I like 1897 when Magda is resentful and finds ways to sabotage Barnabas, engaging in brinkmanship maybe.
[spoiler]Later, I still can't help liking 1897, but it seems that she settles into being a straightforward ally and helper of Barnabas, just because it was easier for the plot. They may not have wanted to deal with her later as the interwoven plot lines got more involved. It seemed that Magda settled down for "TV" reasons and became unrealistic. She became another Julia in a way, just there to be another pair of hands to carry outr Barnabas's agenda. Occasionally she'll stop to wonder at her cooperativeness, and she'll shrug and accept it.
I do like it much later when Barnabas protects Magda against the Gypsy Inquisition. That was welcome, finally a bit of warmth between them, and it cleaned up the problem of why she kept helping, a bit late however.[/spoiler]
By the way, Magda, great fringe character, even counter-cultural. The only series lately that I know of (because it's on broadcast TV) that goes out of its way to legitimize kinds of people whom the majority tends to shun would be Boston Legal. Magda is very sympathetic, gets pushed around by everyone, has more love in her than the Collinses when allowed to show it... not respectable, garish, scheming, not palatable to most, but better than those around her. A great character to show to middle-class viewers who might have as a major worry whether their bland lawn is perfectly mowed, and who wouldn't have given her the time of day in real life.
Lydia, I'm off for a happy adventure of snood-Googling. Other people, when wanting to learn more about the world, study Alan Greenspan or charmed quarks, but me, I hear there's such a thing as a "snood" and I gotta find out what that snood thing is. As a result my knowledge of the world is sort of hit and miss.
