I loved Finn Carter and Sierra during the Marland years! Sierra was such a subtle character but the development of her character from 85, when she first appeared to the end of 86' was so dramatic when you actually think about it, but it was a gradual change that was rooted in story, which made it so believable.
From those scenes of Sierra being manhandled by Tonio and wanting to hide the bruises to her response to Lucinda's plea for her to reconsider divorcing Tonio where Sierra saucily says "If you think he's such a great husband, why don't you marry him?!" And Sierra admitting that (in marrying Tonio) she made the biggest mistake of her life and she was trying to fix it. So you went from a character who was once easily manipulated by her mother, lied to and cheated on by her husband, to someone who creates and determines her own agency and under her own power, charts her own life course.
That was some deft writing on Marland's part, which made it all the more sad how Sierra's character was torn up in '94 to facilitate Craig's budding relationship with Samantha. I know Finn wasn't returning to the show so something had to be done to resolve the issue of her marriage to Craig but considering the fact that Scott didn't even stay that much longer anyway and Kirk and Sam soon got together, I consider it kind of a waste what they did to both Craig and Sierra at this point-from then on, both characters became somewhat expendable. During the Marland years however, the character grew in esteem, albeit quietly.
I didn't really start watching ATWT live until summer 1985, so it was a bit jarring to find on Youtube Sierra's early scenes where Craig found her in Montega as a tomboy/rebel-fighter speaking English with a Latino accent. But it just goes to show what a great writer Marland was by how well Sierra was integrated into the storylines. Oakdalian uploaded some terrific and feisty performances by Finn Carter (playing opposite Scott Bryce) from a November '85 episode under the title "Lily Meets Holden," before her disastrous marriage with Tonio.
Sierra had an accent??