The second half of this episode was...about the same as the previous one. There were some really good updates and there were some really bad ones. I think as a whole it was a decent episode, but still not really my favorite. On the bright side though, I did get a few more laughs out of it. But that's all I can say.

Oh boy. I really hope all of the season premieres aren't like this.....

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

1) Coach Genghis- I think this disguise was very well done. From the turban, to the clothes, to the voice. For a guy who cannot act for his life, he is very good at putting on a false front. He gets along with Nero, similar to the book, (though within some limits which I'm glad were in place), and his disguise is pretty believable. He really goes along with the whole gym teacher disguise. There is one aspect of the disguise I don't like, but I'll get into that later.

2) Jacques Snicket versus Carmelita- The conversation between Carmelita and Jacques was just hilarious. I'm actually curious as to how he knows Carmelita's parents. Her parents are mentioned in The Slippery Slope because Count Olaf plans to steal their fortune, but she's not mentioned any other time besides that. Her last name is seen in one of the tunnels at the beginning of the series, but that's about it. So I'm actually kind of curious now. Plus I like how he called her a cakesniffer. And then he's just carrying out poor frozen Larry and Larry's like, "My hero." I liked that scene. A lot. Can I just watch it again?

3) Carmelita's cake addiction- Speaking of cakesniffer, I thought it was hilarious when Carmelita snuck into the kitchen and just plopped her nose in the cake to sniff the powdered sugar. I see now what Jacques meant by 'cakesniffer'. Plus the Baudelaires and Quagmires were having a blast with watching her too which was so much fun.

4) The Quagmires hiding out in the library- In terms of book logic, Count Olaf was able to catch the Quagmires pretty easily since they were kids (and new to S.O.R.E) and Count Olaf was an adult and has legs that can outrun them. However, it's established pretty early on in the episode that Count Olaf is pretty out of shape, so the Quagmires getting away from him was pretty reasonable. And then they hid in the library which is off-limits and has several hiding spots. It was a pretty cleverly done scene.

5) Lemony Snicket and Jacques Snicket in the car- As much as I don't like it when Lemony appears in the scene along with the characters, I liked this one particular cut with his brother. I liked how he was talking about wanting more time with him and another chance to speak, and then he just goes silent and listens to Jacques whistle. (I think it was the theme song from the end of the previous season). And then they're both whistling together as the car drives away into the dark. And that's it. End of scene.

6) The homeschooling scene- I liked it when the kids were brought into the office and it was said that Coach Genghis suggested homeschooling to take them out of the educational environment to prevent them from spoiling the minds of the other kids. It was well-done, well-timed, and it flowed together nicely.

7) Better disguises for the Quagmire triplets- The scene where the Quagmires disguise themselves as the Baudelaires was done much better than the book series. As I mentioned in my movie critical review, I was always confused as to why Violet has her hair up in a ribbon when she wasn't inventing something. Her regular design is always a ribbon in her hair even though she doesn't wear it up except to think. So I thought this change was well needed. The cake pan fringe Isadora wear imitates Violet's bangs and since Count Olaf confused them for the Baudelaires earlier, this was all the change they really needed. I also liked that they made glasses instead of giving Duncan Klaus'. I know they're returned later, but this seemed better since they needed to help him read everyone's notes.

8) Carmelita's singing- It was just funny. That's about it. Plus I like the scene where Violet comments that she's improving.

9) The Hook-Handed Man's concern about Sunny- I don't know why, but even though he's less intimidating than any of his previous counterparts, movie and book, I actually kind of like this side of the Hook-Handed man. He just bolts out into the middle of the field to make sure that "Sunny" is okay. He calms down a bit once he sees it's a bag of flour. I just really liked that scene.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

1) Sunny's CGI- I've mentioned this so many times that it's not really necessary, but it was HORRIBLE in this episode! It looked like stop-motion! That's how bad it was! And that was just the card sorting scene! The glasses making was really bad too! Like...this was just painfully bad.

2) It's Violet that comes up with the idea to switch shoes- Even though Violet does have a few ideas to help Sunny in the book, by the time the kids get to this point in the story, they're dog tired and are crankier than a mad dog. So it makes sense for the Quagmires to figure out a solution for the problem. Once there's a plan, Violet can get her mind working enough to help out Sunny. I just thought that the book's rendition of the plan was better suited to the situation. That's all.

3) The children go up to expose Count Olaf in front of the Pep Rally- In the book, the children have caught onto the fact that Count Olaf keeps on fooling people, so in this particular chapter, they pretend to be fooled too so that they can figure out his plan quicker. (Of course, this is undone by the following book, but that's not the point). While I'm all for a few changes from the book, Violet and Klaus interrupted the pep rally to expose him which...just seems odd and kind of embarrassing. You already know it's not going to work. So...I don't know. Just that scene with them interrupting the pep rally was embarrassing, awkward to watch as they interrogated Count Olaf, and in front of people. I felt uncomfortable with this scene for some reason and this isn't even really explaining it. I just didn't like this scene.

4) Coach Genghis' stories- The reason I hated this one aspect of Olaf's character is because he is so bad at story telling that I rolled my eyes and groaned throughout each scene. He doesn't remember details. He doesn't make convincing points. He keeps interweaving dead parents into it. I hated it. They were annoying. I dreaded them each time they were on screen.

5) The Baudelaires aren't tired when they get to Nero's office- This was just a minor detail, but I found it odd that the Baudelaires were cranky and tired when in the cafeteria, and then seemed fine when they got to Nero's office. I don't know. It just seemed a bit strange to me.

6) The advanced computer fails- I guess the idea behind the computer is that it just scans your face and compares it to the picture on the screen. It was interwoven cleverly after it was exposed as a failure, but I still find it annoying. I don't know. This update seemed pointless.

7) Jacquelyn is still under the desk- When Mr. Poe looks at you suspiciously, you know you're a terrible secret agent. That's all I'll say about that. AND WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO UNDER THE DESK FOR PHONE CALLS?! JUST TURN AROUND TO LOOK AT THE DOOR INNOCENTLY!!!!! WE'RE NOT TWO!!!!!

8) Sunny walks and runs- I'm not the only person who had a problem with this, but not for the reason everyone else does. The reason I have a problem with Sunny running around in this episode is because of the bad transition process between it. The jab at the toddler thing was probably to help that transition, but the running thing? Oh boy. In the first season, Sunny doesn't even crawl that much. Every once in a while, but most of the time she's carried by Violet. And if she does crawl, it's mostly off screen. And I find it odd and kind of a slap to the face to see her transition from almost always being carried to suddenly running around a track like she's four years old. I get that Sunny's a bit more mobile and smart than most babies, but yikes! When she's crawling, she looks natural. Why couldn't they have let her crawl around and then slowly worked in the walking transition? It just looked really bad.

9) The fake Sunny- I think the other reason why I didn't like the Sunny running thing was because of this. In order to make it look like Sunny is running around with the Quagmires, they need to make a mobile flour, which is kind of a cool update in a small way. However, the wheels squeak! Really, Violet? The greatest fourteen year old inventor can't make sure that the wheels aren't squeaky?! If this Count Olaf wasn't so stupid, this plan would have failed almost instantly. I could hear the wheels squeaking! And I have selective hearing!!!!! The only good thing about this scene was that the rope broke instead of the triplets dropping it randomly, but other than that...this was just a really badly made Sunny stand-in.....

10) The S.O.R.E laps- I actually had mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand I liked how it started off. On the other hand, I didn't like the transition over the course of several days. It didn't feel as weighty as the book made it feel. I don't know. I don't hate this scene, but I also don't love it or feel it very keenly.

11) Isadora kisses Klaus- It's established pretty early on in the previous episode that the triplets and Baudelaire have crushes on each other. However, I still have mixed feelings about the cheek kiss Isadora gave Klaus, and only because FIONA gives him one in The Grim Grotto and I ship those two more!!! I don't know. I also didn't like Duncan and Violet's "crush" but only because it was brought up once in the last episode and never mentioned again. So...what was the point of it?

And that's all I can think about at the moment. This episode definitely had some better moments than the last one, but it also had it's fair share of moments I did not like. Some of it was just personal opinion, and some of it is just stupid. But that's all I have for now. Let's see how The Ersatz Elevator turns out. I'm actually quite interested in seeing this one. Especially because, mostly from spoilers, that Esme....

Actually, I'll just make note of that in the next update.