Do you like depressing things?
Do you like depressing things that are also quite funny, incredibly clever, and have a variety of actors in them that you’ll definitely recognise from other popular Netflix shows and be all like ‘what was that lad in again?’ until you IMDb it and figure it out and continue watching the rest of the episode?
Who doesn’t.
If you do, and you haven’t started watching A Series of Unfortunate Events yet then you absolutely need to reevaluate your life.
The show’s second season recently dropped on Netflix and it’s got everything you want from a bizarre and convoluted TV show including Neil Patrick Harris, a lot of crows, and a plot that’s totally unbelievable but you just kind of go with it anyway.
Don’t let the opening credits fool you either – A Series of Unfortunate Events is not just a children’s show.
Actually, it’s not really a children’s show at all.
Chances are half of the jokes, references, and plot devices will go right over anyone who’s under the age of 13’s head so, you know, there’s a lot to unpack.
If you’re 100 percent unfamiliar with the plot of the show, let us catch you up without the risk of spoiling anything major.
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are three orphans who recently lost their parents in a tragic, yet suspicious, house fire.
The blaze destroyed everything the Baudelaires knew and loved, leaving them only with a strange spyglass and a bumbling banker, Mr Poe, who just hasn’t got a clue about anything really.
Poe repeatedly places the children in the care of an array of guardians who do little or nothing to protect them from the clutches of Count Olaf – an old acquaintance of their parents who’s out to steal the children’s fortune.
Intense.
We know, we know, the above sounds like the most basic children’s show known to man but if you trust us at all (and you should), then remain safe in the knowledge that this show is so much more than its plot.
It’s also total nostalgic bliss for anybody who read the Lemony Snicket book series as a child.
Back then, it was a sad series about sad things – and now, it’s turned into a strangely postmodern and bizarrely funny show about loss, identity, and a youthful frustration with authority figures.
Basically, it’s class and you should all be watching it.
And don’t let the show’s format put you off either.
It may take you a few episodes to really settle into how this story is told, but once you get there you won’t be disappointed.
