After watching this episode I’m pretty sure Wonderland is the place you go when you’re in desperate need of parental approval. We knew early on Alice went back to find proof for her father to believe her. Last week it was Jafar who wanted his father, the Sultan to recognize him. And now we see Anastasia has something to prove to her mother. No wonder Jafar and the Red Queen work well together, they have something to bond over.
So here we are with the Anastasia/Red Queen backstory. Before Ana and Will can make the jump to Wonderland, her mom shows up to stop them. Turns out Mommy had plans for her that didn’t involve being with a common thief such as Will Scarlet. “Obviously you’re not princess material, but at least a nobleman.” Way to build your daughter up and keep her from running off with a thief. But Ana’s young and believes you can live on love alone and if she can’t her mom will take Ana back as long as she brings a bucket to empty her chamber pot. With a mom like that I don’t blame her for jumping through the portal.
In case you’re wondering, I’m in total agreement with most of the world that Anastasia is one of Cinderella’s stepsisters.
As is the case with most moms, they always know their children the best. Living on love alone wasn’t enough for Ana. After being in Wonderland for some time, Will and Ana find themselves not better off than they were before they left. Ana even comments that she thought “the Wonder in Wonderland was short for Wonderful not wonder how we’re going to make it.” Well crashing a ball in the palace seems to be a good start. Not that they got to stay long before Will was pinched for hiding food in his clothes. It was long enough for Ana to scope out the crown jewels and gain the attention of the King. I have to wonder if Ana truly planned to steal the jewels for herself and Will to leave Wonderland with and take back to the Enchanted Forest to sell, or if she wanted the chance to see the king again. After all wouldn’t it have been better for the experienced thief to slip in and take them instead of sending in the amature. Whichever plan Ana really did have in mind worked because she certainly did come away with the crown jewels. Poor Will was left waiting below the castle balcony for her to return with the jewels and instead he got to witness the King’s introduction of his new queen.
That brings us to the other theme of the weak: having a pure heart. Obviously the Red Queen’s heart was far from pure, but what of Alice’s?
Finding Alice in the maze with stoned Will, the Queen offers deal to handle their common problem: Jafar. When Alice points out that the Queen happens to be working with Jafar, the Queen passes it off as him just being a means to an end and when that end comes she needs the power to protect herself, and Alice can help her get the magic dust she needs for that power. In exchange the Queen will tell her where to find Cyrus.
That magic dust happens to be in the great divide on the other side of the ravine. Luckily there is a stone to tell them that only the pure of heart shall make the leap. Alice wonders aloud if this is just a trap to get her to use a wish when she starts to fall. The Queen reassures her that if she wanted her to fall to her death she would just push her.
Alice figures the riddle means a figurative leap and that she just needs to have faith in purest thing in her heart: her love for cyrus. Her faith in him will get her across because when two people love each other there is nothing they can’t accomplish. (How many times have we heard that line?) Believing their hearts entwined. she steps off the ledge and magically walks on air for a couple steps until she falls into the pit below.
Alice calls for help, but the only answer she gets is from that little girl that is so creepy her sisters in The Shining kicked her out.
The creepy little Alice mini-me tells her she can help her find magic dust because she knows lots of things but Alice needs to earn her help. She tells Alice to remember the dreams she had when she was locked away. Alice says she dreamed of cyrus because she loved him. The little girl calls her bluff and tells her the dreams were about wanting revenge on those who took Cyrus from her. As she demands Alice to admit it she starts stomping hard enough for the ledge of the cliff to give way and the Red Queen comes tumbling down. The little girl taunts Alice in an attempt to get her to kill the Queen and exact her revenge. Mini-Alice claims to know what is in both their heads and that she can get Alice the magic dust without the Queen. It begins to look as if Alice is about to take the Queen out when she says “I’m sorry someone needs to make you pay for what you’ve done.” Alice swings her sword to the ground because it won’t be her tht makes the Queen pay. In the end it was all a test and the truly pure of heart, Alice takes the child’s hand and the child turns to dust. Which Alice scoops up in front of a stunned Queen wondering why Alice didn’t kill her. “Cause I’m not like you.”
Back on the top of the cliff the Queen asks for the dust, but Alice demands to know where Cyrus is first. The Queen uses magic to snatch away the bag of dust from Alice’s hands, telling her that only one of them is pure of heart. When Alice counter points with “I gave you your life.” The Queen responds with “No one ever gave me anything. Everything I have, I had to take.” Alice asks “What about everything you lost.” To which the Queen just reminds you that she can’t hold on to those wishes forever.
Jafar is still searching for a way to get to Alice. This week his terror victim is the White Rabbit. After getting nowhere in the useful information department with the Rabbit, Jafar slices off his foot. Don’t worry he gives him one minute to share something worthwhile and he’ll make him whole again. Which of course the Rabbit does…while we’re at commercial break. Jafar thanks him then demands the Rabbit to dig his hole so they can go find the ones Alice cares about. The Rabbit makes a break for it, running out into the tunnels.
Cyrus is setting his escape plan in place and promises the old man in the cage next to him that he will get him out too. The old man tells him many have tried but not succeeded, but he senses none of them have wanted it as much as Cyrus. Cyrus tells the man the trick is to not look at the bars, but what lies beyond them. The old man says he had a life once but no more.
I’m suspecting more and more that the old man is the Sultan.
Cyrus makes his escape and the old man tricks the guard into looking at him so that Cyrus can take him and get away. When Cyrus tosses him the keys, the old man lets them fall into the pit below because he doesn’t want to slow Cyrus down.
Cyrus comes face to face with the Rabbit in the tunnels as he’s making his escape. With Jafar on hot on his tail calling out to the Rabbit Rabbit that there is no escape even if he makes it out of the tunnels. The Rabbit tells Cyrus to go. Jafar enters just after Cyrus disappears down the tunnel. The Rabbit buys Cyrus the time he needs to get out by agreeing to “dig” a hole for Jafar so they can find the ones Alice cares about.
That brings us back to stoned Will. In the beginning of the episode Alice had covered him with a blanket to protect him from the rain or whatever, basically showing a simple act of kindness for her friend, before the Red Queen came to her. Now near the end the Red Queen is back …
Despite all the obstacles Alice believes she will find Cyrus and shows that she has kept a small amount of the magic dust which she blows out towards the mountain in the distance where a castle soon appears just as Cyrus emerges into sunlight looking out from across the mountain.
And that’s where I got goosebumps and my eyes welled up with tears. Now I can’t wait to see what keeps them apart next week.
What did you think of this week’s episode?
