Beyond the Gates Recap, June 23, 2025: Bill was tasked with handling "Kenneth," and 97.5 didn't equal 100

Here's what went down Monday, June 23, 2025 on Beyond the Gates when Dani backslid, Eva got a surprise pep talk, and Leslie tried to join her own investigation.

What happened on Beyond the Gates

On Beyond the Gates, Martin sent his staffer, Zack, an audio message from the country club gym, not knowing he was being watched. After he heard doors slamming, Martin turned to find “Kenneth,” who lamented that he'd never be able to afford a membership to such a place – unless, perhaps, Martin helped him. Martin balled his hand into a fist and doubted that “Kenneth” was even his tormentor's real name. “Kenneth” advised the congressman to be a better example instead of looking down on the help, which “[his] kind” always did.

“Kenneth” told the testy Martin that he wanted to watch Martin squirm and observed that Martin was choosing his words carefully. Martin tried not to react when “Kenneth” teased that he might be wearing a wire or that he had set up a hidden camera, but Martin became animated when “Kenneth” mentioned Tyrell and Samantha, raising his fist when “Kenneth” leered over how pretty Samantha was becoming. “Oh, Congressman,” “Kenneth” laughed. “You just added another ten grand to your tab.”

Martin relented, but deemed the busboy “some backwoods nobody trying to squeeze a sitting congressman.” “Kenneth” called himself a simple working man and asked for $100,000 when Martin pressed him to name a price for leaving him alone. Martin was ready to write ten such checks in that moment, causing “Kenneth” to chuckle that one payment wasn't enough to make him go away – theirs was going to be a long and profitable partnership. “What's that stupid term you people use?” the busboy asked derisively. “Reparations.”

Outraged, Martin railed at “Kenneth” wanting to be compensated for events he himself had set in motion. “Kenneth” promised that, should Martin miss a single payment, he'd ensure that what had happened became headline news. Martin argued that Fairmont Crest had been built at a time when he and “Kenneth” were still drinking from separate water fountains, and the Duprees knew how to handle common thugs like him – but “Kenneth,” shouting “Don't give me that civil rights BS!”, asserted that right was on his side.

“Kenneth” was not intimidated by Martin saying that his family could make him “disappear without a fingerprint” – he had been studying the inner workings of D.C. and knew it was favors that made it tick; he implied that he may need Martin and the other Duprees to grant him favors of his own. Martin stayed silent as “Kenneth” agreed to keep his secrets as long as Martin kept the money coming. “Stay where I can see you,” the man taunted. “You know better than most what happens in the dark.”

At Orphey Gene's, Kat complained to Jacob that they shouldn't be sitting around when they could be doing something to “take that psychotic bitch down.” Leslie, having overheard, sat down with them and wondered “which bitch” they were talking about. Kat scoffed at Leslie's claim that she and Jacob were working to frame her for crimes she didn't commit, but when Kat retorted that they were just trying to “put your trifling behind on blast,” Jacob refused and wanted to hear what else Leslie had to say.

Leslie accused the pair of planting evidence and readying false witnesses, then asked what crime they were going to pin on her next. Instead of simply watching Jacob and Kat plot her downfall, Leslie proposed that she “join the team” to help find out who had actually victimized Laura. Kat called Leslie deluded, but Jacob stopped Leslie from running Kat down in response. Leslie claimed she had recruited a “powerful old friend” who had labeled the case against her ridiculous; she basically said the “friend” was Bill, based on bringing up his stroke medication. She insinuated that Kat and Jacob would soon be getting served and went on her way.

With Leslie gone, Kat sensed that Jacob had news for her. He did: the DNA results were in, and they had revealed a 97.5% positive match between the DNA on Leslie's napkin and that on Leslie's motorcycle helmet. Kat was thrilled, but all the test proved was that Leslie wore the helmet – not that the helmet had been worn by the person who had run Laura off the road. Also hearing that there wasn't enough evidence to connect Leslie to Laura's potassium poisoning had Kat irate, and she demanded to know how she and Jacob were supposed to progress.

Dani finished up a call, seeing to the drafting of model release forms for Dupree-Curtis. After she hung up and griped to herself that she was more than a pretty face, and that she knew what she was doing, she imagined Bill sitting nearby offering his legal help and suggesting that Dani missed him. She acknowledged having had Bill on her mind that day, but concentrated and made the vision of Bill disappear. Yet, she flashed back to the real Bill thanking her for visiting him in the hospital, and was ready to place a call to him when Pamela walked in and stopped her.

Pamela applied some tough love and pointed out that Bill would only take Dani's call if it had something to do with their daughters. Dani couldn't disagree, but she countered that things had been different since Bill's stroke; she considered that perhaps her ex's brush with mortality had changed his perspective. Pamela listened as Dani described how, in her eyes, the stroke had transformed her from the wronged ex-wife to “his” Dani, even with Hayley at his bedside. After Dani admitted to some additional, darker thoughts, Pamela ascertained that there had to be a middle ground between Dani wanting Bill dead and wanting him back.

Dani held that she and Bill had built something lasting, but Pamela asserted that Dani wasn't being fair to herself. When Pamela brought up Andre, it made Dani smile. Pamela wondered why they were even talking about Bill. The ladies soon moved on to the legalities necessary to open their agency, and Dani locked on to an insurance clause that didn't seem right to her...but she couldn't help thinking back to a time when she suspected that Bill's aversion to hospitals had something to do with the death of his mother. Dani vowed to help Bill slay his personal dragons when he was ready, and the couple kissed and canoodled –

Pamela snapped Dani back to the present and mentioned that, once all the forms were in place, they could begin the work of acquiring models. After Pamela left, Dani made a beeline for her phone and was about to call Bill when she reminded herself, “Eyes forward, Dani.” Yet, after scanning through potential models on her tablet, she grabbed her phone anyway and got Bill's voicemail. Though she didn't leave a message for him, she replied to his outgoing message ,saying he was currently unavailable with the counter, “But you will be.”

Visiting Vernon, Bill said that his cane exuded wisdom, authority, and danger. Vernon replied that Bill would need all three to deal with blast from the past “Kenneth” and derided the lawyer's “pisspoor attempt at a pimp walk.” When Vernon demanded to know how they were going to take care of their problem, Bill reminded him that it was only Vernon's problem, not his – and that once again, the “architect of Black excellence” had come to him for help.

Vernon dismissed Bill's attitude and reminded him that, as Bill had been involved in the situation as long as anyone else, if the Duprees fell, Bill would fall, too. Bill snarked that the Duprees had always needed him to be their personal janitor and insisted on an apology for how the family had treated him and Hayley before he would tackle the matter at hand. Vernon balked and cited the way Bill had scarred his daughter and granddaughters. “I don't owe you jack,” Vernon spat. Bill responded that he was only there because of how the matter of “Kenneth” might affect Naomi and Chelsea, and refused to accept Vernon and his clan further disrespecting Hayley.

Bill was ready to walk when Vernon remarked that he was trying to throw Bill a life raft – if Bill didn't help, Vernon would see to it that Bill regretted “coming through those gates in that rusted-out ride thinking [he was] worthy” of Dani. Bill sneered that he already regretted that. Vernon reminded Bill that his influence was woven into Bill's success, whether Bill liked it or not. Chastened, Bill stated that he had already paid that debt, but Vernon volleyed that “a debt to the Duprees comes with interest.” Either Bill worked his magic on the escalating situation, or Vernon could make public statements about Bill's connection to everything...and a revered senator would be believed over a “slick fixer” like Bill. After Bill simply asked Vernon what he needed, Vernon advised him to be ready for his call – and be ready to move fast.

At his office, Bill got on a call with a subordinate, telling them to prepare and suggesting that they may need to find a more “permanent” solution to the problem that had returned. However, Bill clammed up when Tomás came in with case files and threatened to fire Tomás if he ever again entered without knocking first. Tomás expressed his regret but noted that Bill had always been all right with employees coming into his space freely – was someone coming for Bill? Hamilton warned that knowing too much was often worse than not knowing enough, ushering Tomás out of the office.

Vernon spoke to Anita on the phone, telling her how much he missed her and how much dimmer the house seemed without her, no matter how many lights he turned on. He wrapped things up when Martin charged through the door, reporting the financial and beneficial terms “Kenneth” had laid out. When Martin submitted that going public about what had happened would allow him to control the narrative and take away “Kenneth”'s power, Vernon stopped him.

Martin was tired of always having to look over his shoulder, while Vernon was emphatic that silence was key. The senator promised everything would be handled with “the bigoted busboy” – they just needed to watch patiently what he was going to do next.

Ted took an overwhelmed Eva through a tour of his facility and went over duties she'd be required to fulfill. Eva noticed that Ted had been lauding everything Kat had done in the position and cried that she wasn't nearly as qualified; she walked out of her training. Nicole found Eva near the nurses' station; Eva was ready to leave, but Nicole could see that something was wrong, and her compassion made Eva cry. Eva hesitated to ask under the circumstances, but she wanted Nicole's opinion as to whether or not she had actually been a good assistant. “You weren't good,” Nicole immediately answered. “You were brilliant.”

When Nicole recalled how efficient Eva had been, Eva revealed that Ted wanted her to replace Kat in managing his plastic surgery practice, and that the realities of what went into it had thrown her. Nicole understood when Eva confessed that she didn't want to disappoint the one parent she had who actually wanted her. Eva took heart when Nicole said that Ted had offered her Kat's job based on her performance in Nicole's office, but Eva still didn't think she could measure up to Kat.

Nicole allowed that Eva must be feeling anxious about trying something new, but she encouraged her stepdaughter not to let her fear stop her. Eva still worried she would screw things up; Nicole was sure that Eva would learn from her mistakes, if she even made that many. “The hardest part isn't doing the thing,” the shrink gently counseled, “it's believing that you deserve it.”

Eva returned to Ted and saw that he was looking for a temp. He hung up, and she was ready to pick up where they'd left off with her training. Thanks to the reminder of “someone” who had observed that being afraid of doing something just made that thing worth doing, Eva said, Ted's staff would be wondering how they had ever gotten along without her. “Show me everything Kat did,” Eva beamed, “and watch me do it better.”

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