A Series of Unfortunate Events S2: The Ersatz Elevator Parts 1 & 2 Recap + Review

April 13, 2018

A Series of Unfortunate Events S2: The Ersatz Elevator Parts 1 & 2 Recap + Review

The Baudelaires Rise to New Heights in The Ersatz Elevator

With their abysmal stint at Prufrock Academy behind them Violet, Klaus and Sunny are driven by coughaholic banker Mr. Poe (K. Todd Freeman) to the city where a new guardian suddenly comes out of the blue offering to take them in. It’s not just any concrete jungle though. It’s actually the very same city where Violet, Klaus and Sunny lived with their parents before their untimely and fiery death. Yes. REALLY. THAT city.

Jerome (that is JAIR-ROME, not Jer-Oh-Me like how little kid me pronounced his name #derp) and his fashionista wife Esme Squalor move Klaus, Sunny and Violet into posh new digs: the tippity-top floor of an enormously glamorous Penthouse on 667 Dark Avenue.

With the most “in” drink aqueous martinis - water with a green olive floating in it- in hand, Jerome (Tony Hale) introduces his new wards to Esme (Lucy Punch) the city’s sixth most important financial advisor. Esme wears finely tailored suits paired with outlandish Lady Gaga-esque hats and has a giddy obsession with following the latest trends. What’s “IN” and what’s “OUT” sends her into a breathless tizzy. The latest IN? Orphans!

And Esme has three of them now.

O to the M to the G.

There’s a citywide manhunt going on for Count Olaf so he’s stepped up his disguise game. This time he’s a fashion-forward auctioneer named Gunther. Designer spectacles shield his unibrow from sight and he lays on a thick Eastern European accent punctuated by “pleases.”

His desperation to get the Baudelaire’s in one “clutch” with the Quagmire’s (their sapphires, really) in the other while evading the police shows through in Gunther’s shrillness and manic anxiety. This one of his most comedic and laughable disguises yet. His relationship with Esme is ridiculous and ridiculously funny. Esme’s high energy and vanity are such a core part of her character and it makes Punch’s performance one of the most hilarious ones in Netflix’s entire A Series of Unfortunate Events adaptation.

from giphy

The plot in this two-parter is punchy and purposeful from the getgo. Beyond evading Gunther/Olaf and his lackeys, Violet and Klaus are on a mission. Since all of the “responsible” adults are clueless as ever they’re determined to track down the whereabouts of the recently kidnapped Quagmires: Isadora (Avi Lake) and Duncan(Dylan Kingwell). Aka. The clutched ones! The ones in the cluuuutches!

When it comes to the talent portion of the episodes Violet (Malina Weissman) has her inventor hustle on in The Ersatz Elevator. The crab-repelling mobile she crafted and hung from the ceiling in the Orphan Shack was decent in the Austere Academy but this latest gadget: a hot air “balloon” is innnnsane. Sunny and Klaus take second fiddle but with this knockout creation that’s totally ok. Someone has earned herself a gold star with this one.

The set design and visual landscape in this arc is uber stylish. The Penthouse is modern art and functionality come to life. There are dazzling dining rooms, glitzy bowling alleys and living rooms with floor to ceiling windows and decked out in zebra-tastic cream and black patterns.

Beyond 667 Dark Avenue the theme restaurants are back and livening up our tv screens. Larry (Patrick Breen) has another gig as a waiter this time at the shamelessly salmon centric Cafe Salmonella (YES really) where each dish in the seemingly never ending round of courses is a different stage in the salmon’s lifestyle. Salmon infused water anyone?

The Cafe has a rather garish colour palette and kitschy full-body salmon costumes worn by the wait staff. Then of course, Count Olaf’s cronies aren’t far behind and they set up their own greasy spoon fish joint where the lumpy mystery meat is plopped on sheets of newspaper and food poisoning is inevitable. Would you like extra chips with that?

The core cast of characters get so much screen time in The Ersatz Elevator. Mr. Poe’s obnoxious reporter wife is back and she’s just as bold and buxom and focused on gossip and popularity as last time. New characters are featured too, like the librarian from Prufrock Prep, Olivia Caliban (Sara Rue). Olivia is back and she joins forces with Jacques (Nathan Fillion) and the other VFD agents. I mean come on. After reading that hefty book about secret organizations that accidentally ended up in her hands, how could she NOT want to be fighting for good as the newest Baudelaire ally? She takes her position as new recruit seriously and with Jacques she embarks on a mini adventure to find the hidden Quagmires and to do what they can to foil Olaf’s nefarious schemes to orphan-nap the Baudelaires too. Said adventure involves grappling hooks and scaling the faces of penthouse buildings. Can I get a YAAAAS in here?! This is the kind of mission impossible action I’m talking about.

If the title of this two-parter has been tripping you up, time for a pop vocab lesson. Ersatz, that snazzy word in the episode title, is German for “fake”. This isn’t defined in the actual show, but it’s obvi enough that we pick up on it on our own. About five minutes into the episode, after scaling 66 floors of stairs (elevators are out, dahling) Violet and Klaus spot a second elevator. One that’s missing its car. Ersatz what now?

An even better question may be: those missing Quagmire triplets are where now?

Spoiler alert: Violet, Klaus and Sunny aren’t hot airballooning down an empty elevator shaft just for the LOLZ.

The humor in the Ersatz Elevator script is zingy and witty and really elevates the narrative. Especially the banter between been the Baudelaire’s and BFFS Gunther + Esme. The Austere Academy was a bit off it’s stride and it wasn’t exactly laugh out loud funny so it’s fabulous to see Series got its groove back here.

The narrative has practically zero lag in this installment, nothing is extended out longer than it needs to be. And while some of the back-and-forth running around is a bit like a dog chasing its tail in circles, it feels like it was VERY purposefully done that way. This installment is actually rather breezy, each scene flows into the next without a hitch. The plot thickens when Violet, Klaus and Sunny discover that horror of horrors, Esme is knows Gunther is Olaf (aka her former acting coach) and she’s DATING him! The OMGs intensify when Esme also name drops Beatrice Baudelaire who apparently got on Esme’s bad side by pilfering a sugar bowl from her.

Everything comes to a head in The Ersatz Elevator when all of the main characters collide at Veblen Hall in the closing scenes of part two. Sunny, Klaus and Violet aren’t the only ones who think Isadora and Duncan are hidden in one of the auction lots, and they’re determined to rescue them the only way they can: buy dropping loads of cash on seemingly unnecessary items. The auction house banter between all of the different character is hysterical. Especially the bidding war that breaks out over a tatty cardboard box with VFD scrawled on it, and a gaudy red herring *ahem* statue. It’s such electric fun that it kept me alert and a captive audience to the competitive back-and-forth bidding. And that ending? The final minutes before the credits come up? It’s series of Unfortunate Events perfection.

So crack open a bottle of parsley soda, ignore the pleas to look away and get ready for secret tunnels, a campy musical number in a seafood joint and a daring rescue mission in an elevator shaft in this laugh-till-you-cry chapter in the Baudelaire orphans Series of Unfortunate Events saga.