Angelique's Resurrection Appearance

I'm a bit late with this, but since I had referred to this as upcoming a week or two ago, I feel I ought to follow up on my own comments.

What am I talking about? The newly risen Angelique's "resurrection" appearance to Victoria Winters in the locked room of the House by the Sea. The scene appears to parody one of Christ's resurrection appearances in the gospel accounts of the Bible.

Consider that in the scene prior to this, Angelique and Nicholas discuss the biblical Adam and Eve. Interesting to observe that these two servants of Darkness have no quibbles with the Bible story of Adam being the first man, etc., as is told in the book of Genesis. I think it's significant that this biblical context is present in this episode, because it lends some credence to my conclusions regarding the following scene between Angelique and Vicki.

As background, in the Bible, after the crucifixion, Jesus suddenly appears in a locked room to his disciples. They say he must be a ghost. He says he is not a ghost and instructs them to touch him: he is flesh and blood, as they are. (In one of his appearances, I'm not sure if this is the same one, the risen Lord holds out his hands for the disciples to touch.)

In the scene in question, Angelique enters Victoria's locked room. Vicki says it's impossible, that Angelique is dead: You must be a ghost!  Angelique says she is not a ghost, holds out her hands, and tells Vicki to touch her: she is flesh and blood, she says, like Vicki.

The action and dialogue (which is very close to what I've included above, though I don't have a word-for-word transcription) takes only a few seconds, but the parallels with the Bible scene seem unmistakable. I'm still not sure whether I think this was a conscious attempt to briefly mimic a well-known event of the Bible (which anyone who grew up attending a church would be familiar with) or if the scene emerged from the writer's unconscious mind  -  though I'd opt for the former.

If the scene was a conscious parody of the Bible scene, it's no wonder certain conservative Christian groups thought the show was evil. Though of course the likelihood that any of them saw this particular episode is low, unless they watched the show regularly.  

Should Christians be offended?

I don't think so. After all, Angelique and Nicholas represent the powers of evil here.  Further, for Angelique to parody something in the Bible would be in keeping with her earlier pretense of "getting religion"  -  she's down on her knees and ecstatically proclaims, "I think it must be religion!" duping the Rev. Trask back in Martinique in 1795 when he's grilling her on her religious background. (That scene seems to parody a Pentacostal-type religious experience.)

Religious mimicry seems part of Angelique's demonic repertoire.

What am I talking about? The newly risen Angelique's "resurrection" appearance to Victoria Winters in the locked room of the House by the Sea. The scene appears to parody one of Christ's resurrection appearances in the gospel accounts of the Bible.

That's an interesting parallel, Vlad, and very possibly an intentional one, as you suggest. With the vast amount of material within the Bible, and--especially at that time--the more than passing knowledge that the average person had of its contents, I can see how it would lend itself to parallel storytelling in scads of cases, be they intentional or subliminal. While I'm no Biblical scholar, I do find the wealth of information in its contents very conducive to creative expansion. Very possibly, the DS writers did also.

[shadow=black,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]

Great observation, Vlad!

K#2

Thanks for your comments.  

I used the term "mimicry" for lack of a better term in my post above. Perhaps "play-acting" would be more accurate.  I thought of this last night when I saw the episode where Joe Haskell drops by the House by the Sea and is greeted by the "emotionally distressed" Angelique (I'm a few days behind in my viewing).

Given the elaborate story she spun for Joe about being held prisoner by Nicholas, it appears that our mortal/witch/mortal/vampire gal gets a kick out of play-acting with a number of different scenarios -- religious enthusiast, Victoria's savior, damsel in distress ... I wonder what other roles she has up her sleeve!

Given the elaborate story she spun for Joe about being held prisoner by Nicholas, it appears that our mortal/witch/mortal/vampire gal gets a kick out of play-acting with a number of different scenarios -- religious enthusiast, Victoria's savior, damsel in distress ... I wonder what other roles she has up her sleeve!

That scene reminds me of the Christopher Lee film Horror of Dracula:  one of Dracula's brides pulls the same shtick on Harker(?), but the Count intervenes at the last second before he becomes a neck sandwich for her.  It was a good week for rip-offs!

Given the elaborate story she spun for Joe about being held prisoner by Nicholas, it appears that our mortal/witch/mortal/vampire gal gets a kick out of play-acting with a number of different scenarios -- religious enthusiast, Victoria's savior, damsel in distress ... I wonder what other roles she has up her sleeve!

They are too numerous to list...There is that line she gives Dirk Wilkins as the reason for being in the caretaker's cottage and the best one is her showing up at the door of Collinwood in 1840 and telling Gabriel she is Barnabas' wife-Valarie Collins from England.

Julia put it best about Angelique in 1897: she's the perternal bad penny.

You just can't keep a good witch down (though heaven knows Barnabas tried many a time!)

I don't read too much into any religious overtones into the show. I don't think it was a conscious attempt on the writers to duplicate anything from the Bible [spoiler]other than create an Adam and Eve and a whole new race.[/spoiler]

I read that a lot of religious folks protested the show, but I just see it as it is, harmless, envolving and entertaining.

Julia put it best about Angelique in 1897: she's the perternal bad penny.

I believe she called her the perennial bad penny.

As a born again Christian I don't find anything very offensive on the show for the simple reason that I choose to look at it as entertainment only. There are a couple things that I find a little bit hard to take, one is when [spoiler]Nicholas raised Carolyn from the dead after the experiment killed her. I didn't really like his being granted powers that belong to God only, but again it's just entertainment.[/spoiler]

The other thing is the various Reverend Trasks. The 1840 Lamar Trask was not a reverend but he was every bit as sanctimonious as the two reverends. They are some of the most fiendish characters on the show, total hypocrites to all they claim to believe. It hurts that some people have looked upon them and thought they were representative of Christianity and so shy away from faith. They most certainly are NOT!

Alondra

Yeah the Trask men, while believing they were servants of God, proved they were anything but. (At least Gregory did, he was guilty of so much that was against the good of God). The 1795 Trask, while he may have believed what he was doing, went about it the wrong way and also against the will of God.

Unfortunately it's become almost a common thread on TV and in the movies these days to portray Christians in a very bad light. Like the warden in Shawshank Redemption, he tried to pass himself as righteous and holy and God-fearing but his actions proved he was anything but he was passing himself off as. (I still loved the movie though).

I find what was written about Angelique interesting -- how she lied so easily, coming up with scenarios to fit every possible situation she found herself in. That, too, can fit in with Biblical teachings in that Satan is the great deceiver. As a follower of Satan, or as they euphemistically referred to him, Diabolos, naturally she'd be a smooth liar and deceiver herself.

I never thought of that Resurrection parallel, Vlad, but it's certainly food for thought. In my opinion, I think it was totally subconscious on the part of the writers. I know I went to Catholic school, and all those teachings for all those years are just ingrained in me. If I write something, and for some reason, there's seems to be a religious context to it, there's certainly no intention on my part to do so.

As for the protests by certain religious groups back then, I was somewhat aware of the controversy but didn't pay much attention. I was a kid enjoying a TV show. In fact, the nuns never told us we couldn't watch Dark Shadows. Get this -- we were told not to watch Laugh-In or the Three Stooges! Figure that out!