Once Upon A Time In Wonderland S1E10 Recap Dirty Little Secret

Many years ago in Agraba, Cyrus plays cards. The stakes go above Cyrus’ cash,  and he raises a magic compass. Cyris has the winning hand, but his opponents call foul. There’s a little scuffle, but Cyrus and his brothers come out without a scratch. They remark on his good luck, which may have been cheating, but he did get away with it. The brothers find the men that they swindled at their home, racing away. The house is burning with their mother still inside.

Now, Cyrus wonders he never noticed that Jafar had his brothers lamps when he was being held. The Queen points out that Jafar didn’t know they were his brothers otherwise he would have used it against him. The Knave laments about his new digs. Alice tries to figure out where the bottles are being kept. The Queen knows that they’ll need an army to go up against Jafar, but Cyrus points out that she was never a beloved Queen and the people will not rally behind her. He wants to break the curse that was laid upon his brothers, and free them all. They just need to get back to Agraba, and the Queen knows a way, through The Well of Wonders. The Queen worries about what happens if he fails, what will happen to Will. They decide to split up.

The Villagers sleep off the previous night’s celebrations as the Jabberwocky slithers in. She choses a victim, and whispers in his ear, awakening her. She wants to know about the genie, and she’ll torture the poor man and his family if she has to. He doesn’t know where the genie is, but he gives up the genie’s masters location, as he begs for his life. She doesn’t need to kill him, he’s scared to death, literally. She finds Lizard, still dead, and looks around for clues. She has an idea, and a very sharp knife.

The Jabberwocky gives Jafar Lizard’s eyes, a parting glance. The Jabberwocky thinks that Jafar can use the eyes to his benefit. He mixes up a potion, and casts upon the eyes. If shows him a vision of the Queen.

Past, Cyrus and his brother try to figure out a way to save their mother. She’s badly burned. There’s a legend that Cyrus wants to pursue, a well that has the power to heal, the Well of Wonders. The other brothers aren’t sure, but Cyrus is, so the three set out.

Alice asks how they got cursed into the bottles in the first place. Cyrus says they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alice presses him, but he says it doesn’t matter it happened long ago, and they really need to get to The Well of Wonders. Just what is Cyrus hiding?

The Knave knocks on Rabbit’s door, but he doesn’t want to see him. Robin rants, and the Knave presses and he finally opens the door. Seeing the Queen instills him with fear, but she promises not to hurt him. Her threats and actions are too fresh in his mind. She apologizes for her past actions. He asks what he could give her. She wants to be the Queen that everyone deserves, she needs him to help spread the word that she’s changed. The Knave isn’t sure she’s changed, but commends her for trying. Rabbit spills that Jafar has released the Jabberwocky, and even the Queen is shocked. Rabbit doesn’t know how or why, but he supposes that they want out of Wonderland. Knave doesn’t know the real threat of the Jabberwocky, but he can’t wait to leave Wonderland. The Queen on the other hand refuses to leave. She said she was going to save Wonderland, and she meant it. She’s not going to force the Rabbit, but asks him to portal to every corner of Wonderland and tell the people that the Battle to save Wonderland is beginning.

The Queen and the Knave traipse through the woods. He asks about the Jabberwocky, and the Queen doesn’t explain the beast, except to say that she preys on fear. He asks for her real motivation for staying in Wonderland, never knowing her to be selfless. She is trying to fix her mistakes, and she wants Will by her side. She’s trying to at least make things better for everyone else if nothing else. She stops suddenly, telling Will to get back in his bottle. Will doesn’t want to go, but she forces him to, so that she can hide Will and meet the Jabberwocky head on. The Jabberrwocky toys with her a bit, before taking up a position behind her to greet her. The Jabberwocky continues to taunt the Queen, and the Queen uses her magic to arm herself. She thinks she has the upperhand on the Queen, and the Queen uses her magic blade to pin her to a tree. The Jabberwocky cuts the celebration short when her body slides off the blade. Only one blade can hurt her, and that wasn’t it. She knocks the Queen out, and retrieves Will’s bottle.

According to Alice’s map the well should be straight ahead. But what they find is a pair of doors, and a knight with a riddle. Alice asks which door they should chose, but he doesn’t respond. Cyrus tries to just walk around the doors, but they’re spelled. Alice asks for help, and Cyrus resorts to yelling. The Knight responds to neither. She tells him sometimes you just have to play the hand you’re dealt.

The brothers come upon a well. They each fill their bottles, and a woman rises from the Well of Wonders. Nyx is the guardian. Cyrus tells her that they have come on behalf of their mother. Nyx sees their mother, and her pain. They’ve come for the healing waters, but she tells them that her water can only heal those whose destinies have yet to be written, but their mother’s fate has already been sealed, she will die. Cyrus is unwilling to believe, Nyx tells him that her water is not meant for him. He doesn’t want his mother to die for his mistakes. She tells him to return the water or pay the price, and she goes back under. The two brothers prepare to return the water, but Cyrus goes to leave. They all heard the warning, but Cyrus believes they have no choice, that they have to fight fate. He believes that the water is the only thing that could atone for his mistakes. His elder brother asks if he is asking them to steal the water for him or their mother. Cyrus says its for their mother, and they agree.

Alice tries to figure out the riddle, while Cyrus plots. Alice thinks she has the Knight figured out, when he gives her an answer she knows to be false. He’s a liar, and so she chooses the opposite door. When she opens it, he disappears, and inside they see the well. Cyrus hesitates, and Alice wonders why. He doesn’t want her to come any further, telling her that its his curse to break. She doesn’t understand, and rather than explaining he lashes out at her. He quickly apologizes, and she lets him go alone.

The Queen awakens and Will looks less than pleased. They’re both tied up in a cage, and Jafar taunts them about their disastrous reunion. Jafar has almost everything that he wants, but she still has all her wishes. He has to force her to use all the wishes so he can take control of the Genie. He can’t kill her, or Will, so she thinks that he has nothing to use against her. She wants to team up again with him, but he had a partner once, and that partnership didn’t end well for Amara, he turned her into his staff. Jafar tells her one way or another he will make her make her wishes, its just a matter of time and pain. Will bitterly tells her to make them, telling her to wish him out of Wonderland. The Queen goes to make that wish, but before she can complete it, he silences her. The Queen is unable to make a sound. Jafar tells her that it would have never worked out between them, that he’s found someone else, the Jabberwocky. He tells her to do what she wishes, and not to stop until the Queen is broken.

Cyrus approaches the Well. It’s no longer stuck in a desert oasis, but in the forest. Cyrus puts his hands into the water, and Nyx appears displeased to see the water thief. He tells her that he’s not there to steal her water, but to get her mercy. She doesn’t give mercy, he of all people should know that. She tells him that all things happen for a reason.

In Agraba he rushed home in time to give his mother the water. He gave her all of the water he had, and douses her in the water of his brothers, but it did not work. Her nurse says that perhaps it was fate all along. The mother suddenly gasps, and as she removes the wrappings the mother is healed. Cyrus’s mother is Amara.

He tells her that he’s been released from the bottle, and asks that she release his brothers. He was foolish and arrogant, and he understands that now. Having served as a genie and granting countless meaningless wishes he understands now. He asks that she not punish his brothers for his mistakes. Alice lurks in the grass hiding in the foliage listening to his confession. Cyrus falls upon his knees begging. She tells him that only when the water is returned can her curse be lifted. But Cyrus cannot return he water he tells her, his mother is dead. She corrects him. His mother is very alive. he doesn’t believe, and asks where he can find her, but she tells him only to return the water, before sinking back beneath its depths.

Amara is rejuvenated after the water. She feels rested and refreshed. She draws her sons to her, the nurse remarks on her coming back. And Amara begins to question her recovery. The youngest tells her that they used the magic from the Well of Wonders, and Amara wants to know exactly what happened. Cyrus admits that they stole the water. He tells her that the guardian said that she couldn’t be healed, but she is. Amara asks if they all stole the water, and they did. She tells them that they need to leave immediately, that Nyx is coming for them. Amara wants to get them out of Agraba before Nyx finds them, but it’s was too late. Nyx rises from some of the spilled water behind them. She tells them that they let their desire override fate, so it will be their fate to serve the desire of others. All of the boys are put into bottle, and set off.

The Jabberwocky toys with Will’s bottle, fascinated that it looks so ordinary, much like the Queen’s head. He taunts her, threatening to dive deep into her head. Will tells her that the Jabberwocky can’t hurt her. She sees the Queen’s inner thoughts, twisting them. Sees her old fears, the what ifs, if the prince had chosen her rather than her sister, her mother would have loved her. The Jabberwocky brings tears to the Queen’s eyes as she describes the deep dark hole in her heart. She tells her that there’s a darkeness in her like a disease. She ran away from the only love she had, and now she fears that she’ll never get it back. The Jabberwocky finds common ground in the Queen. She tells her that she can’t ever get his love back, which is not what she really wants. If she wanted to keep Will’s love she would have never donned the crown in the first place. Poor Will, all he can do is sit and listen. The Jabberwocky tells her to wish for the crown, tells her that if she does it all her suffering will go away. Will urges her not to do it. Jafar makes him suffer. The Jabberwocky tells her if she wishes for her crown, all of Will’s suffering would go away, and Anastacia wishes for her crown. The Jabberwocy tells her to wish for her jewels, and she does. There’s just one more wish to be made. She tells her to wish for her to stop. The Queen whispers the wish, and it is granted, sending Will back to the bottle. Jafar has his bottle, and the Queen looks broken.

In a new cage, the Queen is still rattled. Tweedledee comes to her. He wants to help get her away, and he’s brought her something. He’s smuggled in a bit of food, and he wants to break her out of her jail, but she asks why. She is his Queen. She tells him to warn Alice and Cyrus. Tell them that Jafar has released the Jabberwocky, that he has all three bottles, and defeated her to get them. Warn them that they have to get out of Wonderland as fast as they can, and to never look back. He asks what about her, she tells him to forget about her.

Cyrus stands before the pool, and Alice comes out of hiding. Rather than calling him a lying bastard, she ask why he didn’t tell her. He’s been the cause of all of her troubles, they’re all products of his punishment. Alice tells him that everyone makes mistakes. She admits that she gave up on them before Will came to wonderland. She admits that she agreed to a procedure that would make her forget him and Wonderland forever, because a lobotomy is totally on the same level as the havoc of Jafar. Cyrus embraces her, tells her that he wishes the bottle made him a better man. She doesn’t want to look to the past, but to the future. If his mother is really alive, its time they found her, and they head out.

Jafar strokes his staff. The Jabberwocky is a little jealous of his fondness of Amara, pointing out that she was the one he asked her for help, not Amara.But it’s a mutual benefit, they’ve helped eachother. Jafar tells her that now that he has everything he ever wanted, there’s not a person in the world that can stop him.