The Ersatz Elevator review
Dear Reader,
you have had a year's respite from the unfortunate series of events that have plagued the lives of the Baudelaire orphans. Unfortunately, Netflix have uploaded the final chronicles of their lives. While I have committed myself to review these episodes, you have not committed yourselves to reading my reviews. Therefore I advise you to do something far more enjoyable such as stepping on lego.
When we left off, the Baudelaires had followed Count Olaf to the Cagliari Carnival. There they were searching for the answers to the many mysteries surrounding their lives. The biggest of these is whether one of their parents did survive the fire that destroyed their home. At the end of the Cagliari Carnival, the Baudelaires, in disguise, ally themselves with Olaf in the hopes of going to the VFD headquarters. Klaus and Violet and are towed behind in a caravan while Sunny is kept with Count Olaf.
The episode ends with Olaf revealing he knows who the Baudelaires are and cutting loose their caravan while they're travelling up the Mortmain Mountains. While they hurtle downhill, Violet invents a solution to save them. She creates a drag chute which snares around a lone tree allowing the Baudelaires a chance to escape. While this seems a tad unrealistic, this is acceptable considering the magic realism of the show. There are many surreal elements which work because that's what type of show it is.
From here, the Baudelaires travel onwards on foot where their attempts to reach Count Olaf drive them into a cave where they meet none other than the horrifying Carmelita Spats. For those who don't remember, Carmelita Spats is the prototypical, spoilt bratty bully whom the Baudelaires meet while in Prufock Preparatory School. Carmelita Spats is just one of the many Snow Scouts - a group of children hiking up to the top of Mount Fraught to celebrate False Spring. Carmelita Spats describes the Scouts as one of the most exclusive groups for the richest, most elite children, which sets up a problem which I'll get to later.
The Baudelaires are quickly befriend by a young Snow Scout in a fencing mask. They suspect the Snow Scout is connected to VFD. The Snow Scount gains their trust by confessing he is a well-read person and in his experience, well-read people are morally good. This was an interesting point to make. I can see the idea Snicket is trying to portray, but I'm not sure how true it is. Just because you're well-read doesn't mean you're morally good.
What you read is just important as how much you read. If what you're reading is negatively biased or distorted that will then lead to a distorted mindset. When night falls, their suspicions are proven right, as the Snow Scout takes them on a meandering route into the VFD headquarters. They solve puzzles and climb up ladders.
Meanwhile, Sunny Baudelaire is still in the grasp of Count Olaf. They are on the top of Mount Fraught as Olaf, Esme and his henchmen plot their next moves. Olaf thinks Violet and Klaus are dead and plans to use Sunny to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune.
At this point, we are introduced to two new villains. Two villains so frightening, Lemony Snicket is too afraid to even say their names, instead calling them the Man with a Beard but no Hair and the Woman with Hair but no Beard. Even Count Olaf is scared of them. They appear to be Olaf's direct superiors and hold him accountable for his constant failures. This was refreshing considering how many times Olaf's schemes have failed. I understand that to continue the series, Olaf's schemes have to fail. If he gets the Baudelaire fortune in episode 1, we wouldn't have 2 more seasons to watch. But at the same, Olaf's constant blunders also undermine his authority as a villain.
The two new villains are given strong introductions by killing Olaf's three new henchmen: the carnival freaks he picked up in the last episode. Although this was a good way to instantly demonstrate their villainy, I also felt it was a lazy way to write out these three new characters.
Anyway, these two new villains confess they have burned down the VFD headquarters and also reveal their plan to kidnap the Snow Scouts, murder their parents and steal all of their fortunes.
Meanwhile, the Baudelaires reach the VFD headquarters only to discover that it has been burned down. They desperately search for their parents, which is when the Snow Scout reveals he is the survivor of the fire. He is Quigley Quagmire, the last Quagmire triplet who was assumed dead after a fire destroyed their home and killed their parents. And this is where the first part ends.
The second part kicks off with some exposition explaining how Quigley survived. His mother hid him in a secret tunnel under his house. This tunnel leads him to Uncle Monty's house. It is here that he learns about VFD and begins unknowingly following in the footsteps of the Baudelaires. However, as Quigley is an orphan and the Snow Scouts is a winter camp for rich kids, I don't really understand why he is there. Sure his family have the famous Quagmire sapphires, but he doesn't have access to them. Who sent him to the Snow Scouts? This is explained in the books, but not in the TV show.
From here, we jump back to the top of Mount Fraught where we see Sunny doing her best to survive under Olaf's abusive care. She is forced to cook and clean for Olaf and his troupe. But we see her grow as a character. Her speech is improving and she is able to fend for herself. She is also helped a lot by Olaf's chief henchman, the Hook-Handed man.
The Hook-Handed man quickly befriends Sunny and tries his best to help her as much as possible. They develop a friendly relationship. While Snicket explains this away as Stockholm Syndrome, I find this really strange. The Hook-Handed man has been established as being the meanest and the scariest of Olaf's henchmen. This makes it odd that he would be the one who would befriend Sunny.
But in his attempts to help Sunny, he gives her a green cigarette to help her light a fire. The Baudelaires spot the smoke from the bottom of Mount Fraught and wonder if it is a signal from Sunny. The VFD headquarters lie at the base of a frozen waterfall. Violet deduces the fastest way of reaching Sunny is to climb up the waterfall. Klaus opts to stay behind to try to crack VFD codes and so Violet climbs up the waterfall with Quigley. Halfway up, they rest on a ledge and we see a mutual attraction forming.
At this point, Lemony Snicket intervenes explaining that to protect Violet's privacy, he chose not to focus on the tender moment she and Quigley share. I really loved this choice. Beyond being really sweet, it was a nice countering to modern television. Obviously, this is a children's show and thus would never be that graphic, but I do feel that modern TV is full of gratuitous sex. There are so many TV shows which have graphic sex scenes that do nothing to serve the plot.
Speaking of gratuitous scenes, the Slippery Slope is rife of these. Olaf is desperate to please the two new villains and puts on a show for them demonstrating his acting talent. This was a silly little scene which seemed more included to show off Neil Patrick Harris' musical theatre background rather than advancing the plot.
Anyway, when the Baudelaires reach the top they discover Sunny and they initially try to take her with them. But she refuses saying she wants to stay behind to spy on Olaf and the others. This is when Violet realises that her baby sister is no longer a baby. Violet and Quigley return down the mountain to discover that Klaus has cracked the VFD codes and discovers that VFD are planning to meet at the "Last Safe Place."
However, Olaf discovers somebody hiding at the bottom of the waterfall and Esme volunteers to go down and investigate. While searching around the VFD headquarters, Esme becomes trapped in the burned headquarters. The Baudelaires take Esme to the top of Mount Fraught to trade her for Sunny. However, Olaf is still struggling to win the approval of the two new villains. Considering they're about to gain a whole group of fortunes, they have no interest in the Baudelaire fortune. Thus they order Olaf to kill Sunny to prove himself. He orders his henchmen to obey, but they all refuse. In this episode, they have all started questioning their life choices and decide they no longer belong with Olaf. Apart from the Hook-Handed man, they all leave.
This was an interesting choice. In the book, at this point both the henchperson of Indeterminate gender and the man with the bald head have long been written out. But they still feature in the TV show. In the book, it is only the women with the white-powdered faces who leave.
Anyway, the Hook-Handed man volunteers to throw Sunny off Mount Fraught while she is locked in her cage. Just as the Baudelaires reach the top of the mountain, they discover the Hook-Handed man has killed Sunny. But it is revealed that he secretly let Sunny escape. At this point, the Snow Scouts arrive and fall straight into the trap ran by the two new villains. Olaf and Esme decide to adopt Carmelita and within the chaos, the waterfall is cracked in two and begins melting. The Baudelaires and Quigley escape by toboggoning down the waterfall, but the two are separated. Although they have now lost a good friend, they find the next piece in the puzzle of VFD: a submarine.
A seemingly separate subplot sees Lemony Snicket's sister, Kit, running through the Mortmain Mountains trying to keep the mysterious sugar bowl safe. She is also trying to hide from the two new villains introduced. Her journey sees her meeting up with Mr Poe who is bizarrely in the Mortmain Mountains too. What was great was how this was referenced which led to a genuinely laugh out loud moment. The novelty of the meta-humour has all but worn off so it's still nice to know the show can still make me laugh from time to time.
VFD and cultural references
As this episode explores a lot of VFD, there are many VFD references.
1. Valley of Four Drafts
2. Very Furtive Disguise
3. Very Fascinating Drama
4. Very Frightening Danger
5. Vain fashionable Divas
6. Vertical Flame Diversion
7. Vernacularly Fastened Door
8. Verdnant Flammable device
9.The book Anna Karenia is referenced throughout.
10. In her sleep, Carmelita spats admits she only watches network television.
11. When the Baudelaires toboggon off Mount Fraught, Sunny says rosebud, referencing the end of Citizen Kane.
12. Sunny describes herself as the famous spy Mata Hari.
