Wonderland travels to Agrabah and back

By Sean Previl

Jafar (Naveen Andrews) brings viewers to Agrabah to start the second episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. As he searches for Cyrus (Peter Gadlot), it becomes clear the scene is one from the past. Like its predecessor Once Upon a Time, Wonderland follows the theme of returning to the past timelines of different characters. We also return to the past of Alice and Cyrus that was introduced in the premiere when we Alice met Cyrus.

Returning to the present, Alice (Sophie Lowe) continues to search for Cyrus with the Knave (Michael Socha), also known as Will. While Will argues with her about whether Cyrus has forgotten about her and moved on, he shows affection for Alice — albeit subtle affection. However, it is unclear whether Alice feels the same way. When Alice saves Will from drowning after being dropped into a lake by a fairy, the unrequited feelings by Will may actually be returned.  Defending both Alice and Cyrus to the fairy, a broken-hearted woman he betrayed in the past, further shows his affection for Alice.

Alice continues to prove herself to be a stronger woman throughout the episode. She does this first by saving Will, but then goes one step further by jumping into the water only to emerge on the back of a giant turtle’s neck. It’s shown she learned her swordplay from Cyrus, which also winds up further developing their relationship. We also see how smart she is at judging people throughout the episode as she searches for Cyrus’s lamp and reveals the location of the lamp to people. Alice searches for the lamp because it would allow her to save Cyrus from having to grant the wishes for anyone else, including The Red Queen (Emma Rigby) or Jafar. When Alice and Will reach the location of the lamp they see Jafar digging up the area to find it. Alice then reveals she has been telling everyone in Wonderland the location of the lamp because she knew someone would reveal the secret and as a result, she would be able to find out who she was up against.

Elsewhere, Jafar threatens The Red Queen once more, further showing their partnership isn’t one at all, due to the threatening nature of the man from Agrabah.  While she continues trying to maintain her hold over the people as queen, she allows herself to be intimidated by the man and him to control her. Yet The Red Queen does show herself to be cunning and a betrayer, however, when she uses the White Rabbit to retrieve the genie’s lamp without Jafar’s knowledge.

The strongest performances of the episode come from Lowe and Socha because of the tension they so magnificently portray.  Socha’s character is obviously falling in love with Lowe’s, but it’s unclear if she feels the same because of her love of Cyrus. The tension plays well onscreen. The passion Lowe presents for Alice’s love of Cyrus and the hope and determination she has in finding him results in a outstanding performance.

The episode was somewhat uneventful in actual story development until the end when The Red Queen shows she has the genie’s lamp, but the performances and twists were well thought out. Unlike what is presented in Disney’s Aladdin, it’s revealed even wishing for a genie’s freedom comes with a cost to both the genie and the wish-maker. This new twist changes the entire series as what many grew up believing about the Disney film is more or less tossed out the window and makes us realize saving Cyrus will be harder than it was originally thought.

 

3.5/5 Stars