A Series of Unfortunate Events (2019)

Finished watching all three seasons of the 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' in Netflix yesterday and started wondering about the so many unresolved questions that I've been trying to get some answers.

Good fiction (and good movies) don't try to answer all the questions. The open questions and the open interpretation of the story is what makes good fiction interesting and worth remembering. It is like everyone has their own story.

'A Series of Unfortunate Events' is the story of, well, A Series of Unfortunate Events that happened to the Baudelaire orphans - as they are referred in the story - over a course of , like Sunny says , three seasons. The narrator is Lemony Snicket (who is part of the story as well) and has that moribund voice of the man defeated while narrating it.

The story is about the Baudelaire children and the nefarious, if somewhat stupid, villain, Count Olaf. The children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny were orphaned when their mansion was burnt with their parents inside. The banker in custody of their fortune puts them through a series of guardians while Olaf try to get the custody himself so that he can get their money. Every episode of this fight brings more despair to the orphans while Olaf kind of wins every time.

That is not all. The story is also about the secret organization, VFD and the schism which split the organization into two - 'volunteers' and 'villains' - thus, the parade of guardians for the Baudelaire children were either one or the other and the Baudelaire parents were part of the VFD as well, adding layers of interesting back stories and mysteries to fill.

Only that the narrator chose to fill some and leave the rest as is. Like when it is revealed that one of the Baudelaire parents might've survived the fire, but that knot is never un-knotted and the book ends without revealing which one survived and how and whether they get to have a happily ever-after with their kids.

A series of 13 books - 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' - I watched the Netflix series instead of reading the book. Vanathy did the reading of all the books though. I may have to pick up on that sometime. 

'Well-made' is a loosely defined term and in this context, it means exactly what it means. The series has a Gothic-Noir look to the entire series with dull gray/black backgrounds with brighter colors all around. With the tale of Lemony Snicket unfolding in the background as well in a absolute melancholy tone, the making hits the right note for the whole story.

The actors chosen for the leading parts were all amazing - especially Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf nails the role and it is difficult to think of anyone beating him as Olaf. The kids playing Violet and Klaus were excellent but we became fans of that sharp-biting little girl, Sunny Baudelaire in an instant. I mean, how cute can a baby be?

Vanathy gave 2 stars to her review on the last book and said the book had so many open questions, it felt incomplete. The TV series ends in a similar note as well - you have some answers and there are more questions as well - but thats what makes the whole thing fascinating. There are multiple stories that can be spawned by Lemony Snicket or others.

Overall, a very well-made series of an very interesting book (I am yet to read!)

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