What was the best Aspect of The Erzatz Elevator?

[jrcarlito3]

to me Esme would use that passageway to go to the baudelaires house. and to me that's why she says that beatrice robbed the sugar bowl from her

[hieitouyaicedemon]

I loved the two dark pages. They reminded me of the page-long string of "ever"'s in TRR. I love it when Lemony does stuff like that.

[Emma “Emmz” Squalor]

For me, I'd have to say the first appearance of Esme. Until she came along, I didn't really have a favorite character in ASoUE aside from Olaf.

[melon head.]

I knew you'd pick Esme's first appearence, Emma! I loved the passageway myself, although meeting Esme was awesome. I think I grew to like Esme more as the series went on, as opposed to when we were first introduced to her.

[Mijahu]

The black pages of course! I laughed more at the deja vu pages in TCC, but this was pretty awesome.

[Smooth Criminal.]

Two pages of darkness was great comedic relief. Not that the book isn't chalked full of that already, though.

[-Pepsi.]

I think the best (best as in unsuspecting if you didn't spoil the fact that Esmé was bad) part in the book was when Esmé pushed them down the elevator shaft, which is right before the 2-black pages I believe...

[Tiago James Squalor]

I just finished reading TEE, and even though I'd read it before it was a surprise after surprise, because it's been so long since I read it.Could Olaf have been in league with Esmé prior to the Baudelaire mansion fire?I think so.TEE is my favorite in the series.^^

[Christmas Chief]

I don't think Esme and Olaf could have burnt the Baudelaire mansion together, it appeared to me they met shortly before or during TEE.

[Dante]

Since Olaf was Esmé's acting teacher, and in the U.A. she appeared in a play he wrote which precipitated Lemony's retreat from public life and was by his side when he threatened V.F.D.'s Building Committee, it's generally accepted that Olaf and Esmé have known each other for... would it be fair to say "decades"?

[Christmas Chief]

Ah, right. I always forget to factor in the U.A.

[Invisible]

Probably the red herring and Esme, of course. I chose the red herring because before I read the book, I never heard of the idiom and now I use it all the time. (eg: Anastasia's mother in The Villainous Vengeance) I chose Esme, simply because she's funny.

[Christmas Chief]

What were the red herrings? There was at least one in all the books. Are there specific ones in TEE I'm missing?

[Hermes]

I think lswannabe is referring to the model of a (literal) red herring sold at the auction - which the Quagmires turn out to be in, and not, as the Baudelaires think, in the box marked 'VFD'.

[Christmas Chief]

Oh! I was thinking about actual red herrings- as they are defined in The Puzzling Puzzles- something unimportant to distract spies from the genuine information.