I'll admit, the show had a slow start that disappointed plenty people, (including me) and you really have to try to get past that horrible intro music...and some bad special effects in the first season. B ut the ending of the first season and the second season is worth the wait.

Neil Patrick Harrison does an amazing job as Count Olaf (again, better in season 2). Dare I say, even better than Jim Carrey's version of Count Olaf? I love that I can have a familiar name in the show, yet forget that it is him most of the time because he has taken on a new character so well. Neil's quirky humor is also much stronger than Jim's and able to keep us distracted from the dark content. Neil even breaks the fourth wall and looks at the audience directly when referencing the fact that this is a show. While it has been a controversial move, I must admit that it was the right call.

While most Netflix originals rely on one strong famous actor to carry the weight, that actually isn't the case in this show. Another amazing actor that really brought the story to life was Patrick Warburton who plays Lemony Snicket. (He also voices Joe Swanson in Family Guy, just in case that was bothering you too). I also want to mention K. Todd Freeman as the banker, who really is nothing like that in real life or his other movies and Malina Wissmann as Violet Beaudalire, who was not only great at becoming Violet but also just a really coherent and easy to follow.

In oder to maintain the dark aspects of the story, the narrator (Lemony Snicket) is shown more into the show. I would like to say that this choice was a success and more reasons than one. It gives space for the show to be more funny by bringing the dark aspects in the show out in other ways than the acting and music. It also adds more to the story itself since the narrator is indirectly involved to the story that actually happened. So, good job to whoever decided to show the narrator more!

Overall, I really like the show better than the movie. This is mostly because of the humor, but also because the show has way more attention to details. For example, t he eye tattoo is way better in the Netflix original show. I also really like the costumes and make-up. However, with that said, the movie has way better special effects and a faster start to the action. So at the end of the day they are both good for different reasons.

A lot of what I love about the show is really what I love about the books; the strong ever interconnecting story line with heart pulling moments and the constant loom of hopeless darkness. There is just something pleasantly familiar to unhappy endings. It is also a huge relief from all the happy stories for kids that exist today. Just something different every now and again is nice.

Side rant: Is it just me, or does the Violet Baudelaire in both the show and the movie look ridiculously similar? I actually checked if they were the same actress even though the movie came out in 2004 and she would have had to not really age at all in the past decade.

Thank you for reading my article, I hope you enjoyed it. If you would like to read more content by me please feel free to check out some of my other articles on this site. I have written so many articles that it's actually starting to look impressive.