The books and film were already Reference Overdosed, and the miniseries is no exception.
Episode 1 - The Bad Beginning: Part One
- When the Orphans begin their first day of chores, Olaf tells them, "Remember, if you work extra hard, you get to go to the ball...room. Which is even grimier."
- A shoutout to a product happens when Count Olaf says "The management regrets to inform you that the shampoo is not tear-free." The product in question is Johnson's baby shampoo, which is marketed as "no more tears".
- In celebration of their invention working, Violet and Klaus quote "Super Bad" by James Brown.
Episode 2 - The Bad Beginning: Part Two
- Mrs. Poe interviews Olaf backstage in a single long walk-and-talk shot with jazz music in the background, in a reference to Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
- During the play scene, the costumes the two White-Faced Women are wearing look very similar to the Red Queen's costume in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie.
- Most of Gustav and Jacquelyn's scenes seem heavily influenced by Film Noir.
Episode 3 - The Reptile Room: Part One
- Cinema Murnau, the cinema Montgomery takes the children to for a screening of Zombies in the Snow is named after the German director F. W. Murnau, the director of Nosferatu.
- Barry Sonnenfeld makes a self-reference: also being played at the cinema is Men In Beige.
Episode 4 - The Reptile Room: Part Two
- The Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender is auditioning for Equus when Count Olaf summons them.
- The shot where Uncle Monty's screeching iguana jumps out and frightens Olaf is very similar to the dilophosaurus scene in Jurassic Park.
Episode 5 - The Wide Window: Part One
- When Josephine gives Sunny a rattle as a gift, Sunny says she prefers the music of Tito Puente.
- One of the vendors at the marketplace is selling Fish Heads.
- "You never know what might happen in a small town. You ever read Thornton Wilder?"
Episode 6 - The Wide Window: Part Two
Episode 7 - The Miserable Mill: Part One
- When discussing the wooden wall around Lucky Smells Lumbermill, Klaus mentions reading about walls like the Great Wall of China, the wall of Jericho, and... Pink Floyd's The Wall, though their mother wouldn't let him watch it.
- One of the mill workers is named Cesare, after the Brainwashed and Crazy character from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
- Dr. Orwell is, of course, named for George Orwell
- The brainwashing method is based on the Ludovico method shown in A Clockwork Orange
Episode 8 - The Miserable Mill: Part Two
Episode 9 - The Austere Academy: Part One
- When Carmelita makes Larry agree with her so she won't get him kicked out of school, they briefly reference one of Spice Girls greatest hits in a somber tone.Larry: Tell me what you want. What you really really want.
Carmelita: I'll tell you what I want. What I really really want.
Episode 11 - The Ersatz Elevator: Part One
- The In Auction is supposed to be held at Veblen Hall, likely a reference to Thorstein Veblen, ironically known for being a critic of capitalism.note
- The shot of Violet hiding from Olaf behind a mirror is taken from 28 Days Later.
- An elderly woman is depicted watching an episode of The Joy of Painting.
- In the the restaurant owned by Count Olaf we hear one of the henchmen say "Donner, party of five". This may be a reference to a wagon train in the 1800's that ended... poorly...
- When the Baudelaires discover the ersatz elevator, Violet calls it a shaft.Sunny: I can dig it.
- The Hook-Handed Man gives the same advice as in Back to the Future before he starts his musical number.
Episode 12 - The Ersatz Elevator: Part Two
- Veblen Hall is declared to be "out" by Esmé, to be replaced by Milton Friedman Hall. A name much more suitable for an auction house if nothing else, given Friedman was a staunch free marketer.
- Olaf announces the auction of the VFD box as the “Crying of Lot 49”, a Thomas Pynchon novella about a long running feud
- One un-shown item in the auction is bought by a Mr. Fellini for the amount of eight and a half.
Episode 13 - The Vile Village: Part One
- To Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, with Mr Poe obviously not understanding what he's quoting from…
Episode 14 - The Vile Village: Part Two
- The newspaper that Larry and Kit read quotes The Sorrows of Young Werther.
- Mrs Poe calls her husband "light of my life", to which he respond "fire of my loins".
Episode 15 - The Hostile Hospital: Part One
- Count Olaf's plan to scare Barbs include playing several horror tropes, among which is putting the Powder-faced women to play the scene of the twins in The Shining while holding red balloons. This is even complete with a bit of the music from the movie playing as that happens.
- The Hook Handed Man briefly refers to Esmé as "Yoko".
- One of the filing cabinets in the library starts with "Jabberwocky".
Episode 16 - The Hostile Hospital: Part Two
- Another reference to The Shining occurs when the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender breaks a hole in the door the Baudelaires are behind.Henchperson: Here I am, Nurse Lucafont note
Episode 17 - The Carnivorous Carnival: Part One
- Like in the books, Violet and Klaus' Siamese twin disguise is named Beverly and Elliot, the twins from Dead Ringers. This serves as a double nod as Klaus and Sunny are already named after the notorious Von Bulows, and Jeremy Irons had played Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune after playing Beverly and Elliot.
- This little gem:Esmé: If she's so good at fortune telling, why does she live out here in the Hinterlands instead of having her own television show in the city?
Olaf: I tried that for nine years. Look where it got me. - Hugo excitedly says "One of us! One of Us!" when the Baudelaires join the freakshow.
- Hugo is a Hunchback, possibly a reference to author Victor Hugo, who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- The reference in the name of Caligari Carnival is made more direct than in the books, with Olivia now having a "Caligari Cabinet" in the back of the tent which houses her disguises and files as her private research library.
- The villains chant that the freaks are "not like us" before segueing to the freaks chanting "one of us" to the disguised Baudelaires, both being references to the famous "one of us" chant in Freaks. The "not like us" chant returns in "The Carnivorous Carnival: Part Two" as well.
Episode 20 - The Slippery Slope: Part 2
- When Sunny reveals herself to the villains while pushing a sledge, she yells (in babytalk): "Rosebud!", referencing Citizen Kane.
Episode 21 - The Grim Grotto: Part 1
- When Count Olaf, Esme, Carmelita, and the Hook handed man are trying to rent a submarine, the latter is wearing a hat and striped sweater reminiscent of Freddy Krueger.
- In the submarine, Esme is wearing a purple octopus dress and her hair in a blonde beehive- making her look like Ursula
Episode 23 - The Penultimate Peril: Part 1
- When Count Olaf has Larry Your-Waiter at his mercy tied up and dangling above a pot of boiling curry, the two share an exchange that homages the famous back-and-forth between James Bond and the titular villain of Goldfinger. (Hilariously, despite Olaf being the Goldfinger in this scenario, he’s wearing a tux with a white dinner jacket similar to the one Bond wore at the beginning of that film.)Larry Your-Waiter: Do you expect me to talk?
Count Olaf: No, Larry Your-Waiter, I expect you to boil!
Episode 24 - The Penultimate Peril: Part 2
- At the trial, Olaf accuses the Baudelaires of murder in the same manner as a Clue game, naming the culprit, location, and weapon in that order.
