Beyond the Gates Recap, August 20, 2025: Wannabe diva Leslie clashed with actual diva Anita about Barbara

Here's what went down Wednesday, August 20, 2025 on Beyond the Gates when Shanice became Derek's cheerleader, Andre discovered that the truth can set you more than free, and Kat decided that a cousin would do when Dr. Ruth wasn't available.

What happened on Beyond the Gates

On Beyond the Gates, Jacob called Derek at the hospital to check up on him. Derek jovially said that his surgery was successful and that nothing kept him down, but when Shanice came in to begin his first physical therapy session, Derek moped that there was no point to it because he was never going to walk again anyway. Shanice was surprised to hear that Derek's mood had soured from the day before; Derek replied that he had slept on things, and it had sunk in what Madison had said about him going home in a wheelchair.

Shanice corrected that Madison's diagnosis didn't mean Derek would have no functionality. Whether or not Derek was fully dependent or he maintained some quality of life, even if he was confined to a wheelchair, was up to him; he could fortify his upper body strength so that he could get around easier. “Those big muscles of yours aren't going to stretch themselves,” Shanice winked. Derek grudgingly came around and agreed to his scheduled session.

After completing his exercises, Derek said he wasn't glad he had put himself through it. Shanice said it was the movement that was important – the enthusiasm could come later. After Shanice's jokes made Derek laugh, he admitted he felt better, but he asked her a hypothetical question: if they had advanced beyond flirting, and Derek had had the same accident, would Shanice still have wanted him in spite of the paralysis? Shanice replied that his impairment wouldn't have scared her off – and that it wouldn't scare Ashley off, either.

Madison and Ashley discussed the compression of Derek's spinal cord and the damage the bone fragment had done to it. Feeling that physical therapy was “right up [Derek's] alley,” Ashley clung to hope that Derek would regain the use of his legs. Madison was glad that Derek had support in Ashley but advised the nurse that she would need her own support while rallying behind Derek. At that moment, Andre got off the hospital elevator, pulling Ashley into a hug because he had heard about Derek's condition.

Ashley pulled away, claiming a lack of privacy, but Andre persisted with his questions once Madison left to tend to a patient. Andre wanted to find out how Ashley was feeling about Derek's accident and declared he was there for her, causing her to yelp, “You care about me? Give me a break!” When Ashley continued to freeze Andre out, he expressed confusion about her change in attitude toward him. Finally, Ashley seethed that Andre had lied to her about breaking up with the woman he'd been seeing. Andre swore he hadn't lied, but a sickened Ashley recounted how she had seen Andre and Dani “all over each other.”

Ashley chastised herself for being blind enough that she hadn't seen Dani was Andre's other woman; she fumed that it should have been obvious from the way Dani had intruded on their first date. “So that's what pushed you away,” Andre realized, with Ashley grossed out that he was sleeping with his aunt's sister. Ashley didn't want to hear explanations from Andre, but he insisted that he had, in fact, summoned Dani so that he could break things off with her. It was just that Dani had been a wreck from feeling she had caused Hayley's miscarriage, so Andre had offered her comfort.

Yes, Andre said, Ashley had seen him kissing Dani, and clothes had started to come off, but he had put a stop to any further movement toward the bedroom – and first thing the next morning, Andre had indeed ended things with Dani so he could be with Ashley. Though Ashley believed Andre, she told him it was too late: Derek's accident had shocked her into realizing that she still loved her ex, and she wanted to be by his side as he convalesced. Andre looked flattened.

Chelsea called Bill from Orphey Gene's, thanking “the world's best lawyer” for making the identify theft lawsuit go away ahead of ChelseaKat's purse launch the following evening. Madison joined the anxious Chelsea and reminded Chelsea that she was amazing. Chelsea wondered how Madison was able to stay calm in the face of her much more serious occupation. Madison noted that loving what one did was the key, though having to give patients bad news was always difficult. She went over Derek's paralysis and said it made her want to show gratitude toward her blessings...like having met Chelsea.

Kat visited Jacob at the police station to invite him to the purse launch; Jacob knew Naomi could attend but he suspected he would have to work. The detective sensed that Kat had also come to ask about the investigation into Leslie; he said the probe was still in limbo, because none of the evidence they had found directly tied Leslie to either Laura being run off the road or Laura's near poisoning from the potassium overdose. An animated Kat cried that Laura deserved justice because she had almost been killed. “So was my best friend!” Jacob countered, shocking his cousin.

Accepting Kat's apology and relating to her frustration, Jacob relayed that he currently “couldn't investigate the theft of a paper clip,” owing to his police chief father limiting him to desk duty for the foreseeable future. Kat changed the subject and hinted that she wanted Jacob's perspective, since he was a guy, but she then clammed up; Jacob definitely wanted to hear what Kat had to say given her reticence.

After she described how she had been underwhelmed by having sex with Tomás, Jacob assumed that Tomás was bad in bed. Kat didn't think that was necessarily true and wondered how she could determine if she herself was the problem. Jacob's opinion was that Kat needed to experience sex with another man besides Tomás and suggested setting her up with one of the single guys he knew, but Kat didn't find that to be the answer. When Kat balked at the idea of talking to her mother about her problem, even though Nicole was a psychiatrist, Jacob counseled Kat to address the topic with Tomás, culling from his time as a married man that intimacy waxed and waned, and that it all had to do with how each person in the couple was feeling in the moment. Kat thanked Jacob for the advice and told him that she would love him forever if he could figure out a way to arrest Leslie.

Tomás visited Eva in her hotel room and learned that the inheritance letter she had come to him about had been legitimate. Eva confided in him the entire story about how Barbara was Leslie's mother – and her grandmother. Hearing the information Eva had found on an obscure fan site about Barbara being kicked out of The Articulettes, Tomás concluded that Barbara must not have had a contract. Eva empathized with Leslie's excitement over discovering she was Barbara's daughter – especially having recently learned that Ted was her father – but Eva also lamented that all Leslie seemed to care about was the money she had suddenly become entitled to.

Eva grappled with the fact that she would never meet the grandmother she had only just found out about. Tomás understood that Eva was feeling the loss of possibility; Eva concurred and confessed that she no longer felt that she knew who she was, between having gone her whole life without a father and grandmother. She likened it to trying on different clothes, only to have nothing fit. Eva then asked Tomás how things were going with Kat; he answered that their relationship was fine but pivoted to returning to Eva the second book in the series they were reading. Tomás hoped to read the third installment and Eva lent it to him willingly – he remarked that he couldn't wait to see if the star-crossed lovers in it ended up together.

At the Dupree mansion, Leslie was aghast over Anita's claim that she had personally funded the trust that Leslie was now to inherit. Leslie viewed it as Anita's ego and was resentful that Anita seemed to think no one but her was allowed to have money. Anita told the ranting Leslie to shut up and listen – she had set up the trust fund and had been feeding it with Dupree money. Leslie had assumed that the record company had put assets aside for Barbara, but Anita reminded Leslie that Dante Green had maneuvered Barbara out of the group before their first album had been cut.

Leslie reveled in the fact that she was about to be swimming in Dupree money and defined herself as “one of those rich bitches I used to envy.” The unemployed fashionista purred that the windfall was coming at just the right time, since she had long blown through the $50,000 she had forced out of Ted and had been served with an eviction notice. Anita was disgusted that Leslie was so eager to collect, while Leslie swore she'd spend every penny in honor of her heretofore unknown mother – which included getting herself a place “beyond the gates.”

Conceding that Mona and Jan had told her a little about what it was like to live in Fairmont Crest, Leslie decried her past status as an outsider and was ready to “take [her] rightful place in the pantheon of Black royalty.” Ms. Thomas sneered that the trust fund was all she had left of the mother she had never been able to meet because of Anita. When Leslie railed at Anita for not preventing Barbara's ejection from the group, Anita spat that Leslie knew nothing about Barbara or her story – but Leslie continued that the Duprees couldn't wash the history clean.

Knowing that, even when Barbara was alive, The Articulettes had referred to themselves as sisters, Leslie snickered that her mother was Anita's “sister” and asked, “Does that mean I get to call you Auntie Nita?” “You need to get out of my face,” Anita responded, getting increasingly angry. Leslie screamed that Anita had been willing to sacrifice Barbara; Anita had destroyed her friend just to satisfy her own blind ambition. Vernon walked in just as Anita hauled off and slapped Leslie hard.

Leslie cried to Vernon that his wife had assaulted her – and that brutality must run in the family, since Nicole had likewise attacked her in a diner full of witnesses...one of them being Ted. Recalling that Ted had refused to give a witness statement and that the Duprees had detective Jacob in their back pocket, Leslie realized the futility of pressing charges. Vernon thanked Leslie; she reciprocated by thanking him “for having some class.”

After Leslie claimed that she was there for acceptance, Anita scoffed that Leslie's only concern was money. Leslie further antagonized Anita by proposing that The Articulettes arrange another concert, at which Leslie could get on stage and speak about her mother. Anita readied to expel Leslie, who snarked that it must be difficult for Anita to accept the status change...especially at her age. Vernon took the liberty of escorting Leslie out himself as she sung an Articulettes song. With Leslie gone, Anita winced and told Vernon, “I'm gonna be sick” just before running out of the room.

Beyond the Gates airs weekdays on CBS and streams on Paramount Plus.