Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Look away. Do not watch. What you are about to see is a series of unfortunate events.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events tells the story of Violet, Klause, and Sunny Baudelaire. The Baudelaire children are sent to live with a mysterious and dangerous distant relative after their parents are killed during a terrible fire that also took their home. This new beginning for the Baudelaire children proves rather unfortunate as their uncle, Count Olaf, turns out to only be after their family fortune.

The show is based on the wildly successful book series, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, a series of 13 children’s novels by Lemony Snicket (pen name of American author Daniel Handler). The first novel was released in September 1999 and since has spawned a film, a video game, assorted merchandise and now a television series from Netflix.

On Friday, January 13^th, an unlucky day indeed, the unfortunate journey of the Baudelaire children hits the small screen as Netflix releases its 8 episode series featuring Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Howser MD) in the role of Count Olaf. Harris seems as if he was born for the role and continues to impress with every iteration of the character. He’s not the only well-known actor to deliver though as the cast for this has some big names attached.

Joining Neil Patrick Harris is Patrick Warburton (Rules of Engagement, Family Guy), Joan Cusack (Shameless, Toy Story), Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage, True Blood), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone) just to name a few. Even the lesser known actors give solid character performances. Casting should be given props for this one as they really nailed the actors.

I really enjoyed this show. It has a distinct Wes Anderson vibe to it. Each setting is quirky, the performances strong, and the plot engaging. There’s lots to love about this show including the dialogue but my favourite part is probably the youngest of the Baudelaire clan, Sunny, the little baby with the strong bite and even stronger wit.

Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is a definite watch. You can binge or you can take your time with it (though once I started watching, I found it hard to stop). You won’t be disappointed. It’s kind of silly but in that good way. While it may be an unfortunate series of events, we’re fortunate that Netflix decided to give this story a go.