Well folks, it’s over. Your DVR’s can now take a little break by having one less show to record and you just gained 45 minutes of your life back until you find another show to take its place. The thirteen episodes of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland have aired and due to mixed reaction and low ratings, it will not live to tell another tale.
Based on ratings, it appears that about half of the avid viewers of Once Upon a Time were interested in this spin-off series, which drew nearly six million viewers to the premier. From there, it was a quick drop to its average three million. The show was initially conceived as a mid-season replacement while the A show (Once Upon a Time) took its winter break. However, whether due to hopes it would be a big hit or due to concerns about competing for ratings against the winter Olympics, the series debuted on October 10th 2013 instead.
I personally was hooked on the complicated premise when the series began. Once Upon a Time in Wonderland took place concurrently with Once Upon a Time. The series began in Storybrook during the storm from the end of season two when the Knave of Hearts walked into Granny’s empty diner and poured himself a cup of coffee. Out of nowhere, the White Rabbit appeared to tell him that Alice needed his help. Flash to turn-of-the-century London where Alice was a young adult in a psyche ward working to forget her Wonderland journeys. She went back to the magical land as an adult to find proof for her father that she wasn’t lying about her adventures as a child. While there, she met and fell in love with a genie named Cyrus, who was killed by the Red Queen before she returned.
Hold up! Turn-of-the-century London is current with the beginning of season 3 of Once upon a Time? According to the series creators, this version of London is another realm, like Never Land, the Enchanted Forest, and our world. Herein lies the first major problem with Wonderland: It’s not grounded in reality. Part of what makes Once Upon a Time so accessible is that we get to see classic fairytale characters live in the real world. However, fans of Once Upon a Time may see other characters from this realm in the future, such as Sherlock Holmes. Alright, back to the story…
The Knave of Hearts and White Rabbit appeared in Alice’s mental asylum through a portal (the White Rabbit can create them) and revealed that Cyrus is alive. With that glimmer of potential hope for her true love, Alice fights to break out and return to Wonderland with them. Once there, Alice finds that neither of them had actually seen Cyrus, but had merely heard that he was alive from a rumor that he was spotted at the Mad Hatter’s abandoned house. We quickly learn that the White Rabbit is working for the Red Queen, revealing that she threatened Rabbit into bringing Alice back. He became her spy and after he left her castle, Jafar revealed himself.
Wait a minute! Jafar? From Aladdin? In Wonderland? Yes. The series featured a collision of worlds without much explanation, but some Agrabah characters had found themselves in this realm. This is potentially another reason the series didn’t work for many viewers. Audiences expected some Once Upon a Time crossovers in this series, but they wanted more Wonderland than Agrabah… and we got a lot of Agrabah.
Jafar had captured Cyrus, but needed his missing bottle and Alice, who had three unused wishes, so he could harness genie power. The Red Queen would be dispensable to him as soon as he got his hands on Alice, giving clues that she would later look for an opportunity to switch sides.
As the series progressed, we learned more about the characters. In the Agrabah flashbacks, Cyrus had two brothers and they all became genies when they stole water from the Well of Wonders to save their dying mother. Taking the water placed a curse on all three, turning them into genies and scattering their lamps amongst realms, casting Cyrus to Wonderland. Jafar was the bastard child of the sultan, who was trained by a sorceress that he double-crossed, turning her into his serpent staff. His quest was to become all-powerful by claiming all three genie bottles and using their power along with his.
The Red Queen’s name is Anastasia. She and Will (Knave of Hearts) were a lovers in the Enchanted Forest, where they were poor thieves and he was one of Robin Hood’s merry men. When they found their way to Wonderland, they planned a robbery on the King of Hearts, who was so stricken by Anastasia’s beauty that he proposed. Tired of life on the lamb, she accepted and broke Will’s heart in the process. Years later, she regretted her decision and partnered with Jafar in hopes that he would gain the power to alter time and allow her to reverse this decision. With a broken heart, Will returned to the Enchanted Forest where he ended up in Storybrook after Regina’s curse.
As the series continued, we learned that Jafar had already captured Cyrus’ brothers and he used several tricks to get Alice to use up her wishes. Anastasia ended up freeing Cyrus and returned him to Alice where in a twist of events, Will ended up becoming the new genie through the complicated ramifications of wish making. In the end to defeat Jafar, they had to release the sorceress from Jafar’s staff and return the water to the Well of Wonders, which freed all the genies and blocked Jafar from gaining their power during the final battle.
Free from Jafar’s rule, Anastasia and Will rekindled their romance and Alice and Cyrus got married. The series ended with a flash-forward of Alice reading a book she wrote to her daughter. The book is called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As the camera panned back, the White Rabbit is seen watching from a distance.
There were a few characters from Once Upon a Time’s past that appeared in this series. The biggest event was Barbara Hershey as Cora/Queen of Hearts in flashbacks of Anastasia’s early days as the Red Queen (Cora was her mentor). Robin Hood, who has taken a bigger role in the series, was featured in flashbacks of Will’s pre-Wonderland days in the Enchanted Forest. But the biggest cameo missing that many fans expected was Jefferson/Mad Hatter. This is most likely due to Sebastian Stan’s recent rising star power in Hollywood (he is in Captain America: The Winter Soldier).
Now that Wonderland is over, will we see any of its characters affecting Once Upon a Time? Well if Entertainment Weekly’s report is correct, Michael Socha who captured audience’s hearts as Will/Knave of Hearts has been cast as a main character in season four. Since his love with Anastasia/Red Queen was part of his appeal, it would make sense to bring Emma Rigby along with him. Only time will tell, but I think its safe to say that if ABC is willing to try another Once Upon a Time spin-off, it will be a mid-season limited event that won’t repeat the same mistakes and will hopefully feature relevant crossover characters to connect the two.