A Series of Unfortunate Events a Fun, Witty Ride

The A Series of Unfortunate Events novels were some of the most popular teen and young-adult novels from the first book, A Bad Beginning, which was published in 1999, to when the last book,The End, was published in 2006. The books have been the inspiration for a movie, a video game, two spin-off novels, and now, a Netflix series.

The first season contains eight episodes influenced by the first four books of the series. And wow, are they good. The story follows the misfortunes of the three Baudelaire children who are sent to live with a horrible actor and worse person, Count Olaf, after their parents die in a fire.

Neil Patrick Harris stars as Count Olaf, and in the realm of possibility, an Emmy nomination might be in Harris’ future. Olaf is a villain who, throughout the show, is constantly trying to steal the fortune of the Baudelaire children. Olaf is absolutely evil, and absolutely hilarious – from plotting scheme after scheme against the Baudelaires to having an almost complete lack of understanding for the simplest literary devices, when Olaf is on the screen, he always brings terror and hilarity with him.

The Baudelaire children are played by Malina Weissman as Violet Baudelaire, Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire, and Presley Smith as Sunny Baudelaire. Violet and Klaus are both intellectual children in their early teens while Sunny is a hilariously sarcastic toddler. All of the children give good performances, but sometimes their acting seem lackluster in comparison to Neil Patrick Harris, but their performances strengthen as the show goes on.

K. Todd Freeman stars as Mr. Poe, an often sickly banker in charge of managing the Baudelaire fortune who is totally incompetent and unaware of the terrible events the Baudelaires experience throughout the show. Freeman’s character might be an acquired taste. He does have a few scenes in which he offers comedic relief and others in which his character is flat-out annoying.

Patrick Warburton also shines as narrator Lemony Snicket, a monotone and melancholy man who has the unfortunate duty of documenting and telling the unfortunate events of the Baudelaires. His 4th wall breaks are humorous and provide good scene-to-scene transitions throughout the main plot and the subplots of the show.

Speaking of subplots, they are another strong part of the show. There are a couple that readers of the books will recognize and others that they will be surprised about, and viewers who have not read the books will be intrigued by them. The set pieces and special effects are also very well put together, especially given the show’s low budget. Overall, A Series of Unfortunate Events is a really enjoyable show. A true adaption of the books, the way the movie wasn’t. It is a show that will keep the viewers laughing, keep the viewers gasping, and keep viewers crying. A Series of Unfortunate Events gets an eight out of 10.