I read “A Series of Unfortunate Events” when I was about 11 years old and at the time I was convinced it was one of the best series I have ever read. Thinking back on it now, I’m positive that if I went back and read all 13 books again, I’d probably be right.
The Lemony Snicket books are about the sad lives of three children as, get this, their parents die in a terrible fire and are sent to live with Count Olaf, a terrible actor who has been plotting to steal the children’s fortune. Along the way, the children encounter freak show acts, reptile enthusiasts and all sorts of wacky shit as the three children try desperately to escape Count Olaf.
It’s sounds absolutely bleak, and it is, but the genius to each Unfortunate Events book is the presentation and delivery of each story, featuring bizarre meta narratives and an ongoing mystery involving Lemony Snicket himself and his involvement with his own story. The situations the children find themselves in are quite sad, but the few moments the book decides to deliver a very dry joke, it becomes the funniest thing on the planet. The result is a book series that combines gothic mystery and comedy to create one of the most unique series in children’s literature.
So you can imagine my skepticism when Netflix took it upon themselves to remake the series from a single film in 2004, to a serialized show, while delivering one of the most cringe-worthy trailers I have seen in years, but that’s the trailer.
The show is just as bad.
The thing about this series is it has all the pieces of the thing I like, but doesn’t use them as well as it should. The children for instance, all have their particular quirks (Violet is good with machines, Klaus is very smart, Sunny can bite things) but instead of these traits being more grounded the show decides the best way to approach these quirks is to turn them up to 11. So now, Violet isn’t just good with machines, she can build an entire motorized arm that can stretch out over 20 feet but somehow fit in a picnic basket, Klaus isn’t just smart, he speaks only in quotes from famous authors, and Sunny’s teeth are now strong enough to carve stone in seconds. I understand that the original books have some absurdist jokes and visuals, but this isn’t an absurd joke or visual, there are entire plot points that revolve around Violet, Klaus and Sunny working together to solve a problem, but how is anything a problem for Violet when she can just Macgyver her way out of any situation? How can anything be a mystery when Klaus is smarter everyone in the room? How is Sunny ever in any sort of danger when she is basically a piranha with baby legs?
On top of that the actors portraying Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, just can’t act. When their lines are 90% percent exposition, it can be hard to inject some life into these characters, but when the scene does allow for a more human interaction, the actors have the same bored expression on their faces, and when they should be worried they act as if someone just gave them a 2 hour long lecture on ancient Egyptian algebra.
On the other hand, I can say I’m 100% turned around on the idea of Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf. Say what you will about the 2004 movie, but I thought Jim Carrey absolutely nailed Olaf. Only Jim Carrey would have been able to pull off so many varied roles all while retaining that sense of intimidation that Olaf always had. Harris does a fantastic job of carrying that weight, and a lot of that has to do with the writing. Olaf’s lines are some of the driest and funniest in the show and the snarky, pretentious delivery from Harris makes every last one stand out in the sea of mediocrity that is the rest of the cast. However, when Harris isn’t playing Olaf, that is, when he is playing one of Olaf’s characters, his performance takes a serious dive as Harris brings nothing to each new character. His performance of Monty’s new assistant in the third episode actually made me cringe. Yeah, I get the joke is that Olaf is a terrible actor, but his performance is supposed to be good enough to fool people who aren’t complete idiots.
Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, meanwhile, is just OK. His delivery isn’t as exaggerated as his previous roles, but his deep voice and fast speech means he ends up sounding like he’s mumbling all the time. His role in the story, on the other hand, is a neat change up. Instead of being a guy who's hot on the trail of the Baudelaires, where we only know what he knows as he puts the pieces of the story together, he acts as an omnipresent narrator, who sadly recounts the story and laments on what he could have done or said to change the outcome. It’s a neat change up since the 2004 movie had the mysterious, hidden in the shadows version of Snicket nailed pretty hard.
Really, when I get down to it, what makes A Series of Unfortunate Events truly the cringe-worthy nightmare that it is, is the overall sense of postmodern enthusiasm. All of the grim and grimy humor and bleak atmosphere is instead swapped out with 4th wall breaks, high contrast color sets, and an emphasis on absurdist humor. The few chuckles you had while reading the depressing books worked so well because they were so few and far in between. The jokes here are just too in your face and too constant. Any joke that was entertaining or unique amidst the clutter gets repeated so much it loses all impact.
The tone of the story is just all over the place. The show tries to follow all the major plot points of the books, but wants the overall tone of the show to be bleak and depressing, but also happy and nonsensical, and it it just does not work. The styles clash far too often. For god’s sake, we have Warburton introduce us to this world as a sad, hopeless narrative about orphans, then cut to secret societies, 4th wall breaks, bad acting, and super powered orphans. Am I supposed to take this show seriously or not? This story isn’t supposed to be fantastical, it’s supposed to be grounded. It’s not supposed to be funny, it’s supposed to be bleak. It’s not supposed to be Dr. Seuss, it’s supposed to be Lemony Snicket.
Comparing it to the books may be unfair, but I think it’s appropriate. The reason these books were so unique and worth looking into in the first place was because they balanced the depressing narrative and quirky/goofy characters so well. They didn’t just slap together 2 scripts and call it good.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a cluster of a series. Calling it a mixed bag is too good for it. It’s captures nothing of what made the book's unique, fails at all attempts at humor and suspense, and wastes the talents of many actors who probably have plenty of better things to do with their time.
3/10
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