A Series of Unfortunate Events

So, we had a Friday 13th this month. And while a Finnish airline had a flight designated as 666 that day (Sadly not piloted by Bruce Dickinson), Netflix decided to use this perceived unlucky day to premier A Series of Unfortunate Events - an adaptation of the children's novels written by Daniel Handler under the pen-name Lemony Snicket.

The series follows the misfortunes of the Baudelaire siblings: fourteen-year-old inventor Violet, twelve-year-old bookworm Klaus, and the bitey infant Sunny. After their parents are killed in a mysterious fire, the three are forced to travel from foster home to foster home while being targeted by the villainous Count Olaf, a distant relative and stage actor who seeks to inherit the sizeable fortune their parents left them. Along the way, they try to learn about a mysterious organisation their parents were involved with.

While I was in a generation of kids who grew up with these books, I never really read them. However, I did dip into the first book once, and I understand that they are known to be very bleak and depressing - even the books themselves acknowledge this. There was a film too, released thirteen years ago. I saw a bit of it once while laid up, but I can't say I was hooked. Hell, if you read into some of the jokes in this series, it's apparent that the show's producers (including Handler himself) weren't particularly keen on it either. And this time I was hooked.

Neil Patrick Harris does a fantastic job as Count Olaf. While Olaf is an appalling actor who the kids always recognise despite fooling the adults (a recurring theme in the books), Harris delights in chewing the scenery, even though his character is more or less a complete monster. Meanwhile, Patrick Warburton stars as Lemony Snicket, the show's omni-present narrator, who I find very reminiscent of Rod Serling. I'm especially interested in finding out his role in the events of the series.

The show has a very strange tone. You want to laugh at Olaf's hamming, but you also want to feel sorry for the Baudelaires, and this can create some real, gut-wrenching tension. I love the visuals as well - courtesy of Bo Welch, who has done a lot of work with Tim Burton and Barry Sonnenfeld (who's also involved in the series as a director and producer). There's only eight episodes at the moment, which cover the events of the first four books (out of thirteen). However, I managed to binge them in one weekend, and I'm eager to find out what happens next.

While I didn't really read the books when they came out, this series actually makes me want to. 

I suppose that's the sign of an adaptation done well.