Angelique's "shattering" (for want of a better word) didn't surprise me. Even though she was a powerful witch, one who could live for hundreds of years, if not into infinity if something didn't disrupt that, she wasn't immortal. Neither is Barnabas. He can live into infinity if things don't cross (pardon the pun) his path, like a wooden stake, sunlight, silver (I loved the scene where he "pings" the fork and discovers it won't cause him to burst into flame because the original had been cheaply duplicated and then pawned), or garlic-laden pasta. Vampires aren't immortal. Barnabas, Elizabeth, et. al., found Angelique's Achilles heals. Being hundreds of years old, her soft, supple facade turned into what she really was from the ravages of time: dry and stale. I thought it was a brilliant way to show her demise, rather than having her age into some old crone (which would've been a good way to dispatch her, but it's been done before, including in the OS). But then again, is she really, totally, completely dead? No matter the various ways she was offed in the OS, she always managed to return. If there is a sequel to this wonderful film, don't necessarily expect her not to show up (and don't expect the Collins family not to rebuild Collinwood - I'm sure, after Barnabas had them arise back to prominence, they had purchased home-owners insurance).
Gerard