lars_ Review of A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017–2019)

I'm glad I ignored Lemony Snicket's warnings

[8/10 · 12 January 2017]

In this 'golden age of television', the higher quality shows are usually the darker, more thought provoking series (such as Breaking Bad, Mr Robot and Westworld). However, in the case of A Series Of Unfortunate Events, this deep, dark tone is tweaked to create a more light-hearted show that does not come at the expense of the quality. The series lies in between 'adult' and 'kids' TV genres, creating a strange, funny show for the whole family. Don't let the forgettable 2004 movie scare you off, because the series gets right what the movie got wrong. From what I have seen of the series so far, there is a colorful, but dark sense of humour, some great acting, and well crafted dialogue that make the series worthy of a watch. The longer TV episode format allows for a more complete story, with one book spanning two episodes (instead of the movie cramming in three books). It is a lot more nuanced than the movie for this reason, with extra scenes and dialogue filling in the backstory and adding depth to the characters. Yes the show is absurd; yes sometimes there are things that might make you question why you are watching it. It is definitely for a certain audience, but at the end of the day this series of unfortunate events is not so unfortunate after all.