The first part of "The Grim Grotto", while not a 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' high point or as good as anything from the series' best season Season 2, was executed very solidly. Enough to put Season 3 and 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on track, after "The Slippery Slope" started the slightly disappointing but still more than worthwhile third season off shakily. Not in a way that it was a bad episode, not at all, just disappointing by the series' standards.
It is hard to say which is the better of the two parts of "The Grim Grotto". If needing to make a decision, it would be considering them equal to each other but a marginal edge to Part 2 where there were a couple more interesting elements. Neither are perfect, both with imperfect pacing (especially Part 2), but with the same great things to each other. As said though there are a couple more interest points in the second part, or at least a couple of things done a little better.
Will begin with the imperfections of "The Grim Grotto: Part 2". It did feel a bit rushed at times from trying to cram a little too much in and a longer length would have helped.
Klaus and Fiona's chemistry again is very underdeveloped, doesn't blend very well with everything else and doesn't really go anywhere.
However, there is much more tension and urgency here, in both parts of "The Grim Grotto" but especially this second part, than there was in any of "The Slippery Slope". Sunny's predicament and the moral dilemmas raised had much more of a feeling of risk and lives being at stake. Really liked that the moral dilemmas were handled in an even-handed and thought-provoking way. What is really striking is how Season 3 has fleshed out and made more interesting Hook-Handed Man, who is here and in the season a far more complex character than a stock henchman character with comic timing with a backstory that resonates.
Production values are suitably grim, so living up to the story title, and eerie as ought, with one of the creepier looking settings of the series in a series full of them. The music is both quirky and haunting, and the writing is a mix of absurdist, darkly humorous and with the right amount of tension and edge.
A great job again is done with the character relationships, with the wonderfully weird dynamic between Olaf and Esme being a standout. The best developed character though is Hook-Handed Man, though headstrong Fiona is also handled well. While Neil Patrick Harris and Lucy Punch are on point and the Baudelaires have become more confident with each episode, Usman Ally stands out most with some of his best acting of the series.
In conclusion, a bit rushed but very well executed on the most part. 8/10
