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"A Bad Beginning: Part Two"
Screen Shot 2018-12-12 at 6.56.01 PM
Episode2
Adapted from: The Bad Beginning
Main character(s): Violet, Klaus, Sunny
Baudelaire guardian: Count Olaf
Featuring: Justice Strauss, Mr. Poe, Mrs. Poe
Main enemy: Count Olaf
Olaf's disguise: Yessica Haircut
Main setting: Count Olaf's house
Library: Justice Strauss' library (law)
Key crew
Writer: Daniel Handler
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Producer: Neil Patrick Harris
Release details
Story number: 1b
Season/series: Season 1
Premiere network: Netflix
Release date: January 13, 2017
Format: 64 minutes
Production code: 1.2
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A Series of Unfortunate Events
"A Bad Beginning: Part One" "The Reptile Room: Part One"

"A Bad Beginning: Part Two", listed as "The Bad Beginning: Part Two", is the second episode of Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It covered the second part of The Bad Beginning, and revealed why and how the Baudelaire children were sent to Count Olaf in the first place.

Official synopsis[]

While Mr. Poe's secretary works overtime, Count Olaf casts Violet and Klaus in The Marvelous Marriage, a work of theater with alarming implications.

Plot[]

In a flashback, Count Olaf arrives at Mulctuary Money Management very shortly after the fateful Baudelaire fire. Count Olaf becomes annoyed when he finds out that his troupe forgot the costumes. As a result, Count Olaf uses clothes from different people on the street to disguise himself. He then secures a meeting with Mr. Poe under the name "Yessica Haircut". However, Mr. Poe's secretary (Jacquelyn Scieszka) is not impressed with this, and goes outside, where she is kidnapped by the Bald Man with the Long Nose, and tied to a tree in a park. Back at the bank, Count Olaf reveals to Mr. Poe that whoever lives the closest to the Baudelaire home will become the children's guardian--thus having access to their overwhelming fortune. There is one flaw in Olaf's masterful plan: the inheritance will only be acquired after Violet comes of age.

Back in the present, the Baudelaires are forced to chop wood (with Olaf watching), however the man soon leaves after the Bald Man with the Long Nose tells him about "news on that secretary". The children then sneak off to the bank where Mr. Poe works, and try to tell him to get them out of Olaf's care. Mr. Poe doesn't listen, and asks his new secretary (The Hook Handed Man) to bring the children back home. Count Olaf tells the children he is sorry for how he acted the other night and convinces them to join his play "The Marvelous Marriage" by Al Funcoot. Olaf is cast as the leading man and Violet, is going to play his blushing bride. The children realize something is off, and the children try to see if they can find out what Olaf is up to using Justice Strauss's library. Count Olaf spies on the children, and sees that they are reading "Nuptial Law" and decides that he must find a way to put a stop them.

He visits Justice Strauss and flatters her by casting her as the judge in the play. Klaus sneaks a book back with him to do a little research. He learns that Violet cannot get married without the permission of her legal guardian since she is underage. Unfortunately, her guardian is none other than Count Olaf. Once she signs the marriage document in her own hand, their union is completely valid and Olaf would've succeeded in getting the Baudelaire Fortune.

The children try to confront Olaf but he reveals that he has kidnapped Sunny and put her in a birdcage on top of his large tower. If they don't agree to play along with his evil plot, he will have Sunny ordered to be dropped to her death. Violet tries to rescue Sunny from the dangling birdcage with a grappling hook of her own invention and Klaus desperately searches through the law books, looking for a loophole. Both fail in their attempts and must act in the performance.



Climax[]

An oblivious Justice Strauss declares Violet and Count Olaf as a married couple, and right after reveals what he's done to the audience. He has finally won...that is until Sunny shows up having escaped from her prison. Relieved that her sister is safe, Violet confesses to having signed the document with her left hand, while Violet is right-handed. As the document Violet signed clearly states for the bride to write with her own hand, the marriage is invalid. Count Olaf then escapes thanks to his troupe turning off the lights, and Olaf whispers to Violet that he will kill them as soon as he gets their fortune.

MarriageShow

Olaf Showing his true colors

Justice Strauss offers to raise the orphans, but Jacquelyn shows up (having been rescued by Gustav) and reveals that the children were meant to live with a scientist named Montgomery Montgomery (who has been waiting for them), not Count Olaf...or Justice Strauss. The children are taken to Mr. Poe's car, and Mr. Poe sets out to take them to this Montgomery Montgomery.

Imprisoned in an unknown location, the man and the woman read a newspaper about Count Olaf having escaped from the theater, and they make a plan to escape and return home to their children.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Co-starring[]

Crew[]

to be added

References[]

VFD[]

  • Count Olaf mentions not being able to find the sugar bowl.
  • Count Olaf says to the hook-handed man never to say the word lemony, hinting to Lemony Snicket.

Story notes[]

to be added

Filming locations[]

to be added

Production errors[]

to be added

Deviations from the novel[]

  • The entire scene of Olaf going to the bank is not in the book.
  • Jacquelyn does not appear in the book at all while Gustav is only mentioned in book 2 later.
  • In the book, Olaf makes the Baudelaires oatmeal with raspberries. In the TV series, he buys store bought cupcakes with raspberries on them and claims they're homemade.
  • The children aren't with Justice Strauss when Olaf puts her in the play in the book; he tells them much later.
    • Additionally, Count Olaf himself brings the children home, instead of the Hook Handed Man.
  • Violet's grappling hook propels her up automatically as opposed to having to climb it normally.
  • JS in more nervous when acting in the play. Also, she can actually conclude that the marriage is invalid on her own in the book, as opposed to here where she doesn't know and Klaus must explain it.
  • Instead of being let go after Count Olaf tells the Hook-Handed Man to do so after the ceremony (and regretting it later when the plan is foiled), Sunny is let go after beating him in cards (and after Count Olaf decides to throw her to the ground anyway).
  • A detail not in the original novel - the children were originally supposed to be sent to Uncle Monty right from the start were it not for Olaf's own manipulations.

Continuity[]

to be added

Home video releases[]

DVD releases[]

to be added

Blu-ray releases[]

to be added

Gallery[]

External links[]

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