What Was In the Sugar Bowl ANSWERED (Not Really) | A Series Of Unfortunate Events Theory

[@ellebell9139]

In the 20's a "sugar bowl" was a euphemism for a lady's business 😂 but actually the slang definition of sugar bowl in the dictionary defined as turmoil/confusion/complexity ... So it makes sense for the contents to be kept elusive within the books. But the real answer is that in the literary sense, a sugar bowl is a happy place where nothing bad ever happens: thus everyone is seeking it. You're welcome 😊

[@nikoguarro]

😮

[@swirlingsun]

so basically, the sugar bowl is a happy ending. something that doesn't exist in this world, we lost our last chance at it when dewey died. something that beatrice stole from esme and was burned down in the fire. something that both the children and olaf realize is futile by the end

[@ellebell9139]

@@swirlingsun yes! Thanks for that

[@hanzempaces6707]

I've just finished watching the ASOUFE and you practically have gotten the most comprehensive video about the show. Thank you so much! You deserve a subscription!

[@shelletemisfit]

the one thing that still irks my brain is how and why did esme have it? she stated multiple times it was her specific sugar bowl that matched her set and did not want to part with it.

[@Germaineeinin]

The sugar bowl was for every volunteer. In Lemony Snicket’s unauthorized autobiography it lists everything in the ‘disguise kit’ one of those things happen to be the option of the sugar bowl. It was tool used by V.F.D. And honestly knowing how much Greed Esmé had, it wouldn’t be shocking if she simply just decided that the sugar bowl and set was hers.

[@shelletemisfit]

@@Germaineeinin yeah i understood that but i thought that meant every vfd member would then have their own disguise kit. whether given to them through training or they made their own kita for themselves or a mixture of both. meaning there was morw than one sugar bowl. and vfd members who chose to use the optional sugar bowl in their kit had one or at least had one on them at some point. but why THIS specific sugar bowl? WHY ESMES? because she values it more than anyone else did?

[@Germaineeinin]

@@shelletemisfit I think Esme has a very ‘spoilt child’ complex, what I mean by that is, A child who has peen spoiled will want something simply to have it. Even if the thing they want doesn’t hold much value. I think one of the reasons why this sugar-bowl in specific is so sought after, is because Esme wants it. The ‘Nobel’ side of the schism may only want it because they know that their enemies want it. And Esme wants it just to have it, it’s hers and it matches her tea set. Beatrice doesn’t want it getting into the wrong hands (The wrong hands being people on the other side of the schism) because they won’t have leverage anymore, and it would feed into Esme’s spoilt child complex.

[@blve.january]

the sugar bowl is likely a metaphor for status. the sugar bowl was a birthright

[@graced59]

I think the Esme sugar bowel has just sugar in it and she genuinely wanted it to finish the set. She needs help to get it back because she can’t on her own so she tells lies to different people about what was in it so that lots of people had a vested interest in getting it for her and once they discover nothing important is in it they will turn it over to her anyway as it’s worthless to them.

[@Bazzlieo]

I like this theory it’s camp

[@Erin-if7pj]

That VFD/Biblical Proverb is actually key to me: "Bitter as wormwood" = bitter like horseradish--something to protect against the Medusoid Mycelium. "Sharp as a two-edged sword" = evidence that would both incriminate Beatrice and exonerate Lemony. Maybe it's the darts, maybe it's more. But that explains why Lemony only tries to find it and save his reputation 15+ years later once he knows Beatrice is dead. So in my opinion, the show was right, but it wasn't the *only* thing in the Sugar Bowl. Maybe there's all sorts of evidence, and that's why so many people are interested in it. And it makes sense why Widdershins wouldn't be telling the Baudelaires that their own mother was a murderer. That sounds like a secret too terrible for children to know.

[@MacheTheFerret]

makes me think biblical parallels can give us possible theories about several other aspects of the series, considering how many there seem to be hell, book 13 literally culminates with [spoilers below, for those scrolling the comments] ... the baudelaire children literally eating an apple from a tree of assorted knowledge, handed to them by a serpent; considering how much Grim Grotto mentioned cycles, it makes me wonder if a similarish "adam and eve eating the forbidden fruit" moment was what truly sparked the VFD schism ...makes me wonder, what if The Man With The Beard But No Hair and The Woman With the Hair But No Beard were VFD's figurative adam and eve, and that's why its members refuse to refer to them by name? much to think about

[@Germaineeinin]

13:07 I think we can know for sure, since Beatrice leaves the island with Bertrand it means that her and Lemony already had to break up. We know that Lemony and her broke up when Lemony had to go on the run for all the arsons he ‘committed’ (but were really Olaf’s). And we know Lemony can only accused of arson *if* an arson had actually been committed. AND because Olaf didn’t fully switch sides and start setting the world on fire until his father died (which happened the same night the sugar bowl was stolen), it’s only logical to assume that Beatrice was on the island after the sugarbowl had been stolen. (Sorry that, that made no sense)

[@bentobox9175]

Ok I still think everything you said in this vid was basically right but one thing you missed was that 11:28 “…we’ve **recreated** the botanical hybrid…”. This is an amazing video and I love your a Series of Unfortunate Events videos ❤❤❤❤❤

[@SpyFoxB]

My best explanation is it held everything described at one point or another but enough characters assumed the contents never changed that no one truly knows what it is

[@CreativeWM_Personal]

My guess is that the sugar bowl has a map painted into it detailing where the secret tunnel between the mainland and the island is. Which incidentally also includes the location of the poisonous mushrooms in said tunnel.

[@dannyteich9356]

The other problem with the timeline for the horseradish theory is…wasn’t the deadly mushroom only cultivated for the first time AFTER the schism already began? Because the fire-stopping side wanted to create a weapon against the fire-starting side? I’m going off the Netflix show since it’s been a long time since I read the books

[@Erin-if7pj]

@@dannyteich9356 That's true in the books, as well. Or the Baudelaires at least assume that based on a letter to Gregor Anwhistle that they find in The Grim Grotto.

[@spaceangelexe]

Tbh when i read/watched the show i wasnt the brightest and thought they ware fighting like over the suger boul itself. Like becase it was a super nice and facny suger bowl. Like not in a "thires nothing in the bowl way" in "dang how pretty is this bowl" way

[@Erin-if7pj]

@@spaceangelexe That's why Esmé Squalor wants it, at least, haha.

[@OffTrackEpisodic]

this was a great video!! i like the sugar bowl mystery being ambiguous and unsolved, it's wild to me that daniel handler says there's an answer and people have written to him with it. i love that this book series is still being talked about!

[@anneonomous4910]

I think the sugar is the only physical thing in the bowl. I think the reason why it's been so coveted for so long, is because on the inside wall of the sugar bowl is valuable written information that is incredibly dangerous for either side to possess. That's why both want it so much, because the fear of the unknown forces them to covet it, in fear of the other side cracking the code first

[@CombustibleLime]

Another great video! Man I feel spoiled to have gotten another asoue video that is S tier

[@tobequitefranco]

It’s been a very long time since I’ve thought about it, but I think the answer is both that the sugar bowl was used to contain the sugar from the hybrid AND nothing. The nothing answer is probably the correct one-it is used as a prop, a training tool for the vfd, a secret without meaning, etc. But Beatrice also did use it for the special sugar. The other answers are distractions and red herrings meant to obfuscate the fact that there was (at least in one instance, and possibly other instances) an actual answer. That’s what I believe.

[@emoteen011]

It also works thematically with the mycelium as a stand in for death being the only thing we know for certain in life is we're gonna die, and the sugar bowl being the uncertainty of life how everyone thinks they know what it is but no one has a clue.

[@joeleboeuf]

This honestly reminds me of the mystery of Red X from Teen Titans. Who stole the suit? Who was under the mask? It's just like this sugar bowl mystery; people can come up with theory after theory, but there's no real definitive answer. Perhaps some mysteries that are better left unsolved.

[@Rafaisto]

Please keep making these videos, they are so good, if you could talk about other mysteries, it would be great

[@AaronL0905]

I like to think the sugar bowl wasn't special at all and people just fought over it bc the members of the vfd were just fans of doing cryptic stuff

[@barelyhere7200]

2:59 I personally very much disagree with this. Well yes, if everything is answered a story is easier to forget but a good story is something that you will remember for the rest of your life whether the questions are answered or not. The good place is my favorite show of all time, and that series ends with the most closure humanly possible but I know I’m always gonna remember that show and rewatch it. What’s in the sugar bowl not being answered feels more like a slap in the face then story cohesion to me. If what was revealed to be in the sugar bowl made sense and it was a good reveal (like it was in the TV show), I think people would’ve liked that. Saying “it was a mystery that was too big to be answered” just feels like a lame excuse to me

[@Lucky10279]

I don't believe Handler about the "1 person a year" thing either. I think that's him trolling and he never actually chose a specific explanation -- he always intended it as a macguffin, like you said at the start. But the author not choosing a specific explanation for something he left purposely doesn't mean fans can't collectively decide on an explanation that best fits the information provided. For me, your theory does seem like an "ah ha" moment for me, so it's my headcanon.

[@urahara64360]

Honestly I thought about recently on a recent reread. I think it might be some kind to manual for their methods and maybe some kind of files on what things they did. Essentially exposing the secret of the secret society and making it exposed to the wider world.

[@DrFungus1990]

similar I had always assumed it was a decoder ring/cypher that would allow access to all these things. Widdershins was afraid to tell the kids, in the idea that their ignorance would protect them.

[@KebehQuaa]

Take this with a grain of sugar, as I haven't read the books: As I understood it, the Sugar Bowl was known to contain the cure to the Medusoid Mycelium (in the form of sugar) and as tensions due to the schism rose, it became an important asset to secure. After the Sugar Bowl incident, Beatrice went to an island to try to *recreate* the cure and succeeded, perhaps introducing a new unknown bowl (which could have motivated the Boudelaire house fire and been destroyed in it). So the timeline checks. For the other points: In the quote you showed on screen at 14:27, lemony doesn't mention the arson charges against him. He could mean he would feel exonerated in the eyes of the VFD and Beatrice, which he cares much more about than being considered a felon by the authorities. And Esme is right: the cure is sugar. What's a more fitting container than a sugar bowl? So the TV Shows answer seems very convincing to me so far, as none of the arguments against it seem to hold any weight. Yet I still have to read that article, and that might change my mind. I also want to note that I acknowledge that it was very much the author's intent to leave it vague and unanswered (plus an extremely clever play on language, as pointed out by another comment), and I love it. It just seems that the answer given by Netflix was the actual answer and not something they made up.

[@interstellarmoss]

They made the cure, then when Beatrice moved to the island she combined it with the apple tree to create the hybrid tree. The cure isn't the hybrid, the cure is the sugar which is part of the hybrid.

[@ErdrickHero]

Everyone's looking for a different sugar bowl but they all think they're looking for the same one.

[@jlovitz]

handler help on season 1 and 2 and before season 3 came along, he was let go and the showrunner did whatever he felt doing without handler.

[@emosarah7]

Your background music is the same music that Riide uses in Saskatoon Homie. I may be the only person who notices but it's so weird listening to you talk about this mystery and expecting "Waiting for a cab?" Have some fun trivia from a place you've never been :) Great video.

[@SheMumbles]

Man i clicked this so fast 😂 so glad this popped up in my feed!

[@johnthefirstreal]

My opinion on the what’s inside the sugar bowl (as someone who has only watched the show) is ‘nothing’, but not literally nothing, figurative nothing. As in we don’t know what’s inside, and we never will know what’s officially in it, And that’s it. We will never know, it’s just a black void and neither what Kit said in the show or these theories will ever be 100% proof unless confirmed (which will be unlikely). Or it could just be sugar (regular sugar).

[@bentobox9175]

There was a bell that ring at the start and a bell at the end… you’ve got to be kidding me

[@Torlagorg]

We need to understand that this story could be convoluted, like the show lost, or the show from. I feel like us not knowing is just part of the fun. To have you keep wanting to come back and figure it out 😂

[@malcolmw121]

I'm wondering if the sugar bowl contained a sort of anti-medusoid, instead of an antidote; a fungus capable of destroying the medusoid mycelium, or perhaps of acting like an antibody to protect the body of a 'host', created from the fungus (explaining the presence of such a volatile fungus in a critical research lab) to counteract its effects. It... -would need to be in a small, enclosed space; -would protect someone LONG-TERM from the Medusoid, granting someone in possession of the MM free reign to do whatever terrible things they want with it, or granting someone immunity to as many people as they saw fit. -would be irrelevant to Olaf when he's at the end of his rope; he doesn't care whether he himself is infected, he was shot in the chest, and he has played one last cruel trick with his disguises. The question remains- why would anyone care about this if the medusoid was thought to be destroyed? Well... one last thought. Perhaps the MM could be brought back if the anti-medusoid was possessed... It's a bit far fetched, though. The timeline stuff is still confusing, but when isn't it... however, I have a thought. It's possible the sugar bowl theft happened before the object in question was stored inside, and that's simply personal beef between Esme (original owner of what would become the coveted item) and Beatrice. I do like the 'nothing' idea though.

[@rohanlevesley1426]

It would make sense for Esme to want it more than anyone else who knows there's nothing in it. What's more in than having an item that no one else has and people are willing to die for. Besides, it was stolen from her, perhaps she created her own narrative around it in order to get it back?

[@number_7_only]

What’s more confusing the FNAF time line of the Series of Unfortunate Events time line

[@brokenThinker]

omg the fnaf timeline.....

[@number_7_only]

@@brokenThinker we have our first vote

[@ded_plant]

What if the true FNAF lore is in the sugar bowl…

[@number_7_only]

@@ded_plant what side would game theory be on starter or fighter

[@Keef_DGAF]

Out of curiousity, this is purely spitballing, but what if its not what was INSIDE the sugarbowl? What if its something specific about its decoration? A code or clue or map perhaps? Js... Everyone seems so bent on whats inside and not very keen on the bowl itself.

[@f5tornado831]

I was thinking maybe it's just a really valuable antique lol.

[@oliverwhite7105]

I thought the same theory they're all going after a different sugar bowl or they all think it's something different.

[@pallasathena1555]

32:33 “am I … am I really lemony snicker?” Dun dun duunnnnnn…

[@Catuta]

did u hide a serbald code in there?

[@NathanWatsonzero]

Its a mcguffin

[@cheesymiccheeseballs8227]

Huh? I think it was Skeet, Hugh or Jimmy depending on the day. 😉

[@sierralovat5498]

ai always thought the bowl was just what it was. A bowl. In time, what was a "I'm going to use this, sorry Esme" became a "This will hide stuff" to a "Mcguffin" The bowls itself became meaningful when in reality it was just proof of one truth. The Adults are awful, petty and a-holes.

[@M.W.2]

I chose to believe you actually craked it

[@matthewmcvey3494]

Frankly, the whole world is better off without that bowl

[@dawnriddler]

What if the content changed through time?

[@TheBiggestPenguinlover]

By the way if you want a quick answer it’s sugar

[@bannie126]

In "The End," Kit Snicket reveals that the Sugar Bowl contains a sugar capable of immunizing its consumers from the Medusoid Mycelium. A small amount was stored in the Sugar Bowl by the Baudelaire parents on their escape from the Island. ( yeah, cnp'ed from google cuz i'm lazy )

[@theghostwiththemost789]

I never read the books, but I did watch the TV show and I loved it. I’m glad that the TV show had an answer for what was in the sugar bowl. If I had read the books, I probably would’ve hated the fact that what was inside the Sugar bowl was never answered. I think leaving things ambiguous can be the correct choice in certain scenarios and a series of unfortunate events Leaves a lot of things ambiguous and I don’t have a problem with most of those. However, leaving one of the biggest parts of the story and the biggest mystery in the entire series ambiguous really rubs me the wrong way. I personally think that’s terrible writing

[@lely3116]

then u dont understand asoue

[@atm2060]

I think it’s a time machine