It’s a new year and Netflix has started it off with a new hit series. A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sound familiar? The show is based on the mystery novels written by Lemony Snicket. Now, I personally have not read the books. I did however, watch the 2004 movie adaptation with Jim Carrey. For those of you who read the books when you were younger, I apologize for my lack of knowledge, but know that your childhood was probably better than mine because of this.
The show focuses on the Bauldelaire children: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. They become orphans when their parents die in a mysterious house fire. This is a minor spoiler, but it sets the entire plot. The children are put under the care of their “closest” living relative Count Olaf, who is revealed to be cruel and after their inherited fortune. Again, minor spoilers.
Each episode is linked to a book. For example, the first two episodes are “The Bad Beginning: Part One” and “The Bad Beginning: Part Two”. This is good because it allows there to be more accuracy between the novels and the show, unlike in the movie adaptation where the sequence is weird and less accurate. Then again, it is a movie. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie. Compared to the show it is much more dark and the humor isn’t so obvious…which probably says something about me.
One of my favorite things about this show is that it’s racially diverse. I mean, not that it’s rare nowadays, but the movie had about maybe two actors who weren’t Caucasian. It’s a family show, but it still manages to be enjoyable. The humor isn’t on a rolling-on-the-floor-laughing level, but it’s not cheesy either like a show you’d see on Disney Channel. Because let’s face it, Disney Channel hasn’t been the same since they cancelled The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
Even if you haven’t seen the movie or read the books, I would still recommend this series. It is perfect for a fresh set of eyes. Lemony Snicket himself guides you through the show with his narration. It is short, as most Netflix series are. According to my calculations, there are 13 books total, each episode is half of a book, therefore there should be about 26 episodes. Let’s hope so, because this show is enjoyable and so many questions were left unanswered, that viewers will want to binge-watch in order to know.