For weeks, the temperature’s been rising on CBS’ new daytime soap Beyond the Gates. Finally, this pressure cooker is ready to explode.
An exclusive preview clip of Thursday’s new episode, above, shows that no one’s felt the heat more than Trisha Mann-Grant’s delectable villain, Leslie (whose real name is Dana, but also operates under the aliases Sherry and Anna), and her conflicted daughter Eva (Ambyr Michelle). The bond between single mother and daughter, once seemingly unshakeable, has come under unbearable strain due to Leslie’s sycophantic drive to expose an explosive secret, and Eva’s increasing reluctance to play accomplice.
Beginning Thursday, Beyond the Gates is set to plunge viewers into a three-episode arc that makes Dani (Karla Mosley) bringing a gun to a wedding look like child’s play. In the clip, Eva pleads with her mother to scrap the nefarious plot, only prompting Leslie to dig her heels into even firmer soil.
The clip begins with an arresting image – Leslie and Eva gazing into a mirror, admiring the sparkling dress mother picked out for daughter. “You clean up real nice, baby girl. Just like your mama and daddy,” she says.
But eagle-eyed Beyond the Gates heads (Gatekeepers?) will notice that Leslie is wearing her Sherry wig – never a good sign. The mention of “daddy” is also a tell that Leslie’s wistful tone may be laced with something poisonous.
One of the series’ most compelling storylines to date has centered on a quartet of characters: Leslie, Eva, Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix), her boss, and Ted (Maurice Johnson), Nicole’s husband. Leslie contrives to get Eva the job of personal assistant to the busy psychiatrist early on by, well, running the previous assistant off the road in a motorcycle chase. Her goal is to plant Eva into the lives of the perfect couple like a bomb, set to detonate at their most vulnerable moment.
Eva, as it turns out, is Ted’s secret child – with Leslie. Everyone knows but Nicole, and for weeks, Leslie has been lying, scheming, and slinking around the fictional town of Fairmont in various wigs to maximize the impact of the eventual reveal. Leslie takes to Ted and Nicole’s anniversary party plans like Eris, the goddess of Strife, took to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis – bent on destruction.
“Ted may have a heart of stone, but his DNA sure carved out a masterpiece,” Leslie jokes. Though clearly enamored of the expensive outfit her mother bought her for the occasion, Eva grows cold. “This is too much,” she protests. “Mama, this feels so wrong.”
Eva once resented Ted and Nicole as much as her mother does. Growing up in the shadow of their immense wealth and privilege, Eva and Leslie had to break their backs for every penny. Ted paid his mistress off when he learned she was pregnant and sent them packing, abandoning Eva before even meeting her. But now that she’s been welcomed like family into the Dupree-Richardson fold, her heart has melted, and she wants to spare them all the pain.
Unphased by her daughter’s growing resistance to the revenge plot, Leslie counters, “No! Honey, just look at it like it’s a rollercoaster ride. It’s like, you’re scared to death, you’re sure you’re gonna die, and before you know it – Wee! You’re having fun!”
CBS
Ambyr Michelle stars as Eva Thomas on ‘Beyond the Gates’
“We have to stop this ride, this is very real. Their marriage will be ruined!” Eva exclaims. But she says that like it’s a bad thing, and not exactly what Leslie wants. “That is not my problem,” Leslie responds. “Ted was going to lose that wife one way or another. I never broke any vows. What’s important is that he’s gaining a daughter, my brilliant child, who’s worth more than the whole bunch of them.”
“I cannot wait to see the look on his face when the truth comes out,” Leslie cackles. If this were all really about showing Ted what a mistake he made in giving Eva up, this clip might not radiate such a thick aura of impending doom. But the intensity of Leslie’s glee when imagining her former lover’s pain makes one wonder if this is about Eva at all.
Beyond the Gates airs weekdays on CBS at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, and is also available to stream on Paramount+.
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