Who Is Beatrice in ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’?
In both the Lemony Snicket books and the Netflix show, Beatrice is actually two people, but it’s a little confusing at first.
Each and every book in A Series of Unfortunate Events begins with a dedication from Lemony Snicket to a character named Beatrice. At first, these macabre (and sometimes funny) dedications seem to just be part of the kooky literary style of the books, but as the series goes on, you realize that Beatrice is a big deal. And if you’re watching the third and final season of the Netflix version of Unfortunate Events you might be a little confused. Who is Beatrice anyway? There are actually two answers.
Massive Spoilers ahead for the entire third season of Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Even if you’ve read the books, you might want to stop reading this now if you haven’t finished the show.
Mostly, Beatrice is a character named Beatrice Baudelaire who is the deceased mother of the three Baudelaire orphans. In the books she is never “seen” and in the TV series, she appears — for the first time — in a series of flashbacks played by actress Morena Baccarin. (You probably recognize her from Gotham or Firefly, depending on your age and interests.) Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton) was in love with Beatrice, even though she married their father, Bertrand. (Lemony Snicket is not the secret father of the Baudelaires!) Because Lemony wasn’t able to save Beatrice, his love and guilt urged him to figure out what happened to the remaining Baudelaires, the three children Sunny, Klaus and Violet, who serve as the protagonists of all the books. And that’s where the second Beatrice comes in.
The first Beatrice.
As revealed in the final episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events, “Beatrice Baudelaire” is also the name of the daughter of Kit Snicket (Allison Williams) and Dewey Denouement (Max Greenfield) who is raised as the adopted fourth Baudelaire sibling after Kit Snicket dies in The End. The Baudelaires raise Beatrice II on The Island and after she turns one, they sail away. These events are depicted, more or less, in the book version of The End, but an older, 10-year-old Beatrice II (Angelina Capozzoli) is seen meeting Lemony Snicket at the very end of the entire Netflix series, even though this scene doesn’t occur in the 13 volumes of A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, the existence of the older Beatrice II does, in fact, happen in a supplementary Lemony Snicket book called The Beatrice Letters. So, the idea that the second Beatrice meets Lemony Snicket after the end of The End is totally legit if you’ve read The Beatrice Letters. If you hadn’t, this might feel like a huge change, even though it’s really not.
The second Beatrice, who is related to both the Snickets and Baudelaires.
And, the reason why this Beatrice calls herself Lemony’s niece is because, of course, Kit — her mother — is Lemony’s sister. This makes Beatrice II not only a Baudelaire but a Snicket, too! And, because her father was Dewey, she’s also a Denouement, which, as explanations and root beer floats go, wraps up the series with a decently fortunate event.
A Series of Unfortunate Events season 1-3 are all streaming now on Netflix.
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