The Unfortunate Blogger

The Carnivorous Carnival, part one

After the success of the previous episodes, (although considering this series' track record, that's not saying very much), I was pleasantly surprised to watch another episode that had me invested and cracking up. Granted, the original book series was more of a downer and wasn't exactly a comedy house, but honestly, anything that brings me emotions that aren't disgust is a winner. Of course, there are still one or two things that baffle me and irritate me, but it was minor and I honestly was too invested in the good stuff to pay it much mind. At least for now. But enough of that. Let's go onto the lists!

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

1) Madame Lulu- When I read the original book of The Carnivorous Carnival, I won't lie when I say Madame Lulu wasn't my absolute favorite character. As I've mentioned before, the 'please' accent didn't work for me when I read about Olaf using it as Gunther, and Lulu wasn't exactly the nicest lady. However, I loved this Madame Lulu! The accent was well used, she was snarky, she was charming, she was funny, and she was pleasant. I enjoyed her a lot.

2) The Valley of Four Drafts- This flashback was a lot of fun! It took me a second to realize the paper was going across the room and not all the way back to the starting point, but after that, I had fun with everything. Larry the waiter, Josephine and Ike, (I loved how they discussed having kids even though they had none), Jacqueline, and even Georgina! I actually didn't notice this at first, but her hair is blonde in the flashback. When Olaf said in The Miserable Mill that she colored her hair, I thought he was talking about the marker she was putting on! Interesting. And then of course Lemony dropping the root beer float and running to find Beatrice was fun. I wonder what Count Olaf knew. That they were there? Hmm...oh well.

3) The hook-handed man's sister- For those of you reading this blog who haven't read the book series or haven't gotten that far in the franchise yet, this is probably a surprise for you. However, I loved that the hook handed man's sister was referenced. I won't say her name since I don't want to spoil anything, but I loved that!

4) Lulu vs. Olaf- I know that some people have issues with Lulu allowing Olaf to stay at Calligari Carnival, however I thought it was amusing that the two seemed to be trying to butter each other up. Lulu was trying to get on Olaf's good side...for a reason I actually don't know but that's okay...and Olaf was trying to get on Lulu's good side to get all the answers he needed to his questions. I just loved the two of them trying to butter up the other. It was pretty entertaining.

5) The way Esme said "Taglitelle Grande"- That's it. I wish I could roll my tongue like that.

6) "Welcome to the House Freaks" song- Say what you want about it, but it was catchy, goofy, and featured Olaf being a fun ringmaster. Granted he swore, which none of the books did, but the movie had some swear words too, so...guess there's nothing to say on that.

7) Klaus and Violet's disguised voices- It's better than just changing the pitch. That's all I'll say about that.

8) Madame Lulu laughing at Esme- I love her reaction to Esme accusing her of trying to steal Count Olaf away. She snorts and becomes a lot more calm, especially as Esme starts ranting about making her dress out of a tent. I replayed that several times in a row!

9) Olivia Caliban reunites with the Baudelaires- The scene where these four reunite and the camera pans out of the tent with them happy and on the verge of tears was very sweet. It was one of those moments that I wish I could have lingered on, kind of like the moment in the movie where the kids are happily living with Monty.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

1) Calligari Carnival is VFD run- There are a million issues that I have with this thing, and they all stem from the fact that this addition creates a million plot holes! In the original book, Calligari Carnival had nothing to do with VFD. Madame Lulu just happened to be a part of them originally and then made her own way in the Hinterlands, though she fell on hard times. She's described as being rude and demeaning which is why the carnival freaks were willing to toss her into a pit, leave with Count Olaf, and so on. In this version, not only is this Madame Lulu kind, but she's apparently not the first Lulu. In fact, the other one even offered them college tuition. If they're so kind, why weren't Kevin, Hugo, and Colette asked to be a part of VFD? Why are they in the house of freaks? Clearly the Madame Lulus like them, so why are they working as freaks and having stuff thrown at them? Yes, it makes more sense as to how Lulu got her information, but it also makes no sense as to why she'd help Count Olaf. In the original book, Madame Lulu just gives people whatever she wants. She betrays the Baudelaires at the end and winds up meeting her demise in a pit of lions during a carnival frenzy. So it makes sense she'd just tell Olaf where the kids are. He gives her stuff and she obliges him in return. Here, they're clearly on opposite sides! Madame Lulu is a VFD agent who wouldn't dare oblige Olaf with anything unless it was to manipulate him! That kind of give and take makes no sense here! And finally, bouncing off of this idea, why would Olaf even bother staying after seeing the VFD sign? I get that he wants answers, but he doesn't acknowledge that 'Madame Lulu' might be a potential VFD agent in a carnival where the VFD sign is LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!!! Olaf is bent on destroying VFD and getting his hands on the Baudelaire fortune! The fact that he considers this a decent place to stay is a horrible idea! In the book, the sign was only on Madame Lulu's tent, but that's because she's a fortune teller. It makes sense. Here...

<sigh> I don't even know. It makes little to no sense to me.

2) Sunny isn't really seen on stage- They said Sunny (or Chabo as she's being called) was supposed to growl at the audience, but all I saw her do was crawl next to Klaus and Violet. That's it. I'm a little disappointed.

3) Olaf's irritation with Madame Lulu- I know it's a deviation from the book as Olaf had known Lulu for a long time before the events of book nine, but Olaf going from trying to "butter up"Lulu to being threatening seemed a bit off to me. If I met a stranger who suddenly became rude and talked about me, comparing me to a mule with a stick and carrot, I'd try to kick them out of my carnival!

4) Chabo the Wolf Baby- Okay, I didn't really hate this disguise more than I didn't think it was a good one. Sunny was definitely cute, but in the book she's covered with false beard hair to make her look more wolf-like. Here, she just looks dirty. Maybe it's more realistic, but if she's half-wolf, then she should look more like a wolf.

Also, side note...they didn't say anything about getting the 'scars' from teasing her. Eh, oh well. Can't include everything.

5) The disguise kit- This was in the book as well, but I didn't realize how stupid it was until I actually saw it in person. I get secret codes and passageways, but why do they have disguises?! What is the purpose of that?! And even if there was a purpose, there are two things wrong with it:

1) Wouldn't someone have recognized Olaf based off the fact that THEY SHARE THE SAME DISGUISES?!

2) Why is there an arsonist disguise? VFD is about STOPPING fires. Why is there a disguise for them to START fires? That makes no sense to me! So, yeah, I didn't understand why this was still something they thought was logical.

6) The crystal ball didn't break immediately- I find it interesting how the crystal ball doesn't break after roughly falling to the floor, but yet it calmly rolls down the tent and shatters after touching another hard surface. Forgive me if I'm too critical, but I'm pretty sure that's not how physics works.

Well, that's all for the first part of this episode. This was very well done, much to my thanks, so I only hope that things will wrap up well for the season finale. I'm curious to know how they'll do things, especially since I know how things originally end...so we'll see.