Tying knots is very much Craft 101. Then there's her notorious difficulty with Basic Banishment. She raises a ghost (Jeremiah) to perform a simple task and then can't rid of him? In her defense, the ghost eventually goes away when the writers can't think of what to do next with him, but it reflects very badly on her skill level at this point
I know nothing of tying knots, and I hadn't thought much of the implications of Angelique being limited in her ability to control forces greater than herself in 1795. To those not versed in the Craft, which would include everyone else at Collinwood, the fact that Angelique -- or anyone -- could raise the dead would evince rather frightening supernatural powers. As would the ability of a mere mortal to turn another person into an animal (Jermiah the cat
). Her vampire curse worked pretty well too, not to mention her courtroom resurrection experience -- so on balance, again my untutored impression is that Angelique has powers to be reckoned with.
I agree that Cassandra is an even more powerful and frightening figure, although in the past I've attributed that more to her personality (and Lara Parker's skills as an actress) than the level of her witchcraft.
But I'll be sure to keep your comments in mind if I ever view the series a third time!
Midnite wrote:
I cited that example in offering evidence against the Angelique-is-Miranda theory in the Angie's Logic topic, but there were other instances as well-- it was stated on numerable occasions that Josette and Angelique grew up together. And, when Nicholas took away all of Cassandra's powers in 1968, he taunts her by first telling her that she "was born in Martinqique in the year 1774..." All of this made sense at that point in the DS story, yet none of it does now that we're in 1840.
I apologize if I'm repeating a discussion that was so recently held. I had looked at that thread when it was new, but hadn't followed it and therefore missed your post and others on the topic.
I had forgotten the Nicholas Blair comment about Angelique being born in Martinique, so that's a good point. Yet since 1840 comes later and seems to be the "newest" view of what we are to know about Angelique, I wonder if we as viewers are meant to "forget" some things that were mentioned some months (or even years) previously. I think the writers/producers were counting on that. Which should take precedence, then, the earlier understanding of Angelique's past, or the updated, later version meant to replace (or correct) it?
My hope is to harmonize the two as much as possible so we're not left with such an either/or choice.
I have to confess that I do not remember a single instance in the series itself where it is said that Angelique and Josette grew up together. I know this is the view taken by Marcy Robin and Kathleen Resch in their excellent "Island of Ghosts," as well as picked up by Ms. Parker in her novel. It's possible that I could have missed these lines on the show somewhere along the way, but are you able to pinpoint specific episodes?
If memory serves correct (my own "annotated" copy of the Pomegranate Press episode guide being unavailble to me), there are further comments still to be made in 1840 that seem to continue in the vein as those I've cited, i.e. indicating that Miranda did not die and reincarnate but continued in her existence under a new identity (perhaps aided by witchery) as Angelique. Since I think there's more yet that will be said regarding this, that's why I mentioned in my initial post that we should keep our ears open!
Regarding the "she had 100 years to improve herself and therefore couldn't have still been a servant" argument, again, we don't know what might have happened to her or how she may have been occupied during this time. Are we to understand that if any one of us lives long enough, we'll be a great success? (Guess I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that I have a long life ahead of me, because I sure haven't come close!) Accepting the 1840 version as replacing any possible contradictory comments in earlier storylines, I imagine her as possibly emigrating to Europe, probably France, probably with her mother, before eventually moving to the French possession of Martinique. 17th century France (especially in aristocratic circles) was rife with mystics and occultists, and would have been just the environment for Miranda ... now adopting the French name Angelique ... to reacquaint herself with the Dark Arts she had foresworn (temporarily). Rags-to-riches stories are fun, but if we take a more realistic approach, it would be quite a step up for a servant girl from the backwoods American colonies to become a servant girl at, say, Versailles, waiting upon the nobility, and being in the midst of occultist courtiers and mages. The vast majority of people in centuries before our own lived quite humble lives; although being a servant would be low on the social scale, very few people lived artistocratic lives, and it's not unrealistic to think that while Angelique may have improved her situation and expanded her experience, she could still have remained, in essence, a servant. These are just my creative imaginings to explain things and make sense of things for myself ...
Wes's comments make sense, and I agree that what he says fits in with DS as a whole ... but I still think that adopting the reincarnation view here requires some inference and guesswork on the part of the viewer that is contradicated by specific 1840 dialogue