A Series and a Most Fortunate Event

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a huge fan of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in my middle school years. I still own all thirteen books, and the author's Unauthorized Autobiography. Having been around the same age the two elder Baudelaire orphans when I first read this series, I found everything about it oddly comforting. The children were intelligent, and interested in things mainstream culture told us were "odd" or "nerdy." It showed children who were perceptive, resourceful, bright, witty, and who even had a good relationship with their parents (before being orphaned). It also had a very dark side, and the author wasn't afraid to write to the young adolescents the series was marketed toward as emotionally intelligent equals - a courtesy many adults don't afford youth of that age group and which, as a reader, made me feel a certain debt to the author and the characters to prove I was worthy of that respect.

This is why it came as such a heartbreak that an attempt to adapt the series into a movie in 2004 hit so far from the mark. The tone didn't match that in the books, the addition of slapstick comedy made it even further from the vision of the book series, and the storyline jumped all around the first few books in the series, making it difficult for fans of the books to follow along. I watched the movie once and vowed to pretend it didn't exist after that. I was happy with the extraordinary world the author had provided in the book series and had no need for anything more.

Then, in January of this year, the streaming service Netflix premiered a new adaptation of the series, produced by "Lemony Snicket" himself, Daniel Handler. I tried not to get my hopes up, but with each new teaser and trailer, I found myself failing. I decided to give adaptations of my beloved series another chance, and I am so glad I did. From the beginning, the theme song set a tone completely and perfectly reminiscent of that set by Snicket in the books. Upon realizing that the lyrics to the theme song change slightly with each episode, I was even more thrilled. The show seemed perfectly cast, with each of the children delivering their lines exactly as I had heard them in my head upon first reading of the books, the guardians playing up their more eccentric traits just enough so as to be believable to the intended audience, and Neil Patrick Harris's Count Olaf was the exact blend of eccentric, ridiculous, and terrifying that Snicket portrayed him as in the books. The only character/acting choice that didn't leave me with the same feeling as that in the books was Alfre Woodard's Aunt Josephine. Her character was louder and jumpier than I had envisioned from the books, but in the end I felt the acting choice redeemed itself.

I was concerned when I saw that each book would be allotted two roughly hour-long episodes. Considering the material, I thought one per book would have sufficed. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this extra time was used to provide side and background stories and information that hadn't been included in the books. This provided great context for those viewers who hadn't read the series beforehand while allowing Snicket to provide the die-hard fans a more rounded storytelling approach and and more treats and twists to keep them interested in the retelling of a story many have already known, loved, and re-read over an over again for two decades.

Overall, this is by the far the best TV adaptation I have seen in years, and I cannot wait for season 2 - since season one only covers the first four books in the series.