Dear Reader,
I am sorry that you have returned to my blog. Not because I do not value your company, but because you have been mislead into thinking that the Baudelaire situation has improved. It has not. Even a year on, they are still having the most miserable of experiences, with this latest installment including bullies, bad violin playing and terrible cafeteria food. While it is my solemn duty to continue to review A Series of Unfortunate Events, you must have happier things to do, such as attending funerals.
A year has passed and season 2 of A Series of Unfortunate Events has just been broadcast on Netflix. It continues the story of the Baudelaire children - Violet, Klaus and Sunny, three orphans who have lost their parents in a terrible fire. They are relentless pursued by Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris) who wants the fortune their parents left behind. Based on the Lemony Snicket's YA book series, it is narrated by Lemony Snicket himself (Patrick Warburton.) Misadventure after misadventure sees the Baudelaires go to an eccentric reptologist to a woman who is afraid of everything to working in a lumbermill, to, in this installment, a boarding school.
After a recap of last season, we see the Baudelaires meet the Vice Principal of Prufock Prepatory School, Nero (Roger Bart), an unhinged and incompetent man, who cares more about his violin playing more than the welfare of his students. And for the record he is an awful violinist. Complimenting his bumbling incompetence is the malicious bully Carmelita Spats (Kitana Turnbull) She is a spoilt, arrogant brat who torments the Baudelaires any chance she can. And to make matters worse, the Baudelaires are forced to live in a tin shack, complete with snapping crabs and dripping fungus. And then Count Olaf finds them again, disguised as a gym coach, ready to start hatching his next evil plot to steal their fortune.
However, things aren't all bad for the Baudelaires. They soon befriend fellow pupils and triplets, Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, the only two survivors from a fire that killed their parents and brother, Quigley. The Baudelaires are also helped by the school librarian and by the mysterious, Larry the Waiter, and Mr Poe's (a banker who is responsible for the Baudelaire orphans) secretary Jacuelyn. Finally we are also introduced to the equally enigmatic Jacques Snicket, played by Nathan Fillion. Book-readers know that Jaques Snicket is an important character within the books.
The setting for the Austere Academy was great. In classic Snicket style, it is a blatant satire/parody of the current education institutions that run our lives. Rather than actually teaching anything useful. the teachers force their students just to memorise and regurgitate information. Vice Principal Nero is a tyrannical, but hapless bureaucrat, although not as cruel as his Roman namesake, and the library, a place of learning, is only allowed to be open for ten minutes a day. Moreover, Carmelita Spats is your classic bully with her own cheering fan squad. Finally, the school has a crumbling infrastructure with funds being constantly misappropriated.
While the parallels between The Austere Academy and real life were well-realised and delightful to watch, I do feel that the overall execution of the two-parter was lacking. As Zack Handlen of AV Club notices, the first episode is largely just set-up, while that's obviously important, it can't come before the plot. And that's what happens here. Within the book, just as the Baudelaires feel they're safe from Count Olaf, he appears in disguise, ready to steal their fortune.
However, within this episode, we first see Count Olaf and his henchmen within the first half hour of the episode. Rather than lurking in the background, they're placed front and centre. They commandeer a Prufock Prep school bus, which is carrying the school's sport team home from an away game. While, we always know that Count Olaf will appear, the excitement is in wondering when this will be. It is much more satisfying to see his first entrance, being in a costume that falls everyone, rather than in the first twenty minutes. It removes a lot of the dramatic tension.
On another note, I was also disappointed with the use of Olaf's henchmen. While they have always functioned as comic-relief, I do feel they were underused, with some being reduced to wearing silly costumes for no reason. There were definitely funny moments, such as the Hook-Handed man being afraid of the dark or the continued philosophisings of the henchman who looks neither like a man or a woman, but these were few and far between.
At the end of the first episode, Count Olaf reveals himself to the Baudelaires in his ridiculous gym coach disguise. However, the effect of this was diluted, because of how he had already appeared earlier. His reveal here would have been more powerful if it had been his only appearance in the episode. Yet the narrative really gets going in the second episode, as the Baudelaires try to discover and foil Count Olaf's plot. This plot is revealed to be Count Olaf making the Baudelaires run laps all night, so that they become too tired to concentrate in class and, thus, flunk their exams. If that happens, then they will be expelled and sent to Olaf under the pretense of him home-schooling them.
Fortunately, the Quagmires save the day be running laps disguised as the Baudelaires, allowing the real Baudelaires to study for and pass their tests. However, Count Olaf discovers the truth and kidnaps the Quagmires, before escaping. The Quagmires were a nice addition to the story, acting as parallels to the Baudelaires and the child actors all worked well together.
Alongside this main plot, were two supplementary subplots, the first being the Baudelaires trying to discover more about the mysterious past of their parents. It is revealed that the Baudelaire parents were members of a secret organisation who spoke in special codes and used spyglasses. The Baudelaires then find out that the Quagmires' parents are part of the same organisation and together they try to discover the truth. Meanwhile, Jacquelyn and Larry the Waiter are trying to help the Baudelaires by delivering them a book which will answer all of their questions.
Both of these subplots play out very differently in the books and they work to a varying extent in the TV series. The Baudelaires investigating into their parents' past is an enjoyable new addition, adding in some increased tension. However, I'm not too keen on Jacquelyn and Larry. It is is revealed that they had a shared past with Count Olaf and the Baudelaire's parents, but this has always remained a little too mysterious for my liking. It has a raised a lot of questions and not too many answers. Although, it is only halfway through. I'm sure their significance will be explained later on...just like how I'm sure the Baudelaires' situation will definitely improve and they'll live happily ever after...oh wait, it's not that kind of story.
VFD and Cultural References
1. Victoriously Final Days is the only VFD reference I spotted here.
2. Count Olaf calls Vice Principal Nero, Caligula at one point.
3. Carmelita Spats and Larry the Waiter quote Wannabe by the Spice Girls.
4. The famous poet Ogden Nash is discussed by Klaus and Isadora.
Absolutely in love with your take on most movies, maybe because I see them the same way you do.
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