What Happens At The End Of Season 2?
Season 2 came to a lion-baiting head in The Carnivorous Carnival, where the Baudelaires - disguised as circus freaks - began to finally get some answers care of fortune teller Madam Lulu (really V.F.D. agent Olivia Caliban in disguise): about their parent’s deaths, the mysterious organisation that connects them and their prior guardians, and where fate is taking them. Discovering that V.F.D. Headquarters is based in the nearby mountains, they vow to travel there and uncover the full truth.
Things take a turn when Olaf’s Hinterland lions come into the picture, eating Caliban and causing his troupe to leave, bringing along the circus freaks along as new recruits - including the Baudelaires. He forces Klaus and Violet to burn down Lulu’s tent - and with it all the secrets to V.F.D. - then drives off towards the headquarters with Sunny in the car and her siblings towed behind. However, along the way he reveals he knows who the Baudelaires are and cuts the rope, sending Klaus and Violet off to the doom.
The Baudelaires Becoming Count Olaf
Since the death of Jacques Snicket, the tables have been completely turned, a phrase here that means Count Olaf is essentially free - he’s no longer accused of his crimes, although isn’t allowed to audition for any theater productions - while the Baudelaires are now the criminals (albeit assumed) and have to put on disguises. This is built up across the season as the Baudelaires go from trying to convince adults to help them (something that is seemingly impossible in this reality outside of volunteers) to taking matters into their own hands, tricking and conniving ways to usurp Olaf and those around them.
It comes to a head with the fire: in lighting Caliban’s tent they’re not just destroying potential knowledge of V.F.D., they’re taking a step towards becoming the one-eyebrowed arsonist. Sure, Olaf gives them a helping hand, but there is undeniable culpability. They may not have killed Jacques Snicket, yet they’ve committed acts of guilty people and started fires (it cannot be understated how important this is in the Snicketverse); for all good intentions, they are starting to act like villains.
Of course, they’re our heroes, and those intentions are still good ones, but as they go from teenagers into adults, the pressure of deciding who they are going to become - a helpful volunteer, a devious villain, or a simpering - is becoming more prominent. And a harder line to walk.
What’s The Deal With V.F.D. & The Sugar Bowl
The defining mystery of A Series of Unfortunate Events is that of V.F.D., the secret organization the Baudelaires, Quagmires, Snickets, Olafs and others were all involved in. Adding to that is the sugar bowl, a very nicely designed MacGuffin that links many members.
There’s no space on this webpage to go into full details, but the mystery is more simple than it appears. V.F.D. stands for Volunteer Fire Department and they were a group of well-meaning men and women who tried to free the world from bad things, such as fire. It eventually fell apart, which is why, as the show’s gone on, there’s been more overlap between Olaf and the adult heroes - they were once on the same side, with the same costumes and all.
As for the sugar bowl, that was stolen from Esme Squalor by Lemony Snicket, but blamed on his beloved Beatrice, a sorry state of affairs that pretty much started the whole issue.
How Did Olaf Recognize The Baudelaires?
The season ends with Olaf sending the Baudelaire’s hurtling down a slippery slope and driving off with Sunny (and thus the fortune) in his clutches. It is, in more than one way, a cliffhanger (the show does love to play with words), but before dealing with what’s next, it leaves the question of quite how he knew.
In the book, he was told by Lulu, who is a former V.F.D. member on the Baudelaire’s side but not their old librarian or tail, whereas here he cracks it thanks to the Heimlich Hospital medical band. That’s intriguing given the recurring gag that no adult can see through a disguise, suggesting Olaf is smarter than he looks. Maybe.
Who Was The Original Madam Lulu?
Warning: mild spoilers for Season 3 from here on out.
It’s established early on in Book Nine that Madam Lulu is the name of the volunteer stationed at Caligari Carnival, with Olivia Caliban only a recent incumbent. The original Lulu is teased and revealed in the very final sequence of Season 2, played by Get Out’s Allison Williams. She arrives at the burning carnival in Jacques Snicket’s taxi with the sugar bowl lifted from Heimlich Hospital, with Lemony saying that she was “a woman I knew very well”. Who is she?
Well, Lemony definitely had reason to know who she is: it’s Kit Snicket, his and Jacques’ younger sister. She is an essential character in the latter portion of the book series, first alluded to in The Carnivorous Carnival and slowly introduced over the final four books, so is expected to be a key figure in Season 3.
Read More: The Previous Madame Lulu Is Kit Snicket
Who Survived The Fire?
The biggest mystery Season 2 leaves, however, is that of the survivor of the fire. That somebody could have made it out of the fire is teased throughout the series, first by Jacques Snicket in footage recorded before his death seen in The Horrible Hospital, then repeated by Olivia Caliban (albeit without any firm knowledge) and reaffirmed by Larry Your-Waiter at the end. Season 2 doesn’t reveal the identity, but the speculation is correct. However, the Baudelaires and Olaf are thinking about the wrong fire.
Read More: Who Survived The Fire?
It’s the Quagmire fire that the volunteers are referencing, and the survivor is none other than Quigly Quagmire, the third triplet. He survived the fire thanks the underground tunnels used by V.F.D. and has his own run of adventures before making his way towards Headquarters. The character previously appeared in Season 1 as part of the Quagmire parents twist, played by Dylan Kingwell, who also plays Duncan.
What Happens To The Baudelaires?
The cliffhanger (or, rather, cliffroller) from the end of Season 2 is a pretty accurate lift from the books - The Carnivorous Carnival ends in the same way, bar the manner of Count Olaf’s discovery - and it should come as no surprise that Klaus and Violet will find a way out of their predicament. The solution in the book involves the pair using various detruis around the caravan (upon instruction from Violet, who’s tied her hair back with a ribbon, of course) to slow the careening contraption just before it barrels off the edge.
Something similar is sure to happen in Season 3’s premiere, with the rest of the tale seeing the elder siblings on a mission to save Sunny. We won’t go into too many more details, but there are some clues to the next set of episodes in Season 2 itself.
What’s Next For Season 3?
A Series of Unfortunate Events was renewed for Season 3 long before the recent season hit thanks to its immensely successful debut. However, due to the rigidity of the source, that third season will also be the last, adapting the final four books (albeit only over seven episodes, presumably for a bumper-length finale): The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril and The End. These naturally continue the misadventures of the Baudelaires, taking them through the mountains, a submarine, a hotel and a castaway island respectively.
These books are where the mysteries of V.F.D. and the sugar bowl really come to fore, with the main narratives now actively following these threads. The show has already increased the prominence of these elements in comparison to their book counterparts, but it’s likely Season 3 will still be the most mythology-heavy run of the lot.
Naturally, the sugar bowl is the biggest piece of setup for Season 3, even if the mystery surrounding it is sometimes frustrating, while the extravagant V.F.D. ball is doubly important; it not only establishes the group in happier times but provides setup for what will be a key location. The introduction of Kit Snicket in Season 2 likely also indicates a greater role for her than in the books, likely a similar “background adult” to the Quagmire parents in Season 1 or Jacques Snicket and Olivia Caliban in Season 2. Eagled-eyed viewers will have already got a tease of Book Twelve - at the start of the season, a sign in the underground tunnel system pointed to Denoumont, a reference to the aptly named Hotel Denoumont from The Penultimate Peril.
What we can say with certainty is that Lemony will finally reveal the true fate of his beloved Beatrice, something that is sure to be a heartbreaking experience for viewers. This is such a big A Series of Unfortunate Events spoiler we’re not going to reveal it in this article, but you can find out the truth on the next page…
Next: The Truth Behind Beatrice
