The Penultimate Peril: Part One

"The Penultimate Peril: Part One"
Adapted from:	The Penultimate Peril
Main character(s):	Violet, Klaus, Sunny
Baudelaire guardian:	Dewey Denouement
Main enemy:	Count Olaf
Olaf's disguise:	Dad Jacques Snicket (Count Olaf’s Disguise)
Main setting:	Hotel Denouement
Key crew
Producer:	Neil Patrick Harris
Release details
Story number:	3a
Season/series:	Season 3
Premiere network:	Netflix
Release date:	January 1, 2019
Format:	55 minutes
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A Series of Unfortunate Events
"The Grim Grotto: Part Two"	"The Penultimate Peril: Part Two"

"The Penultimate Peril: Part One" is the twenty-third episode of Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It covered the first half of The Penultimate Peril.

Official synopsis

Various parties converge at the Hotel Denouement, where the mysterious "J.S." has called the V.F.D. together -- and things aren't always what they seem.

Dedication

For Beatrice –

     No one could extinguish my love,

     or your house.

Plot

Kit Snicket drives the Baudelaires to the Hotel Denouement, although she is being pursued by what she speculates to be the Man with a Beard but No Hair and Woman with Hair but No Beard. She tells him she knows that her brother Jacques Snicket is dead. She gives them a picnic basket with concierge disguises and asks them to find the identity of J.S. which they accept. Kit loses the duo and they arrive at the hotel.

Meanwhile, on a phone at a beach, Olaf shares V.F.D.'s plans with the Man and Woman, but they already know. Fernald steals The Carmelita while Olaf, Esmé Squalor and Carmelita Spats are at the beach, leaving them to take a boat.

Kit warns the Baudelaires that Frank Denouement and Ernest Denouement manage the hotel, but they are lookalike twins and Frank is a Fire-Fighter while Ernest is a Fire-Starter. After the Baudelaires leave, Kit kisses one of the brothers and says, "Send my regards to Frank". In her taxi, Kit finds Lemony Snicket who she thought was dead. Lemony asks his sister for a ride.

In the hotel, the Baudelaires notice Olaf's group is also there.

Cast

Starring

• Count Olaf - Neil Patrick Harris
• Lemony Snicket - Patrick Warburton
• Violet Baudelaire - Malina Weissman
• Klaus Baudelaire - Louis Hynes
• Sunny Baudelaire - Presley Smith
• Esmé Squalor - Lucy Punch
• Arthur Poe - K. Todd Freeman

Guest starring

• Kit Snicket - Allison Williams
• Vice Principal Nero - Roger Bart
• Jerome Squalor - Tony Hale
• Frank / Ernest / Dewey Denouement - Max Greenfield
• Larry-Your-Waiter - Patrick Breen
• Carmelita Spats - Kitana Turnbull
• Babs - Kerri Kenney
• Justice Strauss - Joan Cusack

Co-starring

• Bellboy - Eanna O'Dowd
• Bellgirl - Latonya Williams
• Trolleyman - Darcey Johnson

Crew

to be added

References

• Carmelita mentions she wants to go to Littlest Elf Land.

Story notes

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

to be added

Deviations from the novel

• The Baudelaires wear green concierge outfits instead of red ones. Their outfits also don't have sunglasses.
• Kit doesn't wear a dress.
• Klaus can define "flaneurs" on his own in the show. In the book, Kit defined it for him.
• The enemy taxi was following them much earlier, and Kit seems extremely certain that it is one.
• Violet, Klaus, and Sunny changed to the disguises much earlier than in the book.
• Violet and Klaus remember staying at the Hotel Denoument instead of just the Hotel Preludio (which was alluded to but not called out).
• Sunny says "Signal V.F.D." instead of "Sugar bowl" in the recap.
• Kit seems confident that they can end this, instead of so distraught that it will all go wrong.
• We find out that Fernald and Fiona double crossed Olaf from a note the former gave to Carmelita, instead of Olaf seeing it for himself. They also saved Phil in addition to the Snow Scouts.
• The Baudelaires already trust Kit, unlike in the book where they were sort of debating it.
• Frank and Ernest were not outside the hotel in the book when Kit talked about them.
• They didn't take anything out of Kit's car. Violet lost her ribbon here instead of back at Heimlich Hospital.
• The signage on the Hotel Denoument can't be read correctly in the pond.
• Olaf, Esme, and Carmelita are still in disguise to hide from V.F.D., even though in the book they weren't. He doesn't recognize the Baudelaires at first, mainly because that Violet says that villainous guests treat the staff like they are invisible.
• One of the managers called the Baudelaires out by last name (it was possibly Dewey).
• Violet's adventure on the roof is different:
  • Esme isn't wearing strange cone binoculars, she uses a spyglass to watch the skies. Her outfit is (for obvious reasons) not as skimpy as the one in the book.
  • Carmelita's outfit hardly has any blue in it.
  • Geraldine is not on the roof because she is not in the show. Nero is on the roof, however. Due to this, he leads the Esmé Squalor Fan Club instead of her. Anything Geraldine was meant to say goes to Nero.
  • Violet pretends to be a part of the fan club, which was not mentioned in the book.
  • Nero says thay Esmé should know who J.S. is, but is interrupted by Carmelita screaming for Violet before he can finish.
  • Esmé calls Carmelita her daughter (in the book she was quick to dismiss it). Violet did not call the latter out by name. 
• Klaus's adventure is different too:
  • He finds Babs behind the door. In the book, she was presumed to be dead, and it was Charles and Sir he was assisting, but in the show, the latter ran off and the former is looking for him.
  • The sauna was on another floor in the book instead of down the hall.
  • Jerome is already here. In the book, he arrived in a taxi with Justice Strauss.
    • He is pretending to date Babs so they can find the Baudelaires.
    • Jerome is interested in Charles. 
    • Babs in interested in Mrs. Bass.
  • Klaus eavesdrops outside the sauna instead of in it.
  • Jerome thinks J.S. is a woman (maybe Justice Strauss or Jacqueline) and Babs thinks he is a sea captain (probably Captain Widdershins before he left as she said "he")
  • Olaf comes to interrupt the adventure.
• Here's how Sunny's adventure varies:
  • She finds Mr. Poe behind her door. In the book, he finds them much later after Dewey is shot. In the book, it was Nero, Mrs. Bass, and Mr. Remora she was supposed to encounter, but the first was already on the roof for Violet's adventure, the second was arrested, and the third was not present at all.
    • He doesn't recognize her.
  • Larry is in the kitchen instead of Hal.
  • Olaf also interrupts this adventure, posing as Jacques. He also seems to finally to recognize Sunny.
  • Poe brings out all he knows on the siblings' case, including something hidden. He has been contacted by two J.S.'s.
  • Ernest also intercepts this. He drops Larry into a simmering pot of curry.
• None of the Baudelaires are asked if they are who they say they are; instead they call out the names of the people who they are assisting by mistake, having to cover it up by saying they saw it on something they owned. They are also asked if they can be trusted by their respective managers (Violet > Frank, Klaus > Ernest, Sunny > Dewey).
• Klaus figures out that the sugar bowl may fall in the laundry room instead of Sunny.
• Lemony actually meets up with Kit. In the book he doesn't get the chance.
• Dewey find the Baudelaires after they get to the sub-basement instead of before. 
• The siblings realized for themselves that the Denouments were triplets and not twins instead of Dewey having to tell them.
• Dewey takes them through a passageway first instead of straight outside. (By now, this is when Jerome and Justice Strauss appear, but they were introduced earlier.)
• He wishes for them to stay at the Hotel, but in the book he does not say he wants them to take over his library.
• When Olaf, Esmé and Carmelita show up, this encounter is different:
  • Most of the villains are not here, according to Dewey saying they would arrive late. (In the book they were already here.) Carmelita now mentions wanting to learn how spit instead of at the roof when Violet was tending to her.
  • In the book, Justice Strauss asked why Frank did not stop Violet from taking the gun, to which she replied that he might have tried. In the show, he didn't try, he told her to do her job.
  • Esme notes that they have not yet shot the crow, even though by this point in the book two of them were already shot down.
  • Since Hugo, Collette, and Kevin were (most likely) killed by the Man and Woman, they are not here to report what was going on after Carmelita would have shot the crows.
  • Dewey says that the container (Sugar Bowl) belongs to Esmé and not what it contains, instead of simply saying "Not anymore."
  • Olaf doesn't knock Carmelita to the floor when he takes away the harpoon gun. He also breaks up with Esmé instead of just firing her (then she quits and mutual agreement) much earlier than when it happens in the book.
  • Violet and Klaus mention that it's Esmé's fault that Olaf is not rich and that they are not dead.
  • The two siblings drop the gun because Mr. Poe calls out and not because it was heavy. The latter also says "Good God, that man's been shot!" instead of simply "Baudelaires!" and only the siblings, Olaf, and Poe are outside since Esme and Carmelita left and none of the others that were present in the book are alive or around.
  • The children do not grab Dewey in time or call out to him before he falls in.
• If Lemony is the man in the taxi in the book, it's not clear.

Continuity

to be added

Behind the scenes

to be added

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

Gallery

Netflix Tie-in Edition.

Frank/Ernest Denouement.

Hotel Denouement.

Count Olaf in his Dad Disguise.

Violet in a concierge outfit.

Olaf on the roof.

Nero and Esmé.

Carmelita on the roof.

Count Olaf with Jerome Squalor and Babs in a sauna.

Count Olaf with Jerome Squalor and Babs in a sauna.

Count Olaf disguised as Jacques Snicket.

Ernest Denouement attacking Larry.

Larry murdered by Olaf.

The Baudelaires resting.

Count Olaf with a harpoon gun.

Dewey injured by the harpoon.

Dewey dies in the pond.

Lemony Snicket by a taxi.

External links

• Watch The Penultimate Peril: Part One on Netflix