The Ersatz Elevator review
Dear Reader,
if you think that after seven installments, the lives of the Baudelaires would have improved, then you are sorely wrong. Within this sorry episode, the Baudelaires encounter fire, mysteries and a severe amount of paperwork. There is very little happiness or joy in this episode and so I beg you to read a review of a happier TV series.
It's safe to say that after the Vile Village, the Baudelaires are at the lowest they've ever been. Not only have they been separated from the Quagmires, but they have also been framed for murder. In the last episode, we saw Count Olaf capture Jacques Snicket and trick everyone into thinking Snicket was Olaf, before murdering him and framing the Baudelaires.
From here the Baudelaires go on the lam, a phrase which here means, they have to go on the run from the law. They run away from the Village of Fowl Devotees, where they then encounter the Last Chance General Store in the middle of the desolate wastelands. And they meet none other than Count Olaf there. I've said this before but having Count Olaf appear right at the beginning of the episode is becoming a tired motif.
The best villains are ones who are unpredictable and the fact that we can bank on Olaf appearing at the start of every episode makes him predictable and thus boring. He's quickly losing his menace. Anyway, he gives chase to the Baudelaires who only escape by virtue of the VFD or Volunteers Fighting Disease. This group of hippies believe that singing and positive thinking is the best way to get better. The VFD were a great installment - a rare bit of light relief in a program that was getting even darker. I also think they served to criticise anti-vaccinators or critics of modern medicine, claiming that it's a business designed to make money for the company fat cats.
The parody continues when VFD takes the Baudelaires to the Heimlich Hospital - an underfunded hospital, which prioritises paperwork above all. From here, it's clear where the satire in this episode lies - of the medical industry in general. Of hospitals suffering from budget cuts and a greater emphasis on paperwork than patients. Things are so bad that Heimlich Hospital is only half built and the constructed half has dim lighting and dirty corridors. It's interesting considering that ASOUE is American where healthcare is privatised. You'd expect these types of hospitals in countries such as Britain, where I'm based, where the desperately underfunded NHS is falling apart - only being supported by the countless, hard-working doctors and nurses.
Anyway, when the Baudelaires arrive at the hospital, they meet the severe Babs - the Dean of Medicine. VFD goes off to start singing to all of the patients, while the Baudelaires go to the Library of Records to find answers to the mysteries surrounding their lives. From there, they meet the librarian Hal, a kindly and trusting man with poor eyesight. He is dedicated to filing records, but not to reading them under any circumstances.
However, hot on their heels are Olaf, Esme Squalor and their henchmen, wearing their ridiculous disguises. But they're stopped in their tracks by Babs who insists they fill in paperwork, going so far to claim that paperwork makes the money go round. We also learn a little about Esme Squalor's motivations. Unlike Olaf who is solely interested in the Baudelaires' fortune, Esme wants the mysterious sugar bowl, which she claims that Beatrice stole from her. Who is Beatrice? We don't know yet.
From here, Count Olaf devises a plan to incapacitate the mentally unstable Babs in a scene , which wouldn't look out of place in a horror movie. There were lots of references to famous horror films, but this chase scene was well-shot. Dim lighting, quirky angles and scary music made for a great little homage to horror films of old. The scheme works and leaves Olaf in firm control of the hospital.
Having been unable to gain access any files with Hal around, the Baudelaires decide to swap a set of fake keys with Hal's keys and they break into the library at night. Knowing that Hal trusts them, the Baudelaires wrestle with the immorality of this decision, but they decide this is for the greater good. This in itself adds a moral dimension to the show. As book-readers know, as the Baudelaires' situation grows more and more direr, they have to do more immoral things. But are they doing the wrong things for the right reasons? Are the things they're doing right? Could they ever be right?
They break into the library and discover the Snicket File - an old movie reel where Jacques Snicket reveals he is the brother of the author of ASOUE - Lemony Snicket, and also reveals that there may have been a survivor of a fire. Which survivor? Which fire? We don't know, as Esme Squalor breaks into the Library of Records and chases after the Baudelaires. Klaus and Sunny escape, but Violet is caught by Esme and the first part of this episode ends with one of our protagonists in real danger for the first time. Separating our protagonists is always a good way of raising the stakes, as we get to see how they act when they have to depend on solely themselves. We also see how far they'll go to become reunited with their family and friends.
And how far do the Baudelaires go? Well, to search for their sister without being spotted, Klaus and Sunny disguise themselves as Doctor Faustus. While looking for a patient list to find Violet, they meet VFD and then see Count Olaf disguised as a doctor. There's a great moment where both parties instantly see through each other's disguises, but can't say anything, for fear of revealing themselves to VFD. However, the Baudelaires do manage to steal Count Olaf's patient list.
Meanwhile, Violet tries escaping with Babs, but they're quickly caught again and Violet is anaesthetised. While it's nice to see our protagonist take our action, this seemed like a bit of a pointless endeavour, which didn't accomplish anything for the narrative.
But the two younger Baudelaires realise Violet's name has been written in anagram form and quickly deduce what room she has been hidden on. However, Olaf has already taken her away for surgery - a cranioectomy, a word which here means, the removal of a head of a teenage girl so that a dastardly villain can steal her fortune, and he requests for none other than Dr Faustus to perform the surgery.
Playing for time, Klaus begins stalling, recounting his knowledge of knives and surgery. The ploy keeps everyone distracted enough for him to turn off the anaesthesia, leading to Violet waking up. Just as it looks like the plan hasn't worked, Klaus claims that the correct paperwork hasn't been filled out, meaning he cannot continue the operation.
However, I think more could have been done to increase the tension of this scene. As this is a kid's show, it is unlikely that Violet's head would have ever been sawn off, but I think they could have drawn out Klaus' stalling a little more to really amp up the suspense.
Esme Squalor then demands that Klaus gives her item she's been looking for in exchange for Violet's life. Thinking he means the Snicket File, instead of the Sugar Bowl, he hands it over. Olaf then reveals Klaus' identity to everyone. And this is when Hal, having discovered his library being broken into, arrives and begins accusing the Baudelaires. While this is happening, Olaf watches the Snicket File and discovers there has been a survivor of the fire. In a fit of rage, he destroys the file, inadvertently setting fire to the whole hospital.
The Baudelaires escape through a window, while being pursued by Olaf's henchperson of an indeterminate gender. Meanwhile, Olaf and his henchpeople all escape the fire and prepare to drive to safety. This includes the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender who in the book
SPOILER ALERT
perishes in the fire. This was an interesting departure from the book, but a welcome one I think. The henchperson of Indeterminate Gender is one of the funniest of Olaf's cronies and I would miss them if they died. Maybe the producers thought that this would be too dark of an addition to a show, which is more of a comedy.
Anyway, the Baudelaires realise that their only option is to climb into the boot of Count Olaf's car. They climb into the belly of the beast and allow Olaf unwittingly drives them away to their next misadventure. And in the very last shot of the episode, we see an unknown set of hands grabbing the sugar bowl from the hospital. Who could it be? Jacquelyn or Larry-the-Waiter who were thankfully absent from this episode. Maybe it was Olivia Caliban who's also been absent. I reckon it could be Kit Snicket. Book-readers already know who I'm talking about.
VFD and Cultural References
1. Volunteers Fighting Diseases is the only VFD reference I picked up on.
2. Dr Faustus is a reference to Dr Faust, a German folktale about an academic called Faust who sold his soul to the devil in return for unlimited knowledge.
3. There were three references to adaptations of Stephen King books here. During the scene where Count Olaf is terrorising Babs, we see the two white-faced powdered women holding balloons, like in It, and standing like the twins in the Shining. Furthermore, when the henchperson of Indeterminate Gender breaks into the room where the Baudelaires have been hiding, they say "here I am. Nurse Lucafont," a great reference to the iconic "Here's Johnny" scene within the Shining.
4. At the Last Chance General Store, when the shopkeeper asks if he recognises the Baudelaires, Klaus replies that they're child-actors. While I have found some of the meta-humour growing old, this was a hilarious exception to the rule.
5. And finally, the Heimlich Hospital is obviously named after the Heimlich Manoeuvre.
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