The first moments of Netflix's newest series contain two warnings — both the theme song and narrator encourage the viewer to look away from the Series Of Unfortunate Events that befall the Baudelaire orphans. But between the song's dire warning and Lemony Snicket's plea to consume any other television show, there's a brief message that dedicates A Series of Unfortunate Events to Beatrice. As if being typed by a typewriter, we see the words, "To Beatrice – darling, dearest, dead." When each new story begins, a new dedication arrives revealing that Beatrice is very loved and no longer living, and anyone not familiar with the book series may be confused about who this mysterious woman is. Spoilers for the ASOUE books and Netflix series ahead.
It quickly becomes clear that Beatrice is the woman that the stories' narrator, Lemony Snicket, loved with a great fervor, a word here meaning great passion. While it may initially seem like Beatrice lives solely in the world of Snicket, who happens to be telling the Baudelaires' story, ASOUE soon reveals that Snicket is a part of the orphans' lives, if only because they have mutual associates. The first season of the Netflix series only offers hints at her history with Snicket and how she may have perished, but fans of the book series already know that Beatrice is an important piece of the stories' biggest mystery: Why is Lemony Snicket telling this story?
At least once an episode, Snicket addresses the audience to remind them of two things. First, that the audience is under no obligation to subject themselves to the horrible histories of the Baudelaire orphans. Second, that it is his duty to tell their story. In the original book series by Snicket (aka Daniel Handler), it is revealed that this is because, before she tragically passed away in a fire that engulfed her home, Beatrice was Violet, Klaus, and Sunny's mother.
In the final moments of the final book of A Series Of Unfortunate Events, simply titled The End, the Baudelaires find themselves as caretakers to a newborn child, who they decide to name after their mother, Beatrice. While this confirms that Beatrice Baudelaire and the Beatrice who Snicket often talks about are one and the same, the details of how they met, fell in love, and fell out of love are all told in details and asides in the book, leaving the reader to pick out for themselves what really happened. The only certainty in their love story is that it met a truly tragic end.
The Series Of Unfortunate Events television series is very upfront about how very little in the story of the Baudelaire orphans is coincidental. Similarly, it's no accident that Snicket is dedicating his time to telling the story of the children of the woman he loved, even while he's on the run from his enemies.
In addition to Snicket, there isn't a single major character in the series that wasn't massively affected by the late Beatrice Baudelaire. While it's likely that Beatrice will never be seen in the Netflix show, her presence will always cast a strong shadow over this Series of Unfortunate Events.
