Monday, January 30, 2017

A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Wide Window


The turbulent lives of the Baudelaire children get no easier when Violet (Malina Weissman), Klaus (Louis Hynes), and baby Sunny meet their new guardian Aunt Josephine (Alfre Woodard) who proves to be far-less fearless than her reputation. As with the previous episode, the conflict stems from the arrival of Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris) in another ridiculous disguise that somehow only the Baudelaires are able to see through. This time the villain arrives as a ship captain attempting to woo their guardian to get control of the children and their fortune.

The recycled nature of the show's plot, and the increasingly annoying inability of anyone to recognize Olaf, are saved by the continued strong acting of the children, the interludes by Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton), and the impressive set design. However, even that can't help what is becoming an increasingly obvious problem of diminishing returns. With the children fleeing the scene at the end of "Part 2," rather than be stuck in another horrible situation by the buffoonish Mr. Poe (K. Todd Freeman), I'll be curious to see if the basic set-up is shaken-up a bit in the season's final two episode as Violet, Klaus, and Sunny look for answers about their missing parents and the mysterious society.

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