This TV
adaptation of the incredible Lemony Snicket series is just everything I want it
to be. Its first season dropped on
Netflix on the recent Friday the 13th, and every element – writing,
acting, production design, tone – fires on all cylinders to create a truly
winning-yet-morose series that absolutely captures the spirit and sensibility
of the books (premise spoilers by necessity.)
Violet,
Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire find their lives irrevocably changed when their
parents are killed in a terrible fire that destroys their home. Placed in the well-meaning but distracted
hands of Mr. Poe, the executor of their parents’ will, the Baudelaires are left
to the care of Count Olaf, a self-impressed actor and odious villain who will
stop at nothing to get the Baudelaire fortune.
The clever and resourceful orphans are sent on a series of
misadventures, dropped into the home of one guardian after the other, as they
work to elude Count Olaf’s pursuit of them/neverending schemes. Season 1 covers the first four books of the
series.
I can
honestly say that these characters and the world they inhabit really feel like
they’ve emerged directly from the pages of the books. The sets, costumes, and locales are all
perfectly on point, with numerous shots superbly echoing specific book
illustrations (I was straight-up amazed
at how much Neil Patrick Harris’s Count Olaf looks like the illustrations of
the character.) And given the fact that
we are looking at multiple books
here, the show has the chance to create a number of different iconic places
from the series; Uncle Monty’s house is particularly well-rendered. The series does a really nice job of adapting
the highly-literate language of the books as well. The Baudelaires’ polite, articulate dialogue
has a slightly-preserved feel and yet still comes across as genuine, and a good
balance is struck with the subtitles on Sunny’s baby talk (she’s not as verbose
as she is in the books, but her lines mostly feel true to her character.) And Lemony Snicket himself is very
well-incorporated, a gloomy narrator who’s forever present without feeling
intrusive.
The
acting is excellent across the board.
Given a thousand guesses, I probably would’ve never come up with the idea
of casting Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, but he’s absolutely
perfect. His voice hits that sweet spot
between lugubrious and matter-of-fact that’s crucial to Snicket, and he brings
dark humor and earnest warmth in equal measure.
Meanwhile, I was cautiously curious/looking forward to Neil Patrick
Harris’s performance as Count Olaf since I first heard he’d be playing the
part, and frankly, I think he’s incredible.
It’s a deceptively tough role to take on, because Olaf has to be
over-the-top ridiculous and genuinely
menacing, often both within the same scene, and Harris threads that needle
really well. Malina Weissman (young Kara
from Supergirl) and Louis Hynes are
both wonderful as inventor Violet and researcher Klaus, and while, as baby
Sunny, Presley Smith doesn’t have to do too much more than look adorable, I
love her, too. All of Olaf’s henchpeople
and the assorted story-specific adults are finely cast. And on a final note, although the series is
still definitely very white overall, I appreciate the intentional racebending
on a number of characters, such as the Poes, Uncle Monty, the hook-handed man,
and Aunt Josephine.
Warnings
Dark
themes, violence, some scary scenes for kids, drinking/smoking, and general
melancholy.
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