Brow Beat

Neil Patrick Harris Urges You to “Look Away” in the Series of Unfortunate Events Theme Song

Netflix has adapted Daniel Handler’s tale of woe A Series of Unfortunate Events for the screen, and its marketing campaign has stayed true to the series’ tone—chiefly, by telling you to stay the hell away from its adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The streaming platform has previewed the show’s opening credits ahead of the Friday premiere, and it opens with a cheeky cautionary message for viewers. “Look away, look away,” warns the theme song, sung by Neil Patrick Harris, who plays the villainous Count Olaf. “This show will wreck your evening, your home life, and your day.”

Despite the song’s explicit instructions, you’ll want to keep your eyes open, since the opening credits offer some clues about what we can expect when the show finally drops. And some of these are literal clues: The credits make use of a vast pinboard with strings that hints at the show’s conspiratorial nature, as well as plenty of eye imagery, the insignia of the mysterious organization V.F.D., the initials of which will surely crop up in subtle ways throughout the series.

All eight episodes of A Series of Unfortunate Events, two for each of the first four books in Handler’s series, will be available to stream on Netflix on Friday. And if you are an aspiring poet, there is still time to profit from this whole endeavor, thanks to Handler’s extra Netflix cash—his poetry contest is accepting submissions until Feb. 28.