Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
In its first season, Netflix’s take on Lemony Snicket’s classic tale always suffered from comparisons. No matter how wickedly charming Neil Patrick Harris‘ Count Olaf was or how brilliant yet vulnerable the Baudelaire orphans remained, it was difficult to look at the series without comparing it to the 2004 movie starring Jim Carrey — and of course the books the series is based on. It wasn’t until final “The Wide Window” and “The Miserable Mill” chapters that the series finally started to master its pace, understand the endlessly complicated and smart characters of this world, and gain a bit of its own dark identity. If Season 1 of A Series of Unfortunate Events was play-acting through Snicket’s (Daniel Handler) books, then Season 2 finally feels like a true adaption. However, while this season makes for a compelling TV series, it also raises the question whether it should have been adapted in the first place.
But first with the positives. Patrick Warburton is just as charming, snarky, and a bit meta as he’s always been as Lemony Snicket. The characters who have changed the most, however, are surprisingly the Baudelaire children. Malina Weissman‘s Violet seems more confident, drifting from the damsel in distress vibe she was sometimes exuded in the show’s first season. Louis Hynes‘ Klaus breaks from his seemingly limitless source of knowledge to explore his more emotional side. Weissman and Hynes truly are wonderful young actors and consistently remain a pleasure to watch. Season 2 also fixes one of the most grating elements of the original — the CGI version of Sunny (Presley Smith). The youngest Baudelaire still regularly performs shocking tasks far beyond the capabilities of a regular toddler, but those feats are now often seen off-screen, making them less distracting to the overall story. And what a haunting story it is.
Whereas Season 1 was largely a survival tale that pitted the Baudelaires against Count Olaf, Season 2 starts to earnestly explore the central mystery at the heart of this story. As interesting as it is to see Violet, Klaus, and Sunny outsmart their way out of Count Olaf’s endless traps, it’s refreshing to see them focus on other, bigger goals than their own survival. Their quest to figure out the meaning behind the curious V.F.D. allows for some truly fun and memorable characters. The wealth and status-obsessed Esmé Squalor (Lucy Punch) may be one of the most simultaneously amusing and outrage-inducing characters in Snicket’s entire series; and Nathon Fillion‘s dashing Jacques Snicket is a standout role for the beloved actor.
Season 2 truly stands as an excellent story that should be both funny and thrilling to all audiences. But with every note A Series of Unfortunate Events perfects, it can’t erase what has always been both the movie and TV show’s biggest problem — a franchise that preaches the value of reading makes for an odd addition to any sort of screen.
This is not to say that the Netflix version of the franchise is dumbed down in any manner. In fact, some of the jokes and references that are casually thrown about are both winkingly intellectual and in-the-know. In “The Vile Village”, Count Olaf makes a quick reference to The Crying of Lot 49, and just a few episodes later in “The Carnivorous Carnival,” he makes a truly excellent How I Met Your Mother joke. The series is incredibly smart, but there is something about experiencing a mystery through a book instead of a TV show that calls for a bit more critical thinking. When you’re reading, you’re forced to imagine the entire world you’re experiencing and decide which clues are worth following. As marvelous as television is, it’s a medium that still relies on its audience to hold the hand of its creators and directors. Even some of the most ambitious TV shows in the past few years, Mr. Robot and Westworld, have had their central mysteries spoiled by fans because successful television misdirection is an absurdly difficult thing to execute. There were a few times during this new season of A Series of Unfortunate Events when I felt like the show was telling me what clues I should pay attention to, while this entire story was telling me to think for myself.
That’s the biggest disconnect between A Series of Unfortunate Events the book, and the show. At its core, this is a franchise made to encourage children to question everything and think for themselves. You see that through the show’s many adult characters who live lives they absolutely hate merely because of some made-up rules, and the ever-smart Baudelaire children act as a foil to this sort of unambitious and dangerous group think. In A Series of Unfortunate Events the show, the Baudelaires are still far and away the heroes of this story, but the quick pace of the series doesn’t give viewers much room to emulate them or the heroes of the V.F.D.
This thematic disconnect is not nearly reason enough to dismiss the series. Mark Hudis and Barry Sonnenfeld have created 10 hours of television that are equally thrilling, heart-warming, heart-breakingly sad, and funny; and above all else, they have made something that is intelligent. It’s good that this series exists, and it’s great that it may encourage viewers to read or reread the books and embrace their literary side a bit more. However, don’t be surprised if halfway through watching the series, you have the sudden and strong desire to pick up a book.
