Once Upon a Time in Wonderland 1x07: Bad Blood
This crazy show is finally back, and with a surprisingly decent episode too.
Previously: 1x01, Pilot / 1x02, Trust Me / 1x03, Forget-Me-Not / 1x04, The Serpent / 1x05, Heart of Stone / 1x06, Who's Alice
1. Contrary to what the title gif says, it turns out not everything is Jafar's fault. Unsurprisingly, the old dude in the cage is indeed the Sultan, and wow, is he a total dick or what? Yeah, dude, I get it, you don't want any bastard kids running around your palace. Here's a novel thought: stop making them! Or at least stick them somewhere else, provide for them discreetly and have some nice people bring them up, but don't appoint them serving boys in your own home, making it look like a freaking kindness, and then treat them like dirt.
For all its faults, OUATiW is not incapable of building up layered characters. The Sultan himself is a good example. We know he's not incapable of noble acts (he even refuses to escape with Cyrus for fear of slowing him down, though there's no reason for him to believe that Cyrus and Alice will take Jafar down and set him free); yet he acts like a complete stuck up dick and flat out states that you need to be feared to be a good ruler. A far cry from this guy, eh? His dickishness culminates in raising one cowardly and inept son and trying to drown another one like a puppy. Way to go, dude.
In light of that, Jafar's actions don't actually seem all that reprehensible (well, aside from the part where his epic quest hurts everyone else starting from his mentor down to Alice). Unfortunately, the aim of his quest once again seems to tie into love issues, except it's not a woman's love he wants, but his father's. Can't say I blame the Sultan for refusing it to him now, but dude, regretting you haven't drowned him well enough? That's a no-no. In short, I have very little sympathy for the Sultan now.
I'm actually glad that Jafar is shown from the start as somewhat of a grey character. He's not downright evil, but he's driven enough to overlook whatever goodness he might have, and boy, can this kid hold a grudge! And for once, he's actually justified in that. Not only did his dick of a daddy personally try to drown him, but he didn't even bother to give him a burial. (Lucky for Jafar, though.)
One thing that bothers me: did Jafar actually die and come back to life or was he only half-dead? Because I thought I some some weird glow near him when he woke up. This is starting to really echo Lost (which is double ironic since the kid who plays young Jafar also played young Sayid in Lost).
Btw Jafar's mother really reminded me of Tory from BSG, but OUATiW isn't in Rekha Sharma's acting credits on IMDB and Google comes up with nothing. I thought it was a nice cameo, but maybe I was mistaken.
2. "Some people call it Wonderland." Others call it Bad CGI-land. Poor Edwin looks so shocked. Too much green screen, I guess.
All in all, I was initially disappointed to see that the scenes between Alice and her father were actually between Alice and Jafar. Fortunately, Alice did get to see the real Edwin at the end, and I liked the things he said to her. It parallels Jafar's story nicely, and some of the faces he made while Alice yelled at him, thinking she was talking to her father, were quite touching (nice acting there, dude). Speaking of Jafar, he's kind of a lousy actor imho because the Edwin actor did a great job of sounding a lot like him in those scenes. It was quite a recognizable manner. And yet, it only took him not saying a prayer before his meal to get Alice to realize he was an impostor. And speaking of that: shouldn't Jafar have, like, maybe told her it was him if he wanted to speed up the process of Alice making up with Daddy? Like, yeah, about thaaaat, that there on the beach, that was me, this one's real, now kiss and make up so I could threaten to kill him more effectively. Alas, the OUATiW team never searches for an easy way out.
3. Can we please stop hurting dragons!? Like, seriously, why is it every time some crazy ass shit happens, a dragon has to die? The poor beastie wasn't even there of its own free will, from what I gathered - Jafar summoned it. No, but look at this cutie!
Well, I never said my priorities were straight. ;)) Besides, at this point, Alice annoys me so much that I'd rather see this cutie get its dinner.
4. The Red Queen had a cracktastic, albeit tiny part in this ep. And yay for the Bowie-esque valet being a sassy biatch too. ;) Is it me, or is Emma's acting actually getting a teeny bit better?
(c) frekkenbok
And don't even get me started on some of the valet's facial expressions. It's like the dude has the hots both for the Queen and Jafar, can't decide who he wants more, and finally decides a threesome would be nice. XD
(c) dorothydeath
Poor man was having doubts about his sexuality and has finally decided to identify as bi. Congrats, Bowie-esque valet. You're totally one of my fav characters here.
5. The Knave didn't have much to do in this episode except act semi-helpful. I like the Storybrooke ref though:
(c) frekkenbok
And the thing about the birds. And the "count me out" because that plan was honestly quite stupid and how did they even succeed? That said, I'm beginning to suspect that heartlessness give you infinite patience too because I have no idea how else Will is able to put up with Alice's constant "Cyrus this, Cyrus that."
6. The preview for the next ep, the midseason finale, looks terrifying, if only judging by the amount of Alice/Cyrus, so I feel the need to post a special reaction gif to it right now:
By the way, if there are StarKid fans on my flist, their new musical is pretty relevant to the subject of these recaps. XD So if by any chance you're in the mood for some crack and some more Jafar, go and check out TWISTED: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier.
Previously: 1x01, Pilot / 1x02, Trust Me / 1x03, Forget-Me-Not / 1x04, The Serpent / 1x05, Heart of Stone / 1x06, Who's Alice
1. Contrary to what the title gif says, it turns out not everything is Jafar's fault. Unsurprisingly, the old dude in the cage is indeed the Sultan, and wow, is he a total dick or what? Yeah, dude, I get it, you don't want any bastard kids running around your palace. Here's a novel thought: stop making them! Or at least stick them somewhere else, provide for them discreetly and have some nice people bring them up, but don't appoint them serving boys in your own home, making it look like a freaking kindness, and then treat them like dirt.
For all its faults, OUATiW is not incapable of building up layered characters. The Sultan himself is a good example. We know he's not incapable of noble acts (he even refuses to escape with Cyrus for fear of slowing him down, though there's no reason for him to believe that Cyrus and Alice will take Jafar down and set him free); yet he acts like a complete stuck up dick and flat out states that you need to be feared to be a good ruler. A far cry from this guy, eh? His dickishness culminates in raising one cowardly and inept son and trying to drown another one like a puppy. Way to go, dude.
In light of that, Jafar's actions don't actually seem all that reprehensible (well, aside from the part where his epic quest hurts everyone else starting from his mentor down to Alice). Unfortunately, the aim of his quest once again seems to tie into love issues, except it's not a woman's love he wants, but his father's. Can't say I blame the Sultan for refusing it to him now, but dude, regretting you haven't drowned him well enough? That's a no-no. In short, I have very little sympathy for the Sultan now.
I'm actually glad that Jafar is shown from the start as somewhat of a grey character. He's not downright evil, but he's driven enough to overlook whatever goodness he might have, and boy, can this kid hold a grudge! And for once, he's actually justified in that. Not only did his dick of a daddy personally try to drown him, but he didn't even bother to give him a burial. (Lucky for Jafar, though.)
One thing that bothers me: did Jafar actually die and come back to life or was he only half-dead? Because I thought I some some weird glow near him when he woke up. This is starting to really echo Lost (which is double ironic since the kid who plays young Jafar also played young Sayid in Lost).
Btw Jafar's mother really reminded me of Tory from BSG, but OUATiW isn't in Rekha Sharma's acting credits on IMDB and Google comes up with nothing. I thought it was a nice cameo, but maybe I was mistaken.
2. "Some people call it Wonderland." Others call it Bad CGI-land. Poor Edwin looks so shocked. Too much green screen, I guess.
All in all, I was initially disappointed to see that the scenes between Alice and her father were actually between Alice and Jafar. Fortunately, Alice did get to see the real Edwin at the end, and I liked the things he said to her. It parallels Jafar's story nicely, and some of the faces he made while Alice yelled at him, thinking she was talking to her father, were quite touching (nice acting there, dude). Speaking of Jafar, he's kind of a lousy actor imho because the Edwin actor did a great job of sounding a lot like him in those scenes. It was quite a recognizable manner. And yet, it only took him not saying a prayer before his meal to get Alice to realize he was an impostor. And speaking of that: shouldn't Jafar have, like, maybe told her it was him if he wanted to speed up the process of Alice making up with Daddy? Like, yeah, about thaaaat, that there on the beach, that was me, this one's real, now kiss and make up so I could threaten to kill him more effectively. Alas, the OUATiW team never searches for an easy way out.
3. Can we please stop hurting dragons!? Like, seriously, why is it every time some crazy ass shit happens, a dragon has to die? The poor beastie wasn't even there of its own free will, from what I gathered - Jafar summoned it. No, but look at this cutie!
Well, I never said my priorities were straight. ;)) Besides, at this point, Alice annoys me so much that I'd rather see this cutie get its dinner.
4. The Red Queen had a cracktastic, albeit tiny part in this ep. And yay for the Bowie-esque valet being a sassy biatch too. ;) Is it me, or is Emma's acting actually getting a teeny bit better?
(c) frekkenbok
And don't even get me started on some of the valet's facial expressions. It's like the dude has the hots both for the Queen and Jafar, can't decide who he wants more, and finally decides a threesome would be nice. XD
(c) dorothydeath
Poor man was having doubts about his sexuality and has finally decided to identify as bi. Congrats, Bowie-esque valet. You're totally one of my fav characters here.
5. The Knave didn't have much to do in this episode except act semi-helpful. I like the Storybrooke ref though:
(c) frekkenbok
And the thing about the birds. And the "count me out" because that plan was honestly quite stupid and how did they even succeed? That said, I'm beginning to suspect that heartlessness give you infinite patience too because I have no idea how else Will is able to put up with Alice's constant "Cyrus this, Cyrus that."
6. The preview for the next ep, the midseason finale, looks terrifying, if only judging by the amount of Alice/Cyrus, so I feel the need to post a special reaction gif to it right now:
By the way, if there are StarKid fans on my flist, their new musical is pretty relevant to the subject of these recaps. XD So if by any chance you're in the mood for some crack and some more Jafar, go and check out TWISTED: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier.