Dear
Reader,
if
you are reading this review, then I have the dreaded fear that you
are still refusing to heed my warnings. For I write these reviews,
not to document the happy times of the Baudelaire orphan lives, of
which there are few, but because they have to be told. Yet they are
so Very Frightently Disastrous, that I am almost too afraid to
release them for the general public, as they are so upsetting.
Therefore, if you have the moral disposition to read this review, I
congratulate you for finding it on the deep web, but I also urge that
you tell nobody what you read, as this fourth installment of the
Baudelaire lives is too sad to be read.
Before
we get into the main content of this week's episode, let's jump
straight to the main subplot and biggest mystery of the series thus
far: who are “Mother” (Cobie Smulders” and “Father,” (Will
Arnett.) Reason stood that they were initially the Baudelaire parents
who had actually survived the fire and were looking to get back to
their children. Personally, I thought that they were Kit and Jacques
Snicket, which I was terribly wrong about. Yet this episode we find
out that they are the parents of Quigley, Duncan and Isadora. Book
readers will know instantly who these characters are, but for those
who don't, I won't spoil it for you, as we fail to discover anything
else out about these characters. There was a little misdirect that
could have fooled some people into thinking that they were the
Baudelaire parents, but this seemed like too much of a deviation from
the source material to actually be the case. Whatever the
signficance of these characters, they soon meet a sticky end as their
home is burnt down. We see two of the children at the end of the
episode, but not their parents or sibling. Did they perish in the
fire? We'll have to find out next time.
Now
onto the meat and gravy of the actual episode – an expression which
here means, the most significant piece of this episode of the
Baudelaire lives, and has nothing to do with “meat or gravy.”
The episode picks up where the last one picks off. The Baudelaires
have snuck away from Mr Poe, hitchhiking in the back of the van
heading towards Lucky Smells Lumbermill. Mr Poe is besides himself
with panic, decrying that this is a catastrophe and, hilariously,
“off-book,” which is a reference to how the source deviated from
the canonised material. I'm loving all of these intertextual jokes,
which keep the show refreshing. Intertextuality isn't a device often
shown on television and it doesn't always work, but when it does
work, like on this show, it works brilliantly.
We
pick up on the Baudelaires who
have just made their way to the Lucky Smells Lumbermill, which
is where we see more deviations from the books. Upon entering the
mill, they are found by Charles (Rhys Darby) who runs the mill and
takes them to see his partner Sir (Don Johnson), who is the opposite
of Charles. Charles is the latest in the longline of adult
characters who despite being well-meaning are incapable of doing
anything useful, whereas Sir is grumpy, strict and ruthless. He
immediately puts the Baudelaires to work for trespassing in the
Lumbermill, despite how they are just children. He also reveals that
the reason that the town of Paltryville, where the Lucky Smells
Lumbermill is based, is so run down is because the Baudelaire parents
burnt down the town. The only buildings to survive are the
lumbermill and Dr Georgina Orwell's Optometrist's office, which I'll
discuss later.
The
Baudelaires are sent to the dormitory where they meet their coworkers
who are all downbeat, depressed and hostile to the Baudelaires,
because of how their parents burnt down the town. This is all but
Phil who is an optimist, who always finds a way to look on the bright
side of life – a phrase which here means that can he always see the
good side of everything. For example, if he had been tied to a cross
with a young man called Brian who had been mistaken for Jesus, he
would start happily singing, instead of crying, which is how most
people would react.
Meanwhile,
we find out that Count Olaf is hot on the heels of the Baudelaires,
having tracked them down to the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. We also
find that he is working in cahoots with Dr Georgina Orwell who is
just as evil and ruthless as Olaf. It's revealed that Orwell and
Olaf were once lovers, and I quite liked how their relationship was
fleshed out like this. In the books, it's not always entirely clear,
why the two are working together, but I feel that the TV series
clears this up. It was also nice seeing Olaf interact with an evil
person who isn't part of his theatrical troupe, but actually an equal
of his. Sure, the Hook-Handed man is disguised as Foreman Flacutono,
but it was nice to have a break from the rest of Olaf's henchpeople.
Georgina Orwell was played
by Catherine O'Hara, who played Justice Strauss in the
Series of Unfortunate Events film
and I think she's great in this. In the film adaptation, she didn't
really have any time to develop or work with the character. However,
with Dr Orwell, she received two episodes to really flesh out the
character.
Olaf
and Orwell's past relationship is shown in a black and white
flashback, as well as are some scenes where Lemony Snicket is doing
his usual dissection of popular expressions, and I loved the
monochrome filter. It really helped to accentuate the noir tone of
the TV series, which I've also adored.
Although
the Baudelaires' labour at the lumbermill is difficult, they run into
trouble when Foreman Flacutono trips Klaus over, causing his glasses
to break. This is when he has to be taken to Dr Orwell who
hypnotises him. Lemony Snicket takes us on another aside, as he
explains how hypnosis works. However, what is more interesting that
in the background, the film Hypnotists
in the Forest is
playing, which stars
Jacquelyn, Mr Poe's secretary and assistant to the Baudelaires.
Seeing her on the screen made me realise that she's not had any
substantial role in the last couple of episodes, which I find highly
disappointing. Her addition was also novel to the TV series and it
looked like it would be another interesting mystery to solve, yet it
completely fizzled out into nothing. What is her signficance? I hope
we find out later on.
When
Klaus is hypnotised, he causes an accident which leads to Phil's leg
being broken and the Baudelaires being warned that if another
accident is caused, they will be sent away from the mill to live with
Shirley, which is Count Olaf's latest disguise. In
another flashback, we find out that Shirley, who is acting as Dr
Orwell's receptionist, has brokered this deal with Sir. After Klaus
is unhypnotised and Violet informs him what has happened, the three
decide to sneak into Dr Orwell's office and discover her evil plot.
I'm also really enjoying how resolute and stoic the Baudelaire
orphans are. I said it in my last review, they don't complain, they
don't go around in self-pity, but rather they take it upon themselves
to try to change their situation. We saw it at the end of the last
episode, where they hitchhike to Lucky Smells out of their own
volition, to try to find some answers the mysteries that are
surrounding their lives.
However,
when spying on Dr Orwell, the Baudelaires find that she is
hypnotising Charles to
poison him against the Baudelaires and convince him to send them to
Sir. This made little sense to me, as Sir has already been
established as a ruthless, cruel character. I don't think he needed
any motivation to send the Baudelaires away, especially since the
motivation comes from Charles, whom is much friendlier to the
children. Honestly, it would make more sense if the cruel-hearted
Sir was trying to convince the kind-hearted Charles to send the
children away.
Also,
the Baudelaires realise that Dr Orwell is also hypnotising the
employees at the Lumbermill, which explains why they haven't left,
despite being paid in coupons and fed with gum. This does clear up a
plot hole that the book leaves, but it doesn't explain why the
Lumbermill workers are so miserable. We see that they are immensely
downtrodden, especially in a scene when they bitterly explain how
they are paid in coupons to the Baudelaires. Surely if they're being
hypnotised to remain in the Lumbermill, they'd be hypnotised to
remain happy there.
Anyway,
whilst Charles is hypnotised, he is tied to a log, which Klaus, also
under hypnosis, is commanded to send
into a sawing machine. Violet intervenes in time, finding the
correct words to unhypnotise Klaus, Charles and the Lumbermill
workers. In the ensuing chaos, Dr Orwell accidentally falls into the
incinerator, Count Olaf and the Hook-Handed man escape, the workers
revolt against Sir, who also has a narrow escape. Finally, Mr Poe
catches up with the Baudelaires, due to his wife's experience as an
investigative journalist. He takes them to the boarding school: the
Prufrock Prepatory School, where we also see two of the children of
“Mother” and “Father.” This is a return to the established
canon, and I'm not sure I like it. When the Baudelaires ran away
from Mr Poe, I thought that this would be another subplot, which
would take a few episodes to resolve. However, Mr Poe's wife finds
the children with the utmost of ease. I do realise that the writers
were seeking to lampoon this exact point, but I don't think it
worked. It felt like an obstacle for
the sake of an obstacle. It bore no significance on the plot and
just felt quite forced.
Yet
the ending of the episode made up for all of its shortcomings. The
episode concluded with a brilliant musical number titled That's
not how the Story goes. It
was absolutely hilarious, as we saw Lemony Snicket, Count Olaf, the
Baudelaires and Mr Poe, singing in tandem about how we should never
expect happy endings, as that's not how life works. It ties in
brilliantly with the pessimistic tone of the series. However, I am
afraid that now I have to end this review with some unfortunate news.
I have to wait a whole year for season 2.
VFD
and Literary References
Verified
Functional Dictionary
Very
Fancy Door
Vigorous
Fire Defence
The
letters on Dr Orwell's eye exam sign read VFD
At
the beginning of the episode, Snicket dissects the expression “we're
not out of the woods,” by referring to Hansel and Gretal, Little
Red Riding Hood and also Henry David Thoreau's novel Walden.
Dr
Georgina Orwell is an obvious reference to George Orwell.
Klaus
says Samuel Beckett's quotation: “I can't go on. I will go on.”
Klaus
also takes note at how the eyeglass logo of Dr Orwell's office looks
similar to a symbol within the Great Gatsby.
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