Once Upon a Time in Wonderland 1x06: Who's Alice
I hadn't expected much from a heavily Alice-centric episode, but while there were things that made me cringe, there were also some things that I rather liked.
Previously: 1x01, Pilot / 1x02, Trust Me / 1x03, Forget-Me-Not / 1x04, The Serpent / 1x05, Heart of Stone
1. I've been forgetting to mention the Rabbit's voiceover in the beginning of each episode, so I'll do it now. Whose moronic idea was that? The previous episode had a cringeworthy shortened version of the voiceover, in which the Rabbit basically stated that since nobody believed Alice, they brought her back to Wonderland to find her true love. Logic, where art thou? But even the full version sounds kind of stupid, especially since the narration is done by the one character that keeps betraying Alice. I know we're probably supposed to feel bad for the Rabbit since everyone keeps shoving him into bags and carrying him around like a talisman and on top of all he has this debt to the Queen we still know nothing about, but he's also kind of spineless and pretty annoying.
2. The episode itself opens in the "Victorian England" where Jafar T-800's himself. Only he's not a proper Terminator because he's not naked, but I guess it's a G-rated show. Anyone else imagine Bad to the Bone playing when Jafar recquisitioned that guy's suit? ;))
Also, Jafar has the best way of freaking people out. I laughed so hard at the doctor's reaction to the Rabbit. XDDD Dude, it's not the worst thing out there. Some of the Red Queen's outfits are far scarier!
3. And now, of course, Alice. I'm still on the fence about her. The actress seems okay, but I still can't get over how the whole true love thing butchers one of my favourite characters ever. Alice is supposed to be very inquisitive and curious, but she's so fixated on Cyrus that I can't stop rolling my eyes at her. Her stepmother keeps saying in this episode that Alice can't be a little girl anymore, that she has to grow up. I'm afraid the problem is that she has grown up: as a child, she was apparently like the Alice we know and love, but then she fell in love and it all went to hell. This concept of true love annoys the fuck out of me because love isn't supposed to change people so drastically! Alice even tells her little stepsister that once she finds love of her own she will "never wish for anything else." It's a terrifying notion - to be so locked in one person that you'd never need anything else. Moreover, it's completely unrealistic. The previous episode demonstrated that reality has a way of trampling all over someone's feelings. I don't think what Will and Ana had was any less true than what Alice and Cyrus had, yet somehow at least one of them avoided getting obsessed.
I'm sure it's not what the episode meant to show us, but the way I see it, Alice's feelings for Cyrus are not that different from that artificial high she experiences in the forest. She is downright manic when it comes to Cyrus and she is just as manic picking flowers in the forest. There's something wrong with you, show, I'm sure this is not your message, but I'm reading it pretty clearly.
As a little side note: I was irrationally happy to see Alice talk to herself on the way to the forest. Because that's what the book Alice did all the time! It's a lovely quirk.
4. I actually liked Alice's family. Her father is not an asshole who doesn't care about his daughter. True, he said some harsh things and he seemed very impatient and at times insensitive, but he does have a new child to think about, and with no proof in the form of something magical, Alice's stories are just stories. I'm not saying the man made no mistakes. Stories or no stories, it was clear that Alice had been though a severe trauma, and yet, he didn't even try to understand her. He simply dismissed her account of events as delusions, and that was that. Still, I guess a more in-depth reaction would be too much to ask from this show.
I liked the stepmother too. She wasn't traditionally evil; she was just a woman who had her own child to think about. Judging by the timeline, she didn't even know Alice so it's normal that her primary concern was to get Alice out of the house.
(c) lucia-zhaifu
There are two things I don't particularly like though. First of all, the necessity of a stepmother in general. I guess they were trying to make things a bit more fairy tale (and we've already established that everyone in OUAT-verse must have parental issues), but from what I remember of the book, Alice had a normal family. That's the beauty of the books: she wasn't traumatized, she wasn't trying to prove anything, she was just excessively curious. I would prefer to see a normal family here and the older sister that she had - and the cat! She had a cat named Dinah, I remember that.
Another issue is tiny but it irked me in this episode. Why doesn't Alice have a last name? Jafar seems well-versed in how to act in a totally unfamiliar world, yet he has to describe Alice in order to find out information about her - and moreover, the doctor somehow recognizes her before the White Rabbit is mentioned! Alice was a freakishly popular English name, wasn't it? Still is, I suspect. I'm willing to bet there was more than one Alice in the asylum, and it's a stretch to claim she was the only blue-eyed and blond-haired girl there. If you don't want to use Liddell (the name of the girl Lewis Carrol wrote the book for), then make something up, idk. Tim Burton named her Kingsleigh f.ex. It just sounds weird! She can be well-known by name only in Wonderland, but I find it very jarring that no one has mentioned the family name in England.
5. Alice and Will's reunion was cute. Made perhaps even cuter by the fact that Alice was high as a kite. XD
(c) uprysing
I've really missed Will's sass, but he's reacquiring it. I don't really understand why the forest had no effect on him whatsoever, but oka-ay. And the count of "bloody hells" was pretty high this time. Please tell me he does get paid for this.
At least Will had some funny lines when he wasn't too busy stopping Alice from becoming a tree.
(c) onceuponatimeinawonderland
And the exchange about being stoned reminded me of this scene from Tim Burton's Dark Shadows:
6. I don't remember if this detail came up before, but Will is the new Cora. XD The cast of OUATiW should just form a support group (and perhaps invite some Twilight people to participate) for the people who can't handle loss. Modern world is all about the positive: life doesn't end if you lose someone, you can meet someone new, etc. But no, OUAT people reject this ridiculous notion. Moving on? What is that? Is it edible? Alice has nightmares and in the end is almost willing to subject herself to lobotomy in order to forget Cyrus. Will literally chooses to go heartless rather than face his pain re: Ana's betrayal. Charming people, eh? The following gif is actually a quite accurate description of my feeling towards this show:
(c) onceuponatimeinawonderland
7. The Red Queen once again endeared herself to me when she pointed out that the Sultan's lie was seriously stupid. Not to mention this was cool:
(c) fructoselollipop
I can't decide who the Bowie-esque valet is more in awe of: Jafar or her. He kinda sounds like he wants a threesome.
From what I understand, we're facing another hiatus next week (oddly, both for this and OUAT proper), so I guess I'll catch a break from all the true love going on. XD Still, it could have been worse. It's probably too much to hope that the fall has killed Cyrus for real this time, eh?
Previously: 1x01, Pilot / 1x02, Trust Me / 1x03, Forget-Me-Not / 1x04, The Serpent / 1x05, Heart of Stone
1. I've been forgetting to mention the Rabbit's voiceover in the beginning of each episode, so I'll do it now. Whose moronic idea was that? The previous episode had a cringeworthy shortened version of the voiceover, in which the Rabbit basically stated that since nobody believed Alice, they brought her back to Wonderland to find her true love. Logic, where art thou? But even the full version sounds kind of stupid, especially since the narration is done by the one character that keeps betraying Alice. I know we're probably supposed to feel bad for the Rabbit since everyone keeps shoving him into bags and carrying him around like a talisman and on top of all he has this debt to the Queen we still know nothing about, but he's also kind of spineless and pretty annoying.
2. The episode itself opens in the "Victorian England" where Jafar T-800's himself. Only he's not a proper Terminator because he's not naked, but I guess it's a G-rated show. Anyone else imagine Bad to the Bone playing when Jafar recquisitioned that guy's suit? ;))
Also, Jafar has the best way of freaking people out. I laughed so hard at the doctor's reaction to the Rabbit. XDDD Dude, it's not the worst thing out there. Some of the Red Queen's outfits are far scarier!
3. And now, of course, Alice. I'm still on the fence about her. The actress seems okay, but I still can't get over how the whole true love thing butchers one of my favourite characters ever. Alice is supposed to be very inquisitive and curious, but she's so fixated on Cyrus that I can't stop rolling my eyes at her. Her stepmother keeps saying in this episode that Alice can't be a little girl anymore, that she has to grow up. I'm afraid the problem is that she has grown up: as a child, she was apparently like the Alice we know and love, but then she fell in love and it all went to hell. This concept of true love annoys the fuck out of me because love isn't supposed to change people so drastically! Alice even tells her little stepsister that once she finds love of her own she will "never wish for anything else." It's a terrifying notion - to be so locked in one person that you'd never need anything else. Moreover, it's completely unrealistic. The previous episode demonstrated that reality has a way of trampling all over someone's feelings. I don't think what Will and Ana had was any less true than what Alice and Cyrus had, yet somehow at least one of them avoided getting obsessed.
I'm sure it's not what the episode meant to show us, but the way I see it, Alice's feelings for Cyrus are not that different from that artificial high she experiences in the forest. She is downright manic when it comes to Cyrus and she is just as manic picking flowers in the forest. There's something wrong with you, show, I'm sure this is not your message, but I'm reading it pretty clearly.
As a little side note: I was irrationally happy to see Alice talk to herself on the way to the forest. Because that's what the book Alice did all the time! It's a lovely quirk.
4. I actually liked Alice's family. Her father is not an asshole who doesn't care about his daughter. True, he said some harsh things and he seemed very impatient and at times insensitive, but he does have a new child to think about, and with no proof in the form of something magical, Alice's stories are just stories. I'm not saying the man made no mistakes. Stories or no stories, it was clear that Alice had been though a severe trauma, and yet, he didn't even try to understand her. He simply dismissed her account of events as delusions, and that was that. Still, I guess a more in-depth reaction would be too much to ask from this show.
I liked the stepmother too. She wasn't traditionally evil; she was just a woman who had her own child to think about. Judging by the timeline, she didn't even know Alice so it's normal that her primary concern was to get Alice out of the house.
(c) lucia-zhaifu
There are two things I don't particularly like though. First of all, the necessity of a stepmother in general. I guess they were trying to make things a bit more fairy tale (and we've already established that everyone in OUAT-verse must have parental issues), but from what I remember of the book, Alice had a normal family. That's the beauty of the books: she wasn't traumatized, she wasn't trying to prove anything, she was just excessively curious. I would prefer to see a normal family here and the older sister that she had - and the cat! She had a cat named Dinah, I remember that.
Another issue is tiny but it irked me in this episode. Why doesn't Alice have a last name? Jafar seems well-versed in how to act in a totally unfamiliar world, yet he has to describe Alice in order to find out information about her - and moreover, the doctor somehow recognizes her before the White Rabbit is mentioned! Alice was a freakishly popular English name, wasn't it? Still is, I suspect. I'm willing to bet there was more than one Alice in the asylum, and it's a stretch to claim she was the only blue-eyed and blond-haired girl there. If you don't want to use Liddell (the name of the girl Lewis Carrol wrote the book for), then make something up, idk. Tim Burton named her Kingsleigh f.ex. It just sounds weird! She can be well-known by name only in Wonderland, but I find it very jarring that no one has mentioned the family name in England.
5. Alice and Will's reunion was cute. Made perhaps even cuter by the fact that Alice was high as a kite. XD
(c) uprysing
I've really missed Will's sass, but he's reacquiring it. I don't really understand why the forest had no effect on him whatsoever, but oka-ay. And the count of "bloody hells" was pretty high this time. Please tell me he does get paid for this.
At least Will had some funny lines when he wasn't too busy stopping Alice from becoming a tree.
(c) onceuponatimeinawonderland
And the exchange about being stoned reminded me of this scene from Tim Burton's Dark Shadows:
6. I don't remember if this detail came up before, but Will is the new Cora. XD The cast of OUATiW should just form a support group (and perhaps invite some Twilight people to participate) for the people who can't handle loss. Modern world is all about the positive: life doesn't end if you lose someone, you can meet someone new, etc. But no, OUAT people reject this ridiculous notion. Moving on? What is that? Is it edible? Alice has nightmares and in the end is almost willing to subject herself to lobotomy in order to forget Cyrus. Will literally chooses to go heartless rather than face his pain re: Ana's betrayal. Charming people, eh? The following gif is actually a quite accurate description of my feeling towards this show:
(c) onceuponatimeinawonderland
7. The Red Queen once again endeared herself to me when she pointed out that the Sultan's lie was seriously stupid. Not to mention this was cool:
(c) fructoselollipop
I can't decide who the Bowie-esque valet is more in awe of: Jafar or her. He kinda sounds like he wants a threesome.
From what I understand, we're facing another hiatus next week (oddly, both for this and OUAT proper), so I guess I'll catch a break from all the true love going on. XD Still, it could have been worse. It's probably too much to hope that the fall has killed Cyrus for real this time, eh?