I Deeply Imagine Him And Jacques Smoking Together, But Jacques Stopped (likely) And Lemony Didn't.

I deeply imagine him and Jacques smoking together, but Jacques stopped (likely) and Lemony didn't.

The one detail in Penultimate Peril that I will never, ever get over is that Lemony Snicket smokes. He shows up and offers to take away the Baudelaires, and he's smoking a cigarette.

All through the series, fire is the ultimate Bad Thing. The good guys are firefighters and the bad guys are firestarters. Arson is the worst crime. And the Baudelaires' descent into moral ambiguity is shown through them starting multiple fires.

Lemony Snicket might as well be the poster boy for VFD. He was raised in it since infancy. He lost Beatrice because of the consequences of being a volunteer. He has been on the lam for at least fifteen years because of his dedication to it. He lost both of his siblings to it. There are plenty of people in the series who question VFD and its motives, but for all it's done to hurt him, Snicket is very loyal. He does point out some flaws, but not as many as you'd expect.

And yet Lemony smokes. Lemony starts fires every day to feed his own addiction. He carries a lighter or matches with him at all times, just like the villains do. He regularly engages in a massive fire hazard. He says himself that a man who smokes cigarettes is somewhere in between wicked and noble. I want to know how someone so deep in VFD even started smoking.

I think the one thing I am the saltiest about Netflix not including is that. Truly Lemony being a smoker is everything to me.