The Reptile Room Review
Dear Reader,
when we like to read reviews of our favourite television shows or movies, we like to see what others think. However, I find it difficult to believe that A Series of Unfortunate Events is anybody's favourite television show, as it focuses on the Baudelaire orphans who encounter much misfortune in their lives. In this challenging chronicle, they meet a relative who's scared of everything, Violently Ferocious Dreadful leeches, a powerful hurricane and peppermints. I have no idea why would you want to read a review of such thing, so I implore you to be please click off this screen now.
The Wide Window begins in classic A Series of Unfortunate Events form with a parody of a news report informing the viewer of everything that has happened so far. The news anchors then hand over to Lemony Snicket, (Patrick Warburton) who introduces the current story to the audience. The Baudelaire orphans have arrived on the shores of Lake Lachrymose to stay with their latest relative, Aunt Josephine (Alfre Woodard.) Aunt Josephine has a nervous disposition - a phrase which here means that "she is absolutely afraid of everything, from being electrocuted by the telephone to having the stove burst into flames if it is turned one." Aunt Josephine is also a complete grammar Nazi - a phrase which here means "somebody who takes complete delight in correcting somebody's grammar." I'll discuss Woodard's excellent performance later, but for now, I'll just say that she did a great job as Aunt Josephine. She was hilarious without being over the top. All of her little nervous ticks and twitches did well to enhance her character.
Whilst the Baudelaires are becoming acquainted with Aunt Josephine, we also learn much more about "Mother" (Cobie Smulders) and "Father." (Will Arnett) We find out that they are indeed husband and wife, proving my theory that they were Kit and Jacques Snicket, unquestionably wrong. However, beyond this, we don't know much. They are no longer in Peru, but ready to fly a Cessna back home.
At the same time, we also find out that the Baudelaires have an unknown friend in the form of Larry the Waiter who works at the Anxious Clown restaurant. He also appears to be part of the mysterious organisation that the Baudelaire parents and Uncle Monty were part of. The scenes with Larry contain important world-building, as we find out that he has deep ties to Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris) who has tracked the Baudelaires to Lake Lachrymose and has set up base in the Anxious Clown restaurant. Whilst Larry was in the books, he was nothing more than a waiter, so I am interested in how he has been elevated to such an important role. I am also intrigued at the further development of the secret organisation V.F.D.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Baudelaires also discover that Aunt Josephine is also connected to V.F.D, having known the Baudelaire parents and Uncle Monty for a long time. However, we don't find out anymore, as Aunt Josephine refuses to speak anymore about it. Instead, she goes shopping, to ensure that her and the Baudelaires have enough food to last Hurricane Herman. Whilst she is away, the Baudelaires sneak around and find a photo of Uncle Monty, "Mother" and "Father," another couple next to them, Aunt Josephine and Larry the waiter, all standing in front of Lucky Smells Lumbermill. I think that the unnamed couple standing next to "Mother" and "Father" are the Baudelaire parents and "Mother" and "Father" are simply red herrings.
Aunt Josephine returns to the house bringing back none other than Captain Sham, whom is really Count Olaf in disguise. Whilst the Baudelaires instantly see through his disguise, Aunt Josephine falls for him "hook, line and sinker" - a phrase which here has nothing to do with fishing, but means that Aunt Josephine was completely fooled by Count Olaf. Here, I find myself agreeing with Zach Handlen of A.V Club's comments concerning Aunt Josephine being so utterly tricked. He argues that "the death of her beloved husband, Ike, has made her a shell of her former self," which I think makes sense. It was odd that Uncle Monty was fooled by Count Olaf's disguise, despite how he was well-trained in espionage and secret disguises and codes. However, Ike's death has left Aunt Josephine so hurt and lonely that I think it makes perfect sense that she would fall for Captain Sham, in spite of how she received similar training to Uncle Monty, to the extent that she knew Olaf in a past life. This also goes back to Woodard's great performance who portrayed Josephine as sympathetic, but also quite pitiful. It's easy to feel sorry for her. What I find is a bit weird is that Captain Sham, uses a lot of nautical slang, which Aunt Josephine doesn't seem to have a problem with. Sure, she corrects the "it's/its" error on his business card, but she is perfectly okay with the rest of Captain Sham's grammatically incorrect speech.
However, Aunt Josephine doesn't live long to realise her mistake, as she kills herself, leaving the Baudelaires in the care of Captain Sham, which she writes in her suicide note. SPOILER ALERT: she's not actually dead. "Not Yet," anyway, as Lemony Snicket states, concluding the first part of the episode. As far as first parts go, I'm not sure how keen I was on this one. A lot of it seemed like just set-up and preparation for the second half. Maybe it'd've been nicer, if we actually saw more things occurring.
Anyway, moving onto part 2, which opens on the hapless banker Mr Poe (K. Todd Pressman) coming to collect the Baudelaires to take them to brunch with Captain Sham, so that they can finalise the adoption proceedings. As usual, Mr Poe refuses to believe the Baudelaires when they state that Captain Sham is really Count Olaf in disguise, and takes them to the Anxious Clown for lunch. This is where we get one of the funnier scenes of the episode, as we see Larry the Clown desperately trying to help the Baudelaires, whilst Count Olaf's troupe keep a watchful eye on him. Even though they don't really do too much in this episode, it's always great seeing them as an ensemble, which is where they work best. Having said that, Larry is about as much use as Jacquelyn really. He buys the Baudelaires sometime through feeding them peppermints, which they're allergic too, but doesn't do a whole lot else.
Whilst Mr Poe and Captain Sham stay in the Anxious Clown, the Baudelaires return to Aunt Josephine's home to figure out the real mystery that is happening. A task not made easy by the fact that Hurricane Herman is now in full force. However, this does little to deter the savvy Klaus, who soon deduces that Aunt Josephine left a secret code in her suicide note, revealing that she is alive and is hiding in Curdled Cave. Klaus determines this just as Hurricane Herman begins to buffet the house and I'd agree with Zach Handlen, that this was one of the more unbelievable moments of the show. Yes, I know that a Series of Unfortunate Events is supposed to be Absurdist fiction, but when you see Klaus doing a ridiculous feet and the house rocking back and forth on its foundations, the boundaries of this genre are pushed a bit far. Aunt Josephine's house is built on the edge of the cliff, which Hurricane Herman threatens to topple, before conveniently righting it, allow the Baudelaires enough time to escape. All a bit too much for me.
Anyway, the Baudelaires then steal a sailboat to sail across Lake Lachrymose to rescue Aunt Josephine, leading to another great scene, involving Lemony Snicket. In a brilliant lampooning of the "don't try this at home," messages, Snicket implores viewers to "don't steal sailboats and sail them across a lake in a hurricane," yet Warburton's voice is so full of exasperation, that it's implied that anybody who is stupid enough to do this, deserves any consequences they receive.
The Baudelaires reach Curdled Cave, where they find Aunt Josephine who reveals that Count Olaf forced her to write that note and told her to kill herself. However, two things here don't match up for me. Firstly, why would Count Olaf rely on Aunt Josephine to commit suicide, and not do the job himself? We know that he is perfectly capable of killing, so it is a bit strange that he wouldn't murder Josephine and have everyone else think it was a suicide. Secondly, it is also a bit odd, that a woman too afraid to use a telephone, in case she is electrocuted, would be brave enough to defy a villain like Count Olaf, by faking her death and leaving a hidden code.
As the Baudelaires and Aunt Josephine are returning over Lake Lachrymose, they are attacked by the Lachrymose Leeches. They escape their near predicament through Violet ingenuity, but also by "Mother" and "Father" who happen to by flying their Cessna over Lake Lachrymose. Violet has the idea of signalling for attention by creating a fire. She tries to light a scarf on fire by refracting the beam of the Lighthouse through a spyglass, but the angle is wrong. As "Mother" and "Father" fly past and observe what is happening through a pair of binoculars, the light first hits the binoculars, before hitting the spyglass, which is enough to set the scarf alight. I didn't like this, as it is reminiscent of Deux Ex Machina - a Latin phrase which translates as the Machine of God, and has gone to signify an external device, which saves the protagonist at the last minute - a writing device that Snicket lampoons heavily in the later books. I think it very much undermines Violet's Fabulously Delightful inventing ability. It would have been better if she had set the scarf aflame without any external help whatsoever.
Anyway, the Baudelaires' signal attracts the attention of Captain Sham who rescues them in his signal boat. The Baudelaires confront Captain Sham on his nefarious plot, claiming that they went to rescue Josephine, so that she can tell everybody the truth about what happened. Josephine then exhibits incredible bravery by standing up to Captain Sham, confronting him on all of the evil he has committed. However, this is all to little avail, as Captain Sham pushes her overboard to the leeches. I have less of a problem with the courage that Josephine exhibits here, as it isn't as nearly sudden or abrupt. It is made obvious that she has been inspired by the bravery of the Baudelaires.
Captain Sham takes the Baudelaires to shore, where they meet Mr Poe. Just as it looks like the orphans will be adopted by Captain Sham, Sunny bites through his wooden peg leg, exposing him as Count Olaf. As Mr Poe begins arguing with Count Olaf, the Baudelaires sneak into the back of a truck which is heading towards Lucky Smells Lumbermill. This is another major deviation from the book series, but it is an intriguing development, and I look forward to seeing where the series goes from here.
V.F.D and Literary References
1. One of the News Anchors is called Vincent Fig Demetrios.
2. Damocles Dock, which serves Lake Lachrymose is named after the figure in Sicilian Mythology.
3. The taxi driver that takes the Baudelaires to Aunt Josephine's house espouses a literary analysis of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and of course, Hurricane Herman, is named after Herman Melville.
4. When Aunt Josephine is shopping for food, we see one market trader crying out "Very Fresh Dill."
5. Aunt Josephine admits that her choice to leave the hidden code and fake her own death was a "Very Frightening Decision."
6. The Baudelaires quote Haruki Marukami concluding the second part of The Wide Window:
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