Expert: Carmen Curtis - 10/19/2005

Question
remember Erica, Dylan's half sister by Jack & Suzanne? Kevin & Suzanne ripped off Dylan and they fled to Mexico, "kindnapping" Erica along the way. Dylan and Valerie (along with "Jonesy") went to Mexico to recover the fortune and rescue Erica. After that... no Erica. Dylan saved her then dumped her in a foster home or something? It seems a glaring plot hole that the writers just drop Dylan's half sister with no further reference!

Answer
Hi Steve,
I liked Erica and that whole kidnapping plot line too. While the writers have made lots of goofs in terms of dropping characters, they actually did tie up the loose ends with Erica in later seasons.

After Erica was rescued during season 5 by Dylan and Val, she was sent to Hawaii to live with Iris, Dylan's mom. She was never mentioned again until Season 8 (episodes 218, 219, and 220), when she suddenly turned up on the streets of LA as a prostitute! They didn't say how old she was but she was being played by a different actress and was maybe about 16. Apparently, she got some loser surfer boyfriend in Haiwaii and followed him to LA, where he dumped her. Devastated, she turned to prostitution. By this time, Dylan had already left the show. Kelly and Brandon discovered her when they were driving to a restaurant or something. Erica ran away at first, but Kelly had connections with a social service organization and bribed some guy on the streets to take them to Erica's apartment. Erica was working with a pimp, Riggs, who was total scum. Kelly and Brandon took Erica in to live with them in Casa Walsh, where Erica stole all their valuable stuff for her pimp. Brandon bailed her out of jail for the theft and tried to help her clean up her act. With Erica's help, he wrote an article in his newspaper the Beverly Beat about teen prostitution and Riggs. It turned out to be a mistake because the district attorney's office contacted Brandon for help in arresting Riggs. They wanted him to give Erica's name so she could build a case against Riggs. A protective Brandon refused to tell the D.A. that Erica was the prostitute in the story, so the D.A. charged Brandon with obstructing justice or something. Even when Brandon was arrested, he insisted on keeping Erica's name quiet against Kelly's wishes. So Erica, Kelly, and a social service lady cooked up a plot where it would look like Erica and Riggs were both being arrested at the same time. That way, Riggs wouldn't come after Erica and harm her for turning him in. After that whole mess ended, custody of Erica was transfered to Dylan (who was living with Brenda) in London, where she presumably still is. I guess with the crazy parents she had, the cute sister-turned-hardened prostitute storyline wasn't too off the mark! Hope this helps!

Carmen