Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
If you are looking for a review for a wonderfully amazing series featuring amazing adventures, wonderful triumphs, a happy ending for all, I'm extremely sorry to say but this is not the review you should be reading. This is because this review is about a show with not only no happy ending but no happy beginning and well very luckily a few good happy things in the middle. This is because the children focused on this series named Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire have suffered A Series of Unfortunate Events. This review of the series also has a few spoiler alerts. A "spoiler alert" is a modern slang phrase meaning "a revealing of an event in a story that will ruin the plot for those who have never watched it." But this case a spoiler alert is needed for such an awful and miserable series. Wouldn't you rather be interested in a review of a series about how prison colors are in as a new black, or a Cuban-American family tackling life one day at a time, or maybe focus on an animated series with gigantic fighting robots in space controlled by humans inside them?
Plot:
The story of the Baudelaire Children takes place at first on a Briny Beach where the children have a natural day of fun on a cloudy, murky day. Murky is a phrase which hear means "Gloomy due to the mist around the beach." And in that murky misty fog around the beach, Mr. Poe, the children's banker and executor of their parent's estate, meets them to give them the most unfortunate news that their parents have died in a fire that also destroyed their mansion. Thus he takes them to visit Count Olaf, their 3rd cousin 4 times removed or their 4th cousin 3 times removed, as he is their to be their guardian. However, he tries but luckily fails to usurp their fortune in the first two episodes. However, Olaf and his evil theatrical troupe, all of which are not only the most despicable people I would ever not wish to meet and also never involve myself at a dinner party with were also terrible actors, have disguised themselves very badly but have failed to be noticed by anyone until too late. Also involved in the series is a mysterious, often limited, narrator named Lemony Snicket who is responsible for chronicling our story. Chronicling is word which hear means "recording the story from every terrible moment and event that would put tears in your eyes."
The series itself is based off of the 13 books by Lemony Snicket. The first season focused on the first four novels respectively named The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, and The Miserable Mill. This series known for its very forsaken drama with the children, the usage of figurative language and word play, overuse of dramatic irony, and a unique syntax (syntax is a word which here means the styling of the sentence structure intended to emphasis a specific purpose especially to that of 3 orphans in melancholy)that adds to the word play in these stories. Also included is the many musings and interruptions of our narrator, Lemony Snicket, with telling this tale as well as learning more about him and his motives for weaving this tale of woe. This was the primary challenge with adapting this series with including the every unique word told with a very forlorn definition, Lemony's interaction with readers turned into audience viewers at home or on the train, plane and automobile they decide to watch in, and the linguistic (which here means a gigantic love of words) adoration given to reading and the spoken word. Fortunately, that aspect was translated successfully into this TV series.
Writer Daniel Handler, the official name of Lemony Snicket and real author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, has written 5 episodes with Emily Fox, Joe Trancz, and Tatiana Suarez-Pico each writing one. Every episode faithfully retells Snicket's style from the wordplay to the many pop-culture and high culture (authors primarily but also musicians, directors, scientists, and books) referenes. All episodes give each book time to breath to allow the books to be told and every episode not only feels like the misadventure of a lifetime, but also a hide and seek game for every cultural reference made to every Latin phrase and dictionary word included in the screenplay. A minor but just as important element in this series are the anachronisms found. From the clothing styles from various decades in the 20th century to the mixed technology to the pop culture references each of these give a slight unease to pinpointing not only when but where the series does take place as part of the original story. So as Netflix marketed the series to all demographics, the children will see the fun and amazing clever antics and story of the children with the script being enjoyable for the adults.
Characters and Actors:
The children are played by Malina Weissman who is Violet, Louis Hynes plays Klaus, and Presley Smith as Sunny with her voice for her shrieks being played by voice actress Tara Strong. Each child is given their chance to shine with Violet's inventions, Klaus' knowledge in an assortment of ideas and subjects, and Sunny is exceptionally good with biting objects but her character is expanded upon with being a poker hustler as well. Each actor does an excellent job with portraying their Baudelaire character and have truly pulled their weight in getting the audience to feel sympathy and pity for the children as they continually try to escape and end foiling Count Olaf's schemes.
Playing the role of the "Famously Renowned" Count Olaf is actor, singer, producer, director, and theatrical renaissance man Neil Patrick Harris. Renaissance man is a phrase which hear means a multi-talented person usually in more than one subject. Harris's portrayal as Olaf is the perfect combination of hammy, vain, twisted, evil, and threatening. Unlike Jim Carrey, who was more of a goofball and not so bright Olaf, Harris goes with being as faithful to the source material and even tries his hardest to be a bad actor with even worse disguises. But even the disguises are just as fun when we see Harris don prosthetic, makeup and costume to be all the bad disguises that enables him to fool all adults in his way.
Patrick Warburton plays narrator and series "creator" Lemony Snicket. Warburton for me was the actor I was the most unsure he would excel due to knowing from prior work like Seinfeld and Family Guy and usually Patrick Warburton acts like, well, Patrick Warburton. But every so often he get's a role that I can say he is this character. Lemony Snicket is one of those roles. The way he delivers the lines is in a combination of deadpan and wry humor laced with irony told in the best of way. Warburton delivers his narration wonderfully with being both omniscient as well as being fly on the wall due to his limited knowledge of his research in the Baudelaire story.
As well as a great opening cast, the guest and recurring actors also bring a vibrancy to the world of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Joan Cusack, Aasif Mandvi, Alfre Woodard, and Don Johnson play some of the many adults involved the children's lives (mostly guardians of various helping ability). Each actor breathes life into each respective guardians with both their amazing knowledge in various studies (Law for Justice Strauss, Herpetology for Uncle Monty, Grammar for Josephine, and Economics and Lumber Mill Managing for Sir; each of the actors played each respective role in order) but also their flaws. Each actor gives these characters the much needed personality not given in the 2004 movie adaptation.
Of course when it comes to a movie, so many things can happen as a good thing thing but some can happen as a bad thing. the bad thing happening was that many of the characters did not get fully fleshed out. (The phrase fully fleshed out means to give a good length to understand the characters.) The film adaption unfortunately did not do this. Luckily the series does this with getting everyone fleshed out and had each character shine every time.
But back to the review of our cast, Count Olaf is also given a odd assortment of actors playing the theatrical troupe Count Olaf has decided to get involved with his antics including a hooked-handed man, two powder faced ladies possibly sisters, a tall bald man, and a person of androgynous appearance. Even these awful people and such awful actors are given their chances in the limelight with terrible acting chops as well as their disguises give them a new enhanced character from the oddly stock character style Handler makes them in the original novels until he fleshes out their characteristics in the later books. The series gives him ample room to develop the theater troupe in their deviously wacky ways.
Settings and Costume Design:
The main settings of the show are inspired by mix of Gothic storytelling, anachronisms, light surrealism, and an extensive attention to details with an extensive color palate, and also using elements of Wes Anderson's surreal and symmetrical style. Also following this style is the lighter colors of the Baudelaire Children and the darker tones of the unsafe environments and villains clothes. Also included is a Burtonesque style in the series mostly from one would see in Edward Scissorhands thanks in part to Bo Welch, who actually was involved in Burton's earlier films including Edward Scissorhands. And despite the the nods I've scene in reference to both directors, the series still feels fresh and original thanks to Handler's creation of the universe and the acquisition of a great crew that makes good use of some of the most attractively made sets in a show that I've ever seen. Sometimes I can tell when the CGI is a little fake like certain parts of the Wide Window's usage of creating the waters of Lake Lachrymose but there are times where it blends well into the scenes too like when it comes to the sky environments of Uncle Monty and Justice Strauss's homes and the eerie leeches of Lake Lachrymose. All in all, the settings are gorgeous to look at and makes one feel like we could be watching an elaborate stage play with a budget they asked for and received.
Final Verdict:
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a truly fanatical and fantastic and wonderful series with mixing the story's plot line and the twists and turns of new interconnected plots to the story. I give this series a 4.5 out of 5 stars. And good news is that we'll be getting season 2 to get filmed starting in April.
