Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for A Series of Unfortunate Events season 3 ahead
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Who is Beatrice in A Series of Unfortunate Events? Every episode opens with a dedication to the great lost love of Lemony Snicket, yet he’s very tight-lipped over her identity and how she died. Just as season 1 of A Series of Unfortunate Events teased the possibility that the Baudelaire parents might still be alive, season 2 offers more glimpses of Beatrice and hints that she might not be as dead as Lemony thinks. We see a flashback to the mystery woman, wearing a dragonfly costume, about to be pushed off a balcony at V.F.D. headquarters by Count Olaf. Olaf later reveals that the dragonfly costume had functioning wings, and that Beatrice did not actually die that night.
Unfortunately, as readers of the books will know, Lemony is sadly right to grieve for Beatrice, because she is actually Beatrice Baudelaire - mother of Violet, Klaus and Sunny. This was revealed in a companion book to the main Series of Unfortunate Events series called The Beatrice Letters, and also at the very end of the very last book, The End. Beatrice didn’t die after being pushed off the balcony by Count Olaf, but she did die in the fire that claimed the Baudelaire family home at the start of the series.
In case you’re wondering - no, this does not mean that Lemony Snicket is the Baudelaires’ father. Lemony did propose to Beatrice, but she ultimately turned him down (she even wrote him a 200-page book explaining why) and married Bertrand Baudelaire instead. There’s even a clue, hidden in A Series of Unfortunate Events season 1’s final musical number, ‘That’s Not How the Story Goes,’ when Lemony sings, “I once loved a girl and she thought well of me” - indicating that his adoration may not have been entirely reciprocated.
In the TV show, all the hints about Beatrice surviving (and Jacques Snicket’s revelation that someone survived the fire) may lead viewers to believe that the original Madame Lulu, who is played by Allison Williams and appears at the very end of the season, is Beatrice. However, Williams is actually playing the third Snicket sibling, Kit Snicket, who will go on to play a pivotal role in season 3.
A final note: Beatrice Baudelaire may be the Beatrice whom Lemony Snicket mourns at the start of every episode, but she is not the only person with that name who appears in the book series. There is one other Beatrice, who makes an appearance towards the end of the Baudelaires’ story. But we don’t want to give away everything just yet…
More: Who Survived The Fire?
A Series of Unfortunate Events season 2 is now available on Netflix.
