The Slippery Slop and The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

My personal thoughts on the series as a whole (besides the fact that this series is incredibly wretched and full of unfortunate events is posted in my post prior prior prior prior. If you want to see my opinions on all the books as a whole, please (please do not, though, as the post is as wretched and full of unfortunate events as the actual series) go the one prior by scrolling down, a phrase which here means, 'putting your finger on the little bumpy area between the left and right button and pushing in downward'.

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE

The two older Baudelaires manage to stop the falling caravan and decide to hike up the mountain to look for Sunny, who was taken by Olaf and his troupe to be their servant. On the way, however, they are attacked snow gnats, a group of well-organized, ill-tempered insects who live in cold mountain areas and enjoy stinging people for no reason whatsoever. The two run into a cave where the Snow Scouts are hiding, which includes, but is not limited to, Carmelita Spats, the nasty little girl the Baudelaires were forced to put up with at Prufrock Prep, and the boy in the sweater, who turns out to be none other than Quigley Quagmire, the triplet who had been believed to die in the Quagmire fire. He explains that he had hidden in a trapdoor which lead to Dr. Montgomery's house, where he met Jacques Snicket and learn about V.F.D. He and the two older  Baudelaires climb up the Vertical Flame Diversion and manage to make it to V.F.D. headquarters, only to find it in ruins. Here we are introduced to several more V.F.D.s, which, once again includes, but is not limited to, the aforementioned Vertical Flame Diversion, the Vernacularly Fastened Door, Verbal Fridge Dialogue, and Verdant Flammable Devices. The trio notice use the code for the Vernacularly Fastened door to get in, and while in Headquarters, notices a Verdant Flammable Device at the top of the mountain, which is used by none other than Sunny. Violet and Quigley climb up a waterfall to reach the peak,where Sunny is forced to do hard chores that are nearly impossible for even an adult to do at the summit of a freezing mountain, let alone a baby. Only, not even Sunny is a baby anymore, as she says when Violet expresses concern when Sunny wants to continue eavesdropping on Count Olaf and his troupe, which now include the man with a beard but no hair, and the woman with hair but no beard, who gives Count Olaf the Snicket file. The man with a beard but no hair and the woman with hair but no beard are described to have a aura of menace, and they claim to have burned the Headquarters, but failed to find the sugar bowl. Back on the ground, the two Baudelaires and Quigley later use Verbal Fridge Dialogue to find out that the volunteers will meet at the last safe place on Thursday and decide to dig a pit to capture Esme in exchange for Sunny. They cancel their choice at the last minute and go along with Esme up the waterfall, where the Snow Scouts also happen to reach at the same time, so Olaf can trap them along with the freaks and the hook-handed man. Violet claims to know the location of the sugar bowl to save Sunny, but when the three are forced to reveal themselves as to convince the scouts to run away, the plan backfires and Carmelita joins Olaf and Esme int their evil plans. Quickly, the three and Quigley sled down the waterfall, but are eventually separated from Quigley, and the Baudelaires are swept away, to, once again, the road less traveled. (But in this case, the stream less traveled)

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE NOTES

In this book, we are introduced to the sugar bowl, which Count Olaf seems to put above stealing fortunes. Lemony admits he stole the sugar bowl from Esme, and he mentions in a letter to his sister in the book that her assumption that a tea set would come in handy when hiding small things was correct which may refer to the sugar bowl. He also states that a brave volunteer threw the bowl out the window to keep it safe from villains hands. 

Now, I've read my fair share of A Series of Unfortunate Events fan fiction (FOR PURELY EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES), and noticed that most of them contained some romantic relationship between Quigley and Violet. Indeed, when the two take a short break up the mountain, they stand by and talk for a while. Lemony does not give the reader many details as to give them privacy, but it is mentioned that Quigley was looking at Violet when he says "Very lovely indeed".

THE GRIM GROTTO

The Baudelaires enter the Queequeg and meet Captain Widdershins, Fiona, the captain's stepdaughter, and Phil, the optimist from The Miserable Mill. The crew's biggest purpose is to find the sugar bowl, and each are assigned a job to do according to their interests for that purpose. While Sunny uses her newly found cooking skills to make dinner, Violet discovers that it is likely Olaf is disrupting the telegram machines from their senders. Klaus manages to guess that the tide carried the bowl to the Gorgonian Grotto. On the way there, Captain Widdershins, mention the three Snicket siblings but is interrupted before he can mention Lemony. The three children and Fiona go there, but find no sugar bowl. They instead find the Medusoid Mycelium, which the children have read about, and so they know it is a very deadly mushroom that can kill within the hour. Unfortunately, a single spore manages to find it's way into Sunny's diving helmet, poisoning her. To make matters worse Queequeg has abandoned and Olaf's own ship, the Carmelita has captured it. The four are taken to the bring, where the hook-handed man is supposed to get information out of them, but the hook-handed man is none other than Fernald, Fiona's brother. Fernald agrees to help them, in exchange of taking him with them. The Baudelaires manage to make it to the Queequeg thanks to the two sibling's distraction. Sunny manages to tell them that wasabi, which the Baudelaires found in the grotto, is one cure to the Mycelium. While Sunny recovers, the two elder Baudelaires are stunned to find a telegram has reached them. Two poems with the words switched with the coded words. This is Verse Fluctuations Declaration, and so the two manage to fins the actual poems and find out they decode into a message to meet them at Briny Beach, the place where all their troubles began. The tables turn again, however, as it is revealed that Fiona has joined Count Olaf. He leaves her to guard the three orphans, but they manage to convince her to let them go. Together, the three steer away to Briny beach, leaving Klaus heartbroken. At the beach, the three run into Mr. Poe, who offers to take them, but they instead go in a taxi with a woman who introduces herself as Kit Snicket, and they leave to Hotel Denouement.

THE GRIM GROTTO

The last scene where the three chose Kit, a stranger, over Mr. Poe, a person they actually know. I think that this is symbolic as the Baudelaires would chose the life of fighting fire and risking their lives than living a mere mundane life. The three are not just people who want to have their friends and themselves safe anymore; they are volunteers, who would live and die to make the world a better place. And what's more is that there was no turning back. They could have lost everything that ever mattered to them in the city, and despite all that, they chose their own fate.

As I've said just two paragraphs ago, I have read some A Series of Unfortunate Events fan fiction (I APOLOGISE FOR NOTHING) and found that all writers divide into two groups: The ones who put Isadora and Klaus together, and the ones who put Fiona and Klaus together. While there isn't exactly a love triangle (THANK YOU LEMONY SNICKET), and Lemony has made no intention of writing a sequel to the series, it would be interesting to see what would happen between these two. Personally, I think Fiona would win, because Isadora made no intention of having a relationship with Klaus in the manner of eros, but Fiona clearly did.
The mysterious question mark figure in the sea is often told to be the Bombinating Beast, which is referenced in All the Wrong Questions. Jacques's the first to call it 'The Great Unknown'.

Well, that's it for today. I hope you come for more boom reviews, except not the reviews reviewing this series. 

With all due respect, Sooyoung Jo