Once Upon A Time In Wonderland Recap S01E01: Down The Rabbit Hole
Alice's first trip home from Wonderland isn't exactly what she was expecting. Alice comes home with the story of her trip, but her family thought she was dead. She'd been gone a long time, and with her wild story they think she's mad. So young Alice does the only logical thing, she sets out to prove she's telling the truth.
Present day: the Knave walks into Storybrook, and narrowly misses getting hit by Emma's yellow bug. He let's himself into the cafe to have a cup of Joe, when the rabbit finds him. He isn't interest in the rabbit's time table, but the rabbit tells him that Alice needs help.
In the Bethlem Asylum, Victorian England (?), Alice's doctors think she's nuts. Not just because of her stories, which on their own sound delusional, but also because of her frequent disappearances to find proof of such a place. Time for some Wonderland flashbacks.
In one bout in wonderland, Alice steals some mushroom from the Caterpillar, and runs from the Queens men, as she eats her pilfered goods she shrinks down and hides from the "Giants".
The doctors are frustrated over her space cadetness. She denies her stories, saying that it was all her imagination, but they don't believe she believes that.
Now small, she climbs down a hole, and finds herself in a genie bottle. The genie Cyrus, is welcoming and charming, and Alice opens up to him about her mission to prove the truth, and that she isn't insane. He doesn't understand her need to prove herself to someone who doesn't believe in her, with love there is no need for proof. He already believes in her, and offers her wishes. The falling part was easy, surviving and staying in love proves much harder. The genie never had more than a wish for freedom before Alice, and before he can get out the words to a proposal, she accepts. But all good things comes to an end.
The doctors rip apart every Wonderland experience. The girl who wanted to be loved and found beautiful and fearless had it all in Wonderland, and although she denies her belief in Wonderland she still cries out for the lost love in her sleep.
The Red Queen tears Alice's world apart, as she throws him from the cliff, and Alice has to watch helplessly as he plummets.
The doctors want to perform a procedure to take away her pain, to make her forget. She signs the waiver, and tomorrow everything is set to change. So far this feels very Suckerpunch, with the crazy house and imminent lobotomy, and slipping into fantasy. The Knave of Hearts comes to her rescue, but Alice isn't ready to leave. Orderlies come to take him away, and Alice is more than willing to let them, until he reveals that "he's alive." Alice fights like mad, taking out all of the orderlies, as the knave watches. The rabbit greets them with his traditional decries of being late, and the doctor gets quite a shock when he sees the white rabbit. Theres a mad scurrying through the streets as they try to get away, and Alice insists on a rabbit hole. The rabbit obliges, but the Knave is reluctant to go back. Alice convinces him, and off they go to Wonderland. So far the Knave is the best thing about this show.
The Knave and Alice question the rabbit, who apparently hasn't see Cyrus. It's hearsay from the doormouse, and worse they slowly sink in the marshmallow marsh. As the Knave speaks of smores, Alice gets the idea of toasting the marshmallow around them. Free the Knave wants nothing more than get home, but Alice needs his help to save Cyrus. Alice offers to pay him, and though shes offering wishes, it looks like his heart may desire something else. She can't use her valuable wishes to get the genie back, because wishes have a way of giving you everything you desire, while breaking your heart. But the Knave agrees, even with her warning about wishes and off they go chasing the rabbit, who's luck may have just run out when he comes across the Queen of Hearts.
Back at the Queen's palace, she grills the rabbit. She's setting up an elaborate game against Alice, and the poor rabbit is her pawn.
On the way to the Hatter's cottage Alice and the Knave prepare for their journey. The Knave wonders if its all a trap, but Alice is willing to take that chance.
The Queen tells Jafar that Alice has returned, looking for her Genie, but the game isn't won yet, they still need the genie, his bottle, and the wishes. And the Queen instead finds herself in danger, as her usefulness comes into question. Jafar tries to kill the Queen, but can't quite do it. The Queen still has a part to play, it is her land afterall, and Jafar rides off on his carpet.
Alice and the Knave find a wanted poster for the Knave, and Alice wonders just what he did after she left, but he's not ready to spill the beans yet. So she choses a new course and takes to the trees for some perspective, leaving her shoes and the wishes in her boot heel behind. Before she can wonder after the Knave, she comes across a very creepy Cheshire Cat, who isn't as she remembers him. And he wants to eat her, but Alice is feisty and not going down without a fight. Pinning Alice down, he's ready to devour her, until the Knave rescues her. She gives him heck for stealing her wishes, but easily forgives him, after all wishes can't be stolen, they're granted. With the Hatter's cottage in sight Alice is over the moon, but not for long, Cyrus isn't there, and the Knave points out that there's no sight that he ever was. Alice is broken hearted over the news, until she finds a glowing necklace in the grass, Cyrus's necklace. With this small bit of proof she's willing to risk everything for it, and when she asks the Knave to accompany her, he's powerless to resist.
The Genie is indeed alive, Jafar saved him with his magic carpet from that fall, and has him secure in a giant cage.
Alice and the Knave start on their quest with their "mole" the rabbit in tow.
In this first episode of OUATiWonderland Sophie Lowe gives good Alice. She's vulnerable and innocent and yet strong. The landscape of Wonderland is beautiful and odd, but the special effects are mediocre at times. The real stand out is Michael Socha as The Knave of Hearts. He has a Hook-ish air about him. He's roguish and looking out for himself, there are hints of his troubled past, but with that smirk and twinkle in his eye he easily steals the show. If for no other reason, I hope that Once Upon A Time in Wonderland succeeds so that we get to see the Knave's story unfold, because so far I could really care less if Alice ever finds her genie.
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