The television series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Season 2 releases today, March 30th! Are you ready?
If you’ve read the books and want to watch the series, check out one of our Roku devices.
A Series of Unfortunate Events follows three, recently orphaned children, Violet, Claus, and Sunny Baudelaire as they maneuver their misfortunes and escape from their distant relative, Count Olaf, who, with the help from his theater troupe, schemes to covet their inherited fortune. Upon their escapes, however, the children discover a secret organization that their family was a part of before they were even born.
Season 1 of the Netflix series covers books 1-4, and season 2 will cover 5-9. I’ve got a comprehensive list of all the books adapted by the television series so far so you can read them before the show. Or reread some of your favorites to find out if the children are able to escape and discover a mystery behind a secret organization that seems to show them clues wherever they go. I’ve included links to each book and some no-spoilers descriptions if you’d like to check them out!
The Bad BeginningAfter a catastrophic fire, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with a distant relative, Count Olaf. At first, their new situation seems dreadful, the dirty attic with only one twin bed as their collective bedroom, the beyond messy, falling-apart house, and the bossy theater troupe always having parties. Still, they try to make the best of it, doing whatever chores Olaf makes them, but soon they discover his evil plan and they must use all their wits to escape.
The Baudelaires find solace in a mansion owned by another distant relative they call Uncle Monty. His enormous conservatory includes some of the most dangerous reptiles and amphibians in the world. While this may be scary to the Baudelaires in the beginning, they find an even more threatening presence has snaked his way into the home.
The Wide WindowEverything about the Baudelaires new home seems a little off–even their guardian. From the structure of the house built off a cliffside overhanging a leech-infested lake to the strange rules: don’t use the stove, the telephone, the doorknobs. All these rules seem completely ridiculous until their guardian’s strange guidelines come to actualization.
The Miserable MillIf you thought child labor was completely eliminated, you’d be wrong. The Baudelaires are shipped off to Lucky Smells Mill where they are thankful they are living in the middle of nowhere so that Olaf can’t find them, but they must work for their keep in the perilous lumber yard. Amidst that, after visiting an eye doctor, Claus starts acting strangely. It may prove that the dangerous saws and nails are the least of the Baudelaire children’s problems.
Being sent to an exclusive preparatory school seems like a dream to the Baudelaires until they learn about their living quarters, a leaky crab-filled. fungus-infested, seaside shack. To make matters worse, a bully, Carmelita Spats, becomes a rude and annoying presence, and their mean teachers even start to seem bearable when a treacherous gym teacher shows up. Despite their less than desirable circumstances, the Baudelaires make new friends whose family may be just as entrenched in secrecy as the Baudelaires.
The Baudelaires new accommodation is an expensive, but strange penthouse in the city where everyone is concerned about what is fashionably “in” and “out.” For instance, lights are “out” so the entire street is dark. As are elevators, which is why they must climb 66 flights of stairs to their new home. While one of their new care-takers, Jerome, seems nice. It’s clear that the only reason his wife, Esme, adopted them is because orphans are currently “in.” They wonder how long they will be fashionable or how long it will take until Count Olaf shows up.
Mr. Poe, unable to find them a suitable home, send the Baudelaires to a strange village that takes the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child,” literally. They’ve started a program that allows the entire village to be their guardian, but they are really sent to live with the handyman, Hector, and must do the entire village’s chores every day. Soon, however, they discover strange, poetic riddles being dropped. Together, the Baudelaires must solve this mystery before it’s too late.
For the first time, the Baudelaires run away successfully after being falsely accused of a crime. They join hospital volunteers and then get jobs in the hospital library in hopes that they will find out more about their family’s history and about the secret organization that seems to be at every turn. All the while, Count Olaf lurks on, waiting to enact his latest plot to steal the Baudelaire fortune.
Violet and Klaus, dressed disguised as conjoined twins, and Sunny, dressed as a wolf-child, join a carnival crew and perform in a circus. Madame Lulu, however, asks for Count Olaf’s help to increase attendance at the carnival. This means the stunts the Baudelaires perform become more and more dangerous until they could even become deadly, especially since the arrival of a pride of very hungry lions.
Then don’t forget to check out The Slippery Slope, The Penultimate Peril, and The End when you’re done.
–Eleka
The O'Fallon Public Library News 