The Reptile Room Review

Dear Reader,

if you are reading this review, I can only assume that you think the life of the Baudelaire orphans has improved.  Whilst this is an optimistic thought, it is a futile one, as only rarely do the the lives of the Baudelaires improve.  I am sorry to say that the second chapter of the Baudelaire orphans' lives is just as upsetting as the first, so I implore you t find a more enjoyable use of your time.

The Reptile Room picks up where The Bad Beginning leaves off.  With Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton) explaining why viewers should turn away from their screens.  You would think that after a couple of episodes, this would become tedious, but Patrick Warburton's excellent deadpan delivery, keeps it fresh and funny.

We see the inept banker Mr. Poe (K. Todd Pressman) take the Baudelaires to their next guardian Dr Montgomery Montgomery or Uncle Monty.  So far, I am liking Malina Weissman, Louis Hynes and Presley Smith, as Violet, Klaus and Sunny respectively.  Their portrayals of the Baudelaires are intelligent and mature, surprisingly so, after the tragedy they have just experienced.  With characters like this, it could be easy to portray them as deeply bitter, understandably so, but all three actors, especially Louis Hynes, play their roles with great sympathy.

We are then introduced to Uncle Monty (Aasif Mandvi) and we see that he is the epitome of a "mad scientist" - a phrase which here means "a man of learning who likes to rob graves at night, stitch the body part together and scream IT'S ALIVE." He is more than a mad scientist though, he is a Herpetologist, which means he studies reptiles.  Mandvi does well in his role, effortlessly bringing the eccentric scientist to life.  His presence fills the screen, as it is obvious that he is an interesting, jubilant man, with a few secrets to hide.

Speaking of secrets, we also immediately discover that Uncle Monty was intimately acquainted with the Baudelaire parents and also had some connection to a secret organisation.  When the Baudelaires see a blueprint of the maze surrounding Uncle Monty's house, they discover from above, it looks like the logo of V.F.D a.k.a the eye that decorates Count Olaf's ankle.  This early introduction of V.F.D is a novel addition to the TV and I'm interesting to see where it ends up.  As it original, it adds a nice mystery to be solved and keeps the audience guessing.

At this point, you may think that the Baudelaires live happily ever after, but as Lemony Snicket points out, happily ever afters only exist in stories meant for small children.  This, in itself, was a lovely reference to the TV series' source material, which is of course written for children.  The Baudelaire's happiness is interrupted by the arrival of Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris) who is disguised as Stephano, Uncle Monty's new lab assistant, after his old lab assistant Gustav, unexpectedly resigned.  Of course, we know that he was killed last episode, in an example of dramatic irony.  However, this disguise does little to fool the Baudelaires who confront Olaf about his scheme.  This is where we see Harris play the different elements of Olaf well.  At first, he is playing such a ridiculous character that it is difficult to take him seriously, but he then becomes instantly menacing, as he threatens to cut off one of Sunny's toes.  This is a Venemously, Feckless, Despicable thing to do, but it is enough to cover the Baudelaires into submission.  Uncle Monty is also seemingly not convinced by Stephano's disguise, but he has his own plans for Stephano.

Firstly, Uncle Monty plans to take Stephano and the BAudelaires to the movies, which is where we get one of the funnier moments of the episode.  Stephano confesses that he's always preferred long-form television to films, before staring into the camera.  This is an obvious reference to Netflix, which produced the series, but I also think a subtle dig at the failure of the film adaptation.  After this interaction, the Baudelaires, Uncle Monty and Stephano go to see Zombies in the Snow, which has a hidden message within it.  Not only does Jacquelyn, Mr Poe's former secretary and generally mysterious person, star in the film telling him to take the children to Peru.  We learn that the Baudelaires have more friends than they realise.  Book-readers will know that the schism, which split V.F.D into villains and volunteers, occurred long before the books actually began, but I think that in the series, the schism is still happening.

After the film has finished, Uncle Monty confronts Stephano is the parking lot, where I have to echo Zack Handlen of AV Club's criticism of this scene.  We already know that Uncle Monty is well-versed in the nature of secret codes, disguises and organisations.  He could well be on the volunteer side of V.F.D.  We find out that he has known who Stephan is all along - a spy from the Herpetological society, and not Count Olaf.  Count Olaf is as surprised as I was, and this just doesn't make sense.  For all the above reasons, it is implied that Uncle Monty is well trained in subterfuge, so he should be able to recognise Stephano for who he really was.

Anyway, after Uncle Monty sends Stephano away, he takes the children home and puts them to bed, which marks the end of the first part of the episode.

The second part opens, once again, with Lemony Snicket explaining how unless we've lost a loved one, we cannot imagine how it would feel.  The Baudelaires have already lost their parents, and I'm sorry to admit, have lost Uncle Monty as well, who has seemingly died of a snakebite from the Incredibly Deadly Viper.  Stephano then kidnaps the children in the hopes of whisking them away to Peru, when who should they run into, but Mr Poe.  Although, there is plenty of humour in the series, I think Mr Poe is the comedy relief, ue to his sheer incompetence, despite how he tries to do the right thing.  He refuses to listen to the Baudelaires, when they accuse Stephano of being Count Olaf, but he does insist that the proper authorities are called to investigate the case.  Cue the arrival of Count Olaf's henchpeople disguised as coroners, policemen and nurses.  Mr Poe quickly sends the children away, as the adults get on with the work.

In the books, typically only one henchperson appears at a time, but I'm glad the TV series is including them as an ensemble - a French word which here means "all together," as this is how they best function.  The henchpeople are a different form of character relief, as they prove that adults can be incompetent and get away with it, because they're adults.  For example, the Hench-person of Indeterminate Gender, despite playing a nurse, is afraid of being in a room with a dead body and the bald man with the long nose refers to the investigation as a murder, when it's supposed to be an accident. Although they are great separately, when they're all together, they're doubly hilarious and threatening.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Baudelaires are carrying out an investigation of their own to prove that Uncle Monty was murdered by Count Olaf.  Klaus studies Uncle Monty's research, Violet invents a lockpick to break into Stephano's suitcase and look for clues, whilst Sunny aims to create a distraction to keep the adults off her sibling's backs - a phrase which here means "keeping the adult's attention diverted away from her siblings, and has nothing to do with being on somebody's back.  This distraction sets up one of the funniest moments of the show, however, before I explain that, I have to once again use the hackneyed expression "meanwhile back at the ranch" to discuss the Incredibly Deadly Viper.  This snake is Uncle Monty's prized specimen and its name is a misnomer, a phrase which I'm sure you well know means "a name designed to make the snake sound scarier than it is, when it is actually one of the friendliest and least deadly animals in the animal kingdom." Sunny demonstrates this fact by playing with the snake in full view of the adults, thus also demonstrating that it was wrongly framed as Uncle Monty's successor.

This is where K. Todd Pressman shines as Mr Poe.  Upon seeing this scene, Mr Poe panics blurting out random gibberish, such as "good God, golly, Zeus and Hera, Nathaniel Hawthorne, grab the snake, don't touch it, call the police, call my wife." His physical comedy mixed with his timing makes this a hilarious scene.  After he calms down, Violet and Klaus enter and unmask both Stephano and his plot to murder Uncle Monty.  Olaf and his henchpeople make a quick escape with the Baudelaires following Olaf into the maze.  Although they soon lose him, they find Jacquelyn who has been disguised as a statue in the middle of the maze.  After revealing and doing very little, she proceed to pursue Count Olaf.  She swaps her revealing statue costume for a black number, but curiously leaves on the body paint.

The Baudelaires return to Mr Poe who makes an unconvincing promise that the authorities will catch up with Olaf before whisking them off to their next guardian.

We eventually catch up with Count Olaf who is on a ship to Peru, where he counters Jacquelyn.  The two have a brief fight culminating with Count Olaf jumping out the window.  The significance of this scene, I'm not quite sure, as well as the significance of Jacquelyn's character.

The episode ends on the characters of "Mother" (Cobie Smulders) and "Father" (Will Arnett) who have made it to Peru in the hopes of rendezvousing with Uncle Monty and the Baudelaires.  Their identity has also yet to be revealed.  I don't think that they are the Baudelaire parents, but rather Kit and Jacques Snicket, with "Mother" and "Father" being code names.  In this world of secret codes and organisations, it is certainly possible.

VFD and Literary References

"Very Fitting Definition."

"Verified Film Discount"

"Vitiated Film Distribution"

Mr Poe references Nathanial Hawthorne, the famous American Transcendentalist - "a phrase which here means, a group of 18 and 19th century American writers who rejected modern technology and society, in an attempt to return to nature and finding salvation within"

When Stephano is discussing Uncle Monty's snakes, he says that "the Virginian Woolfsnake could bludgeon you to death with a typewriter." This is a reference to the dreary and monotonous Modernist writer Virginia Woolf - "dreary and monotonous" is a phrase which here means, slow, boring prose where very little happens and the action is largely internalised within the character's minds."

Let me know any references I might have missed and your theories on who Mother and Father are.