With the recent release of the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix, I thought it would be appropriate to share a review here of Season 1 for those of you who might not have watched the show yet. Or even for those of you who have watched the show and are looking for something to read about it. Here we go!
Season one was, in my mind, exactly what we Series fans needed. There was the lost hope of the original movie that made us worry, “Oh gosh, now that Jim Carrey overplayed Count Olaf and the story has been mutilated to fit a completely different mold, what will happen? No one will take the series now…” Think again! Neal Patrick Harris apparently loves the series and made it a goal of his to give it justice in on-screen media. And he and the new Series team are doing a great job at it!
Let me tell you that the show for me is, so far, a 10/10 for sure. I am probably biased because someone finally did the series right, but hey I still objectively think it is a great show. Some reasons why I think it is being done fantastically are the following (and most of them actually have to do with casting, which was poorly done in the original film):
**Spoiler Alert!**
1-Holy cow, they have a good Count Olaf! No offense to Jim Carrey’s performance in the original movie, but I feel like the guy was just not Olaf material. He made the character something it was not for the sake of adding his too much of his own personality into a very, very specific character type… I felt like Olaf died a tragic death and Jim Carrey just took over for him. This is not the case in the TV show though. OMG, Neal Patrick Harris is unexpectedly the perfect fit for Olaf. And this is the case partially because Harris actually plays the character and not himself. Oh, and he just nails the sinister yet quirky traits that make up Olaf. Amazing job here.
2-The Baudelaire kids are actually kids and not model children that look like they’ve had plastic surgery. No offense to the kids in the original movie, but I feel like the casting people for that project tried to make Violet sexy and more prissy, when she is actually a cool, nerdy normal person, and Klaus a sort of a pretty boy when he is—also—supposed to be a nerd. That is supposed to be part of why we love to Baudelaires--they look and act both classy and smart. They were meant to be actually pretty average looking children with not-so-average intelligence. Too much focus on the superficial in the original and on-point casting in the new series.
3-Lemony Snicket actually acts like Lemony Snicket and not some emo guy in a clock tower. This really bothered me in the original because, let’s face it, Lemony is a pretty goofy guy deep down and all those who read the books know this about his character. I love the casting choice for the current series (), and this is the case even though I thought on the onset that he would be sort of weird for the role.
4-Sunny’s character is what it should be. In the Jim Carrey feature, Sunny lacks development and is truly only a baby that sits there and looks pretty (consistent with the superficial nature of that movie). Now, those of you who know, Sunny is a little Einstein of sorts and that is supposed to show in her character. I feel like this is realized in the TV show, and that is super awesome for me.
5-The new show does not rip the story apart and try to squeeze it all together in 2 hours or less. Really, I (and really every Series fan) always knew that this was the biggest problem with the movie. They changed the story way too much (and I’m pretty forgiving about changes made to a book so it can go to the big screen). They did this to the point of losing some of the more important plot elements and making the true essence of the story all but disappear. Just poorly done. The new series, on the other hand, realizes that the Series of Unfortunate Events was meant to be exactly that—a series! It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out… and on top of that, they are releasing parts of the series like how the books were released back in the day: little by little, making you guess what’s next.
6-The changes that the new show make to the overall story are hilarious and they work so well in tandem with the true spirit of the series. One example of this is the Quagmire parents that we initially think are the surviving Baudelaire parents (if you’ve seen the show, you’ll know what I’m talking about). OH MY, that had me going!
We’ll se in the coming days and weeks if the new season (released YESTERDAY!) stays up-to-scratch with the progress made by season 1. As a long-time fan, I hope it’s just as awesome.
So, that basically sums it up. :) Let us know what you think in the comments below! Although, I must warn you that if you actually think the original movie was good, we will almost definitely have a war in the comment section, lol.
Number rating out of 10: Like I said earlier, the series thus far is a 10/10 for me. It just accomplishes so much as a show.
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