Season 1 was a promising season that established the tone of the books and the made for television adaptation in a way that was truly entertaining and deliciously dark. Though it was a little unsettled understandably and had pacing problems at times, especially "The Bad Beginning". The second season however felt tighter, more focused, more fleshed out and had a better balance of comedic and seriousness as the source material darkened and the events more unfortunate and complicated.
This can be seen in both parts of "The Carnivorous Carnival". It is a perfect example of what is great about Season 2, having all of its strengths and one of the best episodes at it. For me, alongside "The Hostile Hospital", both parts, it is one of the two high points of Season 2, one of the best of this 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' adaptation at this quite late stage of it and one of the best of the entire series, again both parts which are equally excellent.
Characters may have been a little too many in number, there is a lot of them and you will definitely have needed to have seen the first season to see who is who to avoid any confusion. Likewise, a lot of attention is needed to fully understand how they fit into the plot when it seemed impossible.
It was truly great though to see those characters again and having lost none of what made them interesting in the first place, they are even more fleshed out here which was truly remarkable for the amount going on that there is. Like the first part of "The Hostile Hospital", it was a great thing though that Mr Poe doesn't appear in "The Carnivorous Carnival: Part 1", will continue to say with certainty that he never stopped being annoying and insultingly inept and he became pointless actually from "The Ersatz Elevator" onwards.
Momentum is never a problem here, actually feel it feels tighter at the start than the start of "The Hostile Hospital", most of the two parters actually, and that it doesn't take too long to set up. The setting is truly freaky, showing genuine danger and excitement. There is a real elaborate creepiness to how it's designed and the mysteriousness keeps increasing. "The Carnivorous Carnival: Part 1", simply put, looks wonderful and has a lot of atmosphere, which was a consistent strength throughout the whole adaptation. My praise for the opening credits sequence, for reasons already covered in previous reviews for the previous episodes, never changed from the very start to the very end.
Neither has that for the music, which fits the atmosphere with a mix of quirkiness and haunting. The writing is similarly quirky and darkly humorous yet also with the right amount of seriousness and even melancholy, the best moments belonging to Lemony Snicket (not overused or laid on too thick this time like it did in some of the previous instalments) and Count Olaf. The story increases in the freakiness and sense of danger, with the supporting characters remarkably well fleshed out with not so major characters having more to do, though with some splashes of well-gelled light-heartedness to not make it all doom and gloom. The mystery and twists are purposefully puzzling but also intriguing and clever.
All the performances excel, Neil Patrick Harris on fun and sinister form as ever, Sara Rue suitably mysterious, Patrick Warburton's expert balance of amusement and seriousness (deadpan in a good way) and Lucy Punch's increasing Cruella DeVil-esque Esme faring best. The theatrical troupe are hilarious and creepy as always.
Overall, great first part to one of the best adaptations of the series. 9/10
