In the beginning of 1897, it appears that Edward is married to Jenny and had her locked away in the tower. She even tries to kill him. DC must have then been able to get Diana Millay back on the show, so the writers changed Edward's wife to Laura. The original intent for 1897 had probably been changed many times, especially when the story got under way.
DC stated 1897 was to run for three months originally. it was most likely a simple planned story then. Quentin kills a relative of Magda, she places the werewolf curse on him. As a werewolf, Quentin kills Beth. Q is found out by Judith and Edward. One of them shoot him and he dies in the room. They seal up the room to prevent anyone from discovering Q's secret and state he went to France to live.
This is fascinating, JoeyTrom! I had never heard any of these details, other than having read that the 1897 storyline had been extended a couple of times (which seemed pretty obvious just watching it).
What you've outlined sounds like a nice, compact story -- in some ways I think I would have preferred it to some of the extravagances we were entertained with as aspects of the story line became more and more outlandish.
And to think I had praised the writers to no end for their brilliant plotting, thinking that they knew already at this point that
SPOILER
the skeleton wasn't Quentin's but that of Judith's ... husband (won't spoil by giving the name).
Your scenario makes much more sense than thinking that nearly everything in 1897 had been mapped out at this point. There were even specific lines indicating that the skeleton WAS Quentin's, which doesn't jive with what we learn later.
On the other hand, they must have had some very specific ideas such as the family connections between the Jennings and the Collinses, etc., since both Chris Jennings and Quentin were afflicted with the werewolf curse.
Still, it sounds like the writers were writing by the seat of their pants ... no small talent, either.