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Applause, Applause: Amy Ecklund & Michael O'Leary (Abby & Rick, GL)
Outstanding Performers for the week of July 31, 2000
by Mark McGarry
Soap Opera Weekly
August 29, 2000

Breaking up is hard to do. It can also be hard -- but extremely rewarding -- to watch, as Michael O'Leary and Amy Ecklund proved this week on Guiding Light when Rick and Abby ended their marriage and said goodbye. Day after day, both actors cried a river, but not of crocodile tears -- they were tears of great pain and raw emotion.

Rick felt like someone had punched him in the gut when he found Abby's birth-control pills, but that was nothing compared to the pain he would feel as he and Abby recognized their marriage was over. Just like the cochlear implant opened up a whole new world to Abby, the fact that Abby can now hear opened up a world of story for these characters, which GL mined to full capacity this week. O'Leary and Ecklund also left no stone unturned, exposing one wrenching emotion after the next. One could almost hear Rick's and Abby's hearts breaking.

Abby and Rick never resorted to cheap shots, which made what was happening that much more poignant to watch. This fact wasn't lost on the actors, who delivered stunning -- at times overwhelming -- performances from the heart.

At one point, Rick told Abby she could leave him because of him -- meaning, if he hadn't opened up a new world to her, she wouldn't be strong enough to take a chance on life. Ecklund's eyes, despite the tears, became a window into Abby's hopes and dreams. Meanwhile, O'Leary's eyes couldn't hide the fact that Rick, although he was hurting, only wanted the best for Abby, and that meant letting her go.

Their final goodbye wasn't so final, because at the airport Reva convinced Abby to go back to Rick. Abby came home to find Rick in bed with Claire, but she almost immediately smelled a rat. Regardless, she told Rick they still couldn't stay married, and the two said goodbye again in another series of powerful scenes. There was another level to these final moments, however, that made them richer than the preceding ones, if that's possible. Rick and Abby were not only saying goodbye to each other for the last time, but O'Leary and Ecklund -- acting partners for years -- were also saying goodbye. In a sense, they broke up, too. #