My View From Beyond the Gates: Add It To The Long List of Mistakes I’ve Made

Add It To The Long List of Mistakes I’ve Made: A Beyond the Gates commentary by Soap Central founder Dan J Kroll for the week ending December 5, 2025.

Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes along the way. Some of those mistakes are innocuous, though potentially embarrassing — like putting on two different shoes when you’re rushing out of the house. Some can be attributed to youth, like getting caught up with the wrong crowd or sassing off to your parents. Others can be ascribed to being blinded by love, things like flinging a burning marshmallow across a hotel room or setting someone up on a blind date without their permission.

Then there are those mistakes that can explode and flatten the lives of everyone in the vicinity. What are some examples? Thinking it would be fun and romantic to announce that you’re no longer paralyzed moments before saying “I do.” Overhearing only part of a conversation and going off on someone because you misread the situation. Getting involved romantically with a known criminal.

And those are all just some of the mistakes I’ve made in the past week. Okay, I’m kidding about that, but they are mistakes that have been made on Beyond the Gates.

A Woman In… Love?

I am worried about Vanessa McBride. Her sudden co-dependence to Joey Armstrong feels like it will not end well.

If you remember a few weeks ago, there was that episode-ending scene where Vanessa had a curious and confident smile. It made me wonder if that was a sign that she was playing Joey and possibly working with the authorities to take him down.

Now, I’m not so sure.

If you’ll allow me to put on my soap opera psychiatrist hat, I would theorize that Vanessa’s grief over Doug’s death is what is driving her insistence that she and Joey make their situationship public. Vanessa regrets all the things that she and Doug missed out on during their marriage doldrums. Now, she is overcompensating by wanting to do everything, everywhere all at once with her new beau. There is probably also quite a bit of lingering guilt that she wasn’t around when Doug died (and was, in fact, in Joey’s bed!). I think Vanessa feels that if she can solidify her relationship with Joey it somehow absolves her for being away with Joey when Doug died.

Vanessa was crushed that Joey turned down her invitation to be her plus-one for Winterfest. Joey explained that being seen in public could cause people to put a magnifying glass to their relationship. That level of scrutiny could reveal their money laundering shenanigans. Vanessa was not a happy camper/realtor and stormed out.

Of course, her insistence that Joey accompany her to Winterfest could all be part of a secret plan to have Joey arrested in a very public forum.

Joey Armstrong: Man of Mystery and Contradiction

You’ll forgive me if you’ve read me saying this before, but it does bear repeating: Joey Armstrong is an incredibly complex and complicated man. On the surface, he’s a dangerous mobster. That’s the person that Nicole, Dani, and others have warned Vanessa about.

Under that hardened exterior, however, Joey has a soft — dare I say romantic? — side. He rented out Uptown so that he could cook Vanessa a proper Thanksgiving meal. I mean, he made pumpkin brûlée. Would Sonny Corinthos do that for the woman in his life? I think not. Pasta, sure. Pumpkin brûlée? As if!

Unless I am about to be totally blindsided, I don’t doubt Joey’s feelings for Vanessa. I don’t think that he regrets having Doug “removed” from the picture, but I do think that he has only just now started to understand the repercussions. Joey probably never had a personal connection to someone whose loved one he had whacked. Now, Joey is seeing Vanessa and even Donnell’s grief first hand.

So, while Joey is definitely a villain for having Doug killed, he is… a villain with a heart of gold? Well, maybe not. I think the “heart of gold” only works when referring to soap opera hookers. Let’s just use the other soap stable. Joey isn’t quite a villain. He’s just “misunderstood.”

Blowing Smoke, No Fire

Well, it turns out that Ashley is, in fact, the villain in her own story. It has been quite clear that Derek’s accident was what prompted Ashley to propose to him. That, and of course, Ashley seeing Dani and Andre making out. Where I had it wrong was in assuming that the accident made Ashley realize that life is short and that the love of her life could have been taken from her in the blink of an eye.

Boy, was I wrong – or maybe I was just trying to see the best in the nurse. This week, Ashley revealed that she only asked Derek to marry her because she “felt sorry” for him because of the paralysis. This is interesting because Ashley has been lashing out at Derek for “faking” his paralysis in order to keep her. Here’s the thing, Derek’s very real paralysis is the only thing that brought her back into his life… and Ash has now admitted that she only wanted to be with him out of pity.

I think Ashley loses all claim to outrage from this point forward. She faked love for Derek to get him into a relationship that she didn’t even want to be in in the first place. I still don’t believe that Derek’s “faking” was done with malice. It was a really, really, really stupid attempt to surprise Ashley at the altar. Ashley, on the other hand, was really quite cruel with her make-believe love for Derek. Derek can blame his stupid decision on head trauma. What’s Ashley’s excuse?

Snooze And Lose

While Ashley beats her guilt-racked head against the wall, Derek seems thisclose to moving on with the very forward Sheryl. By the sound of it, Jacob approves. What’s interesting is that I’d always thought that Derek was the low-energy dud in the “Dashley” relationship. That’s not the case. Derek became infinitely more interesting when he was sorta, kinda, maybe dating Shanice.

Now, Derek has yet another spark of life when he is around Sheryl. Maybe Derek needs a more assertive woman in his life. Not judging, just making an observation. I have no idea if this flirtation with Sheryl will go anywhere, but I wouldn’t be mad if it did.

Ashley, on the other hand, was dullsville most of the time with Derek and she was equally bland with Andre. What’s weird – and I’ve said this before in my column — is that I find Ashley interesting when she is not involved in a romantic storyline. That might be a signal that Ashley needs to take a little time to get to know herself and to experience life before she jumps into another relationship.

I Love Your Smile, But I Hate Your Parrot

You know who doesn’t have a chemistry problem? Shanice. Shanice even has chemistry with that little tablet computer that she carries around with her. Ernestine Johnson was the perfect hire for the role of Shanice. I can’t imagine her playing any other role on Beyond the Gates and I can’t imagine anyone else playing Shanice.

From my decades of soap watching, I’ve seen that some actors just bring out the best in other performers. On All My Children, David Canary (Adam and Stuart Chandler) made even the greenish rookie look seasoned. I feel like his stature as an Emmy-winning actor made everyone bring their A-game to the set. With Ernestine Johnson, I think everyone knows that she is a scene-stealer who commands attention. As a result, I think her fellow actors know that they need to put a little more pep in their step if they don’t want to be steamrolled in their shared scenes.

The little chemistry test this week between Shanice and Ted was very, very nice. On paper, Ted and Shanice shouldn’t work. Shanice is vibrant, independent, and gossipy as hell. Ted is usually stuffy and brooding. During the elevator getting-to-know-you scenes, Ted was lightyears more appealing than he’s been in months. Maybe he needs to get stu –Sorry, Shanice doesn’t want us to use that word – in elevators more often.

Love Is Blind: Beyond the Gates Edition

When Shanice was planning to set Nicole up on a blind date, I honestly thought she was going to try to help Nicole and Ted get back together. It seemed like a very Shanice thing to do. Obviously, I realized that I was wrong when the yet-to-be-seen Dr. Rollins stepped off the elevator and Shanice seemed to hint that he was the blind date planned for Nicole.

Ted and Shanice dating would be m-e-s-s-y, especially since everyone at the hospital seems to work on the same floor. It makes me wonder why there is even an elevator in the first place, but I digress. It will be even messier if Nicole starts seeing Dr. Rollins, though it seems he might work on one of the other floors that the elevator sometimes reaches.

The Fire of ‘47

Things between Andre, Dani, Bill, and Hayley remain messy. It looked like Andre and Dani had finally found their happily ever after, but that now seems in jeopardy because of Hayley planting seeds of doubt in Andre’s mind.

The interesting thing about watching Beyond the Gates is that so much more of the show’s history has happened off-screen than on. For example, we’ve heard about how happy Dani and Bill used to be, but that all took place before Beyond the Gates hit the airwaves. While we’ve seen recreated Bill/Dani flashbacks before, this was the first time we went so far back in time as to require younger actors to play the parts.

Bill and Dani’s walk down memory lane at the country club was… fascinating. It was so random and unexpected. What I liked about their shared memory was that they kept correcting each other’s recollection of the events. I also liked the way that the flashbacks were shown on-screen – with sort of an old VCR-style playback. If you are not a Gen Xer, a VCR was like cloud storage of video… but the cloud was a plastic cartridge that you stuck into something akin to a DVR.

Now that that’s out of the way… I am glad that Beyond the Gates didn’t try to use Karla Mosley and Timon Kyle Durrett as their younger selves. I don’t know that the actors that were hired for the scenes looked like younger versions of Dani and Bill, but they definitely acted like them.

The Mother and Father Reunion

Obviously, there were good times in Dani and Bill’s relationship. The way that their marriage fell apart doesn’t erase those happy memories. I’ve said the same thing about Nicole and Ted’s relationship, but in a slightly different way since so many of their happy moments came after Ted cheated on Nicole.

I think it’s important to remember the good times. It’s so easy to say “I wasted X years of my life…” when that’s not really how we should look at it. Everything serves some sort of purpose in life, even if it’s just to show us what we should not be doing. Sorry, I stepped back into soap shrink mode. Let me take off that hat and put on my commentary hat. Hold please.

Okay, I’m back. Do I think that the stage is being set for Bill and Dani to get back together? Maybe. I think the stage is being kept warm for the possibility. Unless Hayley has a change of heart, it’s only a matter of time before her plot to kill Bill and take his money is exposed. That will leave Bill as a single man and I’d assume that Dani will race to his side to support him.

But will Dani go into “I told you so” mode or will she comfort and support him in the same way she did after he had his health crisis? Right now it’s kind of 50/50 for me. I believe that Dani is happy in her marriage to Andre. At the same time, I also believe that Dani still misses Bill – even if her desire to reunite with him isn’t as strong as it was back in February.

I Don’t Have Time For the Remix

The fly in the poisoned ointment here is Hayley. Her bloodlust has reached new highs. So high that Randy had to remind Hayley that she needed to go slow and steady so as not to be the prime suspect when Bill keels over. With her supersized fears that Bill will leave her before she has a chance to kill him, Hayley has now decided that she needs to make Andre feel as bothered by Bill and Dani as she does.

Hayley’s timing was impeccable because right after she told Andre to watch Dani’s face when she’s around Bill… Andre walked in on Dani and — you guessed it! – Bill waxing nostalgic about smores and infernos. It was the story of a charred marshmallow, though, that sent Andre over the edge. Had Andre not had his run-in with Hayley, I don’t think he’d have reacted the same way about Dani sending the charmallow to Bill’s table.

Will Andre’s insecurities end up bringing an end to his marriage? Would that then pave the way for Bill and Dani to get back together? It’s possible… and it would all be of Hayley’s doing. Her attempts to keep Bill and Dani apart could backfire spectacularly and result in her getting exactly what she was trying to avoid.

Beyond the Gates Speed Round

Here are some of the other things on Beyond the Gates that have me thinking.

Peaches, LSD, and a Dry Erase Board

Since this column has featured a lot of me admitting when I’ve been wrong, there is another storyline that I got wrong. This one, though, I think might have been better if it had gone the way that I thought it was going.

I expected Peaches to tell Nicole that she did not want to be part of the clinical trial and wanted to be allowed to die. While certainly not a happy holiday story, it’s something that would have come across as unpolished and real. Grief and loss don’t take a vacation around the holidays. Plus, having the only mother that Leslie has ever known die might have given the writers a chance to “readjust” or otherwise change direction for LSD (that’s Leslie/Sherry/Dana).

That said, the Peaches and Nicole mini-therapy session was kind of funny. I like that Nicole kept it real and made it clear that she did not like Leslie. The repeated mentions that alluded to Peaches being something of a saint for having endured years of Loony Leslie also made me chuckle.

Even funnier were all of the expressions that Anita and Nicole made when Leslie pleaded for Nicole to help Peaches. If you missed the Thursday, December 4, episode of Beyond the Gates or were focused on Leslie (because she was doing most of the talking), do yourself a favor and queue up the episode and just watch Anita and Nicole’s faces.

Dr. Sam, Medicine Woman

Samantha may, at times, be a bratty teenager, but I really do appreciate that she has a kind heart. After learning of how June had struggled with finding health care when she was without a place to live, Samantha wanted to find a way to make sure that never happened to anyone else. Yes, Samantha seems to have an oversimplified view of how to solve the problem – having Leslie/Eva write a check – but I appreciate that she wants to try to change the world.

It’s also incredibly timely considering how many people are facing increases to their price of their own health insurance. I hope that Samantha doesn’t get disillusioned when things don’t just magically happen overnight. She already seems annoyed that her Congressman dad can’t make anything happen. Maybe Samantha will be inspired to pursue a career in medicine or nursing or some other area where she can help.

Perhaps the most emotional moment of the entire week took place between Samantha and her Aunt Kat. In the wake of Kat going off on Eva for all the wrong reasons, Samantha observed that Kat had changed and was no longer the warm and welcoming aunt that she’d met after being adopted by Martin and Smitty. “I hope whatever’s wrong, I hope that you fix it Because I really, really want that Aunt Kat back. I want you to be happy,” Samantha said.

That was… wow. It’s one thing to have an adult make that observation, but it hits very differently when the same advice comes out of the mouth of a non-adult.

Also, I really like Samantha and Eva’s relationship.

Izaiah With a Z and Trouble with a T

I also like Eva’s fledgling relationship with Izaiah. It’s cute to see them so head-over-heels for each other. I do, however, have some concerns. We’ve been told on numerous occasions that Izaiah-with-a-Z is/was the black sheep of the Hawthorne family. We’ve heard how he’s gone down the wrong path and was eventually sent in the right direction by Joey Armstrong of all people.

This week that message of Izaiah’s troubled past was amplified. During a chat with Jacob, Izaiah said that all of bad influences that he’d used to hang out with were “either locked up or in the ground.” Then came a very passing mention that Izaiah assumed those things because he hadn’t tried to reach out to any of them since getting his life together. Is that a hint that Izaiah will backslide? Will one of Izaiah’s old friends resurface and cause trouble for him? Will Eva get tangled up in whatever happens? File this section away in your memory bank and we’ll revisit it in a few months.

Tippi Hedren Would Never — Actually, She Might

I thought it was funny that Shanice claimed that birds are the only thing in life that she is afraid of. She then took off on a rant that pretty much badmouthed every feathered creature God has ever created. I don’t know how the show could do it, but I kind of want to see Shanice come face to face with a bird. Maybe a pigeon flies into the hospital or a patient shows up with an emotional support chicken.

Age Is A Less Fuzzy Number

In my most recent column, I went on a lengthy vent about the fuzziness of characters’ ages on Beyond the Gates. We received another hint about exactly how old Martin this week. Martin commented that he wasn’t even 30 when he and Smitty adopted Samantha and Tyrell. That would have been about seven or eight years ago. So… that would put Martin somewhere around 36 or 37, by my calculation.

Pass The Tofurky With Woo Woo Sauce

I really wish we had gotten to see Chelsea and Madison’s Very Vegan Thanksgiving. I am sure there were a variety of administrative reasons why we didn’t get to see it – like not wanting to show Madison’s mom, Willow, until there is a more meaningful storyline that warrants casting the role.

It sounded like comedy gold… until we saw the aftermath of the unseen holiday meal at Uptown.

Badge or Badger?

I am trying to figure out if Marcel is actually interested in Leslie or if he’s just doing his detective-ing to try to get her to say or do something incriminating. Marcel is a sketchy guy, so I can never be sure what he’s up to.

Big Housewives? Real Brother?

Admittedly, I do not watch the Real Housewives shows. Still, there are plenty of folks from the Housewives series that I recognize. The two that were on Beyond the Gates this past week? No clue who they were. It makes sense to feature cast members from Real Housewives of Potomac since Beyond the Gates is set in the Washington, D.C. area… but it seems weird to have the Housewives playing fictional characters.

I also do not watch Big Brother, so I was likewise clueless when the winners of the competition show popped up on The Bold and the Beautiful.

Lines of the Week

The Beyond the Gates writing team seems to be having a little too much fun. Here are some of the lines of dialogue that tickled my funny bone or that I found memorable over the past week (and haven’t already mentioned in this column).

“Saying her name conjures her.” – Dani, musing that Hayley’s name should never be said aloud.

“Firefighters bring the heat. Cops bring the tickets.” – Bryce.

“I don’t give a damn if all of Fairmont Crest lines up with binoculars to watch you leave.’’ — Vanessa responding to Joey’s desire to leave her house “before the Neighborhood Watch goes out for a morning power walk.”

“What’s the point of being in Congress is you can’t do anything?” — Tyrell asking a question many of us probably have had.

“If you’re gonna look down on me, maybe don’t look in the mirror when you do.” – Joey, noting that he and Vernon had a lot in common.

“I have to go… and hop on that call with the manufacturer…” – Kat as she tried desperately to get away from the squabbling Madison and Chelsea.

“You can be right or you can be happy. Choose happiness.” – Tomas’ parting advice to feuding Madison and Chelsea.

“Anita Dupree’s third solo album went triple platinum in my living room.” – Marcel Malone.

“I need your focus, not your comedy.” — Vernon to Marcel.

“Science can barely comprehend the brain. How am I supposed to understand the human heart?” — Madison.

“I am very aware of my much-ness.” — Kat.

“I bet you could sit on my lap and I’ll make sure all of your wishes comes true.” — Jacob being spicy with Naomi.

“We found new ways to give thanks. Kat made me a very grateful man.” — Tomas was apparently having what Jacob was having.

Follow my Random Acts of Dan

That’s all I have for this week’s My View From Beyond the Gates column. Thank you for reading and, as always, please feel free to share your thoughts on my column or Beyond the Gates in the Comments section below.

If you’ve enjoyed my column this week and want to see what I have written about Beyond the Gates in previous weeks, you can check those out in the My View From Beyond the Gates archive.

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Life outside the gates

Two of my former Two Scoops columnists from Soap Central, Liz Masters and Tamilu, have joined me here on my personal web site — and they are still writing about General Hospital. Tamilu is on deck with week with a new column called, Bang! Bang! Sidwell’s Silver Bullet.

To read more thoughts, opinions, rants, and raves about daytime television, be sure to check out our Editorial section.

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