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Published
February 25, 2026
3:27 PM PST

Beyond the Gates spoilers for March 2 – 6, 2026 reveal Anita Dupree (Tamara Tunie) struggling and Dana “Leslie” Thomas (Trisha Mann-Grant) showboating.

We always start with what is coming the rest of this week and then we talk about what’s coming next week.

Celebrating Beyond the Gates’ One-Year Anniversary and Ashley’s Career Milestone

On Wednesday, February 25th—just a quick note, by the way, if you didn’t know it—Beyond the Gates celebrated its one-year anniversary on Tuesday, February 24th. Man, what a year! I expect them to need a U-Haul to gather up all the daytime Emmys they are going to win at the next awards ceremony. I think they may sweep or just clean up.

Also, it is Ashley Morgan’s (Jen Jacob) work anniversary as she celebrates her first year at Garland Memorial. She and Chenise Valjean (Tiara Wilkins) are talking about the past year and all that has happened. Speaking of Ashley’s past year, her ex, Derek Baldwin (Ben Gavin), also gets some screen time as he makes a decision about what to do for a job now that his time as a firefighter is over.

Derek’s New Career Path and Leslie’s Clinic Power Plays on BTG

I wonder if Leslie is going to wind up hiring Derek. If so, I wish him so much grace. Related to that, Eva Thomas (Ambyr Michelle) is annoyed with Leslie, who’s yapping about the clinic and telling Eva that she’s going to show her how you do real business. Leslie says, “Watch and learn.” We know she and Derek get into it. This may be when Leslie and Derek can iron things out and decide if they can work together.

Beyond the Gates Spoilers: Jacob’s Undercover Crisis – Will Isaiah Blow His Big Brother’s Cover?

Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) is getting deeper and deeper undercover. Now he is embedded with the plasma ring red market people, but then he runs into his younger brother, Izaiah Hawthorne (David Lami Friebe), while on the job. Jacob’s cover could be blown. He asks why Izaiah is out in that dodgy corner of town, and Izaiah tells his big brother he could ask him the same.

Cat and Tomas Face a Relationship Crossroads over Living Arrangements on BTG

Katherine “Kat” Richardson (Colby Muhammad) wants to know if she can stay forever after Tomas “Tom” Navarro (Alex Alegria) said Kat can come over to his place whenever she wants. Kat wants to know if Tomas still wants to live together. If you remember, he asked Kat to move in about four months ago, back in December, but she told Tomas, “No, it’s too fast.”

This time, he seems a little offended. He wants to know Kat’s motives, and it looks like Tomas may tell her no. He wants Kat to choose him for him, not by default or as a second choice because Chelsea Hamilton’s (RhonniRose Mantilla) moving out to move in with her fiancé and Kat doesn’t want to crash alone in her Aunt Dani Dupree’s (Karla Mosley) guest house.

Thursday Beyond the Gates Spoilers: Mysterious Visitors and Leslie’s Self-Promotion

On Thursday, February 26th, a “no” from Tomas might be why Kat is suddenly hyper-focused and ranting about Laura Peterson’s (Destiny Love) car accident that nearly killed her almost a year ago. Leslie has avoided any consequences for it, which of course is not okay. Naomi Hamilton Hawthorne (Arielle Prepetit) checks in with Ashley and updates her on Jacob moving out. Will Naomi mention that Jacob is undercover and that’s why he did it, or will Naomi be cryptic just because of any potential risk?

Andre Richardson (Sean Freeman) and Dani Dupree have a visitor they were not expecting and don’t want to see. It could be Leslie or it could be Hayley Lawson (Marquita Goings). Meanwhile, Leslie engages in some self-promotion. She is showboating about something. Now, it could be about her new clinic that she’s funding or some other insanity. I definitely could see Leslie trying to piggyback off the attention that Anita has gotten because of the cancer.

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Speaking of which, Gayle King’s interview with Anita has energized the whole DMV. We’re going to be getting lots more breast cancer awareness as this rocks on, which is great. Awareness for that is wonderful. I wonder if Anastasia (Timeca M. Seretti) is going to be petty or sympathetic since she was one of the people pushing gossip saying that Anita was drunk at the club when she was actually suffering side effects of chemo. I wonder if Leslie is going to try and get closer to Anita to sponge off that residual attention because she’s just awful.

Friday BTG Drama: Cat’s Confrontations and Vanessa’s Dating App Dilemmas

On Friday, February 27th, Kat amps up a nasty confrontation with Eva and Leslie. Kat may be upset by Tomas and lashing out at Eva, but it’s clear the two of them are living rent-free in Kat’s head. I hope long-term that she and Eva develop a real bond as sisters, but it seems impossible—especially as long as Leslie’s around.

Chelsea has a blowup with a cousin. My money is on Kat and not Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) because Kat is in a mood. She’s so enraged, in fact, that Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson (Daphnee Duplaix) and Dr. Ted Richardson (Keith D. Robinson) are quite concerned about their daughter. Vanessa McBride (Lauren Buglioli) tries to cheer up Nicole. I wonder if this is about Anita’s interview and all the attention and stress that came with it, but it was unavoidable.

It’s kind of ironic; I noticed that Vanessa was defending her escort app to Nicole, who was horrified by the idea that she would look for a date for Samantha Richardson (Najah Jackson) on there. Then ironically, Vanessa’s daughter wound up with a date from the Heart Attach app. That whole scene with her and Joey Armstrong (Jon Lindstrom) discussing it featured some clever dialogue: “Do as I say, not who I do.”

Mysterious Meetings and Smitty’s Pursuit of the Plasma Ring

Izaiah is asked to meet with someone and it surprises him. Maybe it’s his dad, Police Chief Elon Hawthorne (Malachi Malik), who’s not exactly a fan of his son. Or maybe it’s tied to the plasma case because Izaiah has a background in shady DMV goings-on. Bradley “Smitty” Smith (Mike Manning) catches up with an old friend, and I wonder if this might be tied to him poking into the plasma case as well.

Looking Ahead to March 2nd: Anita’s CBS Morning Show Aftershocks on Beyond the Gates

The week of March 2nd through the 6th, we expect lots more aftershocks from Anita’s stunning CBS Morning Show announcement about her cancer, the stage it’s in, and how scary everything is. I thought that interview segment was done really well. It was perfect. I thought I was watching an episode of the real CBS Morning Show. They don’t always do stuff that well on soaps.

I expect Leslie to come over with flowers, a plant, and fake sympathy. I hope she’s not going to be making tacky comments about Anita being the second articulate who might lose her life since her mom, Barbara, was the first to pass away. And I trust that Leslie is going to make everything worse on Anita while she says she’s trying not to.

Undercover Dangers and the Hunt for Justice in the Red Market

Smitty and Jacob may both be in danger doing this red market plasma sting. I wonder if somebody we know is linked to this ring. I hope Joey’s not, but you never know with him. Lynette Wise (Domini Madison) is feeling pretty good about her cover-up con targeting that poor homeless guy that Joey paid off and sent away, but he smells a rat.

I do suspect Joey’s going to figure out Lynette and Hayley are in cahoots. I also expect Joey to confront Randy Parker (Maurice P. Kerry) about a false suspect, but he may keep Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett) in the dark. Joey may just tell him people jump bail all the time. The problem is Bill still wants justice because the alleged mugger disappeared from the DMV.

Final Spoilers: Vernon’s Protection and Cat’s Growing Frustration on BTG

Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis) does all he can to protect Anita now that her big secret is out and there are a lot more eyes on them. Meanwhile, Hayley thinks she got away with everything, but I doubt it. The bottom line is Lynette is never going to go away and get her hand out of Hayley Lawson’s purse. They have got to do something about that girl.

Kat’s frustrations grow and I wonder if the family’s going to stage an anger intervention. Is Tomas going to circle back around to Kat and tell her yes, he wants her to move in? Randy’s on edge and hoping the scrutiny is over, but Joey’s likely going to dig into him more. We will have to wait to see if Derek starts working with Leslie at her clinic.

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It’s Oscar season, and there are some pretty interesting movies nominated for 2026. Cinephiles can prepare for the upcoming ceremony by watching the films they haven’t seen, but why not supplement that by watching some television too? Specifically The Simpsons. It just reached a new milestone (which some would call remarkable and others would call tragic): its 800th episode. Most of the material worth watching isn’t so recent, but one through line you can be sure of is that the writers often throw in references to movies all throughout the sitcom’s history. Inevitably, many of these come from Oscar-nominated feature films.

Even when the sitcom aired its first episode in 1989, there was a ton of Academy-worthy material to use for Simpson stories, and the writers likewise used a ton of it. Well, as the show kept getting renewed and renewed, more and more fantastic award-nominated and award-winning material became ripe for the picking. Of course, the giants of cinema don’t always lead to great jokes, but they often do in The Simpsons‘ greatest works. There are even some episodes that dedicate a large chunk of their plots to sending up one such Oscar-nominee. The following seven episodes arguably make up the best of the bunch, showcasing intriguing sides of the whole family: Bart (Nancy Cartwright), Homer (Dan Castellaneta), Lisa (Yeardley Smith), Marge (Julie Kavner), and even Maggie. These aren’t ordered by the quality of the movies or quantity of award nominations; having one nomination is enough. It does help for the episode to pay homage to more than one Oscar-nominee, but mostly these are just excellent episodes that use their source material to the fullest.

1

“Barthood”

Season 27, Episode 9

Image via FOX

Season 27’s “Barthood” is the experimental Simpsons episode that’s based on the experimental 2014 film Boyhood by Richard Linklater. The movie was filmed over the course of about 10 years as all the actors got older, and it represents a fascinatingly realistic and heartfelt portrayal of a boy’s childhood. Similarly, “Barthood” jumps around to the most formative points of Bart’s upbringing. As it starts with him younger than he is in the canon (which this episode is not), this proves to be one of the strongest Simpsons episodes set in the past. “Barthood” is also unique in how it explores Bart’s life when he’s older, which likewise makes it one of the best Simpsons episodes set in the future.

Boyhood was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Ethan Hawke, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. It even won an Oscar—the tremendous Patricia Arquette, specifically—for Best Supporting Actress. It’s also worth noting that Linklater has a 2026 Oscar-nominated movie with Ethan Hawke called Blue Moon, for those interested in checking that out before this year’s Oscar ceremony.

2

“Cape Feare”

Season 5, Episode 2

Image via FOX

By far one of the most famous Simpsons episodes you can find, “Cape Feare” has a title that’s extremely close to the title of the film it parodies: Cape Fear. When Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) is unwisely released from prison on parole (despite having the hilariously menacing “Die Bart Die” tattoo on his torso), he goes after Bart Simpson. At this point in their rivalry, Bart has already had Sideshow Bob arrested for framing Krusty (Dan Castellaneta) and trying to blow up Aunt Selma (Julie Kavner)—so Bob has a bone to pick with him. He’s out for revenge, similar to how the antagonist of Cape Fear wants revenge on the lawyer who got him convicted.

J. Lee Thompson‘s original version from 1962 did not earn any Oscar nods, but Martin Scorsese‘s chilling 1991 remake sure did: Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis were both nominated for their performances. No surprises there; De Niro, with a southern accent, is terrifying (as Killers of the Flower Moon makes even clearer), and Lewis puts in one of the best teenage performances of the decade. Alas, no wins. Still, the movie is worth watching. It also led to this Simpsons classic, which manages to capture some of the terror of Scorsese’s underappreciated thriller without sacrificing any laughter along the way.

3

“Marge on the Lam”

Season 5, Episode 6

Image via FOX

Arguably the most impressive entry from Season 5, “Marge on the Lam” is largely about two women who grow a touching bond. The matriarch of the Simpson family befriends neighbor Ruth Powers (Pamela Reed), who is having a rough divorce. Marge isn’t the most adventurous person in the world, which is part of the original character’s charm, but this entry provides her with an arc that steadily uses the power of friendship to steer her onto the wild side. Without losing any of the sitcom’s trademark humor, it’s one of Marge’s best storylines by a mile.

Soon she and Ruth are on the run from the cops, which turns this into a magnificent parody of Ridley Scott‘s feminist road movie Thelma & Louise. While the pair of friends in the film are on the run for much darker reasons, the episode nonetheless marries humor with pathos in a way that adeptly touches on the movie’s themes. Thelma & Louise garnered six Academy Award nominations: Best Actress for its dynamic duo Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Screenwriter Callie Khouri wound up winning the Original Screenplay Oscar, and deservedly so.

4

“Bart of Darkness”

Season 6, Episode 1

Image via FOX

The Simpsons‘ sixth season premiere is “Bart of Darkness,” a title taken from Joseph Conrad‘s novella Heart of Darkness. However, neither that nor Francis Ford Coppola‘s adaptation, Apocalypse Now, seem to have anything to do with the story. As Bart breaks his leg trying to dive into the family’s overcrowded pool, he falls and breaks his leg on the ground. Unable to swim and claim the glory of popularity that Lisa now basks in, he recedes to his room and watches with suspicion a very distressed Ned Flanders (Harry Shearer) next door. Bart is convinced this man killed his wife, and it’s both funny and suspenseful as he enlists Lisa to help him get to the bottom of this mystery.

Sound familiar? That’s because it’s based on Alfred Hitchcock’s incredibly well-crafted Rear Window, which somehow received only four nominations at the 1955 Oscars: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Color), and Best Sound (Recording). And it won…none of them? Well, just another example of the Academy making mistakes. Granted, Rear Window had to compete with On the Waterfront, but the total lack of wins and meager number of nominations is still ridiculous. At least this Simpsons episode helps make up for that a little.

5

“Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington”

Season 3, Episode 2

Image via FOX

When Lisa signs up for a national speech contest, she works her way into the final round. It’s held in D.C., hence the story’s title “Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington.” Sometimes an episode’s title doesn’t line up with the material in the story itself. Not the case with this season three gem, which bases its story off of Frank Capra‘s 1939 political masterpiece Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Just as Mr. Smith (James Stewart) goes from wide-eyed newbie to disillusioned critic, Lisa quickly and compellingly learns that American politics can be a brutal game indeed.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a giant of cinema, and it had a good run at the Oscars with a whopping 11 nominations: Outstanding Production (now called Best Picture), Best Director, Best Actor, Best Writing: Screenplay, Best Writing: Original Story (another old-school oddity), Best Supporting Actor for Claude Rains and Harry Carey, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Music: Scoring, and Best Sound Recording. As it was up against Victor Fleming‘s titans The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, our film only won an Oscar for Best Writing: Original Story. Nevertheless, neither of those movies ever did (nor ever will) get such a hilarious and cinematic treatment from The Simpsons.

6

“You Only Move Twice”

Season 8, Episode 2

Image via FOX

“You Only Move Twice” is one of the greatest Simpsons parody episodes of all time. There’s so much packed into this story that there’s no time for things to make sense. Homer is quickly offered a better-paying job at Globex Corporation, and the Simpsons swiftly cast off their old lives for paradise at Cypress Creek. If you thought the Springfield Powerplant was problematic, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Homer’s boss (a famous Albert Brooks performance) is essentially a James Bond supervillain. As the audience witnesses sidesplitting action pieces, Homer casually walks around without even realizing what’s going on.

Given how this parody works more as a mix of Bond tropes than a focus on one specific Bond, and given how this story’s Mr. Bont is clearly a parody of Sean Connery‘s Bond, we’ll only list the Oscar-nominated entries in the franchise that starred Connery. 1964’s Goldfinger won for Best Sound Effects, 1965’s Thunderball won for Best Visual Effects, and 1972’s Diamonds Are Forever was nominated for Best Sound. Interestingly, the episode is named after “You Only Live Twice” (which also starred Connery), but that didn’t receive any nominations.

7

“A Streetcar Named Marge”

Season 4, Episode 2

Image via FOX

Season 4’s “A Streetcar Named Marge” is absolutely stuffed with Academy-worthy allusions. As Marge tries out for the coveted role of Blanche DuBois in a local musical adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, her relationship with Homer is movingly compared to that of Stella (Kim Hunter) and Stanley (Marlon Brando). This was the first film to win three of the four acting Oscars, which is already amazing. But it also won Best Production Design, and received a whopping eight more nominations on top of that: Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (somehow Brando didn’t win), Best Director, and obviously, Best Picture.

“A Streetcar Named Marge” is such a parody-pallooza that even its subplot is based on a movie that got an Oscar nod. As Maggie and some other babies try to retrieve their pacifiers from an evil daycare woman, everything from the action to the teamwork to the music tells us this is a send-up of 1963’s The Great Escape (nominated for Best Film Editing). If that weren’t enough, the end of that plot thread features an epic reference to another 1963 classic called The Birds — which also received an Oscar nomination (for Best Special Effects). Needless to say, when it comes to Simpsons Oscar-movie parodies, “A Streetcar Named Marge” truly belongs on the podium.

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The Simpsons

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Release Date

December 17, 1989

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Network

FOX

Directors

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Steven Dean Moore, Mark Kirkland, Rob Oliver, Michael Polcino, Mike B. Anderson, Chris Clements, Wes Archer, Timothy Bailey, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Matthew Faughnan, Chuck Sheetz, Rich Moore, Jeffrey Lynch, Pete Michels, Susie Dietter, Raymond S. Persi, Carlos Baeza, Dominic Polcino, Lauren MacMullan, Michael Marcantel, Neil Affleck, Swinton O. Scott III, Jennifer Moeller

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  Homer Simpson / Abe Simpson / Barney Gumble / Krusty (voice)

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  Julie Kavner

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  Marge Simpson / Patty Bouvier / Selma Bouvier (voice)

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 minute ago

Commander Riker is a fan-favorite character on Star Trek: The Next Generation because he’s a funny, take-charge leader who continues the James T. Kirk tradition of bedding the finest babes in the galaxy. In fact, it’s fair to say that Riker is largely defined by his relationships, including his slow-burning romance with Deanna Troi that culminated in his marriage. However, Troi isn’t necessarily the most important relationship in Riker’s life: instead, the most important relationship is the one he had with his father, who shaped the future Starfleet officer into the man he eventually became.

Unfortunately, the two had a very contentious early relationship, and Kyle Riker abandoned his son when Will was only 15 years old. They reunited and eventually reconciled in the Season 2 episode “The Icarus Factor,” but director Robert Iscove was disappointed in how things played out onscreen. The reason for that is simple: Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry placed so many restrictions on character conflict that it was impossible to accurately portray the reunion between this contentious father/son duo.

To Seek Out New Life And New Daddy Issues

Iscove was a first-time Star Trek director, and he took the job of directing “The Icarus Factor” because he was a huge fan of The Original Series. That show was set during the 23rd century, while The Next Generation was set in the 24th century, and he learned the hard way what a difference a century can make. According to Iscove (as recorded in Captain’s Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Voyages), Roddenberry believed that “we’ve all kind of resolved those feelings of anger” by the 24th century, and this made it hard to direct “an emotional piece” between a son and the father who “deserted Riker for 25 years.”

The director didn’t mince words about how annoying Roddenberry’s restrictions were, claiming they made the conflict between Kyle and William Riker “very hard to play.” He went on to note that “if you’re not going to serve the resentment and anger, what happens once the two of them get together, you can’t serve any real human drama.” The episode certainly had the potential for major drama: both men were haunted by the death of Will Riker’s mother, and the future commander was doubly tormented by his father ditching him at the tender age of 15.

Fake Sports, Real Emotions

That didn’t really happen, though, as “The Icarus Factor” made their conflict rather literal. The two donned goofy costumes and duked it out in a fictional Japanese sport, with the Starfleet officer venting some of his bitterness before they finally reconciled. That reconciliation was very disappointing to audiences because it didn’t feel earned: they weren’t able to really hash out their differences or overcome lingering resentment, all because the man who created Star Trek thought humanity had moved beyond the kind of emotional conflict that those watching The Next Generation would have preferred.

Director Robert Iscove would have preferred more emotional conflict as well, and he went on to lament that “The Original Series was much more humanistic in its approach.” He was disappointed with how “The Icarus Factor” turned out, and he never returned to the franchise, even though producers kept offering him opportunities to direct additional Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. Like Riker, powerful people kept pulling out the chair for him, but he had no real interest in sitting down. 

A Bittersweet Victory For The Writers

As longtime Star Trek fans know, this is a tale that has a bittersweet ending: after Gene Roddenberry became suddenly ill and then tragically passed away, his old rule about avoiding conflict between humans went out the airlock. The Next Generation began adding more conflict before Deep Space Nine took things to the next level, and NuTrek shows like Starfleet Academy have major character conflict built into their creative DNA.

Sadly, this change was too late for Commander Riker, whose daddy issues and reconciliation were ultimately hampered by the storytelling rule that nearly ruined TNG before it could become must-see TV.

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