In remaking Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (which was last adapted as a 2004 film), Netflix is tapping into the wry reverse psychology that first lured readers to Daniel Handler’s darkly funny book series about the poor Baudelaire orphans and their myriad misfortunes: They’re warning you not to watch. Or rather, Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket is begging you to “not make the same mistake as Netflix has.”
In place of a desperately pleading foreword, we have Snicket wandering through the soundstage for the A Series of Unfortunate Events television series—meta!—as he delivers his grave advice. “The story of the Baudelaire orphans is so upsetting and so utterly unnerving, the entire crew is suffering from low morale, a phrase which here means ‘currently under medical observation for melancholia, ennui, and acute wistfulness.'”
…Except for Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris). Here’s your first preview of the cruel whimsy and whimsical cruelty to come:
“The world is vast and full of wonders,” Netflix says. “So on Friday, the 13th of January, please… watch something else.”
