This was an action packed book that I believe was one of the earliest ones I actually bought to read at home. This is also the turning point in this entire series, something several people throughout various reviews and comments have noted. This is the book that leaves the Baudelaire orphans truly alone. Count Olaf is free to skip about since everyone believes he's dead. And the children are no closer to figuring out what in the world is up with all of this crazy secrecy that keeps popping up at every turn in their lives. This is the book that was full of action, mystery, adventure, and left a big impact. Because of this, there are high expectations for this two part episode to do the same. So how much of an impact did the first part hold up? 

Well.....

.................................................................................As for the this very first part.........................

Yes. In some respects it did. 

I won't say that it was absolutely perfect, but despite a few small bumps and bruises, I'd say that this episode was at least done better than the previous four episodes in this season. There was some nice stuff sprinkled in. The  audience gets some dramatic irony that hold up some weight, and the children get some nice sprinkles as well that help answer some questions while also adding others. And this is just the first part. But enough said. Let's see what helped add to the first part of this turning episode and what set it back. 

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS EPISODE: 

1) Mr. Poe drives the children to their new home- I know that the lessening of Mr. Poe throughout the book series via his job was a bit crucial to this book, but since he is in charge of the children temporarily and this village does seem very old fashioned, getting the paper work signed and finalized there does seem to make a little more sense. 

2) Count Olaf's quick saloon owner disguise- I liked this scene because I think it helps to make up for the bumbling weirdness of the on-and-off idiocy Count Olaf seems to have in this series. The scene was quick but well-paced. The disguise was convincing and flowed with little error. And the transition between the troupe's arrival at the saloon, giving Mr. Poe his drink, and then going back to normal was nice. I enjoyed it. A lot. 

3) Esme and Count Olaf's relationship- Esme and Count Olaf aren't really seen interacting a lot throughout the books, so we don't know what they do between the pages of each story. So I like how their romance is brought up here. I thought it was funny that Count Olaf makes his troupe dust so that Esme's nose isn't bothered and I liked how Esme talked about her life in comparison to now and how happy she was with Count Olaf. I thought that was cute. However, they don't always make everything sunshine and evil romance. The two have conflicting goals that sometimes get in each other's way. For example, Olaf is a little more concerned with getting the fortune of the Baudelaire's and Quagmires while Esme is a little more concerned with getting the sugar bowl. Each of these things sometimes clashes into the other, but despite that, they still manage to make things work out in the end, even if their plan completely falls to pieces. 

4) Jacques and Olaf's various conversations- Even though the children don't get any information out of this, because...you know...it's nighttime, the audience gets some  interesting details from Olaf and Jacques' various conversations. There's a lot of apologies, you find out the two were friends at one point, Jacques apparently didn't like any of Olaf's previous girlfriends, (or maybe didn't think they should date him), and there are several references and hints about Olaf's involvement with VFD's goodness. I also like Olaf's reaction to Jacques and Olivia reciting poetry, but that's just as a side note. Kind of sad how everything ended, honestly. 

5) Hector- The one thing that I really enjoyed was the update to Hector's character. I was a little disappointed that he wasn't a prominent character in the show, like in the book, but I did like the updates made to him. I like how he faints when he gets scared. I like how caring he is towards the children. I like how he tries to avoid the Council of Elders because he's terrified of breaking a rule and getting punished. He's a nice guy. 

6) The reasonings of the Council of Elders- The one main thing the village council enjoyed doing was making the children do their chores and every other thing they didn't feel like doing. (Making ice cream, for example). However, I liked how they reasoned it out in this episode. Children ought to be responsible. True. Children should learn how to do chores. I can agree with that. However, the council takes advantage of that and has them do the chores of the entire town. And then they make the shy man with no ability to speak in front of them take the kids in so that the town can get on like normal. I like the way that scene was done. 

7) Klaus says "awesome!!!"- I thought this was pretty funny. It seems a bit out of character for him since he says big words and something factual pretty much every other line, but it kind of reminds us that he is still a kid despite looking like he's around Violet's age. Though since he turns 13 in this episode, technically he is practically her age....

8) Jacques and Olivia- They're cute, they recite poetry together, they put trust in one another, Jacques offers to stay behind, and they KISS!!!! They're cute, compatible, and have fantastic chemistry!! It's  sad how things ended.... 

9) Jacques' untimely demise- As sad as it was to see him be killed, the way that Jacques is led to his death was cleverly done. He escapes, but offers to stay behind to watch over the children. Olaf then leads him into the fire station where eventually Jacques is hit on the head with a heavy book, (which was honestly kind of funny), and then assumingly whacked to death with a wrench. (Which was not funny). Though depressing, I thought the scene was nicely executed and I enjoyed watching it play through. 

10) Jacques' side conversation with the Baudelaires- Though this scene is weaved with various things I was not a huge fan of, I did like how Jacques tried to have a quick side conversation with the Baudelaire children. He explained that the "eye" on the ankle was actually the letters "VFD" which was part of a secret organization. He didn't say much, but that's fine. It's appropriate for the situation he's in. 

11) Mr. Poe knows all the rules of VFD- Speaking of the court scene, I found it cool and rather appropriate that Mr. Poe knew every single rule of the town. Considering his character and obsession with his bank and all the rules, this kind of set up makes a lot of sense and I found it kind of amusing, truth be told. 

12) The crows roosting- I liked that scene with all of the crows going to the Nevermore tree and the children are watching it in awe. It was so beautiful!!!!!! I absolutely loved it!!!!!

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THIS EPISODE: 

1) The strange shortcut to VFD- I found this scene very confusing and I didn't understand how it was really possible. So, on the long road to the Village of Fowl Devotees, Olaf takes a sudden left turn and suddenly arrives in the town. Then the Baudelaires arrive there with no transition of how they got there. They have to have made several turns, but there's no indication as to how. A left turn, VFD. Straight ahead, VFD......

HOW???!!!! 

2) Jacques asks the children to help him break out of prison- I don't know why, but this scene kind of boggled me. I get it; he wasn't planning to escape before Olivia bribed Esme with the sugar bowl, but he's still asking them to do something illegal, something VFD is all about stopping. They try their best to do good. I don't know. This just seemed...very off. 

3) The Baudelaires' plan to break out Jacques Snicket- While I thought this was a cool update, it didn't seem like a very wise idea. If the children try to use a specific device to break Jacques out of prison, they would risk getting caught by the village. Especially since they saw some of Count Olaf's troupe sneaking around the night before. Plus, I didn't like that Violet had to bribe Hector to lend them stuff. I know he was pretty skeptical about helping Jacques in the book, but he at least had some helpful advice for how to do it and find a loophole in Count Olaf's plan. Here...it's just...'LET'S BREAK DOWN THE WALL!!!!!!" "Gimme some blueprints and a pickaxe!" 

4) Jacques follows Count Olaf and keeps asking where the kids are. And asks him to switch sides- I feel like this was kind of a stupid move by Jacques. I suppose you could argue that it was just a stupid move in hindsight and that he was just trying to do his best, but for the sake of argument, I'm going to bring Kung Fu Panda into this. In the movie, Master Shifu is getting ready to confront Tai lung, an escaped criminal who was once an honorable kung fu master but abandoned everything and everyone for ultimate power. This is an act of betrayal and criminal behavior to it's max. Shifu confronts Tai lung on the stairs alone which may seem stupid, however, there's actual logic behind this. One, he confronted him alone as means of distracting him and keeping the villagers and powerful scroll out of his paws. Two, he wasn't trusting of Tai Lung. He acknowledges in an earlier scene that he already knows Tai Lung plans to kill him. However, this is his way of making up for past mistakes and keeping everyone safe. So when the two battle, Shifu isn't asking for a change of heart or pleading for his lost son to come home. He simply apologizes for leading Tai Lung down a bad path. And this is at the end where he's weak and can't fight back, not at the very beginning. And third, he used his brain. He used his size to maneuver away from Tai Lung, he was careful about how far apart they were during the battle sequence so that Tai Lung didn't beat him immediately, and he established with Tai Lung the current situation he was in: he was not getting the scroll, he was not welcome at the Jade Palace, and Master Shifu wanted nothing to do with him. It would help Shifu keep a strong mindset during and after the battle sequence and helped him to plan his moves and distract Tai Lung accordingly.

With all of this said, I understand that Jacques isn't a kung fu master. I get that. However, I felt like this scene with him just chasing Olaf around wasn't smart, hindsight or not. He's just following him around asking where the kids are. He's just following him around, calling him friend, asking to be forgiven, and asking Olaf to come back and be good again. For an agent of a spy-like organization, he seems like the worst person to consult with making plans. He just goes walking around the firehouse blindly going into Olaf's trap thinking he could change him. Really? This guy has been an established threat for years and yet this is your plan? I mean, we're talking about a guy who's plan to save the Quagmires was to peek into every single penthouse building instead of finding ways to do an active search or finding simple clues, so....I guess maybe this is the best he can do? I don't know. This whole thing seemed stupid!!!

5) Olaf suddenly following the Baudelaires- What I don't understand is this scene. At the end of the last episode, Olaf drove away to VFD with Jacques and Olivia on his tail. Okay. But the beginning of this episode, he's seen trailing the Baudelaires who left after him. Unless he was waiting by a sign to see where they'd go? I don't know! It seemed odd! And they drive right by a VFD sign and yet Olaf has no idea they're going to the same town as the shortcut road? I don't know. It just felt weird and not very well put together. If you take that scene out with them following the Baudelaires, you could have that sequence at the firehouse make more sense, but it's in here, so it doesn't. At least not to me anyway. 

And honestly, that's all I can think of at the moment. I think the visuals were pretty good. I thought a lot of the scenes, even if they felt out of place, were done smoothly, and it felt like a pretty decent episode for just the first half. But the first half isn't the only part to be dealt with. It's the second half that really needs to hold this entire thing together.