What’s the deal?
Most know that the story is based on the books by Lemony Snicket. From the first opening of the show, the narrator tells you not to watch as it is a dire and depressing tale of the ill-fated Baudelaire children. The show uses an actual narrator incorporated in the show, aka Snicket, to share the story. The Baudelaires, who consist of Violet, Klaus and Sunny, find out their parents have died in a fire and then are sent to live with Count Olaf, a distant relative trying to steal the massive fortune their parents left behind. And the events that follow are, well, unfortunate.
The Main Players
The Baudelaire children
Violet is the oldest Baudelaire at 14 and has a gift for invention, like the girl makes all kinds of stuff out of basically thin air. Violet is a protective older sister devoted to making sure her siblings are safe. She is a family member you would actually chose to have.
Klaus is the second oldest and is basically a walking encyclopedia because of all the books he reads. He reads books on every single subject you could think of and uses that knowledge to get out of troubling situations every day. As the series says, he wears glasses that make him look intelligent. He is intelligent.
Sunny is the incredibly advanced baby of the family. Though, she may usually be carried around by her older siblings, she has some of the best lines in the show, though they are all subtitled, of course. She’s also likes to bite and play with “deadly” vipers.
Mr. Poe is the banker in charge of the Baudelaire’s fortune and who their guardian is. He is frustratingly unaware, but honestly, he is a great character to watch in the series. Kudos to all actors who make us love otherwise boring characters.
Count Olaf is the evil guy the children are at first sent to live with. He is a real dark dude, who has done some really shady stuff in the past. All he wants is the orphans’ fortune and stops at nothing to try and get it. Murder, marriage, bad Italian accents, guy tries everything. Neil Patrick Harris plays him in this adaptation, so he is a little less sinister to me, but he does give a solid performance.
What’s so great about it?
Despite the fact that there are a lot happier things to watch on Netflix, I still thought this show was a really fun binge. From the almost stage like set up to the little hidden gems for book readers, the show all together was done with respect to the original material and in a enjoyable way. Despite the unfortunate part of the Baudelaire children’s life, I’ll be corny and say that it does show you that it isn’t impossible to find happiness in even the most dire of circumstances.
The show’s tone is very ironic and deadpan due to the dry telling of the story by narrator Lemony Snicket and the breaking of the fourth wall, which does follow the books. As a person who loves irony, it was a great tone for me. So, I would say don’t “look away” as the show tells you repeatedly.
Perk of Watching:
The narration by Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton), whose voice you will totally recognize if you have seen Family Guy, does the dry tone perfectly and gives the show some great comic moments. Also, he just has a really great voice.
Double Perk:
It is a book lover’s paradise. The sets are filled with thousands of books and libraries that I just really want to get lost in.
Did you binge A Series of Unfortunate Events? What are you binging now?
