Look away from Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events"... (don't, actually)
Posted Initially to KPTimes on January 19th, 2017 (Link to original posting: here)
Netflix’s new “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is, fortunately, the most accurate adaptation I’ve ever seen from books to television. The series went live on Jan. 13, and as someone who grew up reading Lemony Snicket’s dark tales, I was thrilled that the newest rendition lived up to the hype.
The books and series follow what happens after the Baudelaire children are placed into the care of their distant relative, Count Olaf after a mysterious fire kills their parents. Olaf is an actor who is determined to claim the family fortune for himself. Following Olaf’s failed attempt to claim the fortune by killing the children, the Baudelaires set out to elude Olaf and uncover the mystery behind a secret society from their parents’ past.
One of the most significant changes from the books to the series is that the mystery of the secret society called the VFD, is put at the forefront instead of being involved from the fifth book onward. Overall this is a change for the better, as there isn’t a solid connection to the secret society in the first four books.
Additionally, by the end of the books, Snicket was trying to connect the players from the early books to the overall mystery, making it feel contrived and clumped together. The books claim that Aunt Josephine and her husband Ike were scientists in the society, that Uncle Monty was a member, and somehow Sir and Charles were also members, and it just doesn’t work.
The casting in the show is wonderful. Neil Patrick Harris does a wonderfully vile Count Olaf (they keep him as vile as ever yet give him a nice bit of comedy to balance him out). I had my doubts about Patrick Warburton playing the author/narrator Lemony Snicket but he has pulled it off.
Malina Weissman, Louis Hynes, and Presley Smith play Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, the Baudelaire children. Weissman plays the older sister, trying to keep it together for her younger siblings with strength; Hynes does a great job of being respectful yet sassy. Smith is the best baby actress I’ve ever seen. She stays so calm, and her expressions are just absolutely perfect.
Todd Freeman rounds out the main cast, playing Mr. Poe, the banker in charge of the children’s affairs. He perfectly captures the jolly man who arises the frustration from the audience for him being utterly useless to Baudelaire’s situation.
The side characters are great as well. The guardians are kind yet utterly useless, as they should be. Olaf’s henchmen are competent and yet incompetent at the same time, and it somehow just works. Even some characters like Jacqulyn and Gustav, who weren’t really featured in the books, get their own moments as well.
The show’s aesthetic, however, is a perfect mismatch, not allowing the viewer to place when the show takes place. This would be a downfall for some shows, but “Unfortunate Events” balances it perfectly. The clothes and the settings made it feel like this was set in the 50s or 60s, yet the mention of the Internet or Uber always threw it off, making it truly take place anytime.
The original music for the series is also intriguing. Harris always sang the theme “Look Away,” which changed depending on the “book.” Olaf’s disguise, as he sang, was very creative. Two additional songs, one in the first episode and one in the last episode were also very amusing.
All in all, I look forward to season two, where they will adapt books five through nine and see what their spin on the series will be.
