History Recap / ASeriesOfUnfortunateEventsS01E01TheBadBeginningPart1

->''"I'm sorry to inform that this is not the kind of show you want to be watching. The episode you are about to see is extremely unpleasant. If you wish to see a show about a politician one-uping Washington D.C., then I'm sure ''Series/{{House of Cards|US}}'' is on Creator/{{Netflix}}. However, if you like stories about clever and reasonably attractive orphans, suspicious fires, abusive theater troupes, Italian food and secret organizations, then stay, as I retrace each and every one of the Baudelaire children's woeful steps. My name is Lemony Snicket, and it is my sad duty to document this tale."''
-->-- '''Lemony Snicket'''

The children meet Justice Strauss (Creator/JoanCusack), a single woman who needs an inventor, someone who loves books, and someone to help slice bread. [[BaitAndSwitch She is not the children's guardian]]. Their actual guardian, [[BigBad Count Olaf]] (Creator/NeilPatrickHarris), lives in a dark and dreary house across the street. Count Olaf is a greedy man, a terrible actor, [[{{Understatement}} nowhere near as nice]] as Justice Strauss, and only adopted the Baudelaires for one reason: the enormous ''[[ItIsPronouncedTroPay for-tune]]'' left behind by their parents that they will inherit once Violet, the eldest, comes of age. Noted now, but not important until later, Count Olaf has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle, which [[SigilSpam also appears as a motif throughout his house]].

The Baudelaire children, [[GadgeteerGenius Violet]], [[TheSmartGuy Klaus]], and [[BuzzsawJaw Sunny]] (Malina Weissman, Louis Hynes, and Presley Smith) are sent out for the day by their parents. They take a rickety trolley to Briny Beach, which is cloudy and dreary, but the children make the most of their time: Klaus calculates how to skip a stone farther, Sunny bites a stone into optimal rock-skipping shape, and Violet’s invention retrieves the skipped stone. Everything changes when [[AdultsAreUseless Mr. Poe]] (K. Todd Freeman) appears to inform them that their home has burned down, and that in the fire both of their parents have perished, [[RunningGag a word which here means they died]]. [[note]]We know what "perished" means.[[/note]]

After the children are immediately put to work [[CinderellaCircumstances cleaning the house]], Justice Strauss stops by to offer them some good food. [[KickTheDog Count Olaf eats it instead]], then tells the Justice that the kids [[BlatantLies don’t want to see her]]. Justice Strauss leaves, quite disappointed.

After finishing all the chores, the children are assigned one last job: make dinner. They go to Justice Strauss private library for help. She lends them some cookbooks, and after seeing Klaus’s spyglass she goes to retrieve a book that is titled ''[[ForeShadowing The Incomplete History of Secret-]]'' (the rest of the title is cut off). After consulting the cookbooks, the children decide to make [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Pasta Puttanesca]].

* AdaptationalJerkass: Mrs. Poe. In the book, she tries to do something nice for the Baudelaires, albeit in the form of buying them uncomfortable clothing. Here, she doesn't even do that, supporting one of her sons when he sneers at Klaus just for talking, and shows absolutely no sympathy or kindness toward them at all.
** Mr. Poe's wife Mrs. Poe has little to no character in the original book. Here, she acts InnocentlyInsensitive to the orphans by constantly rubbing it in their faces their horrible predicament under the assumption that they would be honored that they made the front page, and even siding with their sons that it was none of Clause's business when he tells them the definition of "blanched" when they asked.

The children meet Justice Strauss (Creator/JoanCusack), a single woman who needs an inventor, someone who loves books, and someone to help slice bread. [[BaitAndSwitch She is not the children's guardian]]. Their actual guardian, [[BigBad Count Olaf]] (Creator/NeilPatrickHarris), lives in a dark and dreary house across the street. Count Olaf is a greedy man, a terrible actor, [[Understatement]] nowhere near as nice as Justice Strauss, and only adopted the Baudelaires for one reason: the enormous ''[[ItIsPronouncedTroPay for-tune]]'' left behind by their parents that they will inherit once Violet, the eldest, comes of age. Noted now, but not important until later, Count Olaf has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle, which [[SigilSpam also appears as a motif throughout his house]].

The children meet Justice Strauss (Creator/JoanCusack), a single woman who needs an inventor, someone who loves books, and someone to help slice bread. [[BaitAndSwitch She is not the children's guardian]]. Their actual guardian, [[BigBad Count Olaf]] (Creator/NeilPatrickHarris), lives in a dark and dreary house across the street. Count Olaf is a greedy man, a terrible actor, [[Understatement nowhere near as nice]] as Justice Strauss, and only adopted the Baudelaires for one reason: the enormous ''[[ItIsPronouncedTroPay for-tune]]'' left behind by their parents that they will inherit once Violet, the eldest, comes of age. Noted now, but not important until later, Count Olaf has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle, which [[SigilSpam also appears as a motif throughout his house]].

Since he is the banker in charge of their parents' will, the children are taken to Mr. Poe’s house while he searches for their closest living relative. While at Mr. Poe’s house, the children are unfortunately harassed by [[IntrepidReporter Mrs.]] [[JerkAss Poe]] (Cleo King), who works for ''[[WorstNewsJudgementEver The Daily Punctilio]]''. She ignores any pain and suffering the children are experiencing, instead showing off how they made paper's headline. Eventually, Mr. Poe does find Baudelaires' closest living relative and brings them to their new guardian's house.

The children meet Justice Strauss (Creator/JoanCusack). A single woman who needs an inventor, someone who loves books, and someone to help slice bread. [[BaitAndSwitch She is not the children's guardian]]. Their actual guardian lives in a dark and dreary house across the street. He is [[BigBad Count Olaf]] (Creator/NeilPatrickHarris). Count Olaf isn’t as sweet as Justice Strauss and only adopted the Baudelaires for one reason: the enormous ''[[ItIsPronouncedTroPay for-tune]]'' left behind by their parents that they will inherit once Violet, the eldest, comes of age. Noted now, but not important until later, Count Olaf has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle, which [[SigilSpam also appears as a motif throughout his house]].

The children are immediately put to work [[CinderellaCircumstances cleaning the house]]. Justice Strauss stops by to offer them some good food. [[KickTheDog Count Olaf eats it instead]], then tells the Justice that the kids [[BlatantLies don’t want to see her]]. Justice Strauss leaves, quite disappointed.

After finishing all the chores, the children are assigned one last job: make dinner. They go to Justice Strauss private library for help. She lends them some cookbooks, and after seeing Klaus’s spyglass she goes to retrieve a book that is titled ''[[ForeShadowing The Incomplete History of Secret…]]'' the rest of the title is cut off. The children decide to make [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Pasta Puttanesca]].

They go out shopping and upon returning home are treated to the musical number: [[VillainSong “It’s the Count”]]. The audience also meets Count Olaf’s Troupe for the first time: [[AffablyEvil The Hook-Handed Man]] (Usman Ally), [[CloudCuckoolander The Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender]] (Matty Cardarople), [[SingleMindedTwins The White-Faced Women]] (Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins), and [[TheBrute The Bald Man]] (John De Santis). The kids put a lot of effort into making dinner (even making chocolate pudding for desert), but after presenting it to Count Olaf, are promptly informed that they were supposed to make Roast Beef. Count Olaf retaliates by threatening to drop Sunny and then finally slapping Klaus.

The Baudelaires, [[GadgeteerGenius Violet]], [[TheSmartGuy Klaus]], and [[BuzzsawJaw Sunny]] (Malina Weissman, Louis Haynes, and Presley Smith) are sent out for the day by their parents, they take a rickety trolley to Briny Beach. It’s cloudy and dreary but the children make the most of their time: Klaus calculates, Sunny creates the perfect stone, and Violet’s invention retrieves the skipped stone. Everything changes when [[AdultsAreUseless Mr. Poe]] (K. Todd Freeman) appears to inform them that their parents perished. [[RunningGag A word which here means they died]].

The children are taken to Mr. Poe’s house while they search for the closest living guardian. While at Mr. Poe’s house, the children are unfortunately harassed by [[IntrepidReporter Mrs.]] [[JerkAss Poe]] (Cleo King), who works for ''[[WorstNewsJudgementEver The Daily Punctilio]]''. She ignores any pain and suffering the children are experiencing, instead she searches for the perfect headline. Eventually Mr. Poe does find the closest living guardian and brings the kids to the guardian's house.

The children meet Justice Strauss (Creator/JoanCusack). A single woman who needs an inventor, someone who loves books, and someone to help slice bread. [[BaitAndSwitch She is not the children's guardians]]. Their guardian lives in a dark and dreary house across the street. He is [[BigBad Count Olaf]] (Creator/NeilPatrickHarris). Count Olaf isn’t as sweet as Justice Strauss and only adopted the Baudelaires for one reason. Noted now but not important until later, Count Olaf has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle. [[SigilSpam The same eye appears as a motif throughout his house]].

The children are immediately put to work [[CinderellaCircumstances cleaning the house]]. Justice Strauss stops by to offer them some good food, [[KickTheDog Count Olaf eats it instead]]. Then tells the Justice that the kids [[BlatantLies don’t want to see her]]. Justice Strauss leaves, quite disappointed.

After finishing all the chores the children are assigned one last job: make dinner. They go to Justice Strauss private library for help. She lends them some cookbooks, and after seeing Klaus’s spyglass she goes to retrieve a book that is titled ''[[ForeShadowing The Incomplete History of Secret…]]'' the rest of the title is cut off. The children decide to make [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Pasta Puttanesca]].

They go out shopping and upon returning home are treated to the musical number: [[VillainSong “It’s the Count”]]. The audience also meets Count Olaf’s Troupe for the first time: [[AffablyEvil The Hook-Handed Man]] (Usman Ally), [[CloudCuckoolander The Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender]] (Matty Cardarople), [[SingleMindedTwins The Powder Face Women]] (Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins), and [[TheBrute The Bald Man]] (John De Santis). The kids put a lot of effort into making the food but after presenting it to Count Olaf, are promptly informed that they were supposed to make Roast Beef. Count Olaf retaliates by threatening to drop Sunny and then finally slapping Klaus.

The episode closes with [[LemonyNarrator Lemony Snicket]] (Creator/PatrickWarburton) walking through a tunnel filled with Foreshadowing signs. Justice Strauss is shown with ''Adoption Law & You''. And finally two characters credited as “Mother” (Creator/CobieSmulders) and “Father” (Creator/WillArnett) are shown being carted off in a jail car to a location unknown.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: During the siblings' introduction scene at Briny Beach, Klaus asks Violet why she was about to cast the stone with her left hand when she is right-handed. Her hand-dominance becomes a plot point late into the next episode.

* RaceLift: Mr. Poe is Black in this adaptation, in contrast to the 2004 film.

* IAmSong: "It's the Count", sung by Count Olaf.