I can’t believe we’re onto the last season of this show. Obviously I’m sad about that because they really did a great job bringing these books to life, but at the same time I’m glad because they could have done what other shows have done and continue to go on even when they’ve run out of novel, or try to stretch out a novel. This has actually been quite nice, a happy medium.

So the season starts right where we left off, with Violet and Klaus tumbling down a mountain in a runaway caravan. Using Violet’s inventing skills, she creates a parachute that stop the caravan and now they are on the hunt for Count Olaf and their sister Sunny.

They travel for a while until they run into these killer bees and have to hide in a cave where they run into no other than Carmalita Spats from Prufrock Preparatory school. They also befriend a boy in a fencing mask; unsure of if they can trust him they play along with his VFD phrases (where all the words he’s using start with the initials VFD). It’s when all the campers are asleep that the three of them escape, as the mystery boy knows all about VFD and the headquarters, he even takes them to the entrance where they have to answers three questions to open the door. Obviously, being as smart as they are they get it. They expect to find people having a meeting or to see one of their parents as they were told last season that one of them is still alive… instead they find the place in shambles and burnt down. The two are disappointed that they were lied to, there was no survivor… but alas mystery boy takes his mask off to reveal he is Quigley Quagmire, the long lost Quagmire triplet.

Now if you haven’t read the books, I can see how this would be surprising, but since I’ve read the books I knew the moment we met him in the cave who he was.

Meanwhile, on the mountain Olaf is looking for the headquarters to burn it down and run away with the Baudelaire fortune (I love the way he pronounces it fort-chune). But he doesn’t even make it to the headquarters because he, nor anyone with him can read a map. He gets beat to it, obviously as Violet and Klaus found it burnt down… two people, the woman with hair but no beard, and the man with no hair and a beard, who we find out are the ones who raised Count Olaf… and they are not pleased with him.

The comedy between the theatre troupe is starting off swinging and is definitely hilarious. My favourite so far is the hook handed man has a soft spot for Sunny and I’m loving every second of it. When he brings her warmer clothes he made, just aww.

I can’t forget to mention Kit Snicket, as she’s going to play a large role with the sugar bowl… that she lost. What I don’t get is why Mr. Poe randomly shows up in the middle of the mountain to help her, it makes no logical sense… I know most of this show doesn’t, but this doesn’t fit any of the plots. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

So we find out the big plan that the man with no hair and a beard and the woman with hair and no beard and it’s to make all the children whose parents are VFD members orphans and steal all their fortunes.

Sunny sends a message to her siblings that she’s at the top of the mountain, while they are at the bottom.

This leads Violet to create an invention to climb up the frozen waterfall. She and Quigley climb up and find Sunny, but Sunny refuses to leave, she’s rather be a spy to find out what she can. Klaus on the other hand stays behind to find out about the last safe place, that is where they are to go next. Or, they plan to but Olaf notices movement below and so Esme goes instead and finds the three children and brings them back to Olaf. The three plan to exchange Esme for Sunny, but the hook handed man has thrown Sunny off the cliff… or did he? I knew from the moment he was super eager that he didn’t. It’s Sunny who then grabs the sled for all four of them to escape on.

Seeing Count Olaf scared and not in charge anymore was actually enjoyable to see. Seeing the people he used to know torment and scare him is hilarious yet he still wants their approval. Also seeing his troupe just up and leave him when they won’t throw Sunny over the cliff was quite the scene. I also liked the call out to certain tropes was clever. When we get some weird backstory from the powered face women and he outright says ‘I don’t care about some late series backstory’ was hilarious.

I couldn’t remember how they got to the bottom of the ocean, but yes when Klaus, Sunny, Violet and Quigley take a dive over the frozen waterfall, they for one lose Quigley but he says he’ll meet them at the next safe place, and the three Baudelaire’s slide all the way to middle of the frozen ocean and stop on top of what looks like this giant submarine like thing.

The Baudelaire’s do find themselves on a submarine and this is where they meet Fiona. Boy oh boy the feud between Violet and Fiona is actually quite hilarious to watch, what’s even better is seeing Klaus caught in the middle of them. You can tell he has a crush on Fiona, but he also loves his sister; talk about a thick plot.

The Baudelaire’s just want to make it to the last safe place for the VFD meeting on Thursday, but Fiona has her own plans about obtaining the sugar bowl… just like Esme.

Speaking of, the man with no hair but a beard and the woman with hair and no beard get Esme a submarine (one that looks like an octopus) so they can follow the Baudelaire’s… although they don’t know that yet. Seeing Olaf so happy to see them again was funny because he’s missed them, even though he just wants their fortune. Esme just thinks the submarine will get her closer to the sugar bowl… she gets extremely crazy when she’s within reach of it.

Olaf and his new troupe consisting of Esme, Carmilta, his new daughter, and the hook handed man invade the submarine the Baudelaires are on, learn that the sugar bowl is close and make them go into the grotto where it is said to be.

Meanwhile, Fiona sends a message to get help. The hook handed man finds her and bless his heart is hiding the fact that he saw her.

Quigley goes to Mr. Poe for help, but as we know he is no help, it’s Kit who helps him and he’s able to get to the sugar bowl before even the Baudelaires do. When they reach the grotto, which by the way has poisonous mushrooms growing in it, they run into Quigley, but they make him leave and go back to Olaf empty handed.

Putting their helmets down in the poisonous grotto and them showing the viewer that was great foreshadowing and for people who read the books it was great pleasure to see the careful consideration they put to showing it because as they return from the grotto, they realize Sunny’s helmet has been infected.

Of course Olaf locks them up, but it’s the hook handed man who lets them go. He leads them back to their submarine so that they can escape and save Sunny. They meet up with Fiona again and together the three of them come up with an antidote, only they don’t have it. Horseradish is what is going to kill the spores, but Sunny suggests Wasabi instead. Of course it works and she lives. This all happens very, very quickly, like the lines are flying right out of their mouths, it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin.

They’re ready to escape now, but obviously Fiona is still hiding something. Guess who then shows up, the hook handed man. I completely forgot that he was Fiona’s brother until the two reunited. They didn’t even have to say anything; the moment I saw them together I remembered. Oh how these plots weave. The Baudulaires are hesitant to leave with the hook handed man, he’s done nothing but treacherous things to them, although he has been helping Sunny a lot. He makes a valid point that people aren’t all good or all bad, they are mixed of good and bad, like a chief’s salad.

Again, they are ready to escape but Olaf, Esme and Carmilta show up. I’m really starting to hate the way she sings everything; like the emphasis she puts on things is extremely annoying. Anyways, they get found out and Olaf about kills the hook handed man. It’s Fiona that tells him she saved the spouts of the poisonous mushroom for him. Olaf gets really happy, he makes Fiona join his crew and orders her to lock the Baudulaires up. She agrees, but as they walk away she lets them go, so they can attend the VFD meeting, a meeting that the hook handed man spills to Olaf. Now he knows how he’s going to use the poison, to go to the last safe place and kill the last members of VFD. The end is truly near.

The Baudulaires take Fiona’s submarine and escape to get closer to the last safe place, only where they end up is not what they expected. They return to Briny Beach, where all their troubles began. They are faced with Mr. Poe once more who wants them to go with him so they can go to the police and get their affairs straightened out. But Kit Snicket also arrives on the beach and she seems to know more and can tell them more, she also agrees to take them to the last safe place so I can bet which person they decided to go with.

I’m sad that this show is ending; the way they have done it so far this season has been perfect. Last season felt rushed and they tried to knock out five books in one season which seems like too much. I wish they had spread it out more evenly, like say doing three books a season that would have at least given us 4 seasons, but hey I don’t make these decisions.     

Oh my, so the Baudulaires are now at the Hotel Denumont on a mission to figure out as much as they can. Kit tells them that they must gather information and share it with the manager of the hotel, Frank, but they have to watch out for his evil twin brother Ernst. They ask how they can tell the difference, but she just tells them that they have to listen and figure it out.

Two seconds later we see her talk to one of the brothers, who you think is Frank, the good brother, but turns out to be Ernst, the evil one, and he’s the father to her baby, oh damn. I don’t remember this, but I have a feeling this was in the books.

So now the children are disguised as concierges to find out information about VFD and the last safe place. They are also trying to figure out who is J.S. and there are a lot of people from their past who have those initials. They get to see Justice Strauss again and she agrees to let them live with her when all of this is said and down.

The girl who plays Violet can actually really do an Australian accent really well and a lot of people can’t do it at all.

It’s such a trip to see Lemony Snicket in the present and in context to the story. We’re so used to see him being the narrator and just all over the place, so seeing him reunite with his sister Kit, and to meet the Baudulaires when they truly need it is so strange.

The children are all trying to solve all these mysteries that it’s starting to make everyone’s head spin. We learn that the hotel is set up like a library and all the VFD members are on their way in preparation for Thursday. Everyone from their past seems to play a role, and the sugar bowl (which we still don’t know what it contains) is flying in by crow. The children all figure out that they were all talking to one of the managers at 3pm but there are only 2 brother, but alas… there are three! This is a major detail I forgot from the books. And this third brother, Dewey is the one they know they can trust, and is the father to Kit’s baby. It all came rushing back to me, and when he shows them all about the underground library and Olaf shows up, I remembered what was going to happen, and I hated it. I hated it even more than in the books because the actor who plays them is so cute!

But Olaf, Esme and Carmelita show up. Carmelita with her harpoon gun, and Esme who Olaf then breaks up with rather dramatically. He takes the harpoon gun, but of course he doesn’t shoot them, oh no the children are able to get it from them but they get startled when Mr. Poe shows up and they drop it causing it to go off and shoot Dewey… so sad. That’s when Olaf escapes, and Lemony shows up to save the children.

But the children don’t go with him. Instead they choose to stay and take trial. So now everyone in the hotel has to play witness to the Baudelaire’s. They are asked to speak about everything they’ve been through. They then bring Olaf to the stand to talk about all the treacherous things he’s done, but he then turns the tables on them and you realize that they have done some pretty treacherous things too.

The whole thing was pretty comical to watch, and it was definitely made that way, but definitely entertaining.

We then find out the man with no hair but a beard and the woman with no beard but hair have been running the trial so Justice Strauss feels like a fool, once more. Olaf tries to escape so the children go with him. They start a fire to get everyone to leave the hotel, but it really just turns into chaos. In the end the children fly a boat off the rooftop of the hotel, with Count Olaf, to escape. Where they’re going nobody knows, not even them.
We learn why Lemony Snicket has decided to dedicate his life to finding out everything he can on the Baudelaire children and it’s because he was in love with their mother, Beatrice. That thickens the plot. We also learn that years ago, or well we’ve known this for a while, they were all friends once upon a time, Olaf, the Snickets, Esme. They went to the opera and things got ugly, Beatrice wanted to steal the sugar bowl (which we still don’t know its importance) Esme is against it, but Beatrice goes ahead and does it anyways. Push comes to shove and Olaf’s father gets killed by a poison dart that Beatrice throws; this is what starts Olaf’s feud with the family.

It’s fun to watch all of these things come together.

I’m not going to lie the weird montage of everything the children have been through at the end of the second last episode was weird, but oddly comforting since the show is ending.

Holy hot damn, I still can’t believe this series is over. Although the show in its last episode kept poking at there could be more. Even the way they ended it made it seem like there could be a whole new story. Now I’m a little hesitant about it because I don’t know if I want it to continue now that the books are done. I literally just looked up to see if there were any other books or spin off series just to make sure, and I don’t see any.

Anyways, the final episode starts with the children on their boat with Count Olaf where they get caught in a giant storm. This then leads them to becoming shipwrecked on an island where there is a colony of very happy people. It turns out that Olaf knows their leader, Ismael, but obviously we can’t just outright say how they know each other. It takes time, and locking Olaf in a bird cage in which Sunny goes “karma” now that was hilarious. This final episode was quite witty. Ismael knows how horrible Olaf is as he’s known him almost his entire life.

When Violet is turned down when she suggests inventing a water filtration system so they can drink fresh water instead of this weird cordial (that we later on, is actually filled with opium and is brainwashing everyone who gets shipwrecked to the island to stay on the island, and explains why they are so happy). They get curious and try to talk to Ismael, but he’s not on his throne. In the books he can’t walk, in the TV show he can so it wasn’t as shocking in the show. In the books everyone on the island feels betrayed that he was lying to them all along, here they just happily go with whatever he says; they don’t even question that he seems to know these new castaways.

Well the children follow his footsteps and find out this treehouse, a place their parents used to live. This is when we learn how Ismael knows everyone. He used to be the principle of Prufock Prep. and he recruited the Snickets, the Quagmires, the Baudelaires, even Olaf and he started VFD, but obviously things went astray. It turns out the children’s parents used to live there, but they decided to leave when Beatrice was pregnant with Violet to start their own family. This was obviously against Ismael’s wishes, now he seems very happy to have their children to protect. But when judgement day rolls around, meaning the only day they can leave as that’s when the tide rolls in, the Baudelaires decide to leave. Ismael thinks they’re crazy and doesn’t want them to go. That’s when Olaf escapes and pretends to be a washed up Kit Snicket… although the real Kit Snicket has shown up.

Ismael has had enough and harpoons Olaf in his fake pregnant stomach, well guess what he was using as his fake belly, the diving helmet full of the poison. Now everyone has been poisoned. Ismael then abandons everything and ditches them with his people. Now the children have to find something to stop the deadly fungus.

This is also when we learn from Kit what’s in the damn sugar bowl… sugar… a special sugar that will not only stop the poison but prevent it from harming ever again.

If only they had that, but aha… back in the treehouse, what are those apples that grow made of… that sugar. We get a guest appearance from the extremely deadly viper who gives Sunny the apple. Each one of them takes a bite to feel better. They offer it to Kit, but apparently it’ll affect the baby. So they give it to Olaf of all people –

Which, sidebar, I have to say, these past couple episodes I don’t hate Olaf as much as I did in the beginning, as we go through the series, you almost grow to like, dare I say love him. I don’t know he’s got this weird charm that you can’t hate him for being flawed. I think that’s what Kit sees or saw in him.

I forgot all about their love affair, I forgot that Olaf’s true love was Kit. When he finds out that Kit is there and hurt, he takes the apple and tries to save her. The sweetness that comes out of him was so unexpected and so beautiful, it’s so weird to see him just die right after. Like he just dies. Kit on the other hand gives birth and then dies, leaving the children to look after her daughter.

They flash forward to a year later, where they’ve named her Beatrice after their mother, and it’s their turn to make a decision to leave the island because if they don’t, they never will.

The show also gives us a look at where other characters ended up, as the book didn’t do that. The Quagmires all reunite, the theatre troupe are all together, and of course we get closing remarks from Lemony.

Then that last scene… I actually pulled the book off my shelf because I couldn’t remember if this was a part of them or not… it’s not. Beatrice is older, possibly 12 or 13 and she meets up with Lemony wanting to tell him all about their family.

This is why I say they could go on with this… but a part of me doesn’t want to. I love that they took the books and made them this way, that they each got their turn and that it was final… but what’s really final in this day of revivals and reboots? I hope they don’t continue to keep the books the way they are. But a part of me is curious. I guess only time will tell. But for now, this series was amazing. If you’ve read the books you should definitely be watching this, so worth it!