I happen to love both 1840 and 1841PT, but maybe you need to be a pro-Barnabas/Angelique fan or a Lara/Jonathan fan to really get into them. I know people talk about the inconsistensies and stuff with the end of 1840, but a careful reading of the episodes shows this is not totally true.
[spoiler]People have complained about the inconsitency of Barnabas declaring his love for Angelique at the end of 1840, but I think one of the strongest inconsistencies of all is that 1840 Barnabas is released from his coffin and almost immediately says goodbye from Josette. Of course Josette had let Barmabas go when her ghost gave him back his ring in 1970, but remember it is 1840 Barnabas that says such a quick goodbye to Josette, this goes against almost the whole previous show when Barnabas would search for a Josette replacement. Of course maybe being in the coffin for 45 years rather than 175 made him more realistic, but there we are. Of course, the writers had to have him let Josette go anyway due to KLS' having left the show, but we go goodbye Josette, hello Roxanne in about one episode. Of course his relationship in 1840 to Roxanne had more substance than her just being his victim, she at least had some spunk and he did give her some passionate kisses, but this was about the best place we see any chemistry with Barnabas and Roxanne, it was still nowhere compared to the chemsitry JF had with Lara and to a lesser extent KLS.
Okay, so with KLS leaving and Roxanne being staked, that forced the writers to come up with another soulmate for Barnabas, there certainly never was any sexual chemistry with Julia so that left Angelique, his long ago lover from Martinique---
It is correct to say, and even Barnabas says, that never felt he could love Angelique while she still had her selfish ways as a witch. BUT when she lifts his curse, for the first time Angelique asks for no price, just that he try to love her. She does not assume Barnabas loves her, but rather she would like him to try and see if he can develop a love for her, and that is to me what happens. As we see, he gradually comes to realize that he loves Angelique as she loves him, and that comes about when Barnabas realizes she is indeed capable of being selfless and genuinely caring and prove her love for him. I know that after Barnabas tells Julia Trask shot Angelique that Angelique was "his only love", but maybe he is saying there that he now realizes she was his soulmate, but that he never knew it. I do believe that part of the reason Barnabas rejected Angelique in 1840 was that he was scared off by the passionate side of his nature Angelique brought out in him. There is no question that in 1795 Barnabas is attracted to Angelique and is again tempted by her. I do also believe that he loved Josette, but in a pure, almost romanticized way. I think that overall Barnabas is rather repressed, we certainly don't see him tempted to have an affair with any other woman he becomes involed with on the show ( and I am also counting when he is NOT a vampire).[/spoiler]
So that is how I see it, I don't think the end of 1840 is inconsistent if we consider the entire picture...