The Vision-Fixing Doctor

The Miserable Mill is sort of the forgotten Snicket book ... it's referenced very infrequently, later in the series; it's far enough along that the formula starts getting a little tired and it's the last one before the introduction of the VFD mystery so it doesn't stick in people's minds. I have a bit of a soft spot for it, though, because it was my introduction to the series, it has the best song, and it's just so goofy.*


I've always had a very clear image of Dr Georgina Orwell in my head, but whenever I try focusing on her she turns into one of my designs where I can't think of anything original so I just throw together a bunch of features that I've used a hundred times before. Frustrating. I gave her an actual try this weekend and might be getting somewhere ... maybe ... or maybe I'm just throwing together a different selection of features than I normally do.

( Spurious Optometrist )

*Evidence:

Now that they were standing at the gate, the children could see why the letters looked rough and slimy: they were made out of wads and wads of chewed-up gum, just stuck on the gate in the shapes of letters. Other than a sign I saw once that said "Beware" in letters made of dead monkeys, the "Lucky Smells Lumbermill" sign was the most disgusting sign on earth ...

The moral of 'The Three Bears,' for instance, is 'Never break into someone else's house." The moral of "Snow White" is "Never eat apples." The moral of World War One is "Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand."