I disagree with pretty much everything that was said in the first post to this thread. If I have time later, I'll try to detail my points, but I've basically made them all in the past on this forum or an earlier incarnation. In my view, 1840 is a much more compact, well-plotted, and resolved storyline that 1897, second perhaps to 1795 in that respect. Thematically the storyline comes full circle with Barnabas and Angelique ... and the 1841 storyline is an interesting coda (my own term for it) for the series. It suggests new directions for the show, but also brings back some of the original themes, such as the orphan's search for her family, etc. I actually found it quite a satisfying way to end the series, though obviously many things were left open, as they were with most of the individual storylines.