Let’s Go “Home” This Week On Once Upon A Time In Wonderland

Originally published on PopWrapped.  13 December 2013.

We’ve reached the end Wonderers, at least for 2013. In Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’s winter finale, Cyrus and Alice’s quest for one another also, mercifully, concludes. Plus, we’re reminded yet again that Will and the Red Queen are more compelling as characters and as a pair than the doe-eyed lovers. But more on that later because right now it’s time to go “Home”… 

As we like to do, we begin with a flashback. Alice and Cyrus watch falling stars and do a little cute flirting. I admit, as much as this romance irritates me, they do have some sweet chemistry together. Alice harshes on their make-out session by asking Cyrus about the compass he always has with him. Like Jack Sparrow’s it doesn’t point North, or in any direction really, except toward something you’re trying to find. Cyrus’ mother gave it to him long ago and far away when he was a human. So the compass is basically his blankie.

Before the pair can return to snogging, a group of marauders attack to capture Cyrus. Alice proves to be much more than a pretty girl in the frilly dress (again) by whipping out a sword and kicking some butt. And for her trouble she gets a nice stomach wound and collapses into her beloved’s arms. Credits.

In the present, Alice and Will are en route to the place she knows Cyrus must be heading. That might be a bit difficult for him considering he’s just stepped into a snare. Tweedle hears Cyrus’ attempts to free himself through the grapevine (literally) in the Queen’s garden and also spots his brother having a secret rendezvous with Jafar. When Tweedle reports the genie’s capture and his brother’s betrayal to the Queen, she is ecstatic and pissed all at once. Cyrus’ bottle is missing. Commercial.

Stomping their way towards the Outlands in the hope of meeting Cyrus there, Alice and Will first need to make a pit stop at the White Rabbit’s house. They’ll need him to dig them a tunnel somewhere safe to escape from the Queen and Jafar once they’ve gotten Alice’s lover with them.

This Week’s Once Upon A Time In Wonderland Wonders “Who’s Alice”

Originally published on PopWrapped.  22 November 2013.

Previously on Wonderland, Alice was fooled, if only a little bit, by the Red Queen who proved she still has a heart and it still beats, however faintly, for our beloved Knave of Hearts. Also Cyrus escaped and Jafar coerced the Rabbit into digging to London. But most importantly, Will was revived from his stony sleep. Hooray! 

Tonight opens on an Englishman painting in the countryside. He’s suddenly showered with dirt when Jafar and the White Rabbit burst from a hole in the ground. Quite the entrance, I must say. The Englishman, to his credit, is unfazed but curious as to whom the sorcerer and the animated rabbit are. He gives them directions to the Asylum and in return, Jafar takes his suit.

In the Asylum we get the return of Bald Doctor! He’s taking some laudanum when a dapper Jafar, posing as a doctor himself, pops in to have a chat about a certain blond hair, blue-eyed patient. Bald Doctor tries to play dumb but Jafar knows all about him seeing the Rabbit. A quick glimpse of the bunny makes the doc ready to spill all he knows about Alice.

Queenie pays a visit to Cyrus’ empty cage. She’s curious about the genie having fled and Jafar being missing as well. Luckily, or not, the Old Man is still present in his cage to explain that Jafar is gone and Cyrus is on the run. Queenie will never catch him though because the genie has the most powerful magic of all: True Love. Only 5 minutes in and already this show is covered in sap.

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland Says “Forget Me Not” In This Week’s Episode

Originally published on PopWrapped.  25 October 2013.

Oh Wonders, we’re back again for another jaunt through Wonderland or in the case of this episode, Underland. Alice remains steadfast in her search for Cyrus just as Will remains the most entertaining part of this show. The writers apparently predicted this because tonight’s episode is all about our beloved Knave. We get some juicy info on his thieving past and the Anastasia who broke his heart (Spoilers: It’s not Disney’s Anastasia). We also get a well-publicized cameo from Once’s blonde Robin Hood.

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.

Take A Trip “Down The Rabbit Hole” With Once Upon A Time In Wonderland

Originally published on PopWrapped.  10 October 2013.

Greetings my fellows Wonders! (Or whatever Once Upon a Time in Wonderland fans are calling themselves. OUAT fans are Oncers so just a suggestion.) Now that the spinoff has finally premiered it’s time to see if it lived up the hype. Let’s take a trip to Wonderland…

We open on an abandoned tea party. A hole suddenly bursts from the ground and a little girl in blue and white dress climbs out of it. She looks around happily and with a sigh of delight says, “Home.”

She tears off running over the hills and through the woods before arriving at a manor home yelling for her father. He opens the door, looking stunned to say the least. See Alice was gone a very long time and her dear Papa thought she was dead. While she’s more interested in telling him all about where she’s been and what’s she done, he’s more concerned that little Alice has gone to the crazy place. In fact, he starts having a talk with a doctor about her mental health, but Alice, who overhears, is determined to prove she’s not a liar.

Flash forward to present day (ish). We pan in to a familiar clock tower. Hello Storybrooke. A young man (Michael Socha) strides through town and is nearly run over by a Yellow Volkswagen Bug. Then he bumps into Grumpy and Ella who are leaving Granny’s Diner. The man pickpockets the door keys and lets himself in to have a cup of coffee while he waits. The diner vibrates and a hole explodes in the floor (this seems to be a theme on this show). The White Rabbit (voiced by John Lithgow) pops out and helpfully identifies the man as The Knave of Hearts. The Knave isn’t sure what to make of the Rabbit’s appearance or his insistence that  “We’re not late for something. We’re late for someone.” That being Alice, of course. The Knave puts on his unconvinced face for the first, but certainly not last time in this episode.

We jump to a gritty asylum where grown up Alice (Sophie Lowe) is being interrogated by a panel of doctors including the one from when she was a young girl. He’s summarizing Alice’s “miraculous, strange and terrifying adventures” in Wonderland: food and drink that changes your height, smoking caterpillars, talking rabbits and such. Turns out little Alice made multiple journeys to Wonderland, each one making her father more and more concerned. He finally broke down and asked Bald Doctor for help.

First Look: 'Once Upon a Time' Wonderland Spinoff Coming this Fall to ABC

Originally published on TheFlickcast.com.  14 May 2013.

It’s been denied by everyone. It’s been speculated about and rumored. Oncers have been yanked around for months but finally there’s an answer. The Once Upon a Time Alice in Wonderland spinoff is real and we’ve got the trailer and pictures to prove it.

Written by Once creator Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland begins with Alice (Sophie Lowe) recounting her adventure in the strange new land she discovered through the rabbit hole and with the mysterious genie, Cyrus (Peter Gadiot) with whom she in love.

Alice’s doctors and her father think she’s gone insane but before they can give her a treatment to take away all of her memories she’s saved by the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha) and the White Rabbit (John Lithgow). They tell her Cyrus, who she thought to be dead, is alive. Together they return to the incredible and impossible Wonderland to seek him and new adventures.