Crimeny, only ten episodes into 1897 with a nifty storyline simmering nicely, and what must they do but bring Angelique back! I have great admiration for Lara Parker's performance, but I don't like Angelique and that's that.
The opening voiceover intrigued me. It said (thank you, Robservations!) "This is no ordinary night at Collinwood. For once before, in 1897, two desperate men and a child as their unwitting pawn sought the devil's help. Now, incredibly, time has reeled backwards, and that horrifying night is to be lived again." So the ceremony in the cottage happened during the original 1897, despite that fact that Barnabas wasn't there, and he's the one who caused Quentin and Evan to hold the ceremony this time around. Why did they want the devil's help in the original 1897? I'm figuring it was because Edith's ghost was running around scaring Quentin, which would mean that it wasn't Barnabas who caused her spirit to become restless. I'm open to other ideas, however. Next question: in the original 1897, did Angelique appear, or was there some other outcome to the ceremony? I find it hard to believe that Angelique would appear without Barnabas as a magnet to draw her to 1897. Maybe the ceremony just fizzled in the original version, but that would be surprising at Collinwood. Again, I'm open to other ideas.[spoiler]I am aware that Beth told Julia in 1969 that Quentin was murdered because he had planned to marry Angelique instead of Beth, which would be an indication that Angelique somehow made it to the original 1897. I can get around that without too much trouble, but I can't see putting the workaround in the discussion for this episode, buried in a spoiler. So...[/spoiler] Assume for the sake of argument that Angelique didn't appear at the original ceremony. In that case, what did happen?
And another thing about that voiceover: What is the meaning of "time has reeled backwards"? I don't think it's correct. It suggests that time is a single line. Later (much later) episodes strongly indicate that 1969 and 1897 are running concurrently, making time a double line at the very least. And "reeled backwards"? What does that mean? A movie reel, I suppose, and if we looked closely when Barnabas did the I Ching business we could have seen all the actions of the universe going backwards at an incredibly fast rate - the bullet comes out of JFK's head, millions of babies are sucked back into their mother's wombs - but again, that can't be right. The wording reminds me of the song "Backward, turn backward, O Time in thy flight" and perhaps that was what was in the mind the writer, who was Violet Welles, according to the credits.
Once again Angelique displays excellent craftwork, whipping up that doll in no time flat. Knitted, not crocheted, right?
I like the dreamy look that Kathryn Leigh Scott adopts as Rachel. Rachel's a sweet, boring little character, but KLS does her best for her.