Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - "Down the Rabbit Hole" - Review

Intro

Just posted this on Facebook, but... I now have an actual job that requires me to leave my house. I spent most of my day training and will be doing that again tomorrow. I'm excited about being a "productive member of society," even if it does potentially mean cutting back on some of my reviews. I'll let you know when and if that happens.

However, for tonight I have a review of the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland for you.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen Once Upon a Time or the first episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, you should go watch them and come back after you're done. There will be spoilers for both series in this review.

The first two Seasons of Once Upon a Time are available on Netflix and presumably DVD. The first episodes of both Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland are available at watchabc.go.com.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - "Down the Rabbit Hole" - Review

Characters:

• Alice - Played by Sophie Lowe. Main protagonist. Cyrus' Fiancee.
• Cyrus - Played by Peter Gadiot. Genie. Alice's Fiance.
• Dr. Lydgate - Played by Jonny Coyne. Alice's doctor at Bethlam Asylum.
• Red Queen - Played by Emma Rigby. Antagonist. Ruler of Wonderland.
• Knave of Hearts - Played by Michael Socha. Alice's ally.
• Jafar - Played by Naveen Andrews. Antagonist. Keeping Cyrus prisoner.
• White Rabbit - Voiced by John Lithgow. Works for the Red Queen keeping tabs on Alice.

Review:

As a fan of Once Upon a Time, I was extremely excited to see what the production team would do with Wonderland. I was not at all disappointed. True, some of the effects were very obviously effects, but I was pleased with the results. Wonderland was every bit the strange and magical place it should be, with some surprising additions, I must say.

I completely bought the Alice/Cyrus relationship, which is exceedingly important for buying into the story. Alice visible pain while being interrogated by Dr. Lydgate was part of what sold it for me. Her complete shut down after losing him makes complete sense to me. I very much enjoyed seeing Alice wake right up again when the Knave told her Cyrus was alive. That fight scene was amazing. I hadn't expected them to then take off into London, but that made a nice surprise. I also enjoyed Alice's cleverness with the dragonflies and her excitement to see Cyrus again when they reached Jefferson/The Hatter's house.

I thought the Red Queen was okay after the first scene was over. She looks like she's put too much botox or something in her lips, but it was less pronounced during the scene with the White Rabbit and then Jafar. Jafar was slightly more impressive. I liked that he had the snake stick, I've always liked that thing. I thought the "force choking" thing was a little overplayed, especially as we got some of that earlier this week in Once Upon a Time, but it served to make him seem a lot more ruthless so that was okay. The interplay between the Red Queen and Jafar was fun to watch. I always love it when villains do that circling-talking thing.

I thought the Knave was your stereotypical rogue type. I figured he'd steal Alice's wishes and that he'd come back to save her from Chesh. Speaking of which, that was the gnarliest Cheshire Cat I've ever seen. I liked him, though. I also enjoyed the White Rabbit. He was amusing on screen and looked great. I'm not sure I like that he's working for the Red Queen, though it helps he's doing it under threat of death.

Backtracking a bit, I had not expected to see Storybrooke, so that was a cool little surprise. I do wonder though when on the Once Upon a Time timeline that happened. I'm a bit confused because Emma's bug showed up and she's currently in Neverland... It was cool to see Grumpy/Leroy and Ashley/Cinderella for a little bit. I'm very sad it wasn't Ruby, but since the actress who played her is doing something else... meh. Doesn't matter. It was cool seeing the Knave in the diner and the White Rabbit popping up out of the diner floor.

Overall, I have no complaints about this first episode. The acting was good, the CG was awesome for being on a TV budget, the characters were believable, and the costuming was awesome, as usual for this crew. I can't wait for next week's episode.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• I dunno if I've just been watching My Little Pony for too long or something, but John Lithgow's voice sounded very much like John de Lancie's voice.
• Little Alice was adorable.
• Evil Queens are required to have awesome dresses apparently.
• Loved the Mallow Marsh and the s'mores jokes.
• Love the Red Queen's castle! It's all made of chess pieces!
• Not finding Cyrus this episode was predictable because it's the first episode and finding him would have ruined it.

Extras:

I drew this in my notebook on a commercial:

Favorite Line:

"When you really love someone, you don't need proof. You can feel it." - Alice

Love ya, Jessie