Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
Once Upon A Time In Wonderland- Dirty Little Secrets (1×10)
Most of this weeks Once in Wonderland story unfolded through flashbacks. We ventured into Cyrus’s memory to a time in Agrabah and found out why he was cursed to the bottle. Cyrus wasn’t always such a self righteous good-doer, he was actually someone with many faults.. especially his desire to cheat fate! He was an arrogant thief! One night he cheated at a poker game and in retaliation, one of the players lit his hut on fire, severely burning his mother. To save her, Cyrus made his brothers find a healing well with magical waters. The guardian of these waters told him that the water would not help his mother as her fate was already sealed. Stealing the water would come with a price… one that Cyrus was willing to pay to fix his mistake. He convinced his brothers that taking the water was the right thing to do for mother. The magical water did in fact heal her, but in return turned the three brothers into genies, enslaving them to their bottles for years to come.
Present day, Cyrus is on a mission to find that well and ask the goddess to undo that spell. Obviously, it’s not as easy. She tells him he has to return the water, to which Cyrus replies that its impossible because he poured it on his mother over 100 years ago and she was now dead. Well, anything is possible in Wonderland apparently because Cyrus’s mother is in fact alive. This comes as a huge shocker to Cyrus. How is this possible? Cyrus and Alice are determined to find his human mother, but in fact she’s alive because she was bound to a curse much more fatal than death. Cyrus’s mother is actually Amarra, the woman that helped Jafar learn about magic and was cursed and turned into a snake and than Jafar’s staff. Yep. She’s trapped as Jafar’s “golden” pet. This twist is brilliant as after Amara lost her sons to Nyx, she became the most feared sorceress in Agrabah and took Jafar under her wing. There’s definitely more to her story, for example how she became so feared. Was it to find her sons? I wonder how Cyrus will figure that one out. Now Cyrus realizes by his one mistake, he’s given Jafar the power to destroy all of Wonderland. What a burden to carry, but paying for your mistakes isn’t new and magic always comes with a price remember!
The only possibility is if by some chance Cyrus and Alice make it to the palace, find the Red Queen and talk to her admitting that their new mission is to find his mother. That’s going to be the only way to save Cyrus’s brothers and Knave. After all, Jafar told her that his first love Amara is trapped inside his cane. Hopefully, they can put two and two together. Isn’t it crazy to think that his whole time Jafar was holding Cyrus hostage and his mother was watching but couldn’t do anything about it. Does Jafar know he’s trying to capture all three of her children? Is that why he wanted the genies in the first place?
The Red Queen proved to be pretty powerless without Jafar as her ally. She was ambushed by the Jabberwocky, who pry’s on people’s fears, while reading their minds. Now there’s a super power I’d like to have!! The faceoff proved a lose for Ana, who fought till the end to protect Will (surprisingly). Although hiding him in his bottle and throwing it in a bush was really not thought through. Like the Jabberwocky really wouldn’t find it…. Blonde moment much, Ana? Never underestimate a woman with drawn on feathers! Taking orders from Jafar, the Jabberwocky tortured the Queen until she made all three wishes, sending the Knave back into the bottle and finally making him Jafar’s property. This was really a sad scene, but so refreshing as it was nice not to see Ana get everything she wants or have her manipulate her way out of it . It was devastating because she didn’t have it in her to save Will and you could see the darkness hiding within her. No wonder she’s been so mean and volatile to her ‘people’ she’s been living with all these regrets and now she sold out the one man she loves, again. This time Ana was left without a choice, which is unfortunate since she was committed to doing better by her people. To me she’s one of the most eccentric and interesting characters, along with the Knave and Cyrus. Alice whose suppose to be the main character is too simple and proper. It’s as if she’s never done anything wrong and lacks lots of personality.
Things are really picking up in Wonderland especially since next week **SPOILER ALERT** Cyrus and Alice go to get Knave’s heart… from Storybrooke!!! How exciting to see these shows kind of merge together. It only makes sense. Now that Jafar’s got all three genie’s he still cannot complete the spells because Knave’s heartless!! Good job Will, stopping evil one step at a time!!! Will they be able to save Knave and Cyrus’s brothers? The Red Queen?? Find out where Cyrus’s mother actually is and free her from the curse? Will we stop this madness once and for all??? I vote for no because I’d really like another season to be quite honest. I knew there was a reason why Wonderland always seemed to give me the heebie jeebies when I was younger. There’s nothing wonderlous about it!
More major Once Upon A Time castings have been made. Storybrooke will be a very populated town this season!
OUAT has cast yet another Frozen character– Prince Hans. Shameless star Tyler Jacob Moore will be joining the cast as Prince Hans, Anna’s treacherous former lover. He will appear in the third episode and will be recurring throughout the season.
Photo Credit: Shameless/Showtime
When we first reported that OUAT directors were hoping to incorporate Hans in the show, we wondered if he would be as evil as he was depicted in the movie. In the Disney film, Hans tricked Anna into falling in love with him in order to become king of Arendelle. He was banished and shipped out by Queen Elsa, so it’ll be interesting to see where his character picks up on the show, considering OUAT is picking up after the movies end.
Also joining the OUAT family is John Rhys- Davies, who will provide the voice of rock-troll Pabbie. Executive producer Adam Horowitz announced the good news on Twitter today. Rhys- Davies is known for his work in Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones. In Frozen, Pabbie helps Elsa cure herself after she accidentally freezes her head with icy magic.
Other Frozen characters making their way to Storybrooke include Queen Elsa (played by Georgina Haig), Princess Anna (Elizabeth Lail), Kristoff (Scott Michael Foster) and Elizabeth Mitchell as the Original Snow Queen aka Elsa and Anna’s mom. Yeah, it’s a mouthful.
Thankfully, this weekend Comic Con debuted a spoiler-ey first look at the season to come! Unfortunately, if you weren’t attending, there’s no way you can get your hands on the video. Basically, the clip gave fans a frosty look at Anna and Elsa putting flowers on their mothers grave, while Elsa tells her that “mother would be so proud of her” before presenting her sister with a wedding gift. Yes, Anna and Kristoff are getting married! *Squeals!* Let’s just hope that Han’s return doesn’t put a bump in their love story… although it most likely will considering Elsa will not be getting a love interest!
Photo Credit: Once Upon A Time in Wonderland/ ABC
Veering away from Frozen, another familiar face is coming to Storybrooke– The Knave of Hearts. Michael Socha will reprise his role as the Knave, the only character from the OUAT spinoff, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, that seems to have survived. (For good reason!) I’m holding out that he becomes good friends with Hook… or that the two get some decent “bro-ey” screen time. Especially since Captain Hook is getting a new wardrobe! Ditching the pirate clothes doesn’t take the pirate out of the lad revealed Colin O’Donoghue. He might be falling in love with Emma and finally dressing like he’s living in the 20th century, but he’s still a pirate! Sidenote: hotties are taking over Storybrooke!
Once Upon A Time returns on Sunday, Sept. 28 on ABC. There’s way to many story lines for you to even think about missing the season premiere!
Featured Image:ABC/Once Upon A Time
“Anything is possible in Wonderland”
Once Upon A Time came to an end this week and everyone lived happily ever after… well except for Jafar who totally got what was coming to him. Despite really liking the show, part of me is relieved it’s over mainly because of the satisfying finale that we were given. During a time where series finales like to do the unthinkable and use the shock factor till the very last drop, Once strayed from that model and it was perfect. They did everything by the book; the fairy tale book!! It was a perfect ending to a less than perfect time spent in the not so wonderful, Wonderland.
We began the episode where we left off last week. Jafar and Amarra were doing the spell to become the almighty and powerful and it worked. They were now the most powerful sorcers in Wonderland and nothing and no one could stop them. Obviously allowing Jafar to have this much power was a recipe for disaster. His first order of business– to make his father finally love him– something he’s wanted since he was 10 years old. But, once he got the loved he so dearly longed for, he had other ideas for daddy dearest. He wanted him to feel what it was like to get killed by somebody he loved and just like that he drowned his father–cold heartedly.
Jafar also planned to kill Amarra, but while he was distracted with his father, she escaped with her son Cyrus and Alice. Back at the rabbits house they plotted to take down the evil sorcerer. The only way would be to build an army which would be led by Alice. They would make their way down to the castle, while Cyrus and his mother would go back to the well of wonders. In order to break the curse, Amarra had to return the stolen water meaning she had to sacrifice herself. When she would die, the spell would be broken and Jafar would lose his powers. Now in theory that sounded like a brilliant plan, but Jafar had some other tricks up his sleeves. I mean, he could finally break the laws of magic– of course he was going to take advantage of it!
First he brought Ana back from the dead, just like he promised. But, it didn’t come without a consequence. Ana returned but was cursed into thinking she actually loved Jafar. The whole idea was disturbing, especially seeing these two exchange tongues…. I was probably more disgusted than Will. Than, Jafar went about bringing soldiers back from the dead to fight and defend the honor of Wonderland. Resurrecting his army was the only way he’d make sure that they stayed loyal to him. And they did… they attacked any intruders that got in the way of finding Amarra. They brought Alice back to the castle, where Jafar threatened to make her forget ever meeting Cyrus unless she told him where Amarra and Cyrus were. Clearly, Alice has never been one that was easily threatened so when Jafar gave a speech about his power would erase her memory and make her suffer a fate worse than heartbreak, she responded with a beautiful speech about how her love was more powerful than any type of magic– even a sorceress one. His magic would never be able to hurt the love her and Cyrus share. Hey, after all, he tried it once already and it didn’t work.
Unfortunately, Ana babbled and told Jafar where Amarra and Cyrus were headed and pretty soon, Jafar caught up to the mother-daughter duo, killing Amarra in cold blood. Truthfully, her death was inevitable but still really sad to have to watch Cyrus see his mother die. The good part was that Jafar was pretty oblivious to how the well of wonders worked and why Amarra was there in the first place. I guess power doesn’t get you everything.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, the rabbit came to help Alice and the Knave, but Anastasia saw and got furious that someone was trying to harm her lovers plans. Will tried desperately to convince Ana that she wasn’t really in love with Jafar; that it was just a curse. The only way to do that properly in a fairy tale is obviously through a kiss. He risked sticking his arm out through the portal that kept him enclosed and pulled Ana towards him hereby breaking the curse. Alice was able to get the rabbits help and teleport over to the well of wonders, just in time as Jafar was about to harm Cyrus.
Cyrus tried to push the remainders of his mother’s borrowed water into the well but Jafar used his magic to steal it out of his hand. And that’s how the battle for Wonderland was won. The water, was never Jafar’s to steal. He basically committed the same crime that got Cyrus and his brothers banished to a bottle for thousands of years. As a result, the guardian placed cuffs on Jafar, stripped him of his magic and off into the bottle he went. It was karma– good karma!!! Silly Jafar, haven’t you heard good always trumps evil!
But it was Ana who really had the hardest day, er week, in Wonderland. First she was killed by Jafar in front of Will’s very eyes. Than she was brough back but put under a spell that made her believe she was in love with Jafar. Will than broke the curse, but once Jafar was banished to his bottle and stripped of his powers, Ana died once again. Thankfully, the guardian of the well realized it wasn’t Ana’s time to go and gave them some water from the well of wonder’s as a gift to bring back Ana, who was resurrected for a third time. Finally, a happy ending for the almost-doomed couple! These two have really had an adventure trying to be together.
With the storm gone, Cyrus and Alice decided to go back home… Alice’s home that is. In a satisfying and tasteful ending, Alice returned back to England to reconcile with her father. We flash forward and see Alice in a lovely white wedding dress. Her father is recalling his time spent in Wonderland and thanking his daughter for proving to him that forgiveness is possible. He walks Alice down the aisle and gives her away to her magical genie Cyrus and the two are made husband and wife by the rabbit. Wonderful touch really. It makes the whole story come full circle and provides evidence to her father and his new wife that everything Alice went through was real. Cyrus’s brothers and happy couple Will and Anastasia are all in attendance for the ceremony. When the ‘I do’s’ were said and done, everyone went back to Wonderland to start a new, peaceful and wonderful life… everyone except Alice and Cyrus. (I’m not surprised, would you want to go back to Wonderland after that experience??) One of the most successful moments during the finale wasn’t the marriage between Alice and Cyrus, nor the reconciliation of Will and Anastasia, but the goodbye between Will and Alice. A true measure of their friendship. We started this show off day one with these two friends, who have grown and evolved. It was sad to see them part ways. Sometimes, I sort of rooted for them to be together…. Nah!!
Yet the best part of it all was the fast forward a couple of years later. Alice was having tea time with her daughter while reading her a book about Wonderland and all of the adventure’s she had there. The daughter, completely mesmerized by the stories asked her mom if they were all true? How could they be possible?? “Anything is possible in Wonderland,” Alice replied, just as Cyrus turned the corner to join his lovely ladies for tea. The rabbit chucked from behind a tree knowingly fairly well, all was right in the world. And what was that story Alice was reading her daughter? Well, it was titled, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A fitting title for stories that we all grew up with as a kid!!!! And they lived happily ever after…. The End.
Other Thoughts
– How will this time lapse affect Will’s crossover to the originals Once Upon A Time? Will it Will in the future? Will it explain his time in Wonderland? What happened after defeating Jafar?
-Why did Will return to Storybrooke? What about Ana? How did their relationship go after the original happily ever after? I mean, we all kind of know that doesn’t exist.
– RIP Jabberwocky… well until someone finds you and tries to help you again.
– I wonder who got cursed with Jafar as their genie! Ha, sucker!
– Isn’t it kind of a creepy to think that maybe leaving Wonderland was going to heaven? Maybe this was all some kind of dream, like Lost? I highly doubt it but imagine a twist like that!!! Maybe this all happened in Alice’s mind… maybe it was never real at all!
I called it!!! With the cancellation of Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, I said that hopefully some of the characters from Wonderland will travel on over to Storybrooke. Well, turns out I was right. The charming Knave is on his way to the magical town!
Micheal Socha, who plays the Knave on the spinoff show, is joining the cast of Once as a series regular! Bloody brilliant!!! It only makes sense since the Knave’s real home is actually located in Storybrooke (Alice and Cyrus just traveled there to get the Knave’s heart.) Now with his love Ana dead, he’s got nothing better to do. Plus, why would he want to stay in wretched Wonderland? It’s anything but wonderful??? Truthfully, after Jafar and Amarra take over, it might not even exist!!!
What about Alice and Cyrus? No news on whether any other Wonderland characters will make the move yet… but anythings possible after all!
Photo Credit: ABC/ Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
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