It all started with a smashed coffee cup. That cup, angrily thrown across an open-concept kitchen. That cup, broken to bits against a wall. That wall, next to a door, a door beyond which popped a perky-and-persnickety-looking blonde woman, quipping, "Well so much for, 'Stop by for a cup of coffee'!" Have you ever had a quip change your life? If you heard that quip, couched within a commercial for the CBS daytime soap opera Beyond the Gates, during every single commercial break of every single episode of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17, your life would be changed as well.
Since that commercial started airing in January, and since Beyond the Gates' premiere on February 24, my husband and I have watched all 170+ episodes of this show. That's 102 hours of content, more than all of Twin Peaks and Hannibal combined. We didn't start watching on Feb. 24, mind you. We started watching sometime in April, with a backlog of 30-ish episodes to plow through. Why? After life cracked open a new can of fresh hell in April, my husband remembered that smashed coffee cup and how much that quip made us howl with glee. We watched those 30 episodes in under a week.
Fast-forward to now, nine months after Beyond the Gates' debut, and bingeing five episodes of Beyond the Gates every Friday night is the highlight of my week. I'm a married 41-year-old TV critic whose primary source of income ostensibly comes from your paid subscriptions — what else am I doing on Friday nights between seasons of Drag Race? But marathoning the week's Beyond the Gates, which adds up to a hearty 3-hour binge every Friday, gives me life. What started as a curiosity, an ironic watch, shifted into a sincere addiction faster than Randy's personality shifted after Doug's sudden death. IYKYK.
So, what is Beyond the Gates? Wait — I need to SEO-ify that. Trying to make money, remember!
What is Beyond the Gates?
Beyond the Gates is a good, old-fashioned CBS daytime soap opera that premiered in February 2025. Yes, a new old-fashioned daytime soap! It airs five times a week, has a cast of more than 40 actors, and roughly a half dozen different sets. It is set in Fairmont Crest, an exclusive gated community nestled in the heart of the DMV (which stands for Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia — and it took me way too long to suss that out).
This community, the first majority Black gated community of its kind, was founded in part by the former senator Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis) and his expanding dynasty. That includes wife Anita Williams Dupree (Tamara Tunie), essentially a Diana Ross-esque icon (except Anita is an EGOT); their daughters, psychiatrist Nicole (Daphnee Duplaix) and ex-supermodel Dani (Karla Mosley); and Nicole and Dani's respective children, ex-husbands, and (very, very begrudgingly) their ex-husbands' other romantic entanglements, both inactive and active. Does it sound like a lot? Baby, I haven't even gotten to the seedy underbelly of Fairmont Crest or all the drama surrounding The Articulettes! This! Is! A! Soap! Opera!
All that brings me to the point of this post. Since moving in with my brother-in-law's family while we settle in a new city, I've discovered a new source of joy: explaining Beyond the Gates to newbies. After going through one episode, pausing every five seconds to info-dump on whoever just walked on screen (it took us at least 90 minutes to get through one 36-minute ep), it hit me: make a Beyond the Gates family tree, mapping all the connections forged over the past 170-ish episodes.
Approximately 36 hours later, voila! For all of you heading home for Thanksgiving, eager to get your loved ones addicted to the best weekly binge in all of television, here you go. Also, I guess SPOILER ALERT, if you count glancing at colored lines as spoilers?
[Click to enlarge — because wow, this is huge]
Family tree is current as of 11/21/25
I am open to corrections, BTG fans. Let us know via Bluesky.
In addition to this guide, I also want to share some talking points — ones you can use to drive discussion with your family, or ones you can reply to via Bluesky because I need to talk about this show with everyone. Actual written spoilers ahead if you aren't up to date (as of 11/24/25).
- Is anyone on television having as much fun as Trisha Mann is playing Dana "Leslie" Thomas? The best new TV villain of 2025.
- My husband and I cannot get enough of Shanice (Ernestine Johnson). We spotted her in what feels like Episode 1, in the background of every hospital scene, eyes darting upwards, clearly indicating that this unnamed nurse was soaking up the hot goss . Fast-forward a few weeks and suddenly Shanice is a supporting character. Then a recurring character. Now essentially a main character, squaring off with — and holding her own against! — Dana "Leslie" Thomas! What a journey!
- How old are these characters supposed to be? When did The Articulettes rise to fame, the '70s or the '80s? How long was Dani a supermodel before retiring? What is the age gap between Dani and Andre? How long were Samantha and Tyrell with June? And how long were they in foster care? Best to follow MST3K rules and repeat to yourself "it's just a soap, you should really just relax."
- I've never been invested in the Daytime Emmys (this is my first soap opera addiction, barring watching Young and the Restless every summer when I was a kid due to it airing after Price is Right). I am suddenly very invested in Ambyr Michelle getting not only a nomination, but a trophy for playing Eva Thomas. A recent scene between her and the equally great Trisha Mann brought my husband to tears.
- I come from the world of comic book fandom, specifically the X-Men, and when I tell you that the Hayley turn was an example of Claremont-ian longterm plotting, know that that is the highest praise I can give.
- Oh wait — there is someone having as much fun on TV as Trisha Mann: Tamara Tunie, while playing the Las Vegas drag queen version of Anita Williams.
- Listen: I'm also a drag queen and I kinda want a ChelseaKat handbag, just to spark up conversation with other fans at gigs.
- Remember when Samantha asked her dad about gay sex? The funniest moment of the series.
- How much longer until we go supernatural? The husband and I brainstormed a Scooby-Doo style mystery spinoff (Beyond the Gates Nights!) with Donnell, Laura, Shanice, and Derek as the cast. Dana "Leslie" Thomas is unmasked as the ghost in every episode.
- I could keep going.
Anyway — dive into the family tree! Let it be your guide as you watch this week's episodes with your relatives within earshot. When their interest is piqued, you can now answer their questions — or if your family vibe is more like whatever is going on between all the Richardsons right now, just give them this family tree and tell them to deal with it.
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