I am one of those fans that don't try to make the story fit with explanations of what might have been done unseen or happened due to an action. The fact is the responsibilty for any inconsistency in this or any storyline is the writers. It is true that in reality, unseen things do affect people's lives, but in the case of DS, when I come across an inconsistency like this one, I blame the writers for the error. Given the fact that these episodes were written well after the original segment is still no excuse for not doing the research to find out where the characters stood at any given point in the original flashback and taking the new story from there. It would be like writing a sequel to a novel and not bothering to find out where the characters ended up before you continue telling their story. I know TV is fast paced and daytime tv, especially back then was very hectic, but surely there was a story bible or synopoises available for the writers to fall back on when delving into past storylines. This is not a problem that affected just DS, but has happened with many TV shows and it boils down to a writer or writers not doing their research. When the research is not done then you end up with a situation like this where you are seeing a split version of Natalie Dupres life, not to mention no explanation of how Victoria could have become the governess to the Collins children in that time and not Phyllis Wick since the second time around she was not taking her place. Also add to that the state of Millicent Collins mental health in this mini flashback. She is a bit daffy but in no way as mentally disturbed as she was by that point in the original storyline. The writers of this segment failed to take quite a few things into consideration before beginning this part of the story and it shows prominently unfortunately.
To put it in story context, this is not suppose to be a PT version of anything. It is suppose to be how history unfolded for the Collins family of the past. When Victoria went into the past, replacing Phyllis Wick, she was living out life as it had happened to Phyllis originally. The writers took some licenses with Victoria's knowledge of the past and attempts to prevent the tragedies that hit the Collins family in 1795, but ulitmately history unfolded as it had originally. When she went back the second time, all rational explantions for how she could have logically fit into that time are gone and it leaves us with a version of the story that doesn't make alot of sense and lacks continuity with the rest of the story as it had been presented up to that point.
Raholt