I was going to write an article on the pettiness of Anish Kapoor and Stuart Semple, but something very unfortunate and very expected happened on Friday, January 13. The contents of this article are most upsetting and since the viewer has no need to see this, they should look away and not trouble themselves with the tragic tale of the Baudelaire children.
After two years in production (Netflix announced it would make it a TV series in 2014), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is out on Netflix. The first season is eight episodes long, encompassing the first four books. Netflix has plans on turning all 13 books into episodes in future seasons.
The TV series is different from its movie's counterpart in every aspect except for the fact that a popular comedian is playing the main villain, Count Olaf. Neil Patrick Harris portrays Count Olaf, his flamboyant acting a perfect characterization of the Count. He sings every variant of the opening song. Unlike most of their other shows where the theme song stays consistent throughout the season, the lyrics in the opening songs for A Series of Unfortunate Events changes to reflect the events in the specific episode. This acts as a spoiler alert and a trigger warning for anyone who's paying attention.
Patrick Warburton plays the titular narrator Lemony Snicket. Yes, the author did write himself into the series, but he is actually never seen in the novels interacting with the Baudelaire children. He has, on occasion, interacted with their parents and Count Olaf, but that's in two different book series (both a prequel and a sequel series). Whenever the story becomes too intense, Lemony Snicket breaks the narrative to remind the viewer that while the current event may seem bad, the children will live. By having Lemony Snicket in the show, Netflix has gone beyond the movie and has created--in my professional fangirl opinion--one of the best book-to-film adaptations that exists. Lemony Snicket's repetitions over the sad story of the Baudelaires, giving definitions and examples of words, and breaking the narrative were some of the most prevalent patterns in the books. This series is a Hunger Games with it's adaptation and the careful attention given to it, not a flop like the Percy Jackson series.
There is, however, one divergence from the book series' canon that the show exhibits in every episode: the Baudelaire children's parents are alive. In the books, the fire that burns the Baudelaire mansion was a setup meant to kill the Baudelaires. In the Netflix series, the fire is a setup to capture the Baudelaire parents and to test the ingenuity of the Baudelaire children. As to who is administering the tests? They are mentioned in the first episode, but to point them out would be to point out massive spoilers.
From all the attention that has been given this series by Netflix, I eagerly await season 2.
