The 1840 witchcraft trial was ludicrous, and a very inappropriate recycling of the 1795 storyline (with an extra dose of camp added in.) You're right that we were supposed to take it seriously, care, and, apparently, sit in suspense as to how everything would turn out. I managed none of the above. I feel for you, I was turned off by this ten + years ago when I saw it in the scifi run, and I wouldn't be able to stomach it at all today. It is too bad that David Selby wasn't given an actually distinct character here, though many of the regulars were playing devolved, degenerated, and generic caricatures of people that were once compelling characters earlier in the series.