Binge-Watching the Absurd: Our Insight into A Series of Unfortunate Events

Joshua Noel: 00:01:19

Fate is like a strange unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. At least that's according to Lemony. Stick it, guys. We are back with another Flix Fridays episode.

As part of our spring bonus series that we're doing for you guys, we had our Facebook vote on which Netflix movies or series they would like us to review. Fortunate for us, A Series of Unfortunate Events made the list one of my favorite Netflix series. So I'm excited to talk about this today.

I am Joshua Noel here with TJ Tiberius Juan Blackwell. And if you want to hear the rest of this series, you can check the show notes for a link that has the entire Flicks Fridays series down there.

Without further ado, we're just going to jump straight into this. Tj, if we were about to watch this entire series for some reason, you were like, josh, come over. We're going to watch all of Unfortunate Events.

How would we prep for that? Like what, what Food, beer, popcorn? Like, like what are we getting together for our three season long binge? For some reason, I think you kind.

TJ Blackwell: 00:02:23

Of have to let the series speak to you. You know, there are just certain times watching this show where it makes me want things that make sense.

Joshua Noel: 00:02:32

So you'd start first and then let it tell us what we want? Yeah, see, I'm, I'm okay with that, but I still want to start with some form of snackage. I'm not sure why. I think it's just the mood I'm in.

Specifically, I want to start with like a dark beer. Not a lot, just a little bit pretzels. Probably some cheese to dip that pretzel in.

TJ Blackwell: 00:02:56

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:02:56

Yeah. I mean, it's not like my go to movie food. I think I'm just in the mood for a pretzel right now. And beer and cheese sound good with that?

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:03

Yeah, I wouldn't be mad. Yeah, those are good starter snacks.

Joshua Noel: 00:03:07

Yeah.

And then as the show goes on, because, like, we're obviously going to have to eat and drink again before the series finished if we're watching all three seasons. Yeah, I like your idea.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:18

That's not that long.

Joshua Noel: 00:03:20

Yeah. I mean, Count Olaf at some point probably looks directly at the screen and says, you should go get popcorn right now. Like, I. I bet that I'm not.

I don't bet. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that was in the series somewhere and I just forgot.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:34

Yeah. But you know, I almost want to say we need to start with like a pasta. Like eat A dinner?

Joshua Noel: 00:03:41

Oh yeah, yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:43

Or at least like no, cook dinner when we start the series.

Joshua Noel: 00:03:47

Okay, I'm down.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:49

So then when they're eating beef Stroganoff in Count Olaf's house. So can we.

Joshua Noel: 00:03:56

Yeah, that's a great idea. Yeah, I like that. I'm for it. I'm for it. Well, hey, we.

So we put this through like a two part system where like the host came up with a bunch of series and movies that we like. Then the Facebook group voted on the ones it wanted most.

This ended up making it through both rounds of that vigorous progress of choosing our topics. Why tj? Why do you think you were like, yeah, yeah, I want to talk about Series of Unfortunate Events. Sure.

TJ Blackwell: 00:04:26

If you haven't seen A Series of Unfortunate Events, but you have seen Wes Anderson movies, this is about as close as you can get without being a Wes Anderson movie. Yeah, that's fair.

Joshua Noel: 00:04:39

I really feel like it's just like.

TJ Blackwell: 00:04:42

The writing wise at least is what I mean. Specifically, visually that it's not. It's not Anderson esque, but it's very witty.

Joshua Noel: 00:04:51

Yeah, I think that's it for me.

I think that's why I'm drawn to this and why I'm like, yeah, I want to talk about this show because like it's witty, it's very whimsical, but it's still dark. Like it's not like, you know, watching Disney or spongebob. Like it's whimsical but with a very dark sense of humor, I guess.

TJ Blackwell: 00:05:09

Yeah, it hits the mix perfectly in my opinion.

Joshua Noel: 00:05:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, yeah. I think this probably is my first interaction to dark humor. Like when I watched the old Jim Carrey movie.

I feel like that was the first time as a kid that I was like dark humor. This funny. Me like baby in Cage.

TJ Blackwell: 00:05:31

Haha.

Joshua Noel: 00:05:32

Yeah, hilarious. The show definitely gets. Leans further into the dark humor.

I feel like when the Jim Carrey movie came out, they didn't think audiences wouldn't appreciate it as much.

TJ Blackwell: 00:05:41

Yeah, well, they also, the series starts that way. Like that is just the way the series goes.

Joshua Noel: 00:05:47

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:05:48

It gets more tense and things get worse for our family as the series goes on. And the movie is only the first three books, so.

Joshua Noel: 00:05:57

Yeah, yeah. So what, what is your history? This.

So I mentioned like I saw the movie for me as a kid, I tried to read the books, but I was adhd, so I couldn't get through them. I didn't actually end up reading the books until I saw the show.

I watched the show as soon as it dropped, because Neil Patrick Harris was in it, and I love him. But for you, like, what's your history? Did you read these books growing up or.

TJ Blackwell: 00:06:15

Yep, yep. I watched the movie first just because it was for sale at Dollar General as dvd. And naturally, that's where we get all of our movies.

So my dad bought it one day and we watched it for the next seven years, probably. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. Yeah, it's. It's great. I love it a lot. And the series was fantastic. Like the books. I mean, I love them. They're so good.

I would buy a box set of A Series of Unfortunate Events. And if you've ever seen me, if you ever watched one of our episodes on YouTube and see me lean too far, one direction or the other, you've seen.

I don't own a lot of books. Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:06:57

I'm probably gonna own less now that I have a Kindle. Turns out it's just convenient.

TJ Blackwell: 00:07:02

Yeah, it's true. Online reading is so nuts.

Joshua Noel: 00:07:06

Yeah. But no, I did think, like, when I read the books, I loved it.

And I think what's interesting is how the ending changes from the books to the series, the show. And apparently that has to do with some other series that he wrote about the other child.

TJ Blackwell: 00:07:23

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:07:24

When she got that, she talked to Olafia. I haven't read that. I read the series, though.

And what's fun is, like, the book series ends kind of like a darker cliffhanger, and you're just kind of left to assume more bad things are probably going to happen to these kids. I don't think that would have translated well for the show.

Like, I know a lot of people were aggravated, but I feel like in a show like this, you needed more of a conclusion than you would with a book series like that. I think.

TJ Blackwell: 00:07:50

Yeah, I think the ending is good, too.

Joshua Noel: 00:07:52

Yeah. Yeah, me too.

TJ Blackwell: 00:07:53

I didn't feel like it was a disservice to, you know, Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler at all. It was good. I liked it.

Joshua Noel: 00:08:02

Which. He actually helped write the show, which is part of the puns. The Jim Carrey isn't canon at all.

But because the writer of the books helped write the show, there's a lot of questions of, like, so where the stuff that was added and all that kind of thing is considered canon, since he was part of it. I think whatever you want to be canon is canon in this case.

TJ Blackwell: 00:08:20

Yeah. I mean, I just.

I think when something like this happens, and it happens a lot more for, like, anime and sometimes comic books, I think it makes it canon. Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:08:31

Yeah, I think it should. But as far as, like, the plot, like, what. What is this series? The books, the movie? Like, what is the Series of Unfortunate Events about?

TJ Blackwell: 00:08:40

So A Series of Unfortunate Events is about a series of unfortunate events that happen to the. I was gonna say titular, but no. Sort of. But the main characters of the story are the Baudelaire orphans. Their parents die in a house fire.

Super rich people, super talented kids who allegedly died. Allegedly accidental fire. But we follow them in their struggles to find a home, basically.

Joshua Noel: 00:09:15

God, that's so depressing. But I mean, like, it's accurate.

TJ Blackwell: 00:09:19

It is A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Joshua Noel: 00:09:21

Yeah. They just keep Betty put in really awful homes.

TJ Blackwell: 00:09:25

Yeah. And it's not even.

Joshua Noel: 00:09:26

Like, that sounds so bad. Like, this is not something you want to watch the way we were describing.

TJ Blackwell: 00:09:30

Yeah. No, they. We follow the kids and they get shunted off to, you know, their parents, friends, houses. And Count Olaf, who wants the Baudelaire fortune.

He's plotting in the background. He wants the Baudelaire fortune, therefore, he wants to have custody of the Baudelaire orphans.

Joshua Noel: 00:09:49

Yeah. And then also maybe for them to die.

TJ Blackwell: 00:09:52

Yeah. And obviously you've got to kill them at some point or it would still be their money. That.

Joshua Noel: 00:09:58

That would be unfortunate for him. Yeah. That's the sequel. Sequel. Unfortunate series event is about Olaf and how unfortunate it is he doesn't get the money he wants.

TJ Blackwell: 00:10:06

Yeah. It is this. The series is also a Series of Unfortunate Events for him. If you watch it from his perspective, bad stuff just keeps happening to Olaf.

He never gets what he wants until the very end, where he does get what he wants for a minute.

Joshua Noel: 00:10:20

Yeah. But he's also just one of the most despicable characters in literature. I feel like he's just awful. Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:10:28

Move over, Blood meridian. We have a. Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:10:31

And I feel like. So when Jim Carrey did it in the movie, the character was really funny, and I like that.

I like how Neil Patrick Harrison portrays this character is, like, not someone who's just, like, evil, but, like, maybe insane. Like, he's just so, like. It's like the whimsy comes off as, like, someone who maybe this guy's actually just absolutely crazy.

I think, too, part of what lures you is there's always just a little bit of intrigue, a little bit of mystery and a dash of hope. So you keep. Like, maybe things actually won't be that bad for them.

Even though, literally, the show starts with Patrick Wolbert staring at the screen going, if you like pleasant stories. You shouldn't watch this. And then we all watched it anyway.

TJ Blackwell: 00:11:14

Yeah. It doesn't hide the fact that it is a show about bad stuff happening to kids.

Joshua Noel: 00:11:20

Yeah. Like, the theme is like, look away.

TJ Blackwell: 00:11:23

Look away, look away. There's nothing but horror.

Joshua Noel: 00:11:30

Yeah. But, like, it really is. It's just awful stuff.

And then there's the mystery part is like, turns out there's like, the secret society that their parents may or may not. I think actually it's confirmed their parents are involved in. Olaf's involved in it, and there's, like, spy stuff going on in the background.

So, like, you have that subplot, and then all the while, these kids are just going from home to home, being terribly mistreated. And you see, just every now and then, like, a nice person, you're like, oh, maybe they'll get adopted by that person next. Nope.

They're getting shipped away to a completely. Another terrible spot.

TJ Blackwell: 00:11:57

Yeah. No, not even that. It's like, that good person, he's going to get killed.

Joshua Noel: 00:12:00

Yeah. Just bad. Dead. Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:02

That's what happens every time.

Joshua Noel: 00:12:04

One of the things the show did, too, that was fun with Olaf was like, since Neil Patrick Harrison was playing him, they were like, he sings now. I loved that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:11

Of course. It was great. We have Neil Patrick Harris. This is a musical.

Joshua Noel: 00:12:15

Yeah. This immediately has to become a musical.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:19

Which is the right choice.

Joshua Noel: 00:12:20

I agree. The show was. Even though it was dark, it was so much fun and it was just exhilarating. I was watching this and I'm having a good time.

And then also, that forces me to be contemplative because I'm like, I'm having a really fun time. And also, why did I have fun? Like, these kids were basically just forced into slave labor working in a mine. Why is that funny?

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:39

To me, they're just funny kids.

Joshua Noel: 00:12:42

Yeah. Shouldn't be funny. But it is.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:45

But it is every time. It's so witty. It's the pace of the jokes that fly in this series. It's so fast and they're so nonchalant about it. I love it.

That's my favorite style of comedy. It's some people call, like, the British sense of humor, which it's kind of. Right. Like, British TV does tend to do that sort of comedy.

Joshua Noel: 00:13:10

So it really should be called the TJ humor.

TJ Blackwell: 00:13:13

That is how I like to tell jokes, and it always has been.

Joshua Noel: 00:13:16

And you definitely existed before Britain.

TJ Blackwell: 00:13:19

Yeah. Just. Just by a couple of years, but, yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:13:23

No, man. Yeah. It's witty, it's fun, it's dark. It's crazy. It's wild. I don't want to give away too much of the story. I feel like people should watch it.

Just know that nothing is what it appears to be. Even if you read the books. I feel like when you watch the show, it's like, oh, yeah, Nothing's quite what you thought it was.

TJ Blackwell: 00:13:42

Yeah. And that's what makes it really good. Yeah, it's really good. It's so well written. Like, you mentioned it before.

The, like, there's a dash of hope everywhere. There's always just, there is hope there. It's 13 books long and 27 episodes.

Joshua Noel: 00:13:59

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:13:59

Bad stuff happens.

Joshua Noel: 00:14:01

And I think what's crazy, too, is, like, every time you get a little bit of that hope, like you. It makes you keep watching, and then it gets destroyed again. But there's still a little bit of hope of something else.

And I think that's what's fun, though.

So when the books end and you don't see what really happens to the kids, it's like you still have that little bit of hope, even though, you know it's probably terrible things that are going to happen. Yeah. And then the show, it kind of basically skips over a lot of their life. It's like, it turns out okay. And you're like, it's weird.

It's almost like retroactive hope. But, like, you know that for it to turn out okay, there was probably still a lot of terrible things that happened in the process.

And you're like, man, it just. It just leaves you with that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:37

Yeah. It's like. It's like watching Star wars in chronological order.

You finish the first three movies and you're like, wow, that was a pretty good series if you're under the age of 30 and. And then you're like, that was great. I can't believe I never watched that. And then you find out there's a new hope. There's more.

Joshua Noel: 00:14:57

Yeah, man.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:59

And then after that trilogy, it's bad. It's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Joshua Noel: 00:15:05

I thought the sequel trilogy was mostly good, except for the.

TJ Blackwell: 00:15:08

It was mostly all right.

Joshua Noel: 00:15:09

Yeah. So while you were watching this, it came out in three seasons.

And for me, I remember at the end of each season, Googling when the next one's gonna happen, like, I was dying for more. Like, it always left me wanting more. How was your reaction at the end of each season? How, like, were you sitting with it?

Like, oh, it was pretty good compared to the looks, or were you like, yeah, I'm ready for the next season already. Like what? Where were we?

TJ Blackwell: 00:15:28

Oh, yeah. No, I was just upset because I'm pretty sure we watched. We've watched at least season one of this together before.

Joshua Noel: 00:15:38

I thought I remembered us watching some of it together, but I couldn't remember what.

TJ Blackwell: 00:15:41

Yeah, I was like, if we didn't watch it together, I at least watched a good bit of season one. In your house.

Joshua Noel: 00:15:48

Yeah. It's just so good. We already kind of talked about what makes it bingeable. It's just that little bit of hope with the comedy. And the pacing is great.

I'm glad you mentioned the pacing. I do think that's a lot of it in the spy narrative. The fact that the show itself feels almost like a book because you have a narrative.

You have Lemony Snicket speaking to you as Patrick Warburton, and he's telling you what's going on. Like, hey, this isn't going to end well. This is what's going to happen here.

And they even do the little bit from the book where it's like this word, which in this context means. And it's great because in the show, the kids are like, we know what that word.

TJ Blackwell: 00:16:21

Yeah. One of. One of the kids. Well, all of the kids are super smart. They express it in different ways. The oldest is Violet Baudelaire.

She is an inventor, so she ties her hair up when it's time to invent some and just gets down to it. And she MacGyver's whatever they need in that situation. Klaus is a reader.

Joshua Noel: 00:16:43

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:16:44

Yep. He just has read every book pretty much. And Sunny bites stuff really well. Yeah. Sonny's a baby.

Joshua Noel: 00:16:52

I. I love that they were like, I work with the babies on the dude. So. Part of it, too, though, that I think, like, it adds to the humor.

And I think it might. It's probably part of the point of the whole narrative is just how people treat children like they look. Talk down to them.

And I think that's why he does that thing of, like, this word, which in this context means what that word means. Like, everybody looking at the children as if they're not there. It's like they're not even recognizing that their personhood.

I mean, even to the point of, like, the. In the show. I don't know.

I don't remember if this happens in the book or not, but when they end up in the Poe's house, like, before they start going to foster homes, the mom who's a reporter is like, tell me how miserable do you feel? That'll be a great headline. And it's like, it's funny. But also you're like, hold up. Yeah. Like that. Like, people really do that.

Like, they just treat children like they're not there.

TJ Blackwell: 00:17:41

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:17:42

And I feel like that's probably why this. The book series clicked with so many children, because they're like, yeah, I just don't feel seen.

And this whole series really is about not feeling seen and how, like, everyone's like, oh, man, if I was a kid again, you know, life was great. And it's like, well, sometimes for a kid, life isn't great.

TJ Blackwell: 00:17:59

Yeah. And it really did. When I was a kid, I was like, this is awesome. This book's great. I do know all those words.

Joshua Noel: 00:18:05

Yeah. And grown ups really did say, well, you know, this word means you're like, I know, I know. Yeah. Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:18:13

And I actually know that because I read a series, Unfortunate Events.

Joshua Noel: 00:18:17

So funny. Oh, man. But, like, I don't know. I loved that.

We'll get to some more of the other themes a little bit, but I just thought that was an important thing to bring out when we're talking about, like, how the story is formatted both in the show and in the books. It's very much about, like, the personhood of children and how, like, sometimes we look past kids as if they're not there and they're there. Fun fact.

That's true.

TJ Blackwell: 00:18:40

Usually.

Joshua Noel: 00:18:41

Yeah. Tj, if you had to rate the TV series, since that's what we're supposed to be talking about, we just keep Talking about both 0 to 10.

How are you rating A Series of Unfortunate Events? The Netflix edition.

TJ Blackwell: 00:18:55

Is it perfect? It's really close.

Joshua Noel: 00:18:59

Yeah. I started rewatching it today because I knew we were recording this there to bolt it and drop when I wanted it to.

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:05

Yeah, I might. I'm going to give it a nine and a half. I'm going to rewatch the series, and then I'll tell our social media guy to post about it.

If I update it to a 10.

Joshua Noel: 00:19:17

Yeah, you'll get on Discord. So people want to communicate with you.

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:20

Yeah. Naturally, you can just ask for updates on where I am in the rewatch.

Joshua Noel: 00:19:24

But, yeah, annoyingly, I just agree with you. Like, I feel like. I feel like I'm like Josh with a bad opinion.

I'm supposed to disagree with people and stuff, but I'm like, I'm going go with nine and a half. Everything I remember about it is perfect.

The only reason I don't give it a 10 is, like, because, you know, my rating thing is more of, like, comparing It. If I'm just going to watch any other series, even if I actually.

If I limit it to Netflix, especially now that Daredevil is no longer a Netflix show, it might be my favorite Netflix show. It really might.

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:52

Yeah. Yeah. I can't. Can't really think of one that's better.

Joshua Noel: 00:19:57

Yeah. But if I just do like shows of all time, like, yeah, there are shows I like more than it. That's not because there's any flaws in this show.

There's other shows I just happen to enjoy more. So nine and a half, maybe 9.7. It's as close as I can get to a 10 without saying 10. Because I. It's not my favorite show.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:13

See, I don't. I don't like doing. I don't like doing decimals if they're not increments of five, because at that point, why aren't we just doing one out of 100?

Joshua Noel: 00:20:20

True. One out of 100. I'm going to go 98.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:23

That's not even what you said.

Joshua Noel: 00:20:25

Yeah, but it changed. 100 made it change, you know.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:30

Yeah. Well, I'm gonna go for a solid.

Joshua Noel: 00:20:32

95, so that's the same thing as 9.5. In that case, you might as well have just.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:38

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:20:39

All right. Anyway, other parts of this show that I thought was interesting is it kind of shows, like, a. That kind of pessimistic attitude.

I think a lot of us feel this where, like, actually life just sucks. And sometimes it's fun to laugh at life sucking because we're like, yeah, life really is garbage. And this is so exaggerated that it makes it funny.

Even though a lot of us actually feel this way, that life is just unfortunate. A Series of Unfortunate events.

Other parts of his, like, it talks about, like, fairness, and we kind of see how, like, these children just are not being treated fairly. And there's also a lot of fate. Like, we know that they are fated for more unfortune. Yeah.

The series really kind of hinges on a really dark view of how life goes or is going to go.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:23

Yeah. And let's not get it twisted. The series is called A Series of Unfortunate Events. Once again, very aptly named because.

Joshua Noel: 00:21:33

Pretty on the nose, actually.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:35

Maybe a few fortunate events happen over the course of the series. Like two or three good things.

Joshua Noel: 00:21:41

Yeah, I think maybe that's also part of the allure, is, like, it's so on the nose that I'm like, got to be something good at it, you know, Like. Like when they start a show with a look away, hey, you probably shouldn't see this. If you enjoy happy endings, I'm immediately, immediately.

Like, there'd be something happy in it. Right. Like, given the tone of your voice, the color scheme, Patrick Wolburton and Neil Patrick Harris is in. It's gonna be something happy in it.

And, like, you laugh, but I'm like, I'm not sure that I could point to something, be like, that was a happy part of the show.

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:09

Yeah. And when it does happen, it's almost immediately ripped away. Yeah. Here come the unfortunate parts.

Joshua Noel: 00:22:16

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:17

Like, they get.

Joshua Noel: 00:22:17

Things only happen so more bad things can happen.

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:20

They get sent to a home with Count Olaf. Dad. Then they get sent to a home with the Montgomery Montgomery, good caretaker. He cares about them. He listens to them. They're fed, housed, happy.

He has a bunch of cool animals who's a herpetologist, size reptiles. Bunch of cool snakes in there. Count Olaf kills him.

Joshua Noel: 00:22:44

Yeah, of course.

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:44

Spoiler warning. Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:22:48

Why did they get sent to MINDS at one point? Why does that happen? I don't even remember.

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:53

Oh, love.

Joshua Noel: 00:22:54

Oh, yeah, that. I remember. They ran away and got stuck in a circus. And that also turned out terrible.

TJ Blackwell: 00:23:00

Oh, there's just. It's so. It's so interesting.

And finding out, watching it, slowly realizing that the entire time, the series has actually been revolving around the secret society of the vfd.

Joshua Noel: 00:23:12

Yeah.

Well, and that's what makes it a good rewatch, too, is, like, there's so many symbols and, like, letters and stuff hidden, and you're like, oh, this was here the whole time. It's great. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think with the dark perspective, I'm a little torn on it because obviously, I think that God's making all things new. You know, my particular viewpoint is that God is good, love is good, life is actually good if we allow it to be.

And I don't think this show would agree with that in the least. I feel like the entire stories are like, life actually sucks. Make the most of what you can. Like, it's very existentialist in that.

In that sense of, like, life sucks. There's no point to any of this. You can make your own meaning if you want to, but life is gonna suck.

TJ Blackwell: 00:23:56

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:23:57

And it's.

TJ Blackwell: 00:23:58

It's really fun of you because they make it pretty clear everyone outside of our main cast, he's just living like a normal life.

Joshua Noel: 00:24:07

Yeah. But I think, though, part of what speaks to people, I think everyone at some point has felt like this, like, their entire life.

Anytime something good happens, it's just immediately bombarded with tragedy. Like, some of us just feel like our lives are that bad.

And that's what's interesting to me is, like, we get drawn to the show, even though a lot of us feel this way and the show doesn't really deliver on hope or anything at the end, and yet we're still drawn to it. Like, what, do we just want to see other people suffer too? Like, you know what I mean? Like, what.

Why is it, like, I understand the idea of, like, me being hurt, so I want to see this kind of thing that I resonate with. But I feel like.

I don't know, I feel like I should want a happier ending, especially given my own particular, you know, theology and stuff where, like, I believe all things are gonna work for good. That's what happens in this series. And I'm still drawn to this series because I can relate to that feeling.

TJ Blackwell: 00:25:00

Yeah. And I don't want my earlier statement to be misconstrued by anybody. When I said main cast, I was including the Quagmire orphans.

They are also in their own Series of Unfortunate Events.

Joshua Noel: 00:25:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, well, so what about for you watching this very pessimistic view on life? Everything sucks. Do you ever relate to that? Like, you feel that way?

And why. Why are you drawn to this then? I guess.

TJ Blackwell: 00:25:32

No. No, I. No, I don't think that way ever. I want to say I lean towards stoicism a bit. Not a lot, just enough, but it just shows. Just good.

It's good writing, it's entertaining, it's quick, it's witty. Some would say quick witted. I hate hyphenation, so I don't. But it's. It just. It has everything that I want.

Joshua Noel: 00:25:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's interesting you lean more towards stoicism. I still.

I don't find myself in kind of the existentialist camp that I think the show writer probably does, just given the tones of this. But I can appreciate it. I relate to it. I understand why other people feel this way. I can relate to it personally in a more daoist kind of philosophy.

And also because I don't think time is real. I just kind of feel like whatever's happening in the presence you can find good in. And that's where this series challenges me.

And I think I like that too. I like being challenged a little bit. But, yeah, sometimes I also feel this way, that everything is garbage.

But I live by a conviction that I can be in this present moment and I can find God in this moment. I can find Love in the moment that I'm currently in.

But if you're given a life like this, where everything's always bad and everything time, something good happens, another bad thing happens, it's hard to be sit there and go, well, time is not real. So I got to focus on this current moment.

Because when your life is like that, all you can think of is like, well, my past has been like this, and my future is obviously going to keep being like this. And I don't think it's easy to get out of that mindset. And that's what challenges me, is that I get it.

Like, I get where the writer is coming from, I get where the story is coming from. It's not a philosophy that I prescribe to, but I have a hard time saying, hey, those feelings are invalid because the. It's true, it's valid.

It's a valid feeling. It's just. I don't think it's a useful way to live. Is under the assumption that that's how life's going to be. So I don't live that way.

TJ Blackwell: 00:27:23

Yeah. I prefer to think tomorrow could always be a little better.

Joshua Noel: 00:27:27

Yeah. Yeah. That's just it. I love what the story has to say. I love how it says. I think it's a lot of fun.

But I do disagree with the fundamental idea behind it, that everything is always unfortunate. Although.

TJ Blackwell: 00:27:36

No, but that's integral to. To the plight of the Baudelaire orphans. Tomorrow could be better.

Joshua Noel: 00:27:43

That's true. And that's why we keep watching, because there's always that dash of hope that just seems to never be delivered on. Yeah.

Which is what makes the series addictive and bingeable.

Even if I'm like, I think this is a bleaker look on life than what I might prescribe to, but that little bit of hope really just keeps you in there, man. Just keeps you in there.

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:01

I don't. I don't know what the total run time of the series is. I do know that it's worth it.

Joshua Noel: 00:28:08

Oh, yeah. I mean, if nothing else, Neil Patrick Harris, this is, like, some of his absolute best work. It's so freaking good.

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:14

It's so good. It's amazing.

Joshua Noel: 00:28:16

Yeah.

But all that said, tj, if we finished watching all three seasons together at one of our homes, for some, you know, again, for some reason, we decided to watch all of this again after we binged it. You know, like, I go home, you go home.

But every time you finish binging a show, you know, like, it's always, like, you have that feeling where you're like, there's just like a missing part of your life because you watched a show long that it became part of your life. How are you feeling that void? After you finish a good series, what's going to be next? Are you going to binge another show?

Is there a movie afterwards? Are you just like taking a break from media for a little bit? What are you doing with that?

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:51

Get on a game.

Joshua Noel: 00:28:52

See, that's.

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:53

That's the good part about being into competitive multiplayer games. Yeah, just get on. But I will say total runtime is only 21 hours and 15 minutes.

Joshua Noel: 00:29:04

So we only really need one good day to finish the series.

TJ Blackwell: 00:29:07

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:29:08

Welcome. Over now.

TJ Blackwell: 00:29:09

We've worked a shift together longer than that.

Joshua Noel: 00:29:13

It's depressing that. That's true. That was an unfortunate event. Yeah. Oh man. But yeah, it's a great series.

I think for me, man, if I was just this show specifically, if I finish binging it. Yeah. I don't want to jump into another show afterwards. I want to let it digest a little bit. So I think I'm with you.

I'm probably going to jump to a game afterwards and it's probably going to be. For me, it's probably going to be Kingdom Hearts.

I'm going to return to something familiar enough that I don't have to think about what I'm currently doing. But we'll still have fun.

TJ Blackwell: 00:29:43

No, it's the opposite for me. I'm going to.

I'm going to come back to my home and I'm going to get on a game where the knowledge of the average player is so much more advanced than mine that I have to think about every action.

Joshua Noel: 00:29:58

You know what else I think might make a game good? Follow up at the end of this. I might be thinking too much now, but it's fine. I think also for me it's that playing a game I have full control.

So I think after watching a series like this where it's like bad things are going to keep happening and it's not in their control at all, I feel like it might just make me feel better to do go through a story where I have complete control over what happens. Be nice.

TJ Blackwell: 00:30:22

Actually, I do think I would probably be tempted to play the video game.

Joshua Noel: 00:30:29

There's a video game?

TJ Blackwell: 00:30:30

,: 2004

Joshua Noel: 00:30:40

Yeah, that's true. You could also watch the movie, the Jim Carrey movie.

TJ Blackwell: 00:30:43

I do also love the movie.

Joshua Noel: 00:30:45

It's a lot funnier and a lot less dark, so it might be a good way to transition back to normal life after watching the series. It's all in one day for some reason.

TJ Blackwell: 00:30:53

Yeah. I feel like I. I don't know. I feel like I'm gonna. I'm gonna get on Counter Strike right after I'm done.

Because after witnessing 20 straight hours of being of control, I can jump into a game where any person in my lobby might have literally 6,000 hours in the game and be in the exact same situation.

Joshua Noel: 00:31:18

You know, hearing that, thought I might play Ratchet and Clank, actually, as I've discovered, because I got a Steam deck and I started playing the original Ratchet and Clank games again. I can still play most of it just from, like. Like, what's it called when your memory goes to, like, where it's, like, subconscious, like.

Yeah, I'm, like, muscle memory.

Playing this game where I'm, like, not even thinking about it, and I'm just winning and I'm like, you know, something about just feeling that victorious, I think would be nice after watching this series, like, let me just play something I know I'm going to dominate at.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:49

Maybe. Maybe my. I might be tempted to get on Dark Souls 3.

Joshua Noel: 00:31:54

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:55

And just autopilot through Dark Souls 3.

Joshua Noel: 00:31:58

That would be great. All right, guys, let us know on our Discord or something what you guys would want to watch after finishing this Entire series in 20 straight hours.

We would love to know. I really would. I'm now genuinely interested. That became the most interesting question because, like, I.

Like, I didn't think about how I would feel after watching 20 straight hours of Unfortunate Events, and now that's all I can think about.

TJ Blackwell: 00:32:22

It's a good question.

Joshua Noel: 00:32:23

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:32:23

Well, I will say if. If you haven't seen it and you're gonna see it.

If I remember right, watching it for the first time, it made me feel kind of like the end of BoJack Horseman, which Josh doesn't like, by the way.

Joshua Noel: 00:32:37

Yeah, that ending just aggravated me. I understand what you're saying.

TJ Blackwell: 00:32:41

Anyway, guys, BoJack is the same show as this, actually, but.

Joshua Noel: 00:32:45

No, it is.

TJ Blackwell: 00:32:46

BoJack is a series of Unfortunate Events. And you didn't like that. The ending was unfortunate.

Joshua Noel: 00:32:51

See, the difference, though, is, like, all the unfortunate things happened were actually BoJack's at all.

TJ Blackwell: 00:32:57

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:32:59

It was not the children's fault that these things happened to them. They were completely without control, mostly just different.

All right, anyway, guys, let us know what you think, how you would compare this show to Bojack Horseman by rating your reviewing our show on podchaser, Good Pods, Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It helps the algorithms and other people find the show. So we would really appreciate it.

We also want to know your answer to the questions that we we're ending this with just a lot of questions. More questions than answers, as I might say on one of my other podcasts.

Anyway, check out Taylor show notes for that playlist of this whole series down below. Again, Flicks Fridays. Thank you for joining us on your Friday. We appreciate you guys. And remember, we are all a chosen people. A geekdom of priests.

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:41

Look away.