A Series Of Unfortunate Events Season Finale Review: The Miserable Mill (Season 1 Episodes 7 and 8)
A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 1 Episodes 7 and 8, “The Miserable Mill,” have the most departures from the book so far, but it mostly works in the show’s favor for a full and exciting season finale.
Right off the bat, things are different, as the Baudelaires sneak off to Lucky Smells Lumbermill on their own, instead of being placed there by Mr. Poe.
They go there searching for answers about their parents, who are seen standing in front of the Lumbermill in a photo, but they end up staying because their parents have been falsely accused of starting the fire that burned down the entire town.
This storyline ends up being a bit flimsy. It plants a little bit of doubt about their parents in their minds, gives Violet a reason to sneak around the library and eavesdrop on Sir, and is resolved simply.
The resolution almost feels like an afterthought, and the entire thing just seems to be an excuse to give the Baudelaires a reason to stay at the Lumbermill. If they had just been placed in the care of guardian Sir in the first place, the storyline really wouldn’t have been necessary.
The Baudelaires sneaking off with their own agenda does shake things up a little bit, but Mr. Poe has only placed them under the care of three other guardians. It’s not getting that tiring yet.
This episode’s hypnotism plot makes “The Miserable Mill” is a bit different from the standard A Series of Unfortunate Events format too, a fact which the show winks at in Part 2.
Count Olaf: I was better off alone, where my plots were simple and straight-forward and didn’t involve any high-concept science-fiction gimmicks.
It is true that the plots to the first three installments were simpler, but in the jump from page to screen, the hypnotism becomes much more obvious than it is in the books. To readers, Klaus is simply acting strangely, but for viewers, the swirling in his eyes makes it fairly easy to figure out what’s happening — you just need to wait for the characters to catch up.
Knowing from the beginning that Count Olaf and Dr. Orwell are in cahoots also makes the hypnotism plot easier to follow, which is helpful. The nature of their relationship has also shifted from the books, as it’s clearly stated that they used to be in a romantic relationship that Olaf broke off.
Catherine O’Hara as Dr. Orwell is one of the installment’s highlights. She’s wonderful as a villain with a manic gleam in her eye, and her weird chemistry with Olaf (can any romantic chemistry with Olaf not be weird?) is highly entertaining.
One other relationship shifts slightly from the books, or at least becomes a little more overt.
Lemony Snicket: Well, in fact, “partners” can mean several things. It can mean “two people who own a lumbermill together, or a cupcakery.” Now, with the advent of more progressive cultural mores, not to mention certain High Court rulings, it could also mean…
Sir: I do all the work, he irons my clothes.
Charles: I also cook your omelets!
Lemony Snicket: The definitions are not mutually exclusive.
It’s a delight at first, but as the episodes go on, it’s nothing groundbreakingly progressive. Sir is a gruff character, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t really be too openly affectionate with Charles. But still, it feels like a bit of a cruel tease to imply so heavily that Sir and Charles are a couple but not really say it out loud.
It should be obvious enough to most viewers that they’re a couple, but more close-minded people could still probably convince themselves or others that they’re just business partners, or that Charles’ love is unrequited.
LGBT inclusivity is hardly something that’s scandalous on TV shows nowadays, even for shows that potentially have a younger audience, so the way their relationship is handled seems dated, and it’s disappointing their relationship isn’t more open.
On their own, though, Sir and Charles are two more excellent additions to the wide cast of guest stars in A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 1.
Don Johnson avoids turning Sir into a cigar-chomping caricature, and you do manage to see a kinder side to him at points, and Rhys Darby is absolutely perfectly cast as nice, polite, but ultimately meek, Charles.
The plot with the mysterious, adventuring Mother and Father also comes to a close with the revelation that they are not the Baudelaires’ parents, but the parents of three children named Duncan, Isadora and Quigley Quagmire — characters who show up in the fifth book in the series.
Their introduction is an exciting glimpse forward for a potential Season 2, and being a bit familiar with their backstory already will eliminate the need for some exposition in the (again, potential) future.
Season 1 comes to a close with a promise of what lies ahead for the Baudelaires. One of the final shots shows them unknowingly sitting back-to-back with two of the Quagmires as one sibling from each family contemplates their own mysterious V.F.D. spyglass.
That shot with some narration from Snicket would have been a fitting ending, or even the zoom-in on a photo that shows Olaf and Snicket went to school together would have been a bit of a “gasp!” moment to end on.
Somewhat bizarrely, Season 1 really comes to a close with… a song? It feels a bit out of left field, and it’s even more puzzling that the last person we see in Season 1 is Mr. Poe, of all people, as he cheerfully drives away after leaving the Baudelaires at boarding school.
It’s an odd ending, but it’s not enough to ruin an otherwise satisfying season finale, and it’s definitely not enough to ruin an overall excellent Season 1.
For book fans, A Series of Unfortunate Events is everything you want in an adaptation, even if it starts off a little more comedic than you may want.
For people who are just fans of good television, A Series of Unfortunate Events has already created a rich universe with an incredible cast, beautiful production design, and episodic and series-spanning stories that will pull you in.
It may be a while before we get to return to the world of A Series of Unfortunate Events, but, well… I guess that’s just how the story goes.
What did you think of “The Miserable Mill”? Of Season 1 overall? Share with us in the comments below!
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A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
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Katie Houlis
Katie is a recent college graduate who spent most of her free time at school binge-watching shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fringe, and Hannibal. She has watched every single episode of Lost at least ten times each (yes, even “Stranger In A Strange Land”). Current favorites include a bunch of comedies, lots of superhero shows, and a few shows with quite a bit of murder in them.