Once Upon A Time In Wonderland Review: Episode 1 "Down The Rabbit Hole"
By Edward Kistis, Adam Horowitz, Zack Estrin, and Jane Espenson
**SPOILERS AHEAD!**
If you haven't seen the episode please do so before continuing!
I
love fairy tales. I love well-done adaptations of fairy tales. I loved
the premise and the intentions behind the parent show to this series, Once Upon A Time,
which took fairy tale characters and re-invented them as "exiles" in a
small town in Maine, called Storybrooke. However, there were certain
creative liberties taken and casting choices made by the writers that I
found rather disappointing. And so, when the announcement came of a
spin-off series that would focus the action on Alice and her epical
adventure in Wonderland, and without all that nonsense that is adding
characters to make evil out to be more of a product of a cruel mother
and a tortured childhood than actually evil—sort of like an antihero,
but with more angst than a high school full of girls who give everyone
the cold shoulder...
Yeah, so I was apprehensive. I decided to give the pilot a shot.
The show begins in Victorian-era England with those four universal words that launched the original series: Once Upon A Time. You know this is no light-hearted happily-ever-after, though, when the creepy piano music plays over a deserted tea party attended by stuffed animals positively made of mold and mildew. With a bang and a pop, little-girl Alice springs onto the scene with her little blue frock, white apron, (and a decidedly Australian accent, but I'll ignore that for now.)
She runs home to tell her father, who has evidently missed her long enough to believe she had died all those years ago. He doesn't believe her, and she overhears him consulting with a doctor who promises to cure her, at which point little Alice realizes that she needs proof or he's going to think she's crazy.
Cut to modern-day, and the first shot is a clock tower fans will recognize as the icon from Storybrooke, the setting of Once Upon A Time. A young bloke is walking down the middle of Main Street, gets honked at by Emma's yellow Beetle, and runs into Ashley (the real-world counterpart of Cinderella) and Leroy (Aka Grumpy the dwarf) closing up Granny's Diner (owned by Red Riding Hood's Granny). Turns out the jolt was the young man lifting the key from Leroy's pocket, and he lets himself into the diner for a cup of coffee. (What he was doing in Storybrooke in the first place remains to be seen.)
A small earthquake heralds the appearance of another explosion like the rabbit-hole Alice had crawled out of, and this time, it's the White Rabbit himself. He identifies the chap as the Knave of Hearts and begs him to come with him to help Alice.
We then transfer to the Bethlem Asylum, which seems to have lifted it's look from Arkham, though it's more sinister because most of the inmates are crazed young girls, not a lot of burly criminals. Cue the soundtrack of a tinny minor key tune lifted from the Joker's music box. (Geez, there is a LOT of creepy music on this show!)
Alice is in an interview with three doctors, but she isn't talking much. She claims she doesn't remember anything, but the questions prompt flashbacks where we establish her story, very different from the Carroll adventure. Namely the fact that in escaping from the Red Queen's soldiers, she encounters a genie in a bottle named Cyrus, and he gives her three wishes that look like small red crystals and a friend who believes her and wants to be her friend, something Alice has always longed for. Inevitably she falls in love with him, and sets him "free" so that they could travel Wonderland together and have adventures.
But of course, this is the pilot, and we know that Alice ends up alone and in Bethlem, so it's no surprise that, after Cyrus shows her a necklace that will glow when they are near each other (almost as if he knew they would be apart at some point), the Red Queen and her soldiers show up.
This is where Wonderland surpasses its parent show. Lana Parilla was a great actress, but Emma Rigby has a particular breed of poise that carries an undercurrent that has a note of desperation; she's not evil because she "hates happiness." She's evil because she wants power. Evil is much more driving when it's focused on the achievement of something, instead of the absence of something.
Alice is so traumatized by this that she would willingly undergo a "procedure" that involves rather large instruments that would be overkill in trying to open a pickle jar, to say nothing of removing memories from a human brain. Theatricality at its finest.
Just before they come to collect Alice, the Knave appears—and Alice begins to have some inkling that maybe everything wasn't made up after all. She doesn't believe him till he tells her Cyrus is alive, even though the last time she saw him, he fell off a cliff into boiling water.
It's the catalyst she needs, and the two of them kickbox their way out of the Asylum, trading banter all the way to where they will meet the White Rabbit. They are pursued by the doctor, but he is so perplexed by the appearance of the rabbit he had almost convinced Alice dud not exist that they get away. The White Rabbit digs a "hole" or spinning blue portal into Wonderland, and the Knave refuses to go until Alice reminds him that she reclaimed his heart when he lost it (another carryover device from Once Upon A Time is that the ultimate magical power is the ability to rip people's hearts out of their chests, which leaves that person at the mercy of whoever holds their glowing, plasticine heart) so she wants his help to find "hers"—the missing Cyrus.
They land in the Mallow Marsh—literally a bog of marshmallow creme...
The Rabbit runs for help and gets caught by the Red Queen, leaving Alice and the Knave to escape by themselves. This also gives us time to get better acquainted with the pair that will be the forefront of the show for a while. Alice is still the little-lovelorn-girl (with a shocking amount of survival skill knowledge!) whereas the Knave strikes us as somewhat selfish and jaded. Still, the two balance each other masterfully, and each has something to teach the other in the matter of love. The Knave tries to teach Alice not to be so simple-minded in her trust, and Alice teaches the Knave that true love lasts even when hope is gone.
The Knave agrees to help in exchange for one of Alice's wishes, since she--resourceful girl--has managed to hang onto all three for all these years. They are traveling to the Hatter's house—which we know is abandoned because the Hatter is one of the characters in Storybrooke.
Meanwhile, the Red Queen consults with her ally, none other than the sorcerer Jafar. He is portrayed by Naveen Andrews, whom I last saw on Bride and Prejudice, as the "Indian Mr. Bingley."
Apparently he was on LOST as well? For a show with such a lame plot and crappy execution—from what I've seen, anyway—every time I see an actor from that show it's almost always been a splendid character portrayal.
Jafar is no exception. He's after power too—but this is the Queen's
realm, so for now he's got to manipulate her and at least pretend to
cooperate till he gets what he wants.
Back to Knave and Alice, where we see more wanted posters featuring the Knave. Alice climbs a tree to get her bearings, and the Knave promptly takes her boots and leaves. She calls to him, not knowing he's gone, and calls him "Will", hinting at his mysterious past. Alice gets caught and almost eaten by the Cheshire Cat, when the Knave/Will reappears and uses a bite of mushroom to shrink it down to kitten-size.
They find the Hatter's house, but Cyrus isn't there. The Rabbit rejoins them just as she is considering leaving again—which would invite the Red Queen's wrath. Alice runs out, and finds Cyrus' necklace in the grass. She repeats what Cyrus had told her before, "When you really love someone, you don't need proof. You can feel it." She believes Cyrus is alive—and lo and behold, he is. Turns out Jafar had been waiting for him below the cliff, and holds Cyrus prisoner in his tower floating above Wonderland.
Together, Alice, Knave and Rabbit follow a yellow-red-brick-road through Wonderland in the race to find Cyrus before the Red Queen finds her.
Needless to say, this was pretty solid as far as pilots go. As the Red Queen puts it, "We are still setting up the [chess]board." There are plenty of loose threads to chase, and whereas Once Upon A Time basically started at the "end", where the Evil Queen's Curse first falls, Wonderland begins with hope, and I came away thrilled for the next episode, wanting to learn more about the Knave, and hoping beyond all hope that the story would end up with Alice actually finding her love instead of losing it all the time.
Scoring:
Heroes—4/5
Villains—5/5
Banter—5/5
Graphics/VFX—3/5
Conflict/Resolution—5/5
OVERALL: 8/10
Yeah, so I was apprehensive. I decided to give the pilot a shot.
The show begins in Victorian-era England with those four universal words that launched the original series: Once Upon A Time. You know this is no light-hearted happily-ever-after, though, when the creepy piano music plays over a deserted tea party attended by stuffed animals positively made of mold and mildew. With a bang and a pop, little-girl Alice springs onto the scene with her little blue frock, white apron, (and a decidedly Australian accent, but I'll ignore that for now.)
She runs home to tell her father, who has evidently missed her long enough to believe she had died all those years ago. He doesn't believe her, and she overhears him consulting with a doctor who promises to cure her, at which point little Alice realizes that she needs proof or he's going to think she's crazy.
Cut to modern-day, and the first shot is a clock tower fans will recognize as the icon from Storybrooke, the setting of Once Upon A Time. A young bloke is walking down the middle of Main Street, gets honked at by Emma's yellow Beetle, and runs into Ashley (the real-world counterpart of Cinderella) and Leroy (Aka Grumpy the dwarf) closing up Granny's Diner (owned by Red Riding Hood's Granny). Turns out the jolt was the young man lifting the key from Leroy's pocket, and he lets himself into the diner for a cup of coffee. (What he was doing in Storybrooke in the first place remains to be seen.)
A small earthquake heralds the appearance of another explosion like the rabbit-hole Alice had crawled out of, and this time, it's the White Rabbit himself. He identifies the chap as the Knave of Hearts and begs him to come with him to help Alice.
We then transfer to the Bethlem Asylum, which seems to have lifted it's look from Arkham, though it's more sinister because most of the inmates are crazed young girls, not a lot of burly criminals. Cue the soundtrack of a tinny minor key tune lifted from the Joker's music box. (Geez, there is a LOT of creepy music on this show!)
Alice is in an interview with three doctors, but she isn't talking much. She claims she doesn't remember anything, but the questions prompt flashbacks where we establish her story, very different from the Carroll adventure. Namely the fact that in escaping from the Red Queen's soldiers, she encounters a genie in a bottle named Cyrus, and he gives her three wishes that look like small red crystals and a friend who believes her and wants to be her friend, something Alice has always longed for. Inevitably she falls in love with him, and sets him "free" so that they could travel Wonderland together and have adventures.
But of course, this is the pilot, and we know that Alice ends up alone and in Bethlem, so it's no surprise that, after Cyrus shows her a necklace that will glow when they are near each other (almost as if he knew they would be apart at some point), the Red Queen and her soldiers show up.
This is where Wonderland surpasses its parent show. Lana Parilla was a great actress, but Emma Rigby has a particular breed of poise that carries an undercurrent that has a note of desperation; she's not evil because she "hates happiness." She's evil because she wants power. Evil is much more driving when it's focused on the achievement of something, instead of the absence of something.
Alice is so traumatized by this that she would willingly undergo a "procedure" that involves rather large instruments that would be overkill in trying to open a pickle jar, to say nothing of removing memories from a human brain. Theatricality at its finest.
Just before they come to collect Alice, the Knave appears—and Alice begins to have some inkling that maybe everything wasn't made up after all. She doesn't believe him till he tells her Cyrus is alive, even though the last time she saw him, he fell off a cliff into boiling water.
It's the catalyst she needs, and the two of them kickbox their way out of the Asylum, trading banter all the way to where they will meet the White Rabbit. They are pursued by the doctor, but he is so perplexed by the appearance of the rabbit he had almost convinced Alice dud not exist that they get away. The White Rabbit digs a "hole" or spinning blue portal into Wonderland, and the Knave refuses to go until Alice reminds him that she reclaimed his heart when he lost it (another carryover device from Once Upon A Time is that the ultimate magical power is the ability to rip people's hearts out of their chests, which leaves that person at the mercy of whoever holds their glowing, plasticine heart) so she wants his help to find "hers"—the missing Cyrus.
They land in the Mallow Marsh—literally a bog of marshmallow creme...
The Rabbit runs for help and gets caught by the Red Queen, leaving Alice and the Knave to escape by themselves. This also gives us time to get better acquainted with the pair that will be the forefront of the show for a while. Alice is still the little-lovelorn-girl (with a shocking amount of survival skill knowledge!) whereas the Knave strikes us as somewhat selfish and jaded. Still, the two balance each other masterfully, and each has something to teach the other in the matter of love. The Knave tries to teach Alice not to be so simple-minded in her trust, and Alice teaches the Knave that true love lasts even when hope is gone.
The Knave agrees to help in exchange for one of Alice's wishes, since she--resourceful girl--has managed to hang onto all three for all these years. They are traveling to the Hatter's house—which we know is abandoned because the Hatter is one of the characters in Storybrooke.
Meanwhile, the Red Queen consults with her ally, none other than the sorcerer Jafar. He is portrayed by Naveen Andrews, whom I last saw on Bride and Prejudice, as the "Indian Mr. Bingley."
Apparently he was on LOST as well? For a show with such a lame plot and crappy execution—from what I've seen, anyway—every time I see an actor from that show it's almost always been a splendid character portrayal.
Back to Knave and Alice, where we see more wanted posters featuring the Knave. Alice climbs a tree to get her bearings, and the Knave promptly takes her boots and leaves. She calls to him, not knowing he's gone, and calls him "Will", hinting at his mysterious past. Alice gets caught and almost eaten by the Cheshire Cat, when the Knave/Will reappears and uses a bite of mushroom to shrink it down to kitten-size.
They find the Hatter's house, but Cyrus isn't there. The Rabbit rejoins them just as she is considering leaving again—which would invite the Red Queen's wrath. Alice runs out, and finds Cyrus' necklace in the grass. She repeats what Cyrus had told her before, "When you really love someone, you don't need proof. You can feel it." She believes Cyrus is alive—and lo and behold, he is. Turns out Jafar had been waiting for him below the cliff, and holds Cyrus prisoner in his tower floating above Wonderland.
Together, Alice, Knave and Rabbit follow a yellow-red-brick-road through Wonderland in the race to find Cyrus before the Red Queen finds her.
Needless to say, this was pretty solid as far as pilots go. As the Red Queen puts it, "We are still setting up the [chess]board." There are plenty of loose threads to chase, and whereas Once Upon A Time basically started at the "end", where the Evil Queen's Curse first falls, Wonderland begins with hope, and I came away thrilled for the next episode, wanting to learn more about the Knave, and hoping beyond all hope that the story would end up with Alice actually finding her love instead of losing it all the time.
 |
| "Next stop... Wonderland!" |
Scoring:
Heroes—4/5
Villains—5/5
Banter—5/5
Graphics/VFX—3/5
Conflict/Resolution—5/5
OVERALL: 8/10
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