly being set up to experience an alcoholism arc, but she suddenly stopped drinking on her own, and it rarely comes up anymore. Nicole vowed to both find out who ran Laura off the road and poisoned her and find evidence against Leslie – yet she did neither. As to Leslie, she should at least have been arrested by now after being implicated in the crimes against Laura through videos, articles of clothing, and a DNA sample; instead, we have her being “rewarded,” as Nicole complained, by coming into millions of dollars when there's been no comeuppance for her.

Then there's our weakest links, Ashley and Derek: Ashley, especially, gets on fans' nerves the most (through no fault of portrayer Jen Jacob!); her relationship with Derek doesn't work, and the sputtering, insecure nurse needs more of a backbone and a stronger story. Up until now, she's been like a first-season experiment that's been failing. While we're at it, her waffling between Derek and Andre – and Andre's between Ashley and Dani – is getting a little dizzying. But those are all easy storyline fixes.

Putting a whole new soap in front of us, especially on a traditional TV network in this age of streaming services, was one helluva risk. But Beyond the Gates has been a hit. Just three months in, it was already renewed for a second season, and the cast just finished filming their 200th episode this past Friday. And if you only judge a show's success by its ratings, our six-month-old Fairmont Crest faves have been up there with the 62-year-old General Hospital in the Nielsens for much of its run.

Trending

Beyond the Gates has done enough world-building since the end of February – and seen it played out by what is sure to be a future Emmy-winning cast – that it feels like this show has been around a lot longer than six months...in the best possible way. What do the Duprees, Hamiltons, Richardsons, Hawthornes, McBrides et al have in store for us the next six months? You're a soap fan, you know what to do – tune in and find out! Happy six months, Fairmont Crest!

Beyond the Gates airs weekdays on CBS and streams on Paramount Plus.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback