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RIP: Esta TerBlanche has passed

dragonflies

By dragonflies
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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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AMC was in such a dark period when Gillian arrived. The character was a bit of a mess early on, but Esta was just so charismatic and fun and likeable, it was hard not to warm to her. And I loved her relationship with her grandmother, played by the wonderful Meg Mundy. 

The last few years of Gillian's run seemed to not understand what made her work, but Esta was always worth watching. I still remember how upset fans were over her death and how the show tried a very blatant ass-covering way as they knew people were going to be upset. 

I hope she knew how many fans loved her work.

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titan1978 Veteran

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What sad news. I adored her on AMC, and Gillian’s death was one of those errors that I never understood. It was the only time I liked Ryan in any relationship.

I hate that ABC was so desperate to seem edgy in the late 90’s- 2000’s, so we lost characters that were charming and fun to watch for loudmouths and darkness.

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soapfan770 Veteran

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This is the tragic part because Esta really did put in so much work…Gillian as a character was initially trashed and nearly universally panned by fans the and soap mags alike those first several months but by the time the character died she was nearly universally beloved and it was her death that was panned despite the transition to heaven featuring so many ex-alumni, which was praised for an overall terrible exit. 
 

May she RIP.

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Vee Grand Master

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I had no idea Esta had such a rough start. I'd like to hear more about that and what it entailed story-wise. I just remember being enchanted with her when I drifted back to the show - her look and mannerisms were so much like Bjórk, a favorite of mine then and now.

I'll always wonder what went down with her appearance at the end of the network run in 2011. After such hype about her return she only appeared for a couple mins with almost no dialogue, whereas I believe she, Josh Duhamel and others (maybe Alexa Havins) may have filmed more for the original non-cliffhanger ending. Was she intended to get a resurrection of Gillian and HEA with Ryan just like I think Leo and Greenlee were?

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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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It's a shame the non-cliffhanger footage isn't available as some of those characters might have had better exits.

When Gillian first arrived in Pine Valley she was a gold digger, planning to woo Edmund, and then she switched to Scott. Her intro was faking a car breakdown to try to charm Kevin Sheffield (having no idea that he was gay). There was one particular moment SPW went to town on during a hurricane (a story that felt like it was severely curtailed, maybe due to the incoming writing changeover) where Gillian went outside during the "hurricane" to have fun in the water. 

It was McTavish who turned opinion of Gillian around through the initial love story with Ryan, where Gillian ultimately chose love over money (the show also seemed to be suggesting Kelsey and Scott might get together, but neither lasted the rest of the year).

Sadly, she then ruined the whole thing by having Gillian sleep with David for Ryan's bail money or whatever and then have Ryan basically call her a big whore and dump her, but the character still remained well-liked in spite of being ill-used from that point on.

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soapfan770 Veteran

soapfan770

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@DRW50 @Vee Correct me if I’m wrong but I remember there was condemnation because Gillian was also almost immediately thrown at Tad as a possible new love interest during the hurricane story as Carl mentioned seemed to get completely upended and a non story that got lost in the shuffle…I know at the time for myself Maria’s presumed death a month prior via a TWA Flight 800 recreation left me in the cold (even if LaRue almost nearly squandered her whole career on that insipid UPN sitcom)

 

Oh and that a lot of people online thought Esta’s accent was “fake” and what not. That was annoying. They were probably same people also were also complaining about Lesley Anne-Down having a fake British accent until they got schooled otherwise. 

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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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I had forgotten about the Tad part.

Edmund ends up having a fairly decent (for soaps) mourning period until TKFP fiasco...

I imagine some people just thought she had some generic Eurotrash accent especially as the various types of South African accents weren't as well known to the American public. I'm glad most people had the sense to know better.  

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