"The Miserable Mill: Part One" Quiz

Answer: Chowder

"To Beatrice-- My love flew like a butterfly, until death swooped down like a bat."

Mr. Poe concerns himself immediately with the disappearance of the Baudelaire orphans who, in an attempt to seek answers, leave Damocles Dock in the back of a truck heading to the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. They don't know that he's quickly distracted by some delicious chowder.

The children's ride comes to an end when their driver notices that they've stowed away in the back of his truck, so they're forced to walk the rest of the way to the lumbermill through the woods. They do make it in due time...only to find that there must have been a horrible fire on the site.

Answer: Paltryville

The Baudelaires realize that everything has led them to the Lucky Smells Lumbermill-- everything in Aunt Josephine's safe, the woman in Uncle Monty's hedge maze-- and that what they find inside the compound's walls may be something they won't like. Nonetheless, they decide to find a way in...until Sunny simply opens the front gate. A sign, upon entry, says that trespassers will be put to work, but they figure they can just lie their way out of having to be made into slaves.

Upon entering the compound they see a structure in the distance that reminds them of Count Olaf, but they're unable to investigate before a man sees them and introduces himself as Charles, the owner of Lucky Smells. He allows them to come inside once they show him the picture from Aunt Josephine's safe.

The children ask about the burned out town outside the compound and Charles says that Paltryville, as it was known, was once a booming lumber town until it was burnt in a fire that destroyed everything except the mill and the eye-shaped building nearby. That's when they meet Sir, the owner of the lumbermill who considers himself a more substantive partner in the business than Charles. He insists that the children, as trespassers, work at the mill to earn their keep and this, he says, is a privilege since the economy is rough for child jobs. Violet agrees.

Answer: Yes

The children reveal to Sir and Charles that their last name is Baudelaire and Sir immediately perks up, saying that everyone in Paltryville knows the name. The reason? They burned down Paltryville. There's a certain irony in that the Baudelaire parents died in their house fire, but Sir is alright with that since they had it coming. He tells them to get rest since they begin working in the morning.

Count Olaf, meanwhile, hitches a ride with the Lucky Smells driver who dropped off the Baudelaires. He ends up right at their doorstep when he disembarks in Paltryville.

Answer: Phil

The Baudelaires spend their first night in the lumbermill workers' dorm and it's there, amidst the gossip and rumours of their new coworkers, that they meet Phil, who introduces himself as an 'optimist'-- a word which, here, means 'a person who thinks hopeful thoughts about even the bleakest situation'-- which may just be what they need to see themselves through their unfortunate event. It also happens to be a word confused with 'optometrist', a word which actually means 'a professional who performs eye exams'. Both, Lemony Snicket insists, could be dangerous.

Still, the children quickly learn a bit more about the lumbermill, learning a bit more about their surroundings with their welcome package. They find that the mill has a library from which they could learn a bit more about Paltryville and a lot of machines that Violet can tinker with. They also find a coupon for a free eye exam at Doctor G. Orwell's Optometry. Maybe they can make this situation work out.

Answer: Drowning, under a bridge

Count Olaf arrives outside the Lucky Smells compound and makes his way to the optometry office, grabbing some flowers to hand to the woman inside (who happens to be throwing darts at his image on a dartboard). It's Georgina Orwell, who restarted her life after Olaf left her to drown under a bridge somewhere. She insists that she vowed never to let him near her again and that she's already been enacting her own evil schemes since he left, but he mentions the Baudelaires and their fortune, and that gets the gears turning.

In bed, Violet and Klaus argue about what they should do with their situation. Klaus wants to leave but Violet wants to clear their parents' names.

In a swamp somewhere, a mother and father tell each other that if they make it out of the woods, they'll tell their children everything about their lives and what they do. Of course, there are men with flashlights on their trail, approaching in the mist.

Answer: Gum

The Baudelaires (and all the other workers) are awakened via the PA system and the sound of pots banging together to discover that it's Log Day, and that they'll all be making logs. Phil seems to be the only one excited by this prospect. On their first day, they're expected to grab debarkers and to begin removing the bark from logs-- a task Sunny is especially equipped to handle-- but by lunch they're all exhausted. Lunch is even more dissatisfying when, for their five minute break, they're only given a wad of gum for their meal.

They claim that gum isn't even a snack, really, but it's all they're promised before dinner.

Answer: Coupons

Violet inquires as to whether or not their wages for working at Lucky Smells can pay for their lunches, but the workers insist that it can not be done since they're paid in coupons. Some of them receive coupons for free refills at restaurants while others get 20% off shampoo or similar. Klaus asks why they don't leave if they get no money, but the Baudelaires are surprised when all of the workers take to their feet to recite the mantra 'Lucky Smells is our life. Lucky Smells is our home.' It's concerning. They agree they need to leave once they get their answers.

The children find the library across from Sir's office and are stopped before they can enter. They're forced to go back to work, but not before they tell Charles to man up a bit as a partner in the operation and fix some of the wrongdoings going on in the mill.

Back at work, the kids realize that the new foreman of the mill may be Count Olaf since no one can see his face. Klaus goes to check for the tattoo on his ankle, but the foreman catches him and kicks him away, intentionally stepping on his glasses. Phil insists on taking Klaus to Dr. Orwell's office to get new ones, so the children split up in hopes that they can find answers separately.

Out on a forest road, a mother and father commandeer a refrigerator repair truck.

Answer: Bertrand Baudelaire

Olaf and Georgina, now reunited, consider leaving to a far-away country that they can take over it with their evil ways, but they receive a call stating that Klaus will be arriving. Phil tells Klaus, outside, that the doctor will be friendly. What Klaus doesn't know is that Dr. Orwell is not friendly.

Violet and Sunny head to the library, discovering that all of the books are the exact same-- all of them are about the history of Lucky Smells Lumbermill as written by Sir. Violet discovers that chapter twelve is specifically about the fire and turns to it to find that the first line simply reads 'The Baudelaires were unequivocally responsible...' and the rest of the first paragraph is scratched out...in every book on every shelf but one. She finds that one, but that's when Sir returns and finds the mess in the library. He tears the untouched page out of the book before leaving.

Before they leave, Sunny finds a thick first edition of a 'Very Functional Dictionary'. On the inside cover is the inscription 'In every library, there is a single book that can answer the question that burns like a fire in the mind.' The handwriting was that of Bertrand Baudelaire-- their father.

In the office, Charles wonders why they need to lie to the Baudelaires and Sir says it's because of the deal they had to make to keep Lucky Smells open. He throws the page into the fire, but Charles grabs it when he leaves. Violet, of course, overhears all of this before leaving with Sunny and the dictionary.

Answer: True

Klaus waits with Phil in Dr. Orwell's waiting room until she emerges and pulls him into her office. He's placed into a unique chair surrounded by contraptions of all sorts and Dr. Orwell makes some small talk about optometry and possibly getting plastic surgery to hide an identity and practice optometry in a far-away location, but he doesn't hear too much of that. Klaus worries that he doesn't trust anyone in the mill and that everyone thinks poorly of the Baudelaires, and he's right to be worried. When Dr. Orwell reveals that she once met their parents, she straps him into his seat and begins the eye exams which, to be fair, isn't really an eye exam at all. Klaus doesn't realize the hypnotism in the slightest, even as Count Olaf encourages him to follow the exams closely.

In the workers' quarters, Violet worries about Klaus until it's lights out at 6pm. He returns soon after without his glasses, telling Violet that he's happy to be at the mill before lying down unresponsively.

In the office the next morning, Sir receives a call from a mother and father asking after the Baudelaire children. He says that the trio is likely elsewhere-- certainly not at Lucky Smells. They continue driving to the mill nonetheless.

Answer: Count Olaf

The next day at the mill is woodchipper day for Klaus, and he's instructed to bring Sunny with him to the machine, holding Sunny precariously over the edge of the chipper, even as Violet comes in and tries to stop him. Violet tries to talk sense into her brother, but he asserts that 'Lucky Smells is their life. Lucky Smells is their home.' She admits that they should have left the mill when he asked and that she misses him an inordinate amount. It's that odd word that snaps him out of his spell and returns him to his normal self.

A mother and father park their hijacked refrigerator repair truck and reach a door.

At the same time, the Baudelaires are told they have a visitor waiting at the Very Fancy Door. Charles tells them that whoever is waiting for them can not come inside as they would be trespassing, but they can go and meet them on the other side of the fence in the visitor's area.

A mother and father open the doors to greet their children, Duncan, Quigley, and Isadora. They tell their children everything.

At Lucky Smells, the Very Fancy Door opens for the Baudelaires as well...but Lemony Snicket begs the viewer to turn away because the situation that unfolds does not have a happy ending. Many years after the events involving the Baudelaire orphans, Lucky Smells had long since closed down and Dr. Orwell's office, once the site for an evil organization, had fallen into disrepair. That's where he learned about what happened to Klaus.

The people at the Very Fancy Door, awaiting Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, are none other than Dr. Orwell and Count Olaf in disguise. They give Klaus his new glasses and lull him into a trance.

About the call Sir received earlier? It was Mr. Poe searching for the whereabouts of the missing Baudelaires. His search would have to continue.