Barnabas has seen Angelique lift his curse, and he has seen her risk her life to save Quentin, and he assumes that beneath all of the wicked things that Angelique has done, there beats a heart as true and warm as any man could desire, and that she's just bursting with compassion for her fellow man. Of course Barnabas loves her! He believes (extrapolating a little here) that if, like him, she had seen the unhappy people in 1841 parallel time, then she, like him, would wish she could help them. Of course he's wrong. Angelique still doesn't care about anybody except Barnabas. She's willing to save any Tom, Dick, or Harry if it will please Barnabas - but only if it will please Barnabas. Oh, golly is he ever going to be disappointed the next time he deals with her! Because of course - in the universe of the uncanceled series - she will be back. Maybe she'll fool him for a while, but ultimately he'll be disillusioned. Julia will be there to pick up the pieces, and he'll indulge in a few lamentations to Julia and extol Julia's friendship in a way that will make the hearts of all BJ shippers go pit-a-pat - and then he'll go hell-for-the-leather after the next sweet young thing who catches his eye.
I think you're right, Lydia, about Barnabas and Angelique.
I do too. And even though we've discussed it many time before, it can never be stressed too often that the twist of Barnabas realizing and then declaring his love for Angelique is tried and true soap plotting. At some point on every soap enemies of the opposite sex always come to have the epiphany moment when they realize their hate for each other was really love. And though the courses of their relationships play out differently for each couple, 9 times out of 10 the relationships never work out in the end - and I'd bet Barn and Ang would have faced that same result.
I think A did change to some extent, though, in some way that would have made things interesting later
It could have been fascinating to see. But alas...
And now we, like Trask, are trapped in parallel time, and the series, like Trask, will die there.
You're right! Good point!
Actually, Lydia never meant anything like that, as is clear from what she goes on to say.
And as Lydia goes on to say:
Thank heaven for 1841 parallel time. If the series had ended with 1840, I would have thought, "It was running out of steam. Maybe it's a good thing it was canceled." Loving parallel time 1841 as I do, I think, "Many more fantastic storylines could have been done, and would have been done, if only it hadn't been canceled."
Exactly.
Unfortunately, a lot of us do feel that sense of tiredness you describe, but because of 1841PT, and if things had ended with 1840RT, at least there would have been a sort of conclusion, with the present's happy ending, and some satisfying concluding episodes with good writing for 1840RT. I think PT1841 is satisfying for DS fans who are more soap-inclined (or who enjoy those sweeping epic etc. romantic novels) than horror-inclined, and that wouldn't be me. I like romance worked in amongst the other aspects, like horror, not stared at point-blank... I can tell 1841PT is well done, I noticed that finally last time around, but it's such a different show that the horror music is out of place.
I don't think so at all. 1841PT's soap elements might appear more blatant to some, but it has no more soap elements than most DS storylines. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that every single DS storyline relies heavily on classic soap elements - and chief among them is always love in all its forms and betrayal of love. Plus 1841PT has plenty of its own supernatural elements to it - certainly more than the whole intro to Barnabas/Liz blackmail period did. What might tend to make 1841PT seem more soapy is the fact that for the first time in a long time the supernatural elements aren't going off in 100 different directions at once and are instead focused and interwoven really well.
I also like seeing how one thing, the Room, distorts all the relationships between the residents of Collinwood.
Yes, the mystery of THE ROOM is great fun to see unfold and its backstory is extremely well plotted.