The Richardsons and the Duprees may be reeling now, but life, and payback, will go on.
The three Anniversary Party episodes of CBS’s Beyond the Gates lived up to the hype and then some. Leslie’s pursuit of revenge led her to the country club where she blew up the worlds of the Richardsons, the Duprees, and her daughter’s too. And now what? The instant impact was the shattering of a marriage and the reeling of an entire family. Ted is already staying at a hotel. Relationships are about to evolve whether these characters want them to or not.
Everybody Hurts
EW talked to Beyond the Gates creator and show runner, Michele Val Jean, as well as some of the show’s cast. How could they not? BTG just unloaded an epic trio of episodes that could serve as a reset of sorts. Relationships will probably change, and circumstances will too. There’s a lot of hurt going around, and that’s not about to change anytime soon.
Ambyr Michelle played an integral role in these epic episodes. Her character, Eva Thomas, has been riding a fine line the entire series so far. She wanted revenge for herself and her mom. At the same time, Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix) and Ted (Maurice Johnson) were instantly welcoming. But it turns out that Eva didn’t know her entire story. And after learning that Ted had no idea she even existed, she was devastated, distraught, and alone. Even her mom kicked her out.
Michelle very succinctly told EW how she felt the anniversary party saga would affect BTG from here on out. “This is going to elevate our show much,” she teased. Meanwhile, Trisha Mann-Grant, who deliciously plays Eva’s relentlessly vengeful mother Leslie Thomas (among several other identities), describes what to expect even more dramatically. She says the bombshells that Leslie dropped right in the middle of that country club “pivots everyone’s world into a whole different aspect…this changes everything.”
While many of the article’s hints are big-picture, Mann-Grant did give a more specific tease designed to whet viewers’ insatiable appetite for this show. Nicole and Leslie will soon face a much-needed, highly anticipated confrontation. “She is going to let me have it,” the actress reveals. “I have a feeling that everybody’s going to stand up off their couches and their chairs and cheer when they see this moment that we have together.”
In other words, Nicole has had it. She is done with Leslie. Meanwhile, Val Jean didn’t give much away. But she did use six words to tease what’s ahead for the Fairmont Crest characters, including those affected most by Leslie’s long arm of revenge. “Nothing is going to go smoothly,” she hinted.
After watching (and rewatching) the anniversary party trilogy of episodes, fans shouldn’t expect anything less.
