After binge watching A Series of Unfortunate Events I had many thoughts about the series. It’s one of the best adaptions I’ve seen sticking to its book counterpart for the majority. There’s some new things added in and surprises as well which makes it so much better to watch. I’m going to split up my views by ‘book’ which is two episodes per post, so if you haven’t watched yet then beware, spoilers.
The Bad Beginning: Part 1
My initial thought was that the brightly coloured kids worked wonderfully against the greys of Briny Beach, the ruined Baudelaire Mansion and Count Olaf’s Mansion. This perfectly showed the bright light of the children in a world which is bleak with melancholy.
Snickets presence in the Baudelaire scenes works wonderfully to keep Snickets deep narrative which worked so well in the books. Patrick Warburtons voice also worked so well to keep the dark tone of the story, as I was dubious at first as I’ve only seen him in Rules of Engagement. The first thing which irked me was that they made Sunny’s biting habit almost comical. Yes, this is an adaption of a children’s book but it’s a dark and twisted version and it just didn’t fit well; this is my personal opinion though.
The Bad Beginning: Part 2
We start off this episode with the familiar Mr Poe being as useless as ever, completely oblivious to Count Olafs awful disguises and then takes the advice of the ‘consultant’. We finally see how Count Olaf managed to get hold of the Baudelaire children even though he wasn’t the closest related on the family tree, David Handler has clearly thought about criticism he got from his writings when creating the show.
There was a mention of a missing sugar bowl, any of those who’ve read the book will understand the importance of this seemingly throw away line.
As soon as I heard the name Jacquelyn I remembered the name of Jacques Snicket. The secretary of Mr Poe is a seemingly new character to the story at this point in time, but could she be one of the many elusive volunteers the Baudelaire’s meet later on? Is this in fact Kit Snicket using the feminine version of her brothers name? I think there’s much to discover about who Jacquelyn is. Later in the episode we find out she’s contacting Gustav Sebald, which if you remember is Uncle Monty’s assistant in the next book. Jacquelyn is definitely a volunteer then, and as far as I can tell she’s on the noble side.
As we get closer and closer to the ‘marriage’ the hope of the children is slowly diminishing. The theatrical troupe is as usual creeping about. Neil Patrick Harris was able to make himself truly sinister with the line “I’ll touch whatever I want”, this was the creepiest line in the show.
I know the adults are shown to be useless, and that’s a theme of the books, but why do all the adults stay in their seats at the play/wedding? They all just sit and watch it play out in front of them. Did anyone feel happy seeing Jacquelyn and Gustav looking proud when Klaus started to explain the law.
Jacquelyn’s lead points towards the parents, another factor which makes me believe she’s a Snicket. We then see the parents in a prison cell, I wonder who’s captured them?
What did you think to the first two episodes? Do you agree with my suspicions of Jacquelyn?