Still posing as conjoined carnival freaks, the Baudelaires brace themselves for a beastly fate. Will good fortune intervene ... for once?
Olivia explains to the Baudelaires how she came to the carnival, and that "Madame Lulu" is a title used by the V.F.D. agents to gather information. She had taken over for the last V.F.D. agent while she had gone to the hospital to recover the Sugar Bowl, while Olivia tried to stall Olaf until her return by lying about one of the Bauladiere parents surviving the fire, though she believes Jacques was correct that another person survived the fired. She suggests that the children head to the Mortmain Mountains where the secret headquarters of the V.F.D. can be found.
Violet suggests they fix the roller coaster cars to use as transport the next day, particularly after learning that Olaf will throw one of the freaks into a pit with the lions he acquired as part of the show the next day. Esme convinces the other freaks to join Olaf's troupe as long as one of them push Lulu into the lion pit the next day. Before the Baudelaires and Olivia can escape, Olaf starts the show, and selects Violet and Klaus for the pit. Olivia sacrifices herself to allow the Baudelaires to escape.
When the children try to collect the V.F.D. material from Lulu's tent, Olaf arrives and forces them to burn the tent down, along with the rest of the circus. Placing Violet and Klaus in a circus trailer and taking Sunny himself, Olaf and his troupe drive along a steep mountain path. Olaf reveals to Violet and Klaus he knew they were the Baudelaires, and on his orders, the other circus freaks cut the towing rope; the circus trailer rolls backwards off a cliff. Later, the last operative to pose as Madame Lulu arrives at the burning remains of the circus as Lemony describes her as someone he knows.
