series of unfortunate events

A decade after the 13th and final book was released, the series is set to find a new audience, and re-engage an older one, when a TV adaptation from Netflix premieres Friday. After a movie version starring Jim Carrey, many book fans greeted news of the show with skepticism. Luckily, the unfortunate story of the Baudelaire orphans seems to have finally gotten a worthy adaptation. Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events makes an impressive effort to stay true to the spirit and idiosyncrasies of the books without being overly reverential. Parents need to know that A Series of Unfortunate Events is a TV series based on the popular books by Lemony Snicket . The show dedicates two episodes to each of the series' first four books, allowing time for character and plot development.

This could go either way -- for kids and tweens who love spine-tinglers and a hefty dose of fantasy, it does a fantastic job bringing the characters to life; for younger kids who don't like devious characters plotting against innocents, it will be a bit too scary. The show begins with the possibly distressing premise that orphaned children would be delivered to such an obviously unfit guardian as Count Olaf and continues through a series of adults who somehow never realize the kids' actual plight. Even so, many moments celebrate the resilient human spirit in the orphans' ability to make the best of these situations. Violence is rare , and language is limited to some name-calling such as "brat." Bottom line?

This is a know-your-kid situation that may require you to screen each episode before your kids watch. Egmont PublishedSeptember 30, 1999 – October 13, 2006A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of thirteen children's novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The books follow the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. After their parents' death in a fire, the children are placed in the custody of a murderous relative, Count Olaf, who attempts to steal their inheritance and, later, orchestrates numerous disasters with the help of his accomplices as the children attempt to flee.

As the plot progresses, the Baudelaires gradually confront further mysteries surrounding their family and deep conspiracies involving a secret society known as V.F.D., with connections to Olaf, their parents, and many other relatives. The series is narrated by Lemony Snicket, who dedicates each of his works to his deceased love interest, Beatrice, and often attempts to dissuade the reader from reading the Baudelaires' story. The Penultimate Perilepisodes, meanwhile, don't quite achieve the same sense of everything coming together that the novel did. While the book featured just about every surviving character, in the series many familiar faces are conspicuous by their absence. This, however, is largely alleviated by the flashbacks detailing exactly what happened between Lemony, Beatrice, Olaf and Esme all those years ago, the full reveal drawing power from just how well it contextualizes everything we've seen. For the first time, Lemony himself had an active role to play in proceedings, as his mistake was followed by another failure years later to help the orphans when they really needed it.

Of all the loose ends tied up by the show, this one most felt like something that the source material would have benefitted from. The entire cast, including Morena Baccarin as Beatrice, play it magnificently, but the MVP is Patrick Warburton, who manages to convey the sadness and regret of Lemony Snicket in a way that feels more real and powerful than the dour joke his demeanour often was in the books. This adaptation dedicates two episodes -- for a total of 90-plus minutes -- to each of the 13 books in the written series, so there's no sense of rush as the story's mysteries evolve. With ample time to get to know the characters and the plot, there's much opportunity to develop deep affection for some characters and earnest resentment for others. The macabre tale of unfortunate orphans' bad luck is tempered with humor and sweet personalities, but the fact that the story is built on the idea of adults taking advantage of children makes it a better choice for tweens than younger kids. The siblings continue to get more involved with the organization until they are forced to flee with Count Olaf to an island where Olaf accidentally causes the deaths of himself and possibly the idyllic colonists of the island, whose fates are left unknown.

Having finally found a safe place to live, the children spend the next year raising the baby of one of their parent's friends from V.F.D. who died giving birth to the child. After a year, the siblings decide to try to return to the mainland to continue their lives. It is hinted that the Baudelaires might have died on their voyage home, although supplementary novels reveal that they did make it back to the mainland in some capacity.

Handler retooled a manuscript he had for a mock-Gothic book for adults, which became "the story of children growing through all these terrible things", a concept which the publishers liked, to Handler's surprise. Isadora and Duncan Quagmire are named after Isadora Duncan, a notorious dancer also remembered for her unusual death by strangulation when her scarf entangled around the wheels of the open car in which she was a passenger. In the fourth book, The Miserable Mill, Dr. Georgina Orwell is a reference to British author George Orwell.

Orwell finished his famous book 1984 in 1948, and in the sixth book, The Ersatz Elevator, it is not clear if the skyscraper in which Esmé and Jerome Squalor live has 48 or 84 stories. The Squalors' names reference Jerome David "J. D." Salinger and his short story For Esmé – with Love and Squalor, while in an auction on which the plot hinges, Lot 49 is skipped, i.e. not cried, an allusion to Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. Both Salinger and Pynchon were reputed at one time not to be actual persons.

The ninth book in the series, The Carnivorous Carnival, takes place at Caligari Carnival; the carnival's name is a nod to the 1920 silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Where the series succeeds best, however, are when the story expands beyond the main "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books. Lemony Snicket, which is a pen name for American author Daniel Handler, also wrote prequels and other works related to the Baudelaires' story. Details from these other works help round out the story and fill any gaps left in the original book series. It's an especially nice touch for viewers who adored the original series but felt too old to read the prequels by the time they came out.

Those only acquainted with the original story will find answers to unresolved questions and even entirely new storylines. Kit Snicket's quest for the sugar bowl and Jacques Snicket's character both extend far beyond their appearances in main book series. The devotion to Handler's source material is certainly gratifying for series devotees, but it can be a lot for new viewers to take in. The best cultural parallel is another children's book adaptation, the Harry Potter films. After their parents die in a fire at the family mansion, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire remain in the care of Count Olaf. As their sinister distant relative, Olaf wants the Baudelaire family fortune, which the children will inherit when Violet turns 18.

Throughout the first few books in the series, the children are sent from one caretaker to another, each one more eccentric and troubled than the last. Count Olaf is following them in a series of Paper Thin Disguises that only the children immediately see through. Eventually, the children must strike out on their own to discover their family's dark secret - their parents' connection to a mysterious organization.

Everywhere, bizarre and improbable disasters strike the children and everyone around them for no discernible reason. The producers had an especially unique challenge in adapting the final book. On paper,The Endworks more as a thesis for the themes of the entire series, an exploration of whether it's better to try and protect children from the misfortunes of the world or prepare them. And while these themes are certainly present, they're perhaps inevitably not explored with the same depth or beauty as in the book. WithThe Endrelegated to a single episode, the pace suddenly speeds up and at times it feels a little rushed, especially as it incorporates material from the supplementary volumeThe Beatrice Lettersas well.

By including the young Beatrice Baudelaire's search for Lemony and through her finally allowing the narrator a moment of genuine happiness,The Endgave not only the story of the Baudelaires but that of their chronicler a moving coda. At first it seems as if 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus, and their baby sister, Sunny, have finally had a turn of good luck when they meet their newest guardian. Dr. Montgomery, or Uncle Monty as he prefers to be called, is a herpetologist. One whole room in his house is filled with snakes of all kinds, including some very deadly specimens. But despite his slithery interests, Uncle Monty is a fun-loving and generous caretaker who treats the Baudelaire orphans with love, respect, and kindness. But as anyone who's read the first book in this series knows, good fortune won't stay long with the Baudelaires.

For starters Count Olaf returns, disguised in a manner that doesn't fool the kids for a minute -- though they can't seem to convince any adults. Then Uncle Monty dies although the kids are convinced he was murdered by Olaf. And of course, Olaf and his sideshow cronies have dreamed up yet another plan to get their hands on the Baudelaire fortune. Since Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events began, Patrick Warburton's dutiful narrator Lemony Snicket has warned that the tragic story of the Baudelaire orphans wouldn't have a happy ending, which turned out to be only partially true in the third and final season.

Sure, Violet , Klaus , and Sunny Baudelaire probably didn't live happily ever after, but the series' conclusion was far from miserable. In fact, it was heartwarming and brought a sense of closure the entire story, and diverged from Daniel Handler's original book series in several interesting ways. A Series of Unfortunate Events has come under criticism from both parents and some school districts for its dark themes. Upon its release, many were quick to deem the series as "sick" and "demented", due to the often overwhelming feelings of despair, children under constant threats of death and violence, people dying in gruesome ways, etc. This was especially true during the time when only books 1-4 were released, in which someone explicitly dies. This series follows the tragic tale of three orphans -- Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire -- who are investigating their parents' mysterious death.

The siblings are saddled with an evil guardian named Count Olaf (portrayed by Emmy-winning actor Neil Patrick Harris), who will do whatever it takes to get his hands on the Baudelaires' inheritance. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny must outsmart Olaf at every turn, foiling devious plans and disguises. The series is based on the best-selling series of books by Lemony Snicket . A theme that becomes more prevalent as the series continues is the simultaneous importance and worthlessness of secrets. The Baudelaire children and Count Olaf's story is said to be merely a fragment of a much bigger story between numerous characters with the central connection being the organization of V.F.D. The first season consists of eight episodes, with two episodes adapting each of the first four books of the series.

Handler considered this more in line with how he had written the books in the manner of a serialized melodrama, citing The Perils of Pauline as one of his influences in writing the book series. In January 2017, Handler revealed that he was writing the series' second season, to consist of ten episodes adapting the fifth through ninth books of the series. A third season would adapt the remaining novels of the series, which Handler hoped "to get the go-ahead to do" since "given how quickly young actors age and change, we're trying to film everything as quickly as possible". In March 2017, Netflix revealed the series had been renewed for a second season by releasing a video on their social media pointing to a viral marketing website, where a letter written by Snicket revealed the decision.

A month later, the series was "quietly" renewed for a third season, which Harris confirmed would be the final one for the series. While the screenplays written by Handler otherwise stay in concert with the books, Handler did add a new conclusion to the work that he felt gave some proper closure in an organic manner that otherwise did not take away from the series. Though it manages to answer questions lingering from the books, the show leaves some loose ends of its own hanging. Most notably, Jacquelyn Scieszka , a character original to the show who was so prominently featured in the first two seasons, is mentioned repeatedly without ever actually making an appearance. Considering she was always right on the tail of the Baudelaire siblings (and Patrick Breen's Larry Your-Waiter, the VFD member usually at her side, does make a solo appearance), her absence from the series without so much as a nod as her absence is a bit jarring. Adventure drama for all the family based on the darkly comic stories of Lemony Snicket, the pseudonymous children's author.

When the parents of the three Baudelaire children die suddenly and surprisingly in a house fire, they are placed with their mysterious and pretentious distant cousin, Count Olaf. It very quickly becomes clear that he is only interested in their fortune, and so begins a most unfortunate adventure for the Baudelaires. The TV show is based off of the 13-novel A Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket , which are known for having dark humor and themes despite being pegged as children's books. According to Deadline, A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 1 covered the first four books in the season and Netflix quickly renewed the show for two additional seasons to continue the Baudelaire kids as the uncover their family secrets and unmask Count Olaf's terrible disguises.

For anyone who doesn't know about these childhood books, the series follows the lives of three Jewish children, Violet , Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire , who begin the story having just lost their parents to a mysterious house fire. In the aftermath of the fire, they are placed in the care of an evil relative named Count Olaf who attempts to take what little the children have left for his own personal gain. The series consists of 13 books, and each one continues the children's story as they are shuffled between odd family members they've never met and Count Olaf in disguise. "The Hostile Hospital," episodes seven and eight in season two, are possibly the darkest and truest recreation of the book in the entire series. To be fair, "The Hostile Hospital" was my favorite book in the series, so I'm a tad biased.

While the entire show is dark, "The Hostile Hospital" is the turning point. The Baudelaires are on their own for the first time and it's not just dark, it's pitch black. Even the color palette in these episodes shift towards a dark, dreary gray. The three children have to make impossible decisions and compromise their morals to stay alive. Sure, their lives were filled with kidnappings, poison, psychological torture and the threat of burning at the stake before the events in "The Hostile Hospital," but the threat of violence in this story is an entirely new level. Where the film adaptation diverges significantly from the books, Netflix's series follows the text almost verbatim, which is a double-edged sword.

The heavy use of narration is an iconic aspect of the novels, and for longtime fans, it's great to see it on-screen. But it also serves a crutch, allowing the script to tend toward rambling exposition dumps that tell the story rather than show it. The show also makes the wise move of having Lemony Snicket — the books' fictional author and unreliable narrator — appear in the show instead of providing an unseen voiceover.

Patrick Warburton's deadpan, matter-of-fact delivery helps add a storybook quality, and more importantly, it puts Handler's memorable monologues about linguistic definitions, literary references, and storytelling techniques on-screen. The books' metafictional nature has always been one of their most compelling elements, and the show's embracing of Snicket as a full-blown character gives it the same distinctive tone that made the novels so popular. Lemony Snicket is the pseudonym novelist Daniel Handler used while writing his sequence of darkly comic children's books known as A Series of Unfortunate Events. The 13 novels in the series relate the hard-luck history of the Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny. Snicket narrates their piteous adventures and misfortunes at the hands of evil Count Olaf, a master of disguises and truly bad actor.

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS introduces the Beaudelaire children -- Violet , Kraus , and baby Sunny -- whose life of wealth and privilege ends with the death of their parents. They're shuttled off to their closest living relative, the devious washed-up thespian Count Olaf . As the story evolves, the mystery of their parents' death also takes curious twists and turns, changing the Beaudelaire orphans' fortunes. Discover A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket's humorous series of thirteen children's books following the unlucky lives of the Baudelaire orphans after the untimely death of their parents.

Despite that A Series of Unfortunate Events is often categorized as a "children's book series", there is a lot of questionable, disturbing, distressing, violent, and mature content in the series. Lemony Snicket warns the reader on each book cover that the Baudelaires' lives are unpleasant - there is no happy beginning, no happy end, and very few happy things occur throughout the series. Meanwhile, the Baudelaires must deal with absurd situations, a secret society known as V.F.D., and gullible and incompetent adults, many of which refuse to believe the Baudelaires and are unable to see through Olaf's disguises. Todd Freeman and Patrick Warburton were cast as Mr. Poe and Lemony Snicket respectively. The first season, consisting of eight episodes that cover the first four books, was released worldwide on Netflix on January 13, 2017. A Series of Unfortunate Events was renewed for a second season, which was released on March 30, 2018, and consisted of ten episodes that adapt books five through nine of the novel series.

The television series was also renewed for a third and final season, which was released on January 1, 2019, consisting of seven episodes that adapted the final four books. The last book, The End, was adapted into one episode instead of the standard two episodes. The children are orphaned after their parents are killed in a fire at the family mansion. In The Bad Beginning, they are sent to live with a distant relative named Count Olaf after briefly living with Mr. Poe, a banker in charge of the orphans' affairs. The siblings discover that Count Olaf intends to get his hands on the enormous Baudelaire fortune, which Violet is to inherit when she reaches 18 years of age. In the first book, he attempts to marry Violet, pretending it is the storyline for his latest play, but the plan falls through when Violet uses her non-dominant hand to sign the marriage document, thus causing the marriage to not be successful.

After the crowd realizes, Count Olaf manages to escape with his henchmen. All of which is to say that A Series of Unfortunate Events could end up being one of Netflix's more exciting adaptations. Handler has said the next season will be 10 episodes long and stretch through book nine , which means the third season should be the last. The series becomes increasingly philosophical and grim as it progresses, even more so than J.K.

It'll be fascinating to see whether Netflix will have the wisdom to shed some of the whimsy and darken its tone accordingly in the coming years. The first season, at least, is a more than promising start—compelling even if, by the eighth episode, viewers have come to accept that the story of the Baudelaires won't have a storybook ending. Since its debut in 1999, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events has stood out for being a children's series that didn't believe in happy endings. The popular books followed three young siblings whose parents die in a fire and who are placed in the care of one hapless or unsavory guardian after another, all the while being hunted by an evil distant relative hungry for their enormous fortune.

Page after page proved verbose, fatalistic, dark—and utterly engrossing, thanks in part to the series's enigmatic narrator, its macabre sensibility, and its wonky literariness. But more than anything it always seemed to assume the best of its young readers, believing they possessed the emotional and intellectual maturity to enjoy such a tale. Lemony Snicket narrates throughout, providing commentary, anecdotes, and advice - usually against reading any more of his history of the Baudelaire orphans. While the movie never moved past one installment, Netflix obtained the film rights and adapted the books into a live-action series. This series premiered on Friday the 13th of January 2017, with Barry Sonnenfeld and Handler himself as showrunners; Patrick Warburton portrays Lemony Snicket, and Neil Patrick Harris plays Count Olaf. This last season, while still reveling in self-aware humor and delightfully absurd moments, is darker than the other seasons, as the Baudelaire orphans come to terms with the secrets their parents never told them and the actions they've taken to survive.

The children track down the scattered bits of information left to them and travel to the titular locale of each episode. Eventually, they piece together the story behind the enigmatic VFD and must figure out whether trying to save people in the face of so much defeat and devastation is really worth it. First and foremost, this is a fantastically faithful adaptation of Lemony Snicket's alliteratively-titled novels .