Is it just me, or was Charity more likable...

[spoiler]when she became possessed by Pansy Faye?

I couldn't stand the "normal" Charity....she was so uptight, self-righteous, narrow-minded. She sorta loosened up when Barnabas bit her, but not much. It's when Petofi infused the spirit of Pansy into her that Charity let down her hair, had some fun, singin' and dancin' (much to the dismay of daddy Gregory, just loved that scene when she bumped her hip into his lol).

Though I didn't like it when she tried to kill Beth, or when she staked Barnabas (or so I thought). But I do love the way she was trying to help Quentin stay awake to prevent Petofi from possessing him again. That was so cool.[/spoiler]

What do you think?

the song got on my nerves by the end of the arc. 

but she was funny, as was i guess her grandmother, leticia?

After the 1897 storyline ended, I always pictured Charity/Pansy hitting the road & performing on the vaudeville circuit. Audiences everywhere thrill & swoon to her signature song, "I Wanna Dance with You". She is soon discovered by D.W. Griffith & becomes a star, but when sound comes in audiences can't understand her because of Charity/Pansy's thick Cockney accent. So she retires from show business and public life and moves into a gloomy mansion on Sunset Boulevard...

After the 1897 storyline ended, I always pictured Charity/Pansy hitting the road & performing on the vaudeville circuit. Audiences everywhere thrill & swoon to her signature song, "I Wanna Dance with You". She is soon discovered by D.W. Griffith & becomes a star, but when sound comes in audiences can't understand her because of Charity/Pansy's thick Cockney accent. So she retires from show business and public life and moves into a gloomy mansion on Sunset Boulevard...

er, did she live with a monkey?? ??  

I think that pretty much everyone would agree that Pansy Faye was more fun than her alter ego Charity Trask. Where Charity was uptight, Pansy was loose and fancy-free. Where Charity was a bible reader, Pansy was versed in the occult.

I have to wonder if the writers had this plan from the start, or if they did it because Nancy complained that her character was too boring. You have to admit, she didn't really have much to do as Charity but walk around and basically be an extension of her father, which was quite annoying.

Charity was uptight ... she didn't really have much to do as Charity but walk around and basically be an extension of her father, which was quite annoying.

Well, she certainly wasn't uptight when she was craving Barnabas', uh, attentions.    Then she was positively sensual. There was certainly a passionate woman underneath the upright schoolmarm persona - and it was dying to get out. First Barnabas and then the Pansy possession finally set the real Charity free. Petofi (during the Jamison possession period when people were forced to face their innermost desires) even remarked in Ep #804 that Charity's hidden desire was "slattern, who wants to sing and dance and show her painted face to the world." 

Charity's hidden desire

Yes, and Charity had a conversation with with Rachel once that suggested she knew she wanted more out of life than what she had gotten so far.  Given what Tim Shaw had become by the end of 1897, she and Tim could have made quite an interesting couple if they had ever been frank with each other.

None of the characters (except maybe Judith) had any qualms whatsoever about leaving Charity as Pansy for the rest of her life.     From the point of view of DS in general, so what if it's a curse, so what if someone's real personality is destroyed... so what if the new personality is 'immoral'?    She's happier, she's more fun to be around, so good riddance to Charity.    There's the counter-culture edging its way into DS I think.     No other show would have done that.   I love that.   No Barnabas wringing his wraithy hands over Petofi's terrible curse on Charity, no mention of her when they're confronting Petofi...!

None of the characters (except maybe Judith) had any qualms whatsoever about leaving Charity as Pansy for the rest of her life. From the point of view of DS in general, so what if it's a curse, so what if someone's real personality is destroyed... so what if the new personality is 'immoral'? She's happier, she's more fun to be around, so good riddance to Charity.

These were my thoughts also, as I began to realize that Charity wasn't going to return to her former self, and no one really cared if she had been so drastically transformed in to another personality. Shouldn't someone have been concerned that she had been so completely altered? If a similar curse had been placed on say Elizabeth or Quentin for example, it's pretty certain someone, most likely barnabas, would have cared and seen to it that the situation was remedied. But since it was plain old Charity, who nobody really liked, it was fine if she remained Panzie. 

But now I'm getting off the topic of the question. Yes, Charity was most definitely more fun and interesting.

Well, Trask was certainly concerned    Of course it probably had a lot more to do with his losing control of her than any fatherly love though.  It's funny I Love Barnabas should mention her bumping hips with daddy, I just watched that episode tonight.  Personally, I preferred Charity to Pansy.  There was a subtle dynamic going on with the inner Charity wanting to break out of her Bible-thumpin' persona that was forced on her by her parents.   If she had married someone and gotten away from that whole scene, she might have turned out to be quite interesting.  Pansy was just too over the top for me, though she did become less cartoonish as it went on.  That song just drives me nuts 

G Trask was fully prepared to let Chansy go out into the world that way and never come back, as long as it didn't reflect back on him.   (Her using a different name would take care of that.)   Only Judith criticized him for it.

It's great to see this thread!  Especially since I'm just now watching the episode arc in which Charity goes permanently Pansy.  Have to say, I most liked Charity when she was under Barnabas's influence, and then liked her even more when Petofi caused the permanent possesion.  After a bit, Chansy (or, Pansity?) seemed to adjust, and to really revel in her new personality.  Am kind of wondering how much of her new persona was the result of the 'secret' Charity coming to the fore and how much was the result of Pansy - it's almost like the posession allowed Charity to become the woman she'd always secretly longed to be.  Loved her relationship with Judith late in the storyline.

My understanding was that Pansy's personality simply possessed Charity's body, and that Charity was completely evicted.  Given that Pansy was [spoiler]murdered[/spoiler]I can't blame her for taking over someone else's body when the opportunity arose, but it occurs to me that there could be some interesting possibilities if Charity went looking for yet another body to inhabit.

The one that I really feel sorry for in this is Minerva Trask.  First she dies, [spoiler]murdered by her husband,[/spoiler] and then the one person who might keep her memory alive is whisked out of the picture.

Oh, and I feel sorry for myself, too, sitting here wringing my hands as I wonder when to spoiler and when not to spoiler.

Charity comes back occasionally though, and if when real Charity finally goes 'permanently' (if she does), if 'eviction' means she doesn't exist anymore, or has gone to meet her maker, then that's murder, a murder no one really minds very much, though it wouldn't be the first time DS dealt with murder in a cavalier way.    Petofi says she'll be happier... maybe he meant she'll be happy in heaven I suppose.

Maybe Pansy's spirit was a siamese twin for Charity, and a new lens for Charity to look through.

It was all pretty vague, wasn't it?

But now I'm getting off the topic of the question. Yes, Charity was most definitely more fun and interesting.

I meant to say Panzie was more fun and interesting.