'A Series of Unfortunate Events' returns with important message

If we were to “look away,” as the villainous thespian Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris) urges us to do in the opening theme of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” (2017-), we would foolishly give up the chance to venture into the beautiful yet tragic world of the Baudelaire orphans, whose boundless cunning and bravery necessitate a second season of the Netflix original show. Based on the fifth through ninth installments of Lemony Snicket’s beloved children’s book series, the new season follows Violet (Malina Weissman), Klaus (Louis Hynes) and their baby sister Sunny (Presley Smith) as they escape from one awful and alliterative locale to another, while simultaneously discovering more about the mysterious history of their parents.

Schools and hospitals are already unpleasant institutions, but introduce a terrible actor and his outlandish troupe of henchmen who will stop at nothing to steal a family fortune and they become truly hateful. Indeed, the audience must pity the Baudelaires — each of the Count’s schemes is more malicious and frightening than the last, and although the siblings continuously outfox him, he remains just one step behind. However, the show’s blatant acknowledgement of this ceaseless evil is also what makes “A Series of Unfortunate Events” hilarious. If you choose to ignore the warnings of the opening theme, despite the clear assertion that “this show will wreck your evening, your whole life and your day,” the narrator, none other than Snicket himself (Patrick Warburton),appears several times throughout each episode to implore you to stop watching before it is too late. Whether we refuse to listen due to successful reverse psychology or simply because of the show's utter addictive nature is impossible to determine.

Though viewers may know Harris for his role as Barney in “How I Met Your Mother” (2005-2014), his portrayal of Olaf establishes the Count as an ideal character for audiences to lovingly despise. For every scheme, Olaf not only changes his clothing style and affects a new accent, but he also manipulates the surrounding space in an entirely different manner. His attempts to swindle the Baudelaires are so ludicrous and desperate that one can only hope he eventually proves victorious. As both a star and executive producer of “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” Harris clearly thinks of the show as a passion project. His enthusiasm shines through in every scene like a single ray of sunlight illuminating an otherwise forsaken cave.

However, it is the cinematographers who inject the series with the clarity and sharpness the Baudelaires require to defeat Count Olaf. Even the smallest detail, such as the nefarious crinkling of the Count’s eyes (the ones on his face, not the intriguing, peculiar one tattooed on his ankle) is shot with such painstaking care that we are transported through our screens into a universe of despair. The set design is also terrific and perfectly captures the steampunk aesthetic of the books. For example, an entire half of the "Hostile Hospital" is merely scaffolding — not very conducive to a patient’s recovery. The meticulous weaving of these two elements produces a web that ensnares us and sends us on a tangled roller coaster of emotions, until we forget which direction is up. Like the carnival fortune teller, this confusion adds a degree of mystical uncertainty to the show, promising us an eventful journey regardless of the destination.

The miserable tale of the Baudelaires is no stranger to the screen. The Jim Carrey-headlined film “Lemony Snicket’s 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'” (2004) attempted to recount the first three chapters of the orphans’ escapades. However, while the movie is accurate in plot, it completely misses the moral of the story: No matter how terrible the circumstances we find ourselves in, we can overcome any obstacle if we stay true to who we are and hold tight to our humanity. In our age, this message is of utmost importance, and it is a lesson that “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is eager to teach us, if we are prepared to listen.