I suspect it has a lot to do with people having played the parts where Gillian appears literally years ago, when the episodes with her were released. Her presence and tension surrounding it is quite stronger when you've just played the whole game in one (or few) sittings, and Ian's recollections and dream of her are fresh on your mind.While I can't disagree with you on this point, I can still say it was poorly handed. I just got to the end of the update with what is supposed to be a cliffhanger and my thoughts were "I don't really give a fuck about this to be honest". And the main reason is that there's almost no built tension around Gillian to make this moment feel like a big deal.