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A Series of Unfortunate Events

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay

TV Series Review

Don’t watch this show.

Hey, don’t look at me. I’m not the curmudgeon telling you that. (For once). Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events tells us, quite explicitly, that we all have better uses for our time.

While author/narrator Lemony Snicket tells us that it’s his sad, somber duty to unspool the sad, somber tale of the Baudelaire children (14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus and, of course, the sharp-toothed infant, Sunny), he also reminds us that “you in the audience have no such obligation, and I would advise all our viewers to turn away immediately and watch something more pleasant instead.” If you fail to heed Snicket’s dire caution, at least listen to the show’s theme song.

“Look away, look away/This show will wreck your evening, your homelife and your day/Every single episode is nothing but dismay.”

Yes, A Series of Unfortunate Events cautions viewers against itself with the same alacrity that Plugged In reserves for Seth Rogen/James Franco movies. And yet, in spite of these warnings, here you are. Still reading. Still, perhaps, wondering whether this show—in spite its insistence that it’s not right for anyone of sound mind—just might be right for you.

We’ll Give You One Last Chance.

Aaaand here you are, still reading. All right. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

A Series of Unfortunate Events (based on a series of comically gloomy books by “Lemony Snicket”) follows the lives of the afore-mentioned Baudelaire children, apparently orphaned when their parents’ mansion burns to the ground.

The good news (if one could call it that) is this: The Baudelaires will inherit their parents’ considerable fortune once Violet comes of age. The bad news: Violet and her siblings will have to survive the scheming vile wiles of Count Olaf and an assortment of other dastardly villains to claim it.

Olaf is only a distant relation to the Baudelaires, (their third cousin four times removed or perhaps their fourth cousin three times removed, we’re told). But by virtue of living just three miles from the Baudelaire’s now nonexistent mansion, he’s declared the children’s closest living relative. Thus he’s now been declared their legal guardian. While that arrangement falls apart eventually, Olaf will allow nothing to stand between him and the children’s inheritance. Certainly not the children themselves.

But while this setup is, indeed, unfortunate, the children are not without resources. Violet is a mechanical prodigy, capable of MacGyvering together all manner of clever devices with whatever flotsam presents itself. Klaus is a bespectacled trove of knowledge, a boy skilled in the most arcane library arts. And Sunny—well, her teeth are indeed amazingly sharp. That can be of benefit when the children find themselves locked away in their next gloomy dungeon.

Unfortunate But Edifying?

About the same time J.K. Rowling was cranking out Harry Potter books, Lemony Snicket (actually author Daniel Handler) was penning a significant but comparatively understated phenomenon of his own. The Unfortunate Events books attracted countless elementary- and middle-school readers, what with their darkish, absurdist humor and their Gothic creep factor. In an age of very serious “children’s” books, Unfortunate Events was a series that smirked at itself.

The books’ success led to a truly unfortunate movie (starring Jim Carrey and, oddly, Meryl Streep) and, now, this Netflix television series—a creation much more in keeping with the Edward Gorey-like spirit of the original books. The show feels a bit like a mix of a (clean) Wes Anderson movie with Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride: a curious blend of gloom and whimsy with meticulous blocking and, oh, the occasional music number.

Despite the show’s own somber warnings, A Series of Unfortunate Events is highly watchable and oddly edifying. Yes, Olaf is the sort of person who, if you called him a louse, would most certainly offend any actual lice in the vicinity. But the children—Violet, Klaus and Sunny—are virtuous, creative and well-mannered, despite being in constant peril. They’re good kids caught up in terrible circumstances. And they do their very best to overcome them.

But there are, bluntly, just so many terrible circumstances. Death, both rumored and real, is never far from either the characters’ or viewers’ minds. And while the children inhabit a world that gives them few pleasures, someone is always threatening to take from them their hope, their future and sometimes their very lives. So it can be difficult to watch it all unfold. It’s one thing to read about Count Olaf slapping 12-year-old Klaus across the face in a book; it’s quite another to watch it. The show’s dark tone and unremitting (albeit tongue-in-cheek) bleakness will likely disturb some younger viewers.

That said, peril is more often threatened than actually meted out. In terms of its actual content, A Series of Unfortunate Events is, fortunately, quite clean. An questionable word may slip from Olaf’s oft-disguised mouth a time or two, but this show keeps its young audience in mind. It wants to earn its squirms via plot and tone, not with profanity and titillation.

A Series of Unfortunate Events warns us that it’s terrible, that that no one should ever watch it. “It’s hard to fathom how the orphans managed to live through it,” the intro intones, “And how a decent person like yourself would even want to view it.”

But we here at Plugged In … well, we wouldn’t go that far.

Episode Reviews

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Jan. 13, 2017 “A Bad Beginning: Part One”

Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, newly orphaned, are sent to live with their distant relative, Count Olaf, in a crumbling, filthy Gothic mansion. Olaf promptly forces the children into practical serfdom, all while scheming to separate them from their substantial inheritance. But there is hope just across the street: Kindly Justice Strauss would very much like to care for the children, if only she could have the chance.

Olaf’s idea of guardianship is, to say the least, questionable. He makes the children clean their bathroom with their own toothbrushes. He forces them to wash his underwear. When they make Olaf and his “theater troupe” puttanesca with homemade pasta, Olaf is furious that they didn’t make roast beef. And when Klaus lets slip in front of the troupe that the three of them have to share just one tiny bed, Olaf slaps Klaus across the face, knocking him over. (We see the red mark left on the boy’s cheek.)

We also see the ruins of the Baudelaire house and, in flashback, the fire starting. While the Baudelaire’s banker kindly takes the children in for a night, his wife (who’s the editor of the local newspaper) exploits their misery to sell papers. Olaf lies, eats a leg of lamb meant for the children (brought over by kindly Justice Strauss) and misuses God’s name in a musical number.

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Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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