"Beyond the Gates" Week 20 Review

Patience is a virtue, and I'm speaking as someone who waited 21 years for a Stanley Cup.

So the 20th week of CBS' relatively new soap, Beyond the Gates, finally delivered something we had all been waiting weeks for. As a result, this review will be different. Normally, it would have been about a specific highlight from each of the episodes from that week, in this case, the episodes airing between July 14 and July 18. But regarding Week 20, there was only one true highlight overall that week, and we know what that is. So this week's review will only focus on the ultimate reveal that took place.

Here it goes:

The revelation we had been waiting for took place on the July 16 episode--a Wednesday. Seems fitting. After all, Wednesday is the middle day of the overall week. We've seen Martin Richardson suffer through nightmares of something from his past, and we've wondered what exactly had been plaguing him. The answers started to emerge over a month ago when Kenneth, a waiter, popped up, and Martin quickly recognized him as being part of whatever happened. Weeks passed--blackmail, veiled threats, you name it. Martin was set to tell all earlier in Week 20, but something crazy happened. As the song from South Park's "Chef Aid" album (which I bought as a teenager) went, "Kenny's dead." Knocked off. The cockroach got squashed.

So on that July 16 episode, Martin returned home to see Smitty and their kids demanding answers. The kids left, but Smitty stayed and finally heard the entire truth from Martin:

Two years prior, Martin and Vernon were driving away from a political event, and they were laughing about Vernon's stories and Martin's tale about a dog that barked every time Martin made certain points. "The dog had better timing than Richard Pryor," Martin says. That line stays with me. This is why we needed this soap. Imagine hearing the late, great, iconic Richard Pryor referenced on a soap. I beamed over this. Sadly, we would never hear such an important reference like that on other soaps. If comics were mentioned on other soaps, it would most likely be Lenny Bruce or George Carlin, both greats in their own right. But still, a Richard Pryor mention is so so epic. If I hear a Redd Foxx mention on this soap, I will be over the moon.

So during the drive, one of the tires goes flat. Martin exits the car to change the tire, and out pop a pair of guys who clearly look like they should be asked about their whereabouts on January 6, 2021. Within seconds, the racial slurs came out, as did the threats. Kenny was one of them. Those two clearly had violence and intimidation on their minds, and Martin and Vernon were on the defensive against those racist attackers. Martin really went on the defense, to the point where he beat that other clown to a bloody death. We knew a death was involved, we knew Martin was involved, and now with this, we know it was purely self-defense.

Even so, Vernon worked damage control. Detective Malone and Captain Hawthorne (the latter being Jacob Hawthorne's father) were involved. Of course, Bill Hamilton was involved in "fixing" things, and Martin's father, Ted Richardson, had his role as well. It was all covered up until Kenny resurfaced weeks ago, and we all know how that ended up.

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So it was all out in the open that Wednesday. July 17 and 18 saw the beginning of a long aftermath that saw Smitty actually lash out at Martin for hiding the truth (though Smitty should have been much more understanding), Anita learn everything from Vernon, and Nicole adding this to the list of things that she had been really raging over. Oh boy. The aftermath should definitely continue in the coming weeks for sure, count on it.