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Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019; Barry Sonnenfeld) proved a successful adaptation of the children’s book series. Although nearly identical to the source material, one change the television adaptation made was exploring the affectional relationship between protagonist Sunny Baudelaire and antihero Fernald Widdershins, better known as “The Hook-Handed Man.” Only briefly hinted upon in the books, the show threads the growing kinship The Hook-Handed Man experiences with the baby Baudelaire as a minor subplot throughout all three seasons. One way to explicate how their dynamic effectively influenced the show is through an understanding of attachment theory.
Posited by renowned psychologist John Bowlby, attachment theory stems from the cognitive psychology branch of scientific study. Attachment theory can most plainly be described as an analysis regarding the seminal relationships formed between people. Most prominently, the theory examines how infants must develop an attachment with at least one caregiver in order to secure normal social and emotional development (( Wikipedia contributors. “Attachment theory.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Aug. 2021. )). Due to the loss of their parents in the opening episode, Violet and Klaus Baudelaire are forced to become the primary caregivers for their baby sister. While Bowlby’s theory suggests that Violet and Klaus automatically fulfills Sunny’s need for attachment, Sunny actually finds a similar, eventually even more essential, sense of attachment to one of the series antagonists.
Although first a series antagonist, The Hook-Handed Man manages to form an affectional bond with his rival, Sunny. Their bond supplements Sunny’s caregiver requirement even though her siblings already fulfill the same role. New attachments are not necessary for Sunny’s life by the time she meets The Hook-Handed Man. As the series progresses, their relationship further proves vital to each other’s social and emotional growth. Through facets of psychoanalytic theory, this article investigates how Sunny and The Hook-Handed Man develop an unusual affectional bond, this bond’s significance, and how they form a lasting psychological connectedness with one another.
The Bad Beginning In A Series of Unfortunate Events: An Unfortunate Introduction
A Series of Unfortunate Events opens with a horrific incident: A mysterious fire burns down the Baudelaire family home with their parents inside, leaving the children Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny Baudelaire orphaned. The family left behind states that the Baudelaire’s must live with their closest living relative. The gullible banker Mr. Poe sends the children to the home of the nefarious theatre actor and neighbor Count Olaf. Greedy and manipulative, Olaf desires the Baudelaire’s inheritance, and immediately upon their arrival, he attempts to secure the Baudelaire fortune by any manipulative means necessary. The Baudelaires are then shuffled around between numerous guardians as they try to escape Count Olaf’s clutches.
Count Olaf leads a small theatre group of outcast misfits who are more than willing to aid Olaf’s increasingly murderous schemes against the Baudelaires. In the first episode of the series, “The Bad Beginning: Part One,” audiences and the children meet Olaf’s right-hand man, The Hook-Handed Man. Even though he is assumed to be an antagonist, The Hook-Handed Man often questions Olaf’s methods with ironic quips and pun-filled dialogue. Immediately, audiences are drawn to the Hook-Handed Man’s charisma and wit as it juxtaposes against the humorous but, nonetheless, malevolent Olaf.
Despite her age, Sunny expresses an intelligence far beyond a normal infant and is able to perform absurd tasks, such as using her sharp teeth to cook, clean, and help her siblings in troublesome circumstances. While unrealistic, child psychologist Jean Piaget proposed that children’s propensity to “think differently than adults” makes them assets. (( Cherry, Kendra. “Child Psychology and Development.” Verywellmind, 8 April 2021. Web. )). Sunny’s schemas can also be attributed to her upbringing around her equally ingenious siblings. While the series requires suspension of disbelief, social context aids viewer understanding regarding analyzing Sunny’s unusual character.
In addition, the series displays constant cases of disbelief with dark despicable acts, such as when Count Olaf terrorizes Sunny after the Baudelaires prepare a displeasing dinner. In “The Bad Beginning,” Olaf vengefully holds Sunny up above the dinner table, threatening to drop her in an act of potential violence against a mere baby. The Hook-Handed Man looks upon Olaf grievously, even stretching out his hooks below Sunny in hopes of catching her (and hopefully not impaling her) if she falls, as Olaf dangles Sunny high over the dinner table. Specifically, during these scenes, audiences gain glimpses at The Hook-Handed Man’s morally gray character traits.
A Second Bad Beginning In A Series of Unfortunate Events Begins A Friendship
You’re asking why a grown man would knowingly engage in morally questionable behavior? You’ll understand when you’re older.” (to Sunny)
The Hook-Handed Man (A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019))
Violet and Klaus Baudelaire primarily take on the “parental” roles for Sunny while they navigate tribulations as newfound orphans throughout A Series of Unfortunate Events. Therefore, Sunny Baudelaire and The Hook-Handed Man’s connection proves fascinating since Sunny’s siblings provide affectional and familial bonds that infants require. One explanation in describing why Sunny and The Hook-Handed Man form an attachment is through what attachment theory calls sensitive responsiveness. Sensitive responsiveness occurs through communication between an adult and a child, and these attachments form with “those who responded accurately to the baby’s signals.” (( McLeod, Saul. “Attachment Theory.” SimplyPsychology, 5 February 2017. Web. )). As evidenced in the series, The Hook-Handed Man responds to Sunny as a sibling or, more precisely, as an adult sibling should respond to a child’s needs.
“The Bad Beginning: Part Two” paves the way for an evolving relationship between protagonist and antagonist. Count Olaf captures Sunny and locks her in a cage outside the roof of his home in the second episode. In order to obtain the Baudelaire inheritance, Olaf finds a loophole in the will and baits Violet into marrying him during his theatre production if she wants to free Sunny from incarceration or possible death. The Hook-Handed Man stays behind to guard Sunny while Olaf and his theatre troupe perform the marriage ceremony play in front of a live audience.
Here, The Hook-Handed Man tells Sunny how he always carries a deck of cards in case of a boring scenario to pass the time. Now, on-screen subtitles translate Sunny’s incomprehensible babbling for audiences since she is a baby. Her siblings “understand” Sunny’s noises and convey what they assume Sunny means to say to other characters. The only other character who demonstrates a sense of literal communication with Sunny is none other than The Hook-Handed Man. Hence, Sunny and The Hook-Handed Man play a card game and make bets, forcing The Hook-Handed Man into agreeing to tie himself up, put tape on his mouth, and eventually free Sunny from her entrapment.
The Hook-Handed Man delivers Sunny to the theatre, where Olaf enacts his marriage scheme and eliminates the stakes involving Sunny’s possible death for the Baudelaires. Sunny beat The Hook-Handed Man at cards, and he upheld his word, but could he have also felt a desire to help Sunny out of compassion? This theory can be partially confirmed since later in the series audiences learn that The Hook-Handed Man has an estranged younger sister. The Hook-Handed Man displays a sensitive responsiveness to Sunny’s desires, effectively communicating with her, and appears to care somewhat about the physical well-being of his rival. Here, attachment theory clearly elucidates why a subconscious affectional bond emerges between The Hook-Handed Man and Sunny.
Attachment Through Proximity Can Be A Slippery Slope
Brief moments throughout the three-season run of A Series of Unfortunate Events hint at both The Hook-Handed Man’s affection toward Sunny Baudelaire and his growing disillusionment with Count Olaf’s vengeance. In the Season Two episode, “The Ersatz Elevator: Part Two,” The Hook-Handed Man catches Sunny trying to elude Count Olaf and the theatre troupe. Instead of turning her in, he offers Sunny a bottle of parsley soda. The scene is genuine, steering away from the gothic undertones permeating the show for a breath of cheerfulness.
During the events of “The Austere Academy Part One” in Season Two, the Baudelaire’s friends, the Quagmires, pose as Violet and Klaus when Olaf forces them to run laps outside at night. The Quagmires drag a bag of flour behind them to substitute for Sunny. When the rope breaks, Olaf kicks the bag of flour, thinking Sunny has stopped running. The Hook-Handed Man watches with horror spread across his face, fearing Olaf has injured Sunny. Palpable relief floods over his demeanor when he realizes the ploy, even though he is supposed to be supporting Olaf’s cruelty.
The Hook-Handed Man always maintains close proximity to Sunny, enforcing their blossoming affectional bond. A facet of the “chosen family” or “found family” psychological concept relies on proximity, instigating a kinship when an individual relies on another person in their social circle when their biological family is not nearby. (( Nobel, Jeremy. “Finding Connection Through Chosen Family.” Psychology Today, 14 June 2019. Web. )). Sunny loses her proximity to her real family completely when Olaf’s troupe kidnaps her and leaves Violet and Klaus to their deaths on a cliffside. Season Three, Episode One opens with a prominent manifestation of how proximity, emotional bonds, and attachment culminates in a tangible relationship between Sunny and The Hook-Handed Man.
In “The Slippery Slope: Part One,” Olaf forces Sunny to make the theatre troupe food by ice fishing in a frozen pond on the top of Mount Fraught; proximity — albeit due to a kidnapping — brings Sunny and The Hook-Handed Man closer than ever before. Here, Sunny struggles with Olaf’s demands since she is still a baby. Tensions are fraught on Mount Fraught, so The Hook-Handed Man gains one-on-one time with the baby he cares about. He bashes his hook through the ice and grabs a fish for dinner, sews her a warm yellow coat, tells her about his foster-father, and even confides in Sunny about his mixed feelings toward Olaf and someone he was in love with.
Seeds of the affectional bond and the psychological connection growing between the two all come to a head in the third season. Sunny loses her siblings, who dually serve as parental figures, but finds a found family sibling in The Hook-Handed Man in an unsafe environment. Their affectional bond critically impacts Sunny’s fate in “The Slippery Slope: Part Two.” Because The Hook-Handed Man feels attached to Sunny in the adopted sibling role he takes on during Violet and Klaus’s absence, he frees Sunny from her cage right before Olaf orders him to throw Sunny off Mount Fraught. The Hook-Handed Man saves the one person he connects with as a lonely wanderer from his estranged family.
Grim Situations Test Found Family At The Grim Grotto
A near-death experience puts The Hook-Handed Man’s affection toward Sunny to the ultimate test in “The Grim Grotto” episodes. Olaf blames The Hook-Handed Man for letting Sunny escape death on Mount Fraught. Feeling distraught over Olaf’s mistreatment, he agrees to aid Count Olaf only due to his lack of direction in his life. Eventually, Olaf, his girlfriend, the precocious child Carmelita Spats, and The Hook-Handed Man catch up to the Baudelaires on Captain Widdershins’ old submarine. The Hook-Handed Man relays his regret toward not being able to save Sunny again as he locks the Baudelaires away. Warring emotions cripple him since he exhibits an attachment with Sunny but disenchanted loyalty toward Olaf.
People aren’t either wicked or noble. They’re like chef’s salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.
The Hook-Handed Man (A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019))
Aboard the submarine, The Hook-Handed Man reveals himself as Fernald Widdershins, the stepson of Captain Widdershins. His younger sister, Fiona, reunites with The Hook-Handed Man and explains how she has been manning the sub since Captain Widdershins’ disappearance. The siblings release their pent-up emotions and express deep compassion and affection for one another. Suddenly, The Hook-Handed Man’s attachment to a helpless female baby seems entirely logical, with the series distilling information cleverly to hint at his motivations.
However, The Hook-Handed Man constructed a familiar affectional bond with Sunny while Fiona was nowhere in close proximity to him. Fiona’s return does not equate to The Hook-Handed Man disposing of the relationship with Sunny; instead, the attachments are not mutually exclusive. Proving the nonbiological bond with Sunny was a deliberate choice; The Hook-Handed Man chooses Sunny over Olaf in a final act of desperation. (( Nobel, Jeremy. “Finding Connection Through Chosen Family.” Psychology Today, 14 June 2019. Web. )). Sunny becomes infected with poison from the venomous Medusoid Mycelium mushrooms. Without a cure, Sunny will die in less than an hour. Discord casts itself on The Hook-Handed Man’s face briefly, but he ultimately decides that saving Sunny trumps listening to Olaf any longer. Their affectional bond endures in one of the series’ most pivotal episodes.
Don’t Look Away From A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)
A Series of Unfortunate Events asks viewers to “look away” in the eerie but catchy opening theme song introduction. Yet, the gothic Netflix series boasts a stellar mise-en-scène that nearly belies the strength of the minor character relationship that takes center stage for eagle-eyed viewers. Sunny Baudelaire and The Hook-Handed Man’s sweet care for one another evolves into a multifaceted relationship begging for psychoanalytic interpretation. Sunny acts as a surrogate sibling for a man who misses his sister, and The Hook-Handed Man fosters a beautiful affectional bond with Sunny. Their absurd characteristics deliver comic relief, but their attachment delivers audiences the heart-wrenching emotion audiences relish.
