1840 came as such a surprise to me when I was finally able to watch the entire series during its second run on the SciFi channel more than a decade ago. The prelude to 1840—the Summer of 1970 and 1990 Parallel Time--caught my excitement, and 1840 engaged my imagination from the start; my interest never flagged from that point on through the end of the series. It always surprises me when people complain about the inconsistencies of the summer of 1970 or, now, the implausibility of 1840, since implausibility could be said to characterize the entire DS series. And I've never minded that the series left so many loose ends rather than providing neat, satisfying answers to the many tantalizing questions that came up, beginning with Victoria Winters' unknown parentage. As viewers, we sometimes expect and demand neat answers and closure, but as in life and art, those answers and closure are often never to be found.
I loved the characters of Desmond Collins, Flora Collins, and Leticia Faye, as well as the house they lived in. The look of this time period was unique, as each of the time periods (1795, 1897) also was, as far as sets, costumes, and lighting. The idea of Rose Cottage and the mystery surrounding it was one of my favorite things about the entire series. One of the most moving moments in the entire series for me was seeing the aged Ben Stokes living at Collinwood with his granddaughter, and Ben's eventual reunion with Barnabas.
Gerard, I thought, was one of the most intriguing characters on the series: a man of the sea with a hidden past who is acceptable as a gentleman in polite society, displaying social graces and musical accomplishment; was he actually evil, or merely an opportunist as Leticia says at one point? Why was he singled out by Judah Zachary to be his victim of possession? Were they kindred spirits? It's interesting, too, how he has three identities: Ivan Miller, Gerard Stiles, and Judah Zachary.
The mysteries presented in this sequence (what happened in Bedford, for example) and the occult aspects were among the best in the series, in my opinion. 1840 was reminiscent of some of the better aspects of 1897 yet wholly original in how the material was approached and played out. For example, the possession of the children recalled similar happenings in1897, but the details were very different.
The notion of beheading seemed far-fetched but thematically linked Quentin's trial with the events of Judah Zachary more than a century earlier. The living head had to be one of the creepiest aspects of the entire series and touches on mythological stories, as did the ritual mask donned by Gerard.
The claimed implausibility of a trial for witchcraft taking place in 1840 is explained legally: a deadly mix of local hysteria mixes with the fact that the witchcraft laws remained on the books—it would be fascinating to find out if that actually was the case anywhere in New England at the time. The body of a child was exhumed and beheaded in New England around 1850 as fear of vampirism swept the local countryside, and that's just one of many historical 19th century cases (see my posting elsewhere of a link to the current issue of "Smithsonian" magazine). If the beheading of a child's corpse could happen, a trial for witchcraft in a small town is not quite so absurd. As with all of the storylines, there are weaknesses; personally, I did not care for Kate Jackson at all, yet thought she was surprisingly good in "Night of Dark Shadows."
