By Julia Lawson
Rub your eyes dear viewers and look to your TV screens - Wonderland returns after a week of absence! A quick recap before we sail off on a magic carpet ride. In addition to knowing the exits are Here… Here… and Here, I have a few reminders for you.
The Red Queen is Anastasia – the love of the Knave of Hearts, also known as Will Scarlet.
Alice is in love with a genie called Cyrus.
And Jafar is obsessed with genies and bottles.
Rub your eyes dear viewers and look to your TV screens - Wonderland returns after a week of absence! A quick recap before we sail off on a magic carpet ride. In addition to knowing the exits are Here… Here… and Here, I have a few reminders for you.
The Red Queen is Anastasia – the love of the Knave of Hearts, also known as Will Scarlet.
Alice is in love with a genie called Cyrus.
And Jafar is obsessed with genies and bottles.
Many years ago in Agrabar a slave boy (Anthony Keyvan) is locked eye to eye with a rich sorceress (Zuleikha Robinson) in the market. He ventures up to her house that evening wanting her to teach him magic to stop people beating him up. He wants revenge, in particular on the Sultan – his father – who abandoned his bastard son, Jafar, leaving him the hatred that burns with the fire of a thousand suns. Jafar, it seems, had a troubled childhood.
Alice (Sophie Lowe) and the Knave (Michael Socha) are still looking for Cyrus’s bottle. But in the meantime they are being followed by several Collectors (bounty hunters), sent by the Caterpillar. So, running it is… They spilt up to lose their pursuers and the knave manages to hide. Suddenly the pounding of footsteps stops as the men are knocked cold by unseen forces. The Red Queen (Emma Rigby) was behind it.
Alice (Sophie Lowe) and the Knave (Michael Socha) are still looking for Cyrus’s bottle. But in the meantime they are being followed by several Collectors (bounty hunters), sent by the Caterpillar. So, running it is… They spilt up to lose their pursuers and the knave manages to hide. Suddenly the pounding of footsteps stops as the men are knocked cold by unseen forces. The Red Queen (Emma Rigby) was behind it.
After a chat with Jafar (Naveen Andrews), where the new life lesson "nothing is more important than honesty" is shuffled out, the order to catch the Knave is issued. She hadn’t told Jafar about Will’s arrival in Wonderland – could there still be love there? Or did she in fact use Alice and the White Rabbit to get him back into Wonderland in the first place? Anyway for the time being Will/Knave is in a cell in the castle, potentially forever. But Jafar’s not thrilled about that as he’d prefer a public execution. Oh dear…
The Red Queen needs an excuse not to kill the Knave and the white rabbit is going to spirit him away before the execution. But to make matters worse he decided to tell the Queen she wouldn’t be able to kill him anyway. Alice and her new Collector friend, Lizard (Lauren McKnight), arrive at the castle to see the barbaric warm-up act for the head-chopping session, involving flying watermelons before the heads.
The Red Queen needs an excuse not to kill the Knave and the white rabbit is going to spirit him away before the execution. But to make matters worse he decided to tell the Queen she wouldn’t be able to kill him anyway. Alice and her new Collector friend, Lizard (Lauren McKnight), arrive at the castle to see the barbaric warm-up act for the head-chopping session, involving flying watermelons before the heads.
I have to interrupt this review with a discussion of manners and hygiene. There is burping on OUAT in Wonderland! Pardon you! What has Wonderland become in its week off our screens? Cyrus’ jailer is eating chicken, messily, and throws it to Cyrus (Peter Gadiot) in pity (not friendly pity in anyway…). The chicken wish bone will apparently come in useful, but unfortunately for him the next jailer to come along notices the sharpened bone in his hand, and drops it down the tower shaft. So now that plan’s over with, whatever the ‘plan’ was….
Jafar’s magic lessons are taking shape. The sorceress, called Amara, is obsessed by snakes - how they shed their skins and are reborn. Jafar has to learn that his magic lessons must come first, whatever it takes, even if an innocent has to die. I’m sure you can guess which he chose. It also explains the love of snakes. The book contains all the knowledge about genies and bearing in mind what a powerful book it is there are rather a lot of pictures…
Their new quest revolves around finding the 3 genies, visiting current genie-owners and claiming their bottles. The ‘visits’ get a bit grizzly...
Jafar’s magic lessons are taking shape. The sorceress, called Amara, is obsessed by snakes - how they shed their skins and are reborn. Jafar has to learn that his magic lessons must come first, whatever it takes, even if an innocent has to die. I’m sure you can guess which he chose. It also explains the love of snakes. The book contains all the knowledge about genies and bearing in mind what a powerful book it is there are rather a lot of pictures…
Their new quest revolves around finding the 3 genies, visiting current genie-owners and claiming their bottles. The ‘visits’ get a bit grizzly...
Such as now. Alice saved the day, dressed as the executioner to free the knave from his bindings and the pair use the catapult to get away. Running through the maze is the easy part as they find themselves penned in by Jafar on a flying carpet in front, with the Red Queen behind. Lizard is thrown through the air and collapses on the floor. The Knave is strangled by invisible forces as Jafar attempts to drive Alice towards making her wishes.
She wishes that: If the Knave dies, she dies. And if that were the case she wouldn’t be able to make her wishes. Fair enough – but there are fates worse than death.
Alice is suspended mid-air as Jafar appears to break all her bones in quick succession. He’s one hell of a friendly guy isn’t he? When she falls to the ground he reminds her – her heart is her weakness and he can destroy everything she cares about to force her to make her wishes.
She wishes that: If the Knave dies, she dies. And if that were the case she wouldn’t be able to make her wishes. Fair enough – but there are fates worse than death.
Alice is suspended mid-air as Jafar appears to break all her bones in quick succession. He’s one hell of a friendly guy isn’t he? When she falls to the ground he reminds her – her heart is her weakness and he can destroy everything she cares about to force her to make her wishes.
And then he turns the Knave of Hearts to stone, as Anastasia looks on.
Well from her perspective at least he’s not dead or in pain…
Well from her perspective at least he’s not dead or in pain…
In Agrabar, Jafar tricked Amara into drinking a magic-sapping potion and reveals he never loved her – just did what had to be done for power. She begins to transform before him, shedding her ‘skin’ and becoming a snake. The snake then becomes the staff he carries with him everywhere…
In the present day, the head of the staff blinks. Is the sorceress still there and plotting her revenge?
Anastasia (the Red Queen) stands with a statuesque Will (the Knave) in the palace maze, watched by Lizard in the shadows, while Alice lies alone under a tree in the forest. All doomy and gloomy.
In the present day, the head of the staff blinks. Is the sorceress still there and plotting her revenge?
Anastasia (the Red Queen) stands with a statuesque Will (the Knave) in the palace maze, watched by Lizard in the shadows, while Alice lies alone under a tree in the forest. All doomy and gloomy.
But wait, before we get too down in the dumps…
In Agrabar, Cyrus reveals he has the other half of the wish bone in his pocket. It’s a myth that whoever has the larger half of the wishbones gets the wish. The wishbone, once broken, will do whatever it takes to be reunited with its other half. And with that, the dropped wishbone piece flies back up to the cage and magically begins to cut open the cage holding Cyrus. Will he have escaped by next week? We’d better be watching to find out!
In Agrabar, Cyrus reveals he has the other half of the wish bone in his pocket. It’s a myth that whoever has the larger half of the wishbones gets the wish. The wishbone, once broken, will do whatever it takes to be reunited with its other half. And with that, the dropped wishbone piece flies back up to the cage and magically begins to cut open the cage holding Cyrus. Will he have escaped by next week? We’d better be watching to find out!
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