Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

I have been an avid fan of soap operas since the mid-80’s when my friend Sherri introduced me to Days of Our Lives during summer vacation. We would plop down and stare in rapture at the hair, the clothes, and the glamour. We watched Dallas, Falcon Crest, and Dynasty.

I soon ran home from the school bus to catch GH, flipping back and forth with Guilding Light because I was so torn. My parents finally consented to my use of the VHS recorder to satisfy my need to know what all the characters were doing.

Now, I am only beholden to my beloved General Hospital that I watch via streaming on Hulu. I used to keep up with Days, Bold & the Beautiful, and Young & the Restless until the soap recap sites eliminated their monthly recaps. I fell so far behind that I gave up.

News that NBC was debuting a new soap titled ‘Beyond the Gates’ was exciting. The casting of Pittsburgh’s own Tamara Tunie as the family matriarch, Anita Dupress was thrilling. We all love a good matriarch – Alice Horton, Bert Bauer, Audrey Hardy, Ruth Martin, and Nancy Hughes. Then came a new generation of kick-ass matriarchs like Stephanie Forrester, Victoria Lord, Rachel Cory, and Katherine Chancellor who left behind advice giving to kick open the board room and get a little dirty. Now we have Laura Spencer Collins, Brooke Logan, and Maggie Horton Kiriakis.

Most of them are white. Maybe all of them. No longer. Beyond the Gates is Black representation in a glamorous soapy world that’s brand new. From civil rights and colloquially dropping in references to collard greens to lots of shout outs to Black creators. But its not actually brand new. Just new to daytime television. The world of affluent Black Americans who have built wealth stretches back. Now we we get a glimpse into their world.

Anita Dupree is definitely the new generation of matriarch. She rules her family of husband, two daughters, three granddaughters and a grandson along with two great-grandchildren and their assorted cronies. A former singer, alluding to Motown, she was active in civil rights movements which is how she met her husband, Vernon Dupree. These two are thick as thieves with a veritable houseful of secrets, maneuvers, and scandals underscoring their charmed and affluent life. I love their references to civil rights actions in the 1970s and hope we can get more information on that often overlooked period.

Anita dances, knows the modern singers, and dresses to the nines. She’s been a little backseat as the show establishes the other characters, but I have no doubt we’ll see her roar. We’ve seen her interact one on one with almost every family member except her great-grandchildren. She seems generally to get along with her in-laws as long as they toe the Dupree line.

The Gates in the title refer to a fictional gated community in Maryland that Vernon’s father helped establish. The Duprees reign supreme. There’s a world inside the privilege of the community and then the whole big outside.

Those gates are a bit cliched with the working class, the local mob boss (delightful Jon Lindstrom), the cops and fires and pretty much the unsavory things except the local diner.

Anita’s husband Vernon is a retired Senator who lives on inherited wealth. Elder daughter Nicole is a respected psychiatrist married to surgeon Ted Richardson. They are the first blissful couple whose lives are about to be blown up by Ted’s exlover and mother of his love child, Eve. This is not a spoiler. They have two children, Congressman and out gay man Martin as well as smart and spoiled Kat. They are also close to Ted’s nephew Andre whose parents died in a plane crash. Martin is married with two adopted teenagers.

So here’s a conundrum. If Eve is closer to Kat in age than Martin, but Ted left Leslie to marry Eve – the assumption is it was before Martin’s birth. Otherwise, Ted had a full blown affair after Martin was born. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Leslie kidnapped the fraternal twin and raised her? Not awesome in real life, obviously. But soapy. Like the Vicky/Marley reveal on Another World?

If anyone keeps Anita on her toes it will be her younger daughter, Dani, played with absolute perfection by soap alumni Karla Mosely. Recently dumped by her ex-husband for whom she pines, Dani busies herself nosing in her daughter’s lives, hooking up with Andre, and tossing back a lot of drinks. Dani needs a job.

There are best friends and coworkers and evildoers. Cady McLain is in there somewhere, but I can’t remember seeing her on-screen.

The show is a little offbeat in terms of the ages of the characters. Martin is a congressman raising two teenagers, but seems almost the same age as his parents or rather close compared with his sister Kat. The friendmix is weird. How did the seemingly much younger Ashley become friends with Naomi?

But the clothing and sets are gorgeous, absolute throwbacks to the glory days of Erica Kane and Alexis Carrrington. It is splashy and glorious. Dani’s pink sofa is exquisite.

I love this show. I also watch streaming on Paramount+.

Some of the humdrum storylines like Nurse Ashley and her firefighter boyfriend will hopefully fade away. The delicious Leslie/Sherry will become a fixture in Ted and Nicole’s lives. I look forward to a big soapy throwdown scene with Leslie and Dani. A hospital structure like GH with an array of backup nurses and doctors who interact even though it makes no sense works better. It also offsets the country club setting better than the interior shots of the police department. Hospitals are soap staples.

The male characters are a little boring and too similar in appearance and stlye – clean cut, a bit dapper. short hair. Ted, Martin, Doug, Jacob, Elon, and Marcel are pretty uniform characters. It isn’t that they look alike, but they are cut from the same cloth and props for the women. Some different sartorial choices would help flesh out their personalities. The standout male characters are Bill Hamilton and Vernon Dupree. Bill has more storyline. He’s a philandering cutthroat lawyer who genuinely seems to be a nice guy. More Bobby than JR. He wears some lovely suits. He adores his second wife and his daughters, while harboring concern for his ex-wife. My money is on Bill as the breakout “JR” character. I realize I just said more Bobby, but you know what I mean about JR breaking out.

What is Anita’s backstory? Will we see long-lost identical twins and cousins soon? Will someone smack Martin upside the head and tell him running for President is an utterly stupid idea? We’ve already had a soap classic bitch slap exchange between Dani and Haylee. Now we need a full on tussle involving mud or water. Which bestie will provide the dialogue needed to advance the storyline? Why do all the smart confident Black women have white woman best friends (except for Chelsea and Kat?)

The show obviously took an effort to have a representative cast of occasional characters – Bill’s staff in particular. It feels authentic. For a soap.

Here’s my idea – Anita’s younger sister comes to town and plops her middle class self into the Dupree home. Anita had a baby/abortion and never told Vernon. Vernon had some shady help in his Senate seat. He also has a younger sister who rejects the Dupre legacy. Dani becomes a full blow alcoholic. Bill saves her. Martin has his big current secret but will eventually be revealed to be adopted himself. Smittie will pick a better name and go into a publication business with Vernon’s sister. Bill, Haley, and Dani go in circles forever. Dani has a string of lovers. The family rallies when Kat has a medical crisis that only Eva can save her from. A hot new doctor comes to town, turns out to be a lesbian, and connects with Nicole.

Andre does not hook up with Ashley who marries Dereck and transfers to another floor. Leslie renews her nursing license. Andre hooks up with Pamela, juggling besties who eventually figure it out and put him in his place. Joey blackmails Vanessa into marrying him and getting him into the Country Club.

Am I the only one who noticed the rival animal prints adoring Hayley (leopard) and Dani (zebra)?