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This episode is a fun one especially since it focuses so much on Will and so little on Alice. Also, Jafar doesn’t look quite so ridiculous (although next week’s previews show an unfortunate change in hair style). So, let’s jump in to Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’s “Forget Me Not.”
“A few years ago,” as the title reads, a horse drawn carriage stops to help some screaming men in the roadway. A man is down with a broken leg and as they tend to him, someone else silently drops from the sky and snags the carriage’s loot. Later Robin Hood congratulates his Merry Men on a fine ruse and they welcome the man who snagged to the loot as their newest member: Will Scarlet aka The Knave of Hearts.
In present day Wonderland, Will thinks it’s safer for he and Alice to split up but she thinks they should stay together. Turns out she’s right because he has the idea to seek out the Forget-me-knot. This magical item when held over any area will show what last happened there. It would show them who dug up Cyrus’ bottle and give them something to do considering right now they’re just wandering around.
In Cyrus’ Cave of Woes, Jafar and the Red Queen are having a feast while the genie looks on. Jafar taunts him with Alice’s paper crane and utters the words Wonderland has been dancing around for two weeks now: “Magic always comes with a price.” Tonight’s price will be forcing Alice to make her first wish.
Will and Alice arrive at the Caterpillars abode. He’s the one with the Forget-me-knot and a bounty on Will’s head. No biggie, the Knave assures Alice. This Underland is his world. Everything will be fine! Yeah. The pair have been in this Underland for barely a minute when they’re held at sword and dagger point. But the Caterpillar, not fancying his Knave skewered, bids them approach his smoking couch.
They try to work out a deal with Mr. Caterpillar, who slimily suggests Alice as the form of Will’s payment toward his debt. Anyone else having Jabba the Hutt with Han and Leia thoughts here? Anyway, Alice uses her smarts to deduce that the Caterpillar doesn’t have the Knot but he does know where it is: with the Grendel. The new deal is they retrieve the knot, bring it and Will’s debt is paid. Bonus for the Caterpillar is if Will tries to keep the magical item, his head gets to become the newest pretty decoration on the Caterpillar’s desk. Win-win-win.
Back from commercial Will is filling Alice in on the nastiness of the Grendel. She wants to find a way to make everything work out perfectly without anyone getting hurt. Something tells me she’d get along great with Snow White from Once proper. Will shuts her up by asking if she would choose to be with Cyrus right now and forever if she knew someone else would have to suffer to make that happen.
In another Enchanted Flashback, Robin makes Will a blood brother and clarifies that they aren’t thieves. They help the helpless; rob the rich to feed the poor, etc. Will tries to convince Rob to go to Maleficent’s castle and steal her hidden gold but nothing else. The archer eventually agrees thanks to Will’s charm and persistence. Also, that smile.
On his own Will returns home and greets a woman we can’t see. He says he has infiltrated the Merry Men and tomorrow they’ll go to Maleficent’s castle. Then Will and his lady will be able to get out of the Enchanted Forest forever.
In Casa de Jafar, The Red Queen and Jafar run down the list of monsters to summon and before coming to the Bandersnatch. Alice still has nightmares about the creature from when it nearly killed her as a child. Cyrus’ pretty face tightens with concern at the beast’s name and Jafar knows they have a winner.
Nearing the Grendel’s house, Will and Alice are forming a pretty good plan on how to sneak in to take the Forget-me-knot. Will barely has time to lecture Alice to “always stay one step ahead of your mark” before they fall into a hidden pit. Commercial.
The pair wakes to find themselves tied up and captive in the Grendel’s kitchen. The…man (?) himself appears to sharpen his carving knife. Will spies a skeleton and suggests Alice use one of her wishes before they become Grendel’s dinner. She says maybe he ought to make his thieving skills useful. Yes, he’s a thief, not escape artist.
Flashback. In Maleficent’s castle Robin reminds his men to only take the gold. The band splits up but Will is eyeing something more valuable than gold. Yes, that’s right it’s a highly magic, very important…mirror. A tiny, almost hand mirror that he looks ecstatic to have found. Maybe he needs help checking his hair in the morning.
Grendel’s kitchen is heating up as the monster man preps dinner. Will hears him talking to someone but sees no one around. “The crazy bloke’s talking to himself.” Nope, he’s having a chat with a woman he sees in the Knot who is joined by a handsome man. These two were the last occupants of Grendel’s kitchen. Alice thinks Grendel killed the sweet couple but Will disagrees.
Elsewhere, Jafar and the Red Queen use Alice’s magic note to give the Bandersnatch her scent. It takes off to find (read: kill) her.
Will tries to reason with Mr. Grendel because he’s “good with monsters.” The Knave correctly guesses that the woman in the Forget-me-knot was Mr. Grendel’s wife and now she’s gone. Will and Grendel bond over having lost someone they loved. “You want to move on, you have to let go of the hurt,” the Knave advises. But Grendel isn’t ready to let go yet so instead he stokes the fire to make it nice and hot for his guests, er, entrees.
Enchanted Forest. The voice of Maleficent interrupts a happy gathering of the Merry Men. She doesn’t care about the stupid gold but apparently that mirror is sorely missed. She can’t touch up her make-up on the go now! Robin is pissed someone disobeyed him but Will is keeping mum about it being him.
Back in the Grendel’s kitchen Will is struggling to get out of his restraints. “I’ve been in worse binds than this,” he assures Alice. Heh. She uses a wish to get out of hers, that is, the sharp corners of the wish-rubies. The pair is waylaid by the door lock and then the Grendel and his ax but eventually wrench the door open…only to find the Bandersnatch waiting for them.
The Bandersnatch breaks in and takes down the Grendel with ease. Alice and Will fool it with the Forget-me-knot and then try to hang it. It doesn’t go well. Luckily, Will is handy with a knife and stabbing. Alice reveals Cyrus taught her all about Bandersnatches to make her less afraid of them. Jafar figures this out too late and bangs his staff in anger, sending a wave of magic pulsing through his cave. That kind of attitude is going to keep you from entering the promised land. Just ask Moses.
Mr. Grendel has had a change of heart now that Will saved him. He softens all our hearts by telling us his wife died and in his grief he stole the Forget-me-knot so he could see her again. But the Red Queen punished him by turning him into a monster. He lets Will and Alice take the Knot since it’s useless to him now (all of the action replaced the scene of he and his wife). Sad Grendel is sad.
Enchanted Forest. Robin catches Will sneaking off with his stolen magic mirror. The Prince of Thieves is disappointed but Will is all arrogance and swagger. Robin isn’t even going to punish him, just let him live with the consequences of his actions. While Will snorts at this, the rest of us know, “all magic comes with a price.”
The Red Queen arrives at the Grendel’s home with Jafar. They tempt the poor creature by saying they can bring back his wife. He caves and says the young woman was with a man she called Knave. The Red Queen snaps to attention, which Jafar notes with interest. Then the sorcerer reunites Grendel with his wife. By killing him. Poor Grendel.
We come back with Alice and Will having a heart to heart about, well, Will’s heart. Who is this Anastasia, she and the rest of us want to know? None of our business apparently. They arrive back at the Dandy Lion and use the Knot to see the White Rabbit making off with the bottle. He hands it to the Red Queen, whose appearance makes Will’s face fall. Alice is too caught up in her bunny friend’s betrayal to notice.
In Underworld, Caterpillar gets a visitor but it’s not Will. Jafar has arrived to learn all about this Knave. He’ll have plenty of uninterrupted time to do this too because Will isn’t going to hand over the Knot after all. He makes some semantic argument about how not giving the knot to the Caterpillar means he’s not a thief. It’s not important but what is important is that they burn this super magical object and decide it’s time to pay the Red Queen a visit. That should be interesting for Will considering…
In the Enchanted Forest he arrives home to Anastasia. Who is of course a pre-ball gown but still pouty-lipped Red Queen. He’s brought her The Looking Glass and she is excited to see if it can really take them far away. He tosses it to the ground and a portal appears. She excitedly tells him about the new land they’re going to, a place where they can be whoever they want to be: Wonderland.
Rabbit Trails
When the Red Queen and Jafar are devising a way to force Alice to use a wish, Queenie rightfully determines that only Cyrus in trouble will compel Alice to do so. Then they decide to put Alice in peril instead. Plot hole or foreshadowing?
Also, the Sarlacc was one of the beasts in the book! Yay for Disney/Star War synergy!
Wonderland was toying with its family friendly label tonight. Take this exchange between an Underlander and Will, who greets the man by saying it’s a “pleasure” to see him.
“Don’t ‘pleasure’ me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
So we can all accept that Will has had all of the best lines in every episode so far but tonight he was uncharacteristically deep. Speaking with the deformed Grendel about heartbreak, Will says, “The way you look is the way I feel.” Just got something in my eye here…
How does Anastasia know about Wonderland? Is it a wacky myth parents tell their kids?
I do have to applaud Wonderland for finally giving us a compelling and interesting storyline about characters we care about. That is, Will and the Red Queen. Alice and Cyrus who?
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