Recently, CBS renewed Beyond The Gates for two more seasons, which means the show will run for at least four years which is fantastic news. That means it is time to delve into the show’s second season. What’s good? What’s terrible? What’s middling?
The Offscreen Problem
The least interesting way to tell a story is by having a character recap offscreen events. This is a recurring problem with this show. We haven’t seen Madison’s mother so it is hard to care about the lawsuit that was started by giving medical advice and attributing it to Madison. I would need to see the two together to have real feelings about it. It also doesn’t help that Beyond The Gates doesn’t have a courtroom set so it is unlikely we’ll see lawyers Bill and Naomi defend Madison in court. The best we can hope for is meetings in Bill’s office.
That isn’t to say that I want to see all of the offscreen things we don’t get to see. I’m not going to pretend that I’m upset that I don’t see Martin’s campaign events. Unless something exciting is going to happen, I don’t need to see him shake hands and kiss babies. Things of that nature can stay offscreen. They just need to work on things that we should be seeing like Madison’s mother or Dani’s offscreen modeling agency.
Depressing, But Not Too Depressing
In the ’90s on General Hospital, head writer Claire Labine was fired for being too depressing. Telling a breast cancer story at the same time as a story about AIDS was just too much for the audience. American soap fans don’t have the same appetite for depressing stories as British soap fans who would have been fine with that combination. Michele Val Jean was there for this because Claire had hired her as a script writer. She must have taken note of it because she’s avoided the mistake that ended with Claire losing her job.
Anita’s cancer story has been very sad, but it isn’t overwhelmingly sad. Part of this is the beauty of performances from Tamara Tunie and Clifton Davis which are a joy to watch even with the sadness. The other part is that the other stories aren’t depressing. I wouldn’t say the impaler story is great, but it does help balance out the cancer story. It would be different if the other stories were Ashley getting mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs and Martin becoming a crack whore who reenacts Jennifer Connelly’s famous scene in Requiem for a Dream. If those were the other stories, Michele Val Jean would have gotten fired.
In terms of this story winning Daytime Emmys, I do think Tamara Tunie has a strong chance of finally winning a Daytime Emmy. Though there’s still a lot of months left in the year for the other soaps to give their heavy hitters strong material. I feel like her biggest competition at this moment is Susan Walters who won in supporting last year. I could see her switching to lead and being a real contender. If the other soaps want a chance at beating either of these two powerhouses, they need to step up the material because I’m not seeing it for anyone else right now.
White Woman On The Verge Of a Mental Breakdown
Vanessa has an almost cult-like devotion to Joey and I love it because it is going to make the fallout of finding out he had Doug killed even bigger. She’s functionally chosen this man over her children. She defended him to anyone who warned her against him. She’s in business with him. It will be soul destroying for Vanessa to learn the truth.
There’s so many directions you can take Vanessa after that. She could become an alcoholic. She could go nuts and kill Joey. She could slowly plot revenge against Joey. Or she could even decide she’s in too deep to let go and try to cover up for Joey because he’s the only thing she has left. There’s also the factors of Deanna and Donnell. I could see Deanna shooting Joey and Vanessa taking the blame. Or Joey could threaten them to keep Vanessa with him. I am very hopeful we could get soap gold from this.
Movement
If you had gotten pregnant when Hayley started trying to kill Bill, you wouldn’t be able to fly on a plane right now. You would be limited to two sex positions. You would frequently have to pause Beyond The Gates so you could pee. That’s how long that lady has failed at being a black widow who wants to be a literal Black widow. You’d think after eight months of poisonings that Hayley would shift the plan. Have Randy kill him during a staged carjacking, push him down the stairs, or overdose on boner pills. Something!
The good news is Tomas is useful to the narrative for once. His suspicions of Hayley and Lynette have reached Dani and now it feels like we are getting real movement in that storyline. Dani being the one to bring Hayley down would be delicious. I know fans are worried that Dani will get back with Bill because of this story, but that was always going to happen at some point. I just want the climax to be as messy as humanly possible and for Dani to have a gun pointed at Hayley again.
Over 50 and Still Horny
I’m happy with Nicole playing the field. She was married for 30 years. Why should she settle for one penis right away? I do worry they are going to put her back with Ted which wouldn’t benefit Nicole at all. I can’t forget that Ted’s “grovel” last year was buying flowers and being pissed she didn’t immediately dive face-first into his crotch. Let Nicole enjoy herself.
Ambivalent
I want to like Izaiah. Lami is the most attractive man in the cast. Eva and Izaiah make an attractive couple. Yet I have no strong feelings about the character in either direction. That isn’t good. When Leslie struts into someone’s house like she’s a sitcom character, I feel something. It isn’t a positive feeling, but she does get a reaction out of me. A character that evokes feelings of indifference isn’t useful for soap storytelling.
The Future
My late friend Tiggz said for years that a network should put on a new soap opera. I thought the discussion was ridiculous because it would never happen. Fortunately, I was wrong. Now Beyond The Gates will be on for at least four years! Michele Val Jean gets to make long-term plans. Actors and crew will be employed. There will probably be recasts when those contracts are up in 2028 so even more new actors will learn the soap business.
I do hope they make a solid B family to counter the Duprees. They are trying to do it with the Hawthornes, but it isn’t quite landing. Going with the McBrides as the B family might be for the best since they are set up the most for success drama-wise and in terms of fan response. If they do that, they can solidify a third family. Three core families is a good base for a soap opera and could drive stories many years into the future if set up smartly.
In terms of the show’s identity, they have done work on that front. It isn’t a business soap. It is more community and hospital focused. I do think they need to bring more characters into the areas that actually generate story on the show. Chelsea and Kat make handbags. That has nothing to do with anything else going on. If Chelsea started a charity and Kat became a private detective, they would be in professions more conducive to the stories the show wants to tell. That’s something to think about as the show moves forward.
Dispatches From Soap Land
*Does Steffy on B&B have a fetish for pulling the plug on Hope For The Future? I don’t really blame Steffy for constantly wanting it dead because I’ve felt the same since it launched and it was literally created to slut-shame her. That said, I’m tired of it.
*I strongly suspect Josh Griffith’s pitch meetings to CBS and Sony are just him yelling “Kidnappings! Yay!” and clapping like a seal.
*I’m trying to gauge what is the absolute limit on how long GH can keep paying Cameron Mathison to just blink in scenes. At first I was thinking five months, but now I’m worried the limit is July. That would be seven months of an expensive actor just blinking!
