After watching the 2004 film adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s book series titled “A Series of Unfortunate Events” years ago, I was heavily disappointed with the film’s quality. Nothing bugs me more when a studio tries to squish multiple books from a series into one 2-hour-long movie, and, I’ll admit it, there are some films that do that well, like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. That film did a stellar job of cramming seven graphic novels into a movie that’s only a little under two hours. Nevertheless, I was super excited for the 8-episode Netflix adaptation of the books, and while Netflix is known for shows like the Marvel “Defenders” series,  this may be their big hitter of the year. For one, A Series of Unfortunate Events has a huge cast, and while Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed four of the eight episodes, had a bit of a rough run with last year’s insanely terrible Nine Lives, it seems the man behind the Men In Black and Addams Family movie franchises has regained himself.

The show follows Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, three siblings who are told that their parents have been killed in a fire that has also destroyed their mansion. They are taken to live with their nearest “relative”, a man by the name of Count Olaf (Neal Patrick Harris), who they find is not related to them at all and just wants to steal Violet’s (the eldest child) fortune. They escape him time and time again, but he always seems to find them so he can steal the fortune. Olaf is an actor, and in order to follow the children, he dresses up as colorful alter egos, including a scientist named Stephano, and a sailor named Captain Sham, and a receptionist named Shirley.

The show takes place in present day but doesn’t feel like it does, thanks to the Burtonesque style and design. Count Olaf is truly a vile and disturbing man, but Harris plays him with such charisma and humor that that alone makes it far better than the 2004 film. This series is also much more faithful to the books, in terms of dialogue and the plot. This is the kind of thing I wish all book adaptations could be. With film versions of highly acclaimed series, things tend to be crammed into one giant movie, and usually a bunch of stuff is left on the cutting room floor. This adaptation did a great job because the books were short to begin with, and by elongating the runtime of the episodes, the showrunners could actually tell a good story. I read the novels, and they were pretty good, but there wasn’t enough sense of humor. They were so focused on making the books as, well…unfortunate as they possibly could, and eventually began to drag. With the Netflix series, the writers had an enormous chance to make these episodes hilarious, and in a weird kind of way, they took it. The baby sibling, Sunny, is so hilarious because she says things only the kids can understand, subtitled in green when she blurts something. For instance, when the siblings are trying to find a way to their Aunt Josephine, Sunny says a baby noise, but subtitled, it reads, “Uber?”. Moments like that make up the majority of the show and add some levity to it.

The acting is also very well done, and that’s including the children playing the Baudelaire orphans. Harris is hilarious, as always, and the three child actors are consistently entertaining. Patrick Warburton portrays Snicket himself (the narrator) and is very good as the author. I heavily enjoyed the show, and while I’m not going to spoil anything, the ending of the penultimate episode annoyed me, but once the loose ends were tied up, I was satisfied with the ending. I also have to mention the music, composed by James Newton Howard. Whenever this guy does something, I’m always impressed. Whether it’s the score for Fantastic Beasts, or the music for the video game Uncharted 4, he can do some great stuff. In this series, the music always has an eerie feel to it, but in the two parts of “The Miserable Mill”, it’s kind of funny. I also enjoyed how the series didn’t gravitate towards changing a bunch of plot points, like a lot of other adaptations do. For the vast majority of the series, the dialogue and plot was exactly like the book counterparts, which I enjoyed. The costume design is very impressive as well. I cannot wait for Season Two of this show, and I’m going to give it an A.

It’s also worth mentioning that this show has one of the best theme songs I’ve ever heard, sung by Neal Patrick Harris. It changes every two episodes since each story is in two parts. You can actually find the theme on Netflix’s YouTube channel, and I highly recommend you check it out.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events stars Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Warburton, Malina Weissman, Louis Hynes, K. Todd Freeman, and Presley Smith. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, Mark Palansky, and Bo Welch. Developed by Mark Hudis and Barry Sonnenfeld.

Now, here’s a recap of the entire “unfortunate events” of the show. Spoilers ahead!

Episodes 1/2 – The Bad Beginning

One day, while playing at the beach, siblings Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are shocked when they are told by the banker Mr. Poe of their parents’ deaths and the burning of their home. They are sent to live with a relative by the name of Count Olaf, an actor, who is extremely mean and makes them do an extremely lengthy list of chores around the house. They are also forced to share one tiny bed. After cooking puttanesca for Olaf and his theater troupe, the former demands roast beef, even though not saying it before the food was cooked. Olaf slaps Klaus and the troupe leaves. The siblings attempt to talk Mr. Poe into releasing them from Olaf’s custody, but Poe dismisses it. Olaf casts Violet as the lead role in his play, as the woman his character will marry at the end, but his real intentions are to literally marry her and steal the Baudelaire fortune. Olaf ties Sunny up and locks her in a cage, using her as leverage for Violet to marry him. At the play, however, she tricks him by signing the marriage document with her non-dominant hand, invalidating anything. Olaf escapes and Sunny is set free after winning a poker match with a member of the troupe.

Episodes 3/4 – The Reptile Room

The siblings are sent to live with their Uncle Monty, a herpetologist. One day, Olaf comes to Monty’s house posing as his new assistant Stephano, and chases the siblings around the house with a knife. Monty acts like he’s fooled, but he tells the children that he knows Olaf’s scheme. The five go to the movies, and while viewing a film called “Zombies in the Snow”, Monty encrypts a message in the subtitles, instructing him to take the children and go to Peru. After being attacked by Olaf’s troupe and escaping, Monty “fires” Stephano, but after putting the children to bed that night, he finds his extremely secure “Reptile Room” door open, and is attacked by something. The next day, the siblings find Monty in the Reptile Room dead, and Olaf/Stephano tells them that he was killed by a snake. After threatening to kill Sunny if the orphans don’t allow him to take them to Peru, Mr. Poe arrives and believes Olaf/Stephano’s lies. Determining that the cause of death was a snake, the siblings prove that Olaf/Stephano was behind the whole scheme. Olaf/Stephano escapes, along with his troupe.

Episodes 5/6 – The Wide Window

Mr. Poe takes the siblings to live with their Aunt Josephine, a woman who is afraid of nearly everything, including real estate agents. When they get there, Josephine runs to the market to fetch food, and while out, meets and falls in love with a sailor named Captain Sham, who is really Count Olaf in disguise. The night after Josephine and Olaf/Sham’s date, the siblings awake to find that Josephine has committed suicide via jumping out of a window. In her suicide note, Josephine reveals that the sibling’s new guardian is none other than Olaf/Sham. After finding grammatical errors in the note, the siblings find this unusual, as Josephine was overly obsessed with proper grammar. The twins are sent home early from brunch with Mr. Poe and Olaf/Sham, after intentionally giving themselves allergic reactions by eating peppermints. They go home and deduce that the grammatical errors spell out Curdled Cave, right before a hurricane causes the house to fall off of the cliff it was built on. The siblings travel to Curdled Cave, and find Josephine alive and well, who reveals that she was forced into writing that note by Olaf/Sham, who revealed his true identity on their date. They try to get back home and are “saved” by Olaf/Sham and his troupe. Olaf/Sham throws Josephine off of the boat, and she is eaten by leeches. Olaf escapes after being confronted by Mr. Poe, and the twins jump in a truck that bears the logo of a factory their parents were pictured in front of.

Episodes 7/8 – The Miserable Mill

The siblings arrive at the Lucky Smells Lumber Mill and meet the owner, Sir, who makes them work like adults. Sunny uses her superior chewing abilities to debark trees. The siblings are told that their parents burned down the town many years prior, and are hated by the mill workers, who act very strange. When Klaus suspects the foreman of being Count Olaf, the latter breaks Klaus’s glasses. Klaus is sent to the optometrist, Dr. Orwell, who hypnotizes him. Count Olaf, being Orwell’s ex-boyfriend, convinces her into helping him and Olaf disguises himself as a woman named Shirley St. Ives, Dr. Orwell’s receptionist. The pair meet Klaus at the entrance and put him in another trance, the original one being broken by Violet. Klaus robotically operates the stamp machine, which causes him to accidentally wound a worker by smashing his leg. It’s revealed that only a fatal accident would allow the orphans to be released into the custody of Olaf/Shirley, and that’s why he and Orwell are hypnotizing Klaus. Meanwhile, Mr. Poe desperately searches for the orphans. Violet tries to warn the owner of what’s going on, but he dismisses her. At night, Klaus is put in a trance once more and captures Charles, Sir’s partner who had also been hypnotized. Klaus is manipulated and attempts to murder Charles, but Violet figures out the word controlling the workers and snap them out of their trances. Violet frees Klaus in the nick of time, and Dr. Orwell holds Sunny hostage, but she accidentally topples into an oven, and Olaf escapes once again. The episode ends with the siblings being found by Mr. Poe and taken to a boarding school.