Montana actress
Chantal Stanfield writes a special guest column for us about her experiences on the show. Chantal plays rich-witch Dalene Phillips, who uses her cash to promote her dubious, often sex-andalous agendas. Here's the 12th and final part of her column: The Wicked Witch of Montana ...
“
And now, the end is near. And so I face the final curtain.”
I don’t even know what to say. As this week’s final episode looms, I’m wondering what I’m going to do every Tuesday evening.
I’ve already explained in
the last column why the second season won’t happen anytime soon (quite unfair) so let’s not harp on that. Instead let’s look back with fondness and forward with hope (of a second season) …
The season began quite slowly. Montana was a new series shot on location and set in Cape Town, with a large number of unknown or new performers, piggy-backing on the viewership of Generations.
Six months later, our viewership has grown to a steady 3,7 million viewers average each week. The most recent ARV for the second week of September saw 4,1 million viewers tuning in! This proves that really good local fare with great script and performers can truly exceed initial expectations.
The response from viewers has been phenomenal. When I took on the role of Dalene Phillips and realised exactly how she’d be perceived, I half-expected to get smacked upside the head by someone in a supermarket a lá Cherel De Villiers!
But loyal viewers have always had a big smile on their faces and friendly words. Most appreciated - it shows in the ratings!
Last week’s episode had so much in it that I almost couldn’t keep up with my notes.
Nolitha, or ‘Wildcat’, had a fat-chat with Bruce that included HER threatening him. HA! Bruce in turn, with the boss’s approval, is keen to use whatever means necessary to get rid of her - that scene with him cleaning his gun while on the phone with her was priceless.
Simphiwe’s supply-and-demand job turned out to be an illegal drug-dealing one and he offered Zola a job too when he found out - Zola might just be desperate enough, what with his knee predicament and money being scarcer than hens teeth in the Yili household.
That van following Lwazi is still haunting him, following him to work and driving away when it’s noticed.
The dead body situation actually confused me for a second so I’m looking forward to Tuesday’s episode to clear it up. As far as I understood, Mrs Diliza (the old lady dying in the Eastern Cape) is the mother of the dead body found at the KCC. The brother is the suspected murderer.
Yvonne got a fax of the photograph of Mrs Diliza’s grandchildren who turned out to be Nolitha and Malusi, Sis Nothemba’s kids. Sis Nothemba’s the one the police have been hounding and now it looks like her husband and their father is the long-lost murderer…
Dalene’s definitely feeling the heat. Like a furnace! She walked into Charles’ office and told him that she wanted out of the deal and for him to stay away from her family or she’d kill him.
Charles backlashed by sending his goons to her salon with a friendly reminder that he could get to her and her family anywhere, anytime and made good on that promise by driving Winston off the road. Her suspicions are on par.
Winston also had a glimmer of recognition, looking at his wife for a split second as if he knew something or knew that she did.
This week’s episode I can guarantee you’ll see Dalene in a very different light when certain revelations come to the fore.
Chantal’s Montana Character Awards:Best dressed character (big-ups to the wardrobe department): Vatiswa Duze - great style perfectly captured. Also great to see a strong black woman (specifically) represented with her natural hair unlike the soapie that precedes Montana …
Biggest wedding-ring: Once again, a tie between Dalene and Vatiswa. Seriously. If those rings were real, Dalene’s alone would cost a minimum of R125 000. Seriously. I checked it out. But hey, their husbands can afford it.
And that's it. I’m all out of behind-the-scenes stories! Really. The well has run dry! Maybe I’ll write another column at another time - hopefully with the second season of Montana, ahem. This column seems like it’s come to a rather abrupt ending, much like the final episode. I can’t wait to see how it turned out.
Please get everyone you know to watch this week, let’s see if we can push the ratings up even higher!
Thank you all once again for being so supportive of Montana and my lil’ ol’ column, it means so much. Please feel free to send emails or whatever to the SABC to rebroadcast this season while we wait!
Much love
SupaC