A Series of Unfortunate Events season 2 arrives this week, with Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton) resuming his miserable task of chronicling the troubled lives of the Baudelaire orphans. The villainous Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris) will also return, with a host of new disguises, as Violet (Malina Weissman), Klaus (Louis Hynes) and Sunny (Presley Smith) try to stay out of his clutches, and solve the mysteries that their parents left behind.
Season 2 picks up immediately after season 1’s ending (though not without a quip about how much Sunny has aged while she’s been sitting on that bench). The Baudelaires have been dropped off at Prufrock Preparatory, a dismal boarding school run by the erratic and egotistical Vice-Principal Nero (Roger Bart), but they’re not the only orphans whose parents have been killed in a fire to attend Prufrock. The surviving Quagmire triplets, Isadora (Avi Lake) and Duncan (Dylan Kingwell), have also been left behind with no parents, no home, and only a mysterious broken spyglass to offer a clue to their past - and it won’t be long before the two sets of orphans meet and start comparing notes.
One of the major features of A Series of Unfortunate Events season 1 was a tragically misleading series of scenes featuring a husband and wife (played by Will Arnett and Cobie Smulders) who were desperate to get back to their children. The audience was led to believe that these were the Baudelaire parents, who had survived the fire in their home and were trying to track down Violet, Klaus and Sunny. However, “The Miserable Mill: Part Two” revealed that these two were actually the Quagmire parents, who happily returned home to their triplets in the finale. While viewers were still reeling from this twist, the Quagmire parents too were killed in a fire started by a mysterious woman in a fancy hat.
The biggest mystery that carries over from season 1 to season 2 is that of the mysterious secret organization that seems to connect the Baudelaire parents, the Quagmire parents, Count Olaf, and the Baudelaires’ various guardians - an organization that has something to do with spyglasses, fires, and the letters V.F.D. Also connected to the secret organization are Snicket himself, Mr. Poe’s (K. Todd Freeman) secretary, Jacquelyn (Sara Canning), and Larry (Patrick Breen), a helpful waiter who worked at The Anxious Clown restaurant while the Baudelaires were staying with their Aunt Josephine (Alfre Woodard). You can expect both Jacquelyn and Larry to return and play a pivotal role in season 2 - along with other members of V.F.D.
Another outstanding mystery is that of Beatrice, the deceased love of Lemony Snicket, who is mourned with a personal tribute at the start of every episode. Given her relationship with Lemony, Beatrice surely must be a member of V.F.D. as well - but who was she, and how did she die? Season 2 might answer these questions, or it might not, but the memory of Beatrice is sure to continue haunting Snicket either way.
Count Olaf, needless to say, continues to evade capture by the bumbling authorities, so he’s sure to be hot on the Baudelaire’s trail with his gaggle of goons: The Hook-Handed Man (Usman Ally), The Bald Man (John DeSantis), The White-Faced Women (Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins), and The Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender (Matty Cardarople). Olaf’s car is already pretty packed, but his troupe may grow in size as the season progresses.
More: A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 2 Trailer #3
A Series of Unfortunate Events season 2 premieres Friday, March 30 on Netflix.
