My View From Beyond the Gates: This Isn’t Wordle

This Isn’t Wordle: A Beyond the Gates commentary by Soap Central founder Dan J Kroll for the week ending February 20, 2026.

On the surface, this February on Beyond the Gates has been a bit of a slow burn. As soap fans, we’ve become accustomed to the months of February, May, August, and November being filled with explosions, murders, big parties, blizzards, and just plain drama.

There have been none of those (so far) on Beyond the Gates, but that doesn’t mean that the month has been a total loss. There are at least three storylines poised to explode, if only figuratively, before month’s end.

The one with seemingly the most imminent danger is Jacob’s undercover mission. We have been bludgeoned with warnings, sirens, and flashing lights. It seems like only a matter of time before… something bad happens.

Next in the danger zone is Hayley’s house of cards. You know things are bad when Tomas is the one to start putting the pieces together. Plus, others are starting to sniff around, too.

A slower burn is the upcoming cotillion. There’s no real immediate danger, but the Anastasia versus Anita battle looms large over the event. I think the event is on a collision course with Anita’s health.

There are also the outlier storylines of an angry Heart Attach customer, Dani’s return to modeling, Nicole’s adventures in dating, and Joey’s involvement in Doug’s death.

It might not be Wordle, but this week’s column is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. Let’s see if we can put some of the pieces together.

A Belated Valentine’s Day Massacre?

I typically believe that it is important to put good energy out into the universe. That’s led to some people labeling me a “Pollyanna.” That used to bother me, but I’m okay with it now. For example, I don’t understand spending hours and hours of time on social media complaining about all the things you dislike. Choosing to go into other people’s posts to tell them that they are wrong for liking a make-believe character or couple? I don’t have that gene — or that amount of free time.

That’s all a preface to apologize for me repeatedly saying that I worry that something bad is going to happen to Jacob. Beyond the Gates loves a good misdirection, but the show has made too many gloom and doom predictions.

The show really turned up the doomsoaping factor this week by having less-than-warm-and-fuzzy Elon Hawthorne say that he’d never forgive himself if something happened to Jacob while he was working undercover. As if that were not enough, there was also that feels-like-goodbye lovemaking session between Jacob and Naomi. The only thing that was missing was Jaheim singing, “Just in case, I don’t make it home tonight. Let me make love to you for the last time, baby.”

Misery Loves Company

I don’t feel too bad about my feelings of dread. I posted a poll on TwitterX asking other Beyond the Gates fans if they had the same fears. At the time of posting this column, a whopping 78% agreed with me – with 13% fearing Jacob will die and the rest believing he’ll be seriously injured.

The good news, I suppose, is that Jacob hasn’t been harmed in any way. Another upside is that, after Jacob mouthed off against Daddy Chief of Police, we did get Elon telling his son that he loved him… even if it was in a roundabout way.

Bad Boy For Life?

The next few paragraphs are slightly spoilerish. I won’t give away any big twists, but if you prefer not to know anything that happens next week, skip ahead to the next magenta section header. Last chance! Okay, in the previews for next week’s shows, we got to see that Jacob and Izaiah will cross paths while Jacob is undercover. I don’t know if they simple end up in the same place at the same time or if it was a clue that… there might be more to Izaiah’s return to town than meets the eye.

The show has mentioned Banneker oodles of times, but we’ve yet to see a campus, a dorm room, an officer, a lecture hall, or anything else college-related. Is that coming? Is that why we are no longer seeing Bill and Hayley’s house or Naomi and Jacob’s bedroom? Did they need to take down a couple of sets to make way for new ones for the college?

Izaiah has made such a point of insisting that he has turned his life around, so I can’t imagine he’d slip back into his old ways. He also mentioned at one point that all of his old friends were either locked up or buried. Of course, all of that could have been a big ole lie. There’s no way that Izaiah is “The Impaler.” Could be be a low-level runner or courier? Maybe?

Is there a future scenario coming where the Brothers Hawthorne are faced with a it’s-me-or-you life-and-death situation?

The Fate of Ophelia Hayley

I know that I cannot be the only person who watches a television show and gets frustrated that people on-screen can’t figure things out. For example, every time the Faithfuls vote out another Faithful on The Traitors, I inevitably yell some variation of, “You deserve to lose, you dummies!”

That’s how I currently feel about Hayley’s long-running con. Okay, I admit that I was shocked when the show revealed that Hayley was scamming Bill. But now that I know, I think everyone else should have figured it out, too.

I had hope for Naomi. At the hospital, she was watching Lynette like a hawk… but her visit to Hayley’s temporary hotel lodgings dashed those hopes. Naomi seemingly absolved Hayley of all of her past wrongdoings and suggested that they could all be friends again. Or maybe that’s just how I heard it because I’m annoyed at how she’s being hoodwinked. I am trying to give Naomi some grace because I suspect her judgment is currently clouded by her fear of Jacob’s undercover work.

I think what annoys me about this is that Naomi always gets so close to figuring things out. She was skeptical about Hayley’s imaginary baby, but she had the wool pulled over her eyes when Hayley suffered an equally imaginary miscarriage. Now it’s déjà vu all over again.

To be fair, Hayley has proven (on most days) that she’s a pretty good con. She didn’t just pretend to have a miscarriage, she had actual props and a one-night only public performance at Uptown. For her second performance, there were no props, but she did bring in a special guest in the form of Lynette. This one has been more improv, as evidenced by the surprise black eye.

Keep It One Hundred

Now let me get to what is really, really, really bothering me. I feel bad about what I’m about to say, but this is a safe space and I think it’s important for us to share. I’m annoyed that Tomas might be the one to figure out that Hayley is a con artist.

I spent the entire first season of Beyond the Gates wondering how Tomas passed his LSATs. He’s got zero personality, didn’t seem to be particularly great at his job, and he knowingly bedded his girlfriend’s sister during their 30-second breakup. The character seems to be pretty much universally disliked across all of social media.

In a complete and unexpected 180, I am now cheering for Tomas to put the pieces together. He didn’t appear to pick up on anything when he overheard Hayley’s phone call a bunch of weeks back. He inched closer to critical thinking when he found it weird that Hayley delivered paperwork to Lynette, but he chickened out when Caroline, Hayley, and Bill all scolded him.

Thankfully, he picked up on the discrepancy between Hayley and Lynette’s stories: Hayley claimed Lynette had asked her to deliver the papers, while Lynette insisted that it was Hayley who took the initiative.

Let me be clear, my Tomas fan club membership is only temporary and it has a definite expiration date. If he doesn’t figure everything out by spring, he’s dead to me. There will be no redeeming, no thawing of relations, no invitations to the Kroll Manor summer picnic. He’s got one shot here to make things right.

You Light the Match To Watch It Blow

My only question now is what happens if and when Tomas does figure things out? I am clearly giving him the benefit of the doubt in this next section. Will Lynette, Hayley, or Randy try to keep Tomas quiet? Will anyone – and by anyone, I mean Bill – believe him? Is Tomas going to share his theory with Caroline and end up being told that he’s crazy and needs to stand down?

The stakes are even higher because Joey Armstrong is now involved in the hunt for Hayley’s mugger. Joe wants Bill to be in his debt, so Joey is not going to stop until he gets everything figured out. That puts Randy in a really awkward position because… he’s a scammer, too. I feel like this is the start of a song: I’m a scammer, you’re a scammer, he’s a scammer, too.

I still feel that Hayley is going to find a way to pin everything on Lynette. What I haven’t yet been able to figure out is how Hayley will come out squeaky clean and innocent. I am wondering if Hayley fingers Izaiah as the mugger. She can claim that she rejected his romantic advances or something. It’s just a theory, but it’s all I’ve got at the moment. If you have theories, I’d love to hear them.

Beside, Behind, and Beyond The Gates

Here are some of the thoughts and observations about other things happening on Beyond the Gates.

Out of the Lab and Into the Fire

I don’t like Grayson. At all. I understand that he is under a whole lot of stress caring for his mother, but there’s more to it. I can’t put my finger on it, but I know that if I did, I’d have to wash it.

Though it freaked Grayson out, Ashley’s research into assisted living facilities was very sweet. It’s the kind of thing that I’d do for someone — even if they didn’t ask. Of course, we still don’t know that there is an actual mother with Parkinson’s. It would be a terrible thing to lie about, but… people have done worse.

Don’t Do As I Say or Do As I Do

Speaking of Ashley… why on Earth would Carlton take dating advice from Ashley?! Clearly he does not know her recent dating drama. I think Carlton looked at her, realized she was a woman, and figured that anything she said must be gospel.

Reading Is Fundamental

I cackled when Nicole went all shady therapist on Anastasia. Later in the same episode, Mona went shady church lady on her. I do love that there is someone that everyone in town seems to collectively dislike.

Opposites Attract

I like the idea of Randy and Mona far more than I should. I don’t this is any sort of bad boy fetish and I also don’t think that Mona sees Randy as some charity case that needs to be redeemed in the eyes of the Lord. “Jesus broke bread with all types of folks,” Mona noted.

Mona lit up when she talked about how Randy held the door open for her. It was cute to see Randy joke about not knowing what Lent was. His full remark is further down in the Lines of the Week section.

None of Your Business

I hate that a few catty gossips are making Anita have to publicly divulge her cancer diagnosis. Why can’t people just mind their own business? I’m reminded of how people on social media posted horrible things about Chadwick Boseman’s weight loss, unaware that he was privately battling colon cancer. No one, not even a public figure, owes anyone any personal information about their life.

My Funny, Unavailable Valentine

The youngin’s could learn a few things from Vernon and Anita Dupree. It was the perfect Valentine’s Day gift to see a couple even more in love than the day we first met.

However, the Anita/Vernon dance once again featured a song from the Anita Williams catalog that is not available for the fans at home to stream or otherwise listen to. For the love of Fairmont Crest, please release the music somewhere. Anywhere!

Turning Over A New Leaf?

I’ve expressed my exasperation with LSD — that’s Leslie/Sherry/Dana for new readers — in the past. I love a good soap villain, but I also know when a villain has become oversaturated. Take Leslie plopping herself down at Vernon and Anita’s table at the country club. This was obviously a plot device to draw attention to Anita’s health and get her cancer diagnosis out in the open.

I couldn’t help but take notice of LSD’s reaction. She looked genuinely scared when Anita collapsed. She didn’t have her usual smirk or inappropriate joke at the ready. Might LSD finally show a shred of human decency and back up off of her war with the Duprees? It’s unlikely, I suppose, but it would be a really nice way to reset the character.

Whip Your Lovin’ On Me

Mistress Vanessa was kind of hot, right? It was entertaining to watch Joey Armstrong have such a struggle with ceding power – even for some sexytimes. The scenes were nowhere near as raunchy as Heated Rivalry, but they were definitely on the more risqué side for a daytime program.

Father Meddles Best

I don’t know if it is season affective disorder or the state of the world or if I am just becoming soft, but I actually found myself starting to cry when Madison got the call about a research facility being established in the Washington, D.C., area. The fact that Bill would make such a grand gesture for his daughter and her wife-to-be just got me in my feels. One year for my birthday my dad gave me birthday card that expressed his regret over not having “smacked [my] mother around more” when they were married because it would have made me “a better son.” So, yeah, even though Bill was meddling, it really moved me.

BTG (Behind the Graphic)

If you’re wondering what inspired the graphic for this week’s column, you’re in luck! I know the graphic designer really well. Yes, it’s me. The large candy heart is a direct quote from LSD, who told Shanice and Dani that she hoped they choked on candy hearts. Also featured is a ball of lint, a nod to Randy pretending not to know what Lent was. There’s a little sex mask as an homage to Mistress Vanessa. And the Wordle puzzle, which is also in the title of this week’s column, came up when Grayson dismissed Ashley’s efforts to help him find a solution for his mother.

Quick Takes

I liked the creative choices that the show makes. Having Joey put a blindfold on Vanessa and then making the point-of-view become him putting the blindfold on the camera as it faded to black was a fun choice.

The funniest moment of the entire week was Nicole’s reaction to Vanessa offering to get Samantha an escort for the cotillion.

I thought that Doug would know not gamble so recklessly the second time around, but no – he ended up getting murdered. Again. (Yes, I know it was a rerun.)

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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“I hope both of you trifling hoes choke on some candy hearts.” – Leslie reveals the text on one of her not-ready-for-Hallmark greeting cards.

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“He has me wearing more makeup than an actress on Broadway.” – Hayley’s thoughts on the amount of concealer that she needed to use to cover her black-and-blue eye.

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“[I’m] bracing myself for a seismic revelation. You know, like when you turned my nephew into my brother-in-law.” – Nicole as she clutched her desk in anticipation of Dani’s big news.

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“Did you just use my name as a verb?” – Shanice to Derek

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“I can walk and chew gum at the same time and not fall in love with the gum.” – Nicole in response to Dani’s warning that Nicole’s no-strings-attached dating might have consequences.

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“When you dream of being a princess as a child, you never think about how lonely it can be.” — CinderHayley telling Naomi how unhappy she is having to live in a hotel.

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“I lost my virginity to the Articulettes.” – Leslie utters seven words that I never thought I’d hear.

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“The name is Vernon. Senator Dupree would be better.” – Vernon’s response to LSD calling him “Vern.”

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“We’ll live off honey biscuits and love.” – Madison, in response to Chelsea saying that she wanted them to “stay here at this table” at Orphey Gene’s forever.

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“Lint. Like the stuff you clean out of the dryer after you wash your towels?” — Randy’s attempt at a joke when Mona mentioned it was Lent.

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“I could always lend you my tiara for the day, Anastasia. Maybe if you feel like a winner it’ll finally shut you up.” — Nicole zinging Anastasia for her mean-spirited comments about Samantha and the cotillion.

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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.

As I mentioned earlier in the column, I’m not alone in worrying about Jacob.

I also wasn’t the only one to take note of the Randy and Mona thing, but SoapFairy came up with an entire storyline to move this ship forward.

Leslie is catching some heat this week — mostly for just being annoying for the sake of being annoying.

I gave Tomas an ultimatum about figuring out Hayley’s plot. Meanwhile, at least one viewer is growing tired of Bill being so darned clueless.

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.

To keep up with all of the shenanigans I engage in on social media, please consider giving my a follow on Bluesky, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, and TwitterX.

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, Your Lying Eyes.

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

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