The Miserable Mill: Part One

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"The Miserable Mill: Part One"


Adapted from:	The Miserable Mill
Main character(s):	Violet, Klaus, Sunny
Baudelaire guardian:	Sir
Featuring:	Charles, Georgina Orwell
Main enemy:	Count Olaf
Olaf's disguise:	Shirley
Main setting:	Lucky Smells Lumbermill
Library:	Lucky Smells library
Key crew
Writer:	Joe Tracz
Director:	Bo Welch
Producer:	Neil Patrick Harris
Release details
Story number:	4a
Season/series:	Season 1
Premiere network:	Netflix
Release date:	January 13, 2017
Format:	44 minutes
Production code:	1.7
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A Series of Unfortunate Events
"The Wide Window: Part Two"	"The Miserable Mill: Part Two"

"The Miserable Mill: Part One" is the seventh episode of Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It covered the first half of The Miserable Mill.

Official synopsis[]

The children arrive at Lucky Smells Lumbermill and unearth some unsettling accusations about their parents. Count Olaf courts an old flame.

Dedication[]

To Beatrice –

My love flew like a butterfly,
until death swooped down like a bat.

Plot[]

The Baudelaires arrive at Lucky Smells but they don't receive a very warm welcome. According to the workers that they meet, their parents were responsible for burning down the surrounding town of Paltryville, something the Baudelaires immediately believe to be false. The Lucky Smells Lumbermill owners, Charles and Sir, put the children to work. Violet and Klaus argue about staying at the mill. Violet is curious to know why her parents are believed to have burned the town down but Klaus doesn't feel safe at the mill, believing that Count Olaf may find them there.

On their first day of work, Foreman Flacutono trips Klaus up with his foot and stamps on his glasses. Against his wishes, he is encouraged to visit Dr. Georgina Orwell, the local optometrist. Klaus doesn't know that Georgina is an ex-girlfriend of Count Olaf's, or that they are now reunited and working together to destroy the children's lives. He is therefore taken by surprise when the doctor takes him hostage and proceeds to hypnotize him.

Violet and Sunny visit the mill's library in search of the town's history book. They manage to find a chapter that features their parents, but every book they initially find has had the chapter censored topping the blame for the fire of Paltryville at their parents. Finally, they find one book that hasn't had the chapter redacted, but Sir arrives before they can read what it says. Later, Violet is suspicious that something is wrong with Klaus. He isn't himself and almost harms Sunny with a wood chipper before Violet manages to snap him out of his hypnotized state with a code word, not realizing that the word controlled his hypnotism.

The Baudelaires are caught by surprise when they are told that they have visitors. Unfortunately, it isn't the father and mother of the Baudelaires, but Dr. Orwell and Olaf, disguised as a female receptionist. Father and Mother are subsequently revealed to be Mr. and Mrs. Quagmire, not the Baudelaire's parents as the audience were led to believe.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Sir - Don Johnson
Father - Will Arnett
Mother - Cobie Smulders
Dr. Orwell - Catherine O'Hara
Charles - Rhys Darby
Hook-Handed Man - Usman Ally
Quigley and Duncan Quagmire - Dylan Kingwell
Isadora Quagmire - Avi Lake

Co-starring[]

Crew[]

to be added

References[]

Klaus mentions his mother, Beatrice, wouldn't let him watch Pink Floyd – The Wall.
Arthur Poe's line "It's off book!" in the beginning is a reference to the deviation from the book in regards of the Baudelaires getting to Paltryville.

Story notes[]

This is the time in the TV series that only one member of Olaf's acting troop/henchpeople appears (In disguise in this episode. Properly revealed in the next episode) this is in contrast to Olaf in the books for which this happens for most of the series

Filming locations[]

to be added

Production errors[]

to be added

Deviations from the novel[]

The opening dedication omits this next line: "As the poet Emma Montana McElroy said: 'That's the end of that.'"
In the books, Mr. Poe organized for Sir to be the Baudelaires' guardian. In the series, they ran away in the previous episode in order to try to find out their parents' secrets.
The town of Paltryville was not burned down in the book. As such, Sir and the mill workers do not hold a grudge against the Baudelaires there like they do here.
The Bald Man is Foreman Flacutono in the book. In the series, it's the Hook-Handed Man instead.
The TV series makes it more obvious Sir and Charles are a gay couple.
Georgina Orwell is mentioned as having blonde hair in the book. In the TV series, she has straight brunette hair.
In the book, the library has only three books. In the TV series, it has multiple copies of the same book.
The TV series makes it explicit Klaus has been hypnotized. The book does not, making the reader wonder why Klaus's behavior is strange.

Continuity[]

Count Olaf may have referenced Kit Snicket. He says, "Did you ever know a woman who took your heart and rattled it like a baby in a cage? Who joined you for years on a sequence of heists and schemes until the two of you were forced apart by circumstance, and also because you ran off in the middle of the night with a bunch of her valuables?" However, it is also possible he means Georgina Orwell.