Smitty’s (Mike Manning) dedication to truth and protecting his family causes conflict in Beyond the Gates Season 1 Episode 135.
One would think that after being married to Smitty this long, Martin (Brandon Claybon) would understand how much his husband hates lies.
Their conflict arises from Martin’s act of leaving their daughter with her birth mother unsupervised. Once again, Martin decides to hide something from Smitty and give how fickle their marriage is currently, that’s not a smart thing to do.
This sequence of events leads to one of Smitty’s blowouts as he confronts Martin, Samantha (Najah Jackson), and June (Jasmine Burke). He lets everyone a piece of his mind.
This is not a clearcut situation where we can say Martin is in the wrong and Smitty is right. It’s all a matter of perspective, and they consistenly fail to see where the other person is coming from.
Martin is the cool dad; the kids come to him with their desires and questions.
It’s clear that Samantha wants to know her birth mother. Those of us who are not adopted can never claim to understand what that means for people. Some spend their entire lives wondering who their biological parents were.
Being able to satify this curiosity can mean a lot to people, and clearly it means a lot to Samantha.
And her bio mom is not a bad person. It would have given Smitty more amunation if June is a hack but she’s a decent person. Despite having had a rough start, she has gotten her life straightened out.
Their conversation fulfilled a part of Samantha that her fathers can never. I mean the patience on that woman to listen to all that drama without pulling her hair out.
Smitty Needs to Calm Down
However, one can also see where Smitty is coming from. She did not do right by the kids when they were younger and Smitty has worked hard to ensure that his children don’t feel like they’re missing something.
His biggest fear is that she will get their hopes up, only to crush them at a later time. It’s a very valid fear but Smitty is being overprotective.
If he’s not careful, he could be driving Samantha and Martin farther away.
The last thing anyone wants is for The Richardsons to drift apart. I’m still hoping that Beyond the Gates will get #Smittin back together.
Smitty will need to give his family a longer leash if he doesn’t want to lose them. He needs to understand that Martin might forever be the cool dad and that’s okay. The kids don’t love him more or Smitty less. It’s just different.
Now given the article he’s working on, it might be true that he’s overthinking things. Researching can overwhelm someone with negative scenarios, and they might have spooked Smitty.
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