As for Carolyn's age, yes, I was thinking to myself: "Hmm...how old was she when Vicky arrived at Collinwood?
It's established in Ep #5 that Carolyn is 17. Several topics on the forum discuss this. [ghost_smiley]
And she was already finished with school?"
Presumably. Whenever her school experiences are discussed, it's always in the past tense.
It was Cassandra who started the Dream Curse - or was it? I'm trying to remember what we actually saw her doing, and I don't remember her doing much.
Prior to Cassandra beginning the Dream Curse with Maggie in Ep #478, in Ep #477 we saw Barnabas have a dream in which Angelique visited him as herself to instigate the Dream Curse:
(http://www.dsboards.com/eventimages/0423ds_3.jpg)
1968: Ep #477 - In a dream, Angelique explains how her curse
will return to Barnabas via a Dream Curse.
We have seen her talking about the Dream, though. So we can't say that Angelique is solely responsible for the Dream and that in her Cassandra form she's malicious in general but innocent of this. So why, when she confronted Professor Stokes, was she pure Angelique? She seemed to be telling the truth when she denied knowledge of Cassandra, and she should have recognized Stokes rather than mistaking him for Ben. Very strange.
As for Angelique denying knowledge of Cassandra, that is strange - well, unless one considers that she simply lied to Stokes to attempt to cover Cassandra's true identity, which is very possible - and Angelique lies quite convincingly. Though given all that Stokes had confronted her with, one would think she should have realized that trying to cover her tracks was useless. Then again, when has attempting something that's ultimately useless ever actually stopped Angelique? [wink2]
1) Carolyn's age. I think the first time they fudged on that was long before the Leviathan period: it was when Elizabeth was telling the story in 1968 of Paul last night at Collinwood. It seems to me the idea was that Carolyn was already born when Paul quit the scene.
Ah, yes - that's true. Now that you mention it, not only does Paul indicate in the '67 flashback to '49 that Carolyn is two (which jibes with Leviathans), but I seem to recall Jason laying it on thickly while telling Carolyn how much Paul loved her. Though in my defense, and as I and others have opined on the forum, some of us have tended to think of the dating in that storyline as an aberration if only because it conflicts with most of what came both before and after it. As I and others have also mentioned on the forum, our rule of thumb when it comes to inconsistencies on DS is to go with what's mentioned most often, and in most instances within the storylines the indications are most often consistent with Carolyn being 17 at the start of the series. (And actually, another thing that's odd and aberrant about the Jason/Liz blackmail period is the listings in the family bible because the ep in which Liz writes in the date of her death aired in July, yet Liz writes the month/day of her death as April 10th. [hdscrt] ::) That's the only time in DS history when a month that's somehow referenced on the show doesn't correspond exactly to the month an ep actually aired.)
Honestly, I like the suggestion Gerard made back in 2005 that perhaps we should add all of Carolyn various birthdays together and divide them to get to the truth of what might be her actual birthday/age. ;) After all, some ladies just love to lie about their ages. So, perhaps in Carolyn's case, the conflicts are all caused by so-called little white lies, so we can't trust anything we see or hear. [lghy]
2) Angelique and Cassandra. I do see them as being the same exact person. It was Angelique who raised the possibility that they were not, when she said she didn't know who Cassandra Collins was. I agree with MB that Angelique was a good liar, but I still think that she was not lying. Professor Stokes said, “You are out of your century, but I am secure in mine,” and that seemed to be the final word on the subject during the encounter. I don't understand it, and I doubt that it ever was explained – but that's what I think.
Well, even discounting the fact that I mentioned in my apparently invisible spoiler: (SPOILER: We know without a doubt from future revelations (including those made by the woman herself) that Angelique and Cassandra are one and the same in every way imaginable except for appearance.), and simply going by that scene alone, I see things very differently. I just had the chance to watch it and to me that remark of Stokes' doesn't come across as the final word at all. Angelique appears more and more desperate as she lashes out with threats at Stokes' continued spiel of truths until finally she simply vanishes in defeat. I mean, this is not the facial expression of a confident woman:
(http://www.dsboards.com/images/508-262.jpg)
There's confusion and fright in that expression.
3) The beginning of Dream Curse. Yes, we saw Angelique tell Barnabas about it in his dream, but I did not take that to be the point at which the curse was created. And I don't remember Angelique/Cassandra doing any spell-type stuff as Maggie was going to sleep and becoming the first character have the first Dream – or have I forgotten something?
Yes, in Ep #478 we see Cassandra calling for the start of the Dream Curse and proclaiming it will begin with Maggie. She picks a leaf from the branch hanging outside Collinwood's drawing room window...:
(http://www.dsboards.com/images/478-472.jpg)
From Robservations: Drawing room - Cassandra, in a black velvet cape, tells Barnabas the time has come. His fate was sealed almost 200 years ago, and he can't change his destiny or permanently escape. The curse will fall back on him, forever, she promises. "Let the dream curse begin this night," she says, "it will be carried by the wind until it finds its way to someone who is the image of one you loved--go deep into the sleeping mind of Maggie Evans, and she will be the first to know the terrible fear it carries with it." Cass takes a leaf from the tree outside the window and tosses it. "Sleep, Maggie, sleep," she murmurs.
...and after tossing it we see that same leaf appear on Maggie's pillow and as Maggie begins the dream:
(http://www.dsboards.com/images/478-476.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/images/478-484.jpg)
And from Robservations: Maggie sleeps in her bed. Cassandra tells her she will allow the dream to enter, become its prisoner, until her fear reaches the limit of her endurance. "Let the dream begin, now. . ."