My View From Beyond the Gates: Perception Is Worth More Than the Truth

Nowadays, it doesn’t matter if what someone is saying is true. If they can convince enough people they’re speaking the truth, the damage is already done. And it’s often impossible to un-ring that bell. “Perception Is Worth More Than the Truth”: A Beyond the Gates commentary by Soap Central founder Dan J Kroll for the week ending May 15, 2026.

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While I love the idea of being able to instantly connect to others around the globe — it’s one of the reasons that I came out of retirement to write this Beyond the Gates column each week — I will also admit that there are things that I don’t like about it.

One of the things that drove me absolutely mad when I owned and operated Soap Central was the number of bogus soap opera sites out there that just made things up. The sites would claim things like a particular actor was fired or tease a certain storyline twist. None of the stuff they posted ever turned out to be true. But people would believe it over and over and over even when the site was proven to be making things up.

Goodness… this column has turned into a therapy session just without the copay. Another thing that I strongly dislike is all the negativity. Rather than congregate with other like-minded people to talk about, for example, a soap opera that they love, a lot of people spend the bulk of their online time talking about why the show is the worst thing on television, why the writers are hacks, and inserting themselves into conversations where people are trying to be positive and talk about something they like.

If some social media threads are to be believed, nothing ever happens on Beyond the Gates. The show is, by their accounts, the television equivalent of watching paint dry. That’s a claim I strongly reject. No, the show doesn’t have gunfights breaking out every week — but that doesn’t mean that nothing happens. When a timeline becomes flooded with a single sentiment, that perception starts to become seen as reality. If all you see are “this show sucks” posts, you start to wonder if maybe you’re wrong for liking it.

What I think Beyond the Gates is trying to do — and I could be totally wrong — is to develop characters and stories over time so that the payout becomes more impactful. Soaps of old would tells stories over the course of months and years. Nowadays, it seems that viewers want things wrapped up in weeks. It’s not wrong to want that. It’s not wrong to want to see high stakes drama when you invest five-ish hours of your week watching a soap. I just happen to be someone that thinks the fallout of something is much greater the more time passes.

That said, that also doesn’t mean that I want to go weeks and weeks without there being some sort of moment that makes me sit on the edge of my sofa or race to find my phone so that I can tweet about it. Halfway through May, I think we’ve finally reached the point where we have both those moments that have been long in the making and those that can offer us short-term fulfilment.

All the Things She Said

Over the years soaps gotten “tame.” Part of that, I think, comes from the fear of alienating viewers. Another part has to do with the rise of the supposedly unscripted reality television that often seems more outrageous than any soap opera ever was.

When I scroll my social media feeds, I routinely see longtime soap fans posting clips from 80s and 90s primetime soaps or modern day U.K. soaps with captions like, “Today’s U.S. soaps could/would never do this.” I think there is a fear that going too far on the soaps will turn off viewers and cause an already shrunken audience to shrink even more.

What’s the purpose of this random aside? I was shocked by the things spewing out of Anastasia Belleclaire’s mouth on the Thursday, May 14, episode. Yes, it was still slightly sanitized for daytime, but it was very much “Daaaaaaaaamn.”

I wasn’t paying attention to the credits crawl at the start of the show, but I just knew that the episode was written by Jazmen Darnell Brown and Jamey Giddens. I was right. Even only a little over a year into Beyond the Gates’ run, I think we have all gotten a feel for what each combination of writers are capable of. Giddens knows how to set the stage for the soapiest of soapiness. Brown’s scripts are sharp and fresh and stand out from what I’ve become used to on other soaps.

You Can’t Do That On Television

I don’t know where to begin because Anastasia said so many things that were out of pocket. The tamest bit of nastiness might have been referring to Samantha as “Orphan Annie.” Anastasia demeaned the concept of adoption by insisting that Samantha (and by extension Tyrell) was in no way a Dupree, came borderline close to slamming same-sex parents, and called June everything short of a crack whore. What’s worse, her words made Samantha doubt her own worth.

Anastasia said all the things that someone shouldn’t say, but they were all the things that we expect people of privilege to say about those who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Nicole, for her part, did fling back some zingers of her own. When Anastasia referenced the shrink’s divorce, Nicole pointed out that the kettle otherwise known as Anastasia was on her fifth or sixth marriage. I will admit that the Kroll Manor viewing party may or may not have shouted out things like “Choke her!” and “Slap her!” every time Anastasia said something snarky. We don’t condone violence, but there is a time and a place for everything. And, boy, was this that time and place.

This sort of back-and-forth was reminiscent of the soaps of yesterday. Anastasia could very well have been The Bold and the Beautiful’s Stephanie Forrester judging Brooke Logan or Dynasty‘s Dominique Deveraux targeting Alexis Carrington or All My Children’s Phoebe Wallingford looking down her nose at, well, just about anybody.

Hamilton and Hamilton, Attorneys At Law

To be fair, some people deserve to be judged. Take Mike Davis, Esquire, for example. Or as Chelsea aptly dubbed him, “MeToo Mike.” He is not the first sleazy lawyer that we’ve seen portrayed on television. He probably won’t be the last. But Mike is the first icky attorney that we’ve seen on Beyond the Gates.

It took more than a year, but a prediction from my April 19, 2025, column called “Doomsoaping” finally came true. I wrote back then, “In my doomsoaping mind, we haven’t seen the last of Mike. I can see him waging legal war on Bill.” The legal war might not be waged against Bill, but Mike’s decision to take the case against Madison was clearly driven by his anger toward Bill.

This column isn’t meant to be a commentary on humanity, but sometimes that’s just sort of what happens. It disgusts and outrages me that someone can sue a person over something that another person claims that person said. Here we have Dr. Madison Montgomery being sued over something her mother posted on line and falsely attributed to her daughter. Some random person decided that a blog post citing “my daughter the doctor says…” was expert medical advice and now Madison has to pay the price for that? Hell no.

But in a lot of these situations, doctors are urged to settle, insurance companies shell out a bunch of money, the doctor’s insurance rates rise, and medical costs continue to skyrocket as a result. Who ends up paying? All of us. Meanwhile, some person who either took advantage of the legal system or was just too dumb not to know that you shouldn’t take a bath with a plugged-in microwave basically wins the lottery. Make it make sense.

MeToo Mike and the Ambulance Chasers

Back to Mike, it’s crazy to see the lengths he’ll go to in order to stick it to Bill. He doesn’t care if it ruins Madison’s career or tanks Chelsea’s business. I’ll admit that I didn’t initially connect the “reporter” harassing Chelsea and Madison at Orphey Gene’s to Mike. I assumed it was a coincidence especially when we have so many citizen reporters lurking about nowadays. But now it makes sense. It isn’t so much that Mike wants to win the case. He just doesn’t want Bill to win. Mike seems perfectly fine with having the case drag on for months or years. That will tie up Bill in court and also create problems for both of his daughters. That might be the most important win for Mike. In the absence of that, Mike will also be happy with an outrageously high settlement.

I still don’t think we’re going to actually see a courtroom set, but I remain optimistic. You can tell that Bill is loving working on a case with Naomi. He doesn’t have to say it. You can see it on his face. I may be jumping the gun, but I fully expect Bill to ask Naomi to join his practice when Madison’s case is resolved, if not sooner. Bill might even task Naomi with developing a new division in the practice that is more in line with her ideals of helping those that have no one in their corner or cannot afford a lawyer.

Market Crash

It seems like the “red market” storyline is about to reach its climax. I’ve have a lot of different thoughts about the storyline since it kicked off earlier this year, but I am glad that I took my own advice and allowed the story to play out. What started off as Jacob and Smitty cosplaying as superheroes has turned into a twisty tale that involves a large chunk, if not all, of the canvas.

Since the beginning, Jacob and Smitty were the key figures in the storyline. I’ve rolled my eyes at Jacob breaking the rules of working undercover, but I’ve been willing to overlook it because this is his first undercover mission. Smitty’s actions, on the other hand, annoy me more. He hasn’t shared any details about what he’s working on with anyone. The more he put himself in danger, I think he owed it to Martin to at least offer some sort of information.

Through Smitty and Jacob, but mostly Jacob, other characters became part of the story. Most notable were Naomi, her family, Ashley, and the Hawthornes. The writers then sprinkled Joey and Randy into the mix, Eventually, the storyline roped in some of the recurring characters like Lia and Grayson, which helped to explain why these characters had suddenly popped up on our screen. And, of course, there was also Ren,

Then we got a bit of a twist when some unlikely folks became part of the story.

I like how Tomas’ investigation into Lynette has now dovetailed with Smitty’s investigation into Lia Whitmore’s involvement in the plasma ring. It was such a smart move by the writers to link the two seemingly unrelated stories. Tomas’ involvement also ended up linking in Kat, Dani, and Vanessa.

Vanessa got even more entrenched this week when Lia summoned her to the hospital to talk about strengthening the connection between Garland and the free clinic. Vanessa seemed a bit… confused about the meeting with Lia so I am not sure if someone gave her a heads-up about Lia’s shenanigans or not.

Now, even Leslie Thomas is catching strays at a time when she actually hasn’t done anything wrong. Jacob and Smitty determined that Leslie might be involved in the blood ring because of Garland partnering with the clinic. I guess it makes sense on some level, but in reality they are way off. Technically, I suppose Eva is now part of the storyline since Grayson watched her enter the secret code on the clinic’s lock-protected storage.

The Name Game

I am rattling off all of these names for a reason, not as part of some cognitive test to prove that covering soaps for 30-plus years hasn’t caused me to lose it. With all of these characters involved, the possibility that someone that we know and (possibly) love could get seriously hurt has grown exponentially.

In the “next week” previews at the end of the Friday, May 15, episode, shots — literal shots — were fired. Does someone get gunned down when the police raid this VIP red market event? It could be that one of the recurring characters doesn’t make it to the first week of June, but I still have concerns that it will be a major character. I also have to wonder: Will we finally learn who the Impaler is or will they escape without ever being IDed?

Not everything was gloom and doom in the blood theft storyline. One of the more unintentionally funny moments of the week came when Naomi told Ashley what was going on. Ashley spiraled out of control almost immediately. Naomi has been Ashley’s friend for a long time, so she should have known how Ashley would react. I can’t remember, but I’m pretty sure she even had the nerve at one point to urge Ashley to calm down. Ashley is a constant ball of nerves. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her calm. I get nervous watching her be nervous. She is what I would imagine a chipmunk would be like after drinking a can of Red Bull.

Ring the Bell

Here in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the phrase “ring the bell” typically involves one of our sports teams doing well. When it involves the Phillies, it also means that there will be free McNuggets in my lunch plans. But the phrase had an entirely different meaning on Beyond the Gates this week and I dare say it meant more than any chicken nugget ever could.

With her husband and daughters by her side, Anita rang a bell at the hospital signifying that she had completed her final chemotherapy treatment. It was a marked contrast from her near-decision a few months earlier to stop her cancer treatment and succumb to the disease.

If you’ve been a long-time reader of this column, you’ll know that there was a point when I questioned whether or not Anita would beat her rare, aggressive triple-negative form of breast cancer. Yes, it seemed unlikely that the show would allow its matriarch and one of the “core four” members of the cast to die so early in the show’s run.

On the other hand, Beyond the Gates has always seemed more based in reality than the other soaps. There are no weather machines trying to freeze the world, no villains wearing masks that help them pass themselves off as someone else, no back from the dead resurrections after donating major organs to save someone else, and no… well, you get the point.

Still Waiting to Exhale

It’s because of that reality that I wasn’t sure what the future held for Anita. Originally, Beyond the Gates was only picked up for a single season and it was possible that some of the members of the cast might not have wanted to extend their stay longer than that one season. In that scenario it could have been very possible that the outcome had been different.

I’m not alone, though, in wondering what the future held. It was clear to me that Anita was expecting an entirely different post-chemo visit with her doctor. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me like she expected to be rolled into the operating room the next day and have her tumor removed. Her face fell as the doctor talked about a double mastectomy, the removal of her ovaries, and the possibility that additional testing could show that the cancer had spread.

It’s not that I think Anita didn’t know that all of things were possible. I just think after months of fighting for her life, Anita wasn’t prepared for the follow-up visit with her doctor to not be so… gloomy. There was some positive news: the cancer had been found early, the tumor responded to treatment very quickly, and Anita seems to be in good health otherwise.

Those are some of the reasons that while I am celebrating Anita’s victory, I can’t help but be somewhat subdued. Aside from the possibility that her fight isn’t over, we also have to worry about Dani and Naomi’s health. Naomi’s family members don’t even know that yet. But like Anita said, I am going to remain present in the moment and be thankful that everything is, for now, looking up.

The Church Lady and the Man Who Hides Behind Menus

I am wildly enamored by the DMV’s most unlikely not-couple, Mona and Randy. Since Mona loves to quote scripture, I am reminded of the passage that talks about how opposites attract. If thou taketh one step forward… oh wait, that’s not scripture. That’s Paula Abdul. Seems like I need to consider joining Randy at the next church service.

But in all seriousness, Karan Kendrick and Maurice P. Kerry have really great chemistry. Kendrick’s Mona has presence – she exudes love and positivity with a heaping dose of shade when it’s necessary.

Kerry’s Randy tries to exist mostly in the shadows, but we see a glimmer of something else when he encounters Sister Mona. He knows she knows that he does all sorts of things for his “big. bad boss.” I can’t tell if Randy wants to change. He often references how he does a lot of un-Godly things, but Randy seems to take comfort in Mona telling him that he is still one of God’s children with the potential to turn his life around. I almost wonder if Randy already knows that God will forgive his sins, so he’s more interested in getting Mona to forgive or absolve him. I have more thoughts on this that I think would better in a stream of consciousness format, so please be sure to check out this week’s audio podcast version of my Beyond the Gates column.

Beside, Behind, and Beyond The Gates: The Speed Round

This is the part of the column where I share some of the thoughts and observations I have about other things happening on Beyond the Gates.

The Cotillion is Coming! The Cotillion Is Coming!

Beyond the Gates’ cotillion kicks off next week — on Monday, May 18. I am anxious to see if the months and months of lead up to the event was worth it. The show has teased that there was a new set created for the the cotillion and that there will also be original music. So I’m really excited by what we might see. I’ve always been a fan of big soap events where much of the cast is in attendance. Why? Because that’s when something big happens. And I’ve learned that something pretty major happens. I don’t know all of the details because I managed to stop the Evil Richard Simms before he completely ruined the surprise. But it sounds like this will be must-see TV.

Take My Cufflinks, Please

While I think Joey thought he was doing the right thing by offering a pair of cufflinks to Donnell, it came off as a massive overstep to me. Joey later claimed that he didn’t want to take Doug’s place, but the cufflink offering came off as exactly that. I can’t help but wonder if Joey’s desire to be Donnell’s “friend” is sincere or just an empty request to further ingratiate himself to Vanessa.

Speaking of Vanessa, it was way out of line for her to try tracking down Heather. Joey said that he was honoring his sister’s request by not trying to find her… and Vanessa decided to take that task on herself? Joey was within his right to be upset with her. The things he said to her as a result? Not so much. But it does revive my question from last week: is Heather really Joey’s sister or something else.

He Loves Me…

I might be in the minority, but I like Izaiah and Eva as a couple. I’ve liked watching how they’ve gone from a situationship to saying that they love each other. It was also cute to see how Izaiah accidentally let it slip that he loved Eva. That was something that rang true to me, even if it was romcom fodder. I’d have to imagine that a pretty large percentage of relationships have someone using the word “love” in a manner other than bluntly saying, “I love you.”

I also thought it was a really good nod to an unseen past by having Izaiah reveal that Joey taught him out to cook. We have known for quite a while that Joey is something of an influencer in the cooking circles of Instagram. And we knew that Joey had taken Izaiah under his wing. It adds a whole new layer to their relationship to know that Joey really was something of a father figure to Izaiah.

… He Loves Me Maybe Not

Am I the one that thinks it was weird for Ted to summon Monica to the hospital to give relationship advice to Shanice? It ended up being a nice auntie/niece talk, but I couldn’t get past what seemed like juvenile behavior on Ted’s part. What’s funny is that while Monica was trying to convince Shanice that Leslie wasn’t a threat to her relationship with Ted, no one relayed that message to Leslie.

After an innocuous birthday dinner with Eva, Izaiah, and Ted, Leslie somehow became re-convinced that Ted was the love of her life. Okay, she might not have ever totally given up on that idea, but it did seem for a while that Leslie was happy in her relationship with Marcel Malone. Easy come, easy go.

Speaking of easy comings, how about Nicole and these spicy daydreams of Ted? Has Nicole’s anger finally subsided to a point where she realizes that she still loves her ex? Have her lady parts turned into a hungry, hungry hippo now that she’s started having relations with multiple men? Is this all a red herring to make us think that Nicole and Ted are going to get back together?

We Are Family

After the beating that Samantha took from the tongue of Anastasia, it practically moved me to tears to see the Richardson-Smiths gather together as a family. Samantha telling her dads that they had never made her feel “less than” was a really nice and welcome 180 from her previous statement that she wished they had never adopted her. I loved seeing Tyrell put aside his anger to give Samantha a pair of earrings to wear at the cotillion. His story about Samantha vowing to one day wear diamond earrings and telling her that she will always be a star to him got me in my feels.

I will admit that I am a little worried that the super sappiness is a harbinger of something bad. I hate my doomsoaping tendencies!

Quick Takes

Did anyone else take note of the code to the clinic’s lock? I actually rewound the scene like some sort of villain-in-training to make sure I had it right.

I was absolutely convinced that someone bad was going to overhear Naomi’s stairwell conversation about seeing Lia hauled away in handcuffs.

BTG: Behind the Graphic

If you wondering what this week’s column art is all about, you’re in luck. I have an explanation. The most obvious part of the image is the bell that Anita rang after completing her chemotherapy treatments. The issue of Ebony magazine is a mock-up I did since Nicole mentioned that a host of magazines interviewed her after being named Platinum Deb. The cracked phone was Chelsea’s handiwork. And the red velvet mocha cupcake (which could have done without the mocha) was part of Eva’s birthday celebration.

Beyond the Gates: 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).

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“How you make people feel will outshine always a flawless curtsy.”
Nicole explaining to Samantha that there are things more important than winning Platinum Deb.

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“Does your big, bad boss know one of his so-called tough guys hides behind menus when he sees a harmless church lady?”
Mona when she spotted Randy trying to avoid being seen by her.

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“The mood at this table is giving funeral, not brunch.”
Vanessa upon joining Nicole and Samantha at the country club after their run-ins with Anastasia and Chessie.

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“She described our daughter as the spawn of Satan.”
“I think that’s progressive of her, assuming Satan is a woman.”
Leslie explaining why she doesn’t like Darlene Hawthorne and Ted’s response.

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“I’m going to do what I do best.”
“Harass women?”
Mike trying to explain how he plans to represent his client and Chelsea’s take on it.

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“My family tree is nothing but a bunch of empty branches.”
Leslie shares why she dislikes Anita — and blame Anita for not having ever known her parents.

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“There are pains worse than a heartbreak. It is the regret of never trying in the first place.”
Monica encouraging Shanice to not let fear keep her away from a relationship with Ted.

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“They’d probably give you a standing O right after Ted.”
Vanessa’s naughty remark about Nicole’s irrational fear of having sex in front of the photos of past presidents of Fairmont Crest.

Gatecrashers: Reader and Viewer Feedback

I love interacting with other Beyond the Gates fans. So I thought I’d create a section to share some of the comments I’ve received on my columns and social media posts. If you’d like to see your comments shared here, you can scroll down to the Comments section below this column and post away. You can also chat with me on Bluesky, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, and/or TwitterX.

Is there a reason why Anastasia is so hateful to the Duprees? Maybe…

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.

Have a penchant for gardening, interior design, or fixing up old houses? Check out my Manor Makeover series where I write about all of the things I’ve been up to here at Kroll Manor in Allentown, PA, over the past decade.

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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. Liz is on deck with week with a new column called, Dial K For Killow.

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

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