"The Carnivorous Carnival: Part One" Quiz

Answer: The Mortmain Mountains

"For Beatrice-- Our love broke my heart and stopped yours."

In the past, before the Baudelaire children were born, at the V.F.D. Headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains, a note was passed around the party-goers celebrating on the dance floor. The note passed from Larry Your-Waiter to Monty Montgomery before behind handed off to Jacquelyn who gave it to Georgina Orwell's date, Gustav, who put it back in the hands of Larry. When he gave it to Josephine, she flew it into a glass poured on the bar and it was left to wait for the Snickets, Jacques and Lemony, who worried about Beatrice's whereabouts. When Lemony read the note, he discovered that Olaf knew of some important news, and when he found Beatrice out on a balcony, he was too late to save her from her attacker. She plummeted to her death that night.

Answer: Yes

Count Olaf drives his car wildly through the hinterlands, swerving and knocking his henchmen to and fro in the passenger and back seats of the vehicle. He and the others don't know that the Baudelaires are in his trunk waiting for the vehicle to stop so that they can escape his clutches.

At the same time, Olaf talks about the possibility of someone surviving the fire and he drives onward to Caligari Carnival where, hopefully, he can learn of his future from the famous fortune teller Madame Lulu. They eventually arrive at Caligari Carnival and it's notably empty. Esme says it's not very 'in'.

But Olaf believes they're on the right track, especially with the image of an eye appearing on the side of Lulu's tent. The Baudelaires leave their hiding spot while they can.

Answer: 'Did one of the Baudelaire parents survive the fire?'

The children escape the trunk and believe that despite their predicament they may be in a good spot. With the Mortmain Mountains looming in the distance, they consider that one of their parents may be alive as per the Snicket File and the fortune teller in Madame Lulu's tent may have associations with V.F.D. Inside the tent, Madame Lulu performs a surface read on Olaf's henchmen before turning to the Count and telling him he was brought to her by a series of unfortunate events.

After recounting said events, Lulu brings the evildoers to her crystal ball and has them ask a question of it. Olaf asks if one of the Baudelaire parents survived the fire, but she says the answer will come in the morning; the ball works in shifts. So they toast to the night with some wine from the trunk of Olaf's car.

Answer: Cabinet

The Baudelaires decide that they need to be around to find out the answers from Madame Lulu, but staying near the troupe will put them at risk. When they see a sign advertising that freaks are wanted for the carnival they decide to put a plan into action to stay present. Violet, digging into Olaf's trunk, pulls out some disguises. In the tent, Olaf drinks too much wine while the others wonder about Madame Lulu.

At one point, Esme looks back into the fortune telling room and spies the Caligari Cabinet (which Lulu insists she not touch).

When a noise from outside attracts their attention, Olaf and Lulu head out to find the Baudeliares disguised as freaks; Violet and Klaus are dressed as a two-headed person while Sunny is dressed as a wolf baby. Olaf, making things worse, invites them in for an audition.

Answer: Corn on the cob

The Baudelaires' interview goes poorly, and our narrator discusses how fraught with despair anyone would be to undergo one like it. Olaf and his henchmen believe the Baudelaires' freakishness almost outright, and when Violet and Klaus (as Beverly and Elliot) try to eat a cob of corn, they and Sunny (as Chabo the Wolf Baby) are picked up for the job immediately.

They're sent to live with the other freaks in their caravan and told that they would start in the next show the following day. After Olaf and his henchmen head to bed for the night, Madame lulu returns to her tent and contacts her superiors, losing her voice (and revealing herself as Olivia Caliban) before entering the Caligari Cabinet.

Answer: He's ambidextrous

The Baudelaires meet their new freak coworkers on the night of their hiring, finding themselves in the company of Kevin, who's ambidextrous, Collette, who's a contortionist, and Hugo, a hunchback. All three are depressed with the decks that life has dealt them, but they're all glad to meet their new colleagues before they get back to work preparing for the next day's work through exploitative tasks. When the sun rises, Esme worries that Lulu's accent sounds fake and her story barely checks out. Olaf, however, tries to convince her that everything is perfectly fine.

They'll stay a few days and put the troupe to work in the meantime.

Answer: Yes

Olaf returns to Madame Lulu and the two of them sit in front of her crystal ball to summon the spirits of his past. Gazing into the ball, Olaf sees the image of a woman in a dragonfly costume. When he asks about the Baudelaire parents, he doesn't like what he hears.

The news gets to the Baudelaires the next day when they're called upon to start work and while they believe it may be a miracle, it may be too early to celebrate, as our narrator says, because a miracle can always be the opposite of what you think it is.

They will have to wait another day for the answer to whomever might be alive as it's a different question from Olaf's first. In the meantime, Olaf seems to be running the show in the big top and the kids recalibrate their plan.

Answer: Madame Lulu

Olaf leads the freak show as the ringmaster, introducing the several freaks to the minuscule matinee crowd and insisting that everyone in the performance is more than freakish. The Baudelaires end up hitting the stage for the first time at the end of the song and dance they're brought out to eat a lot of corn in horribly awkward ways.

This, of course, rouses the crowd via their humiliation. Olaf is disappointed with the horrible carnival work, but Madame Lulu insists that it's a tough job since they're in the hinterlands and the roving bands of feral lions seem to detract from the appeal. That's when Olaf gets the idea: while his henchpeople dig a pit, he plans to round up a Vicious Feline Display.

Answer: A projector

The Baudelaires take the opportunity in Olaf's absence, while Esme heads off with Madame Lulu, to search the fortune telling tent. Violet very quickly disproves her cold fog and her crystal ball by revealing them to be nothing more than science instead of magic, but the children can't figure out how she would know quite what she does.

In fact, they both believe that because of her fraudulent use of smoke and mirrors, neither of their parents could have lived. That said, the video loaded into the projector beneath her table shows many of the Baudelaires' former guardians, so she could know something. And things only get weirder when the children open the Caligari Cabinet to find a room of Various Fakery Disguises, not unlike a closet. And with the clothing they find more film reels from Verified Film Distribution.

Answer: The Baudelaires

The Baudelaires look through some of the films in the Caligari Cabinet to find a copy of Sebald's 'Zombies in the Snow', explaining the code found in the movie. Amongst the films is a clip of Jacques Snicket who, succinctly, says that anyone meeting a Volunteer in the field can use the phrase 'The world is quiet here'. Ultimately, the films lead them to discover that their parents were definitely part of V.F.D., the Volunteer Fire Department, and were known to put out fires. But what that means for them is still a mystery.
Outside, Esme reveals that she knows exactly who Madame Lulu is, but the catch is that she believes Olivia Caliban is just there to steal her boyfriend.
The Baudelaires find out the truth too, at least about Olivia. In an attempt to hide the film reels away they accidentally knock over her crystal ball, shattering it to pieces. She comes in to find the mess, but reveals herself as a friend.
None of them hear as Count Olaf returns with a bunch of starving lions.