Once Upon a Time in Wonderland – Season 1A

After the success of ‘Once Upon a Time’ it was only a matter for time before the spin-off was announced. It finally aired this fall and is named ‘Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’. The story mainly focuses on Wonderland, of course, and takes place in the Wonderland we all know and love from the story ‘Alice in Wonderland’. During the pilot episode there’s a cross-over with ‘Once Upon a Time’ because one of the first scenes is set in Storybrooke. But can ‘Once Upon a Time on Wonderland’ live up to the ‘Once Upon a Time’ brand?

The lead role of Alice is portrayed by Sophie Lowe, and the story takes place a couple of years after Alice’s first trip to Wonderland. She has returned several times since then and has made some friends, but also enemies. During her last visit to Wonderland tragedy struck, and Alice was submitted in a mental hospital after she returned to the normal world. A friend of Alice, The Knave (Michael Socha, ‘Being Human’) comes to Alice’s rescue together with The White Rabbit (John Lithgow, ‘Dexter’). They have important news for her. Alice must return to Wonderland in order to save the man she loves, who’s still alive. And so a new fairy-tale begins…

The special effects of the show aren’t that great to be honest. Same was the case with ‘Once Upon a Time’ when it started. And even though they’ve made some graphic changes to improve that, their special effects are still not as good as they could be as well. But the biggest flaw in the first couple of episodes is the way the story progresses. Even though the promo’s seemed very promising, there’s not much happening during the first few episodes. It takes a couple of weeks, but the story finally takes off starting with the fourth (or fifth) episode of ‘Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’.

The man who stole Alice her heart is Cyrus (Peter Gadiot, fun fact is that he's half Dutch), a genie who is being chased by Jafar (Naveem Andrews, ‘Lost’). That’s right, the villain from Agrabah. Jafar has a companion this time, he is being helped by The Red Queen (Emma Rigby). She has her own problems with Alice and her friends. During the episodes we find out more about their backstories. What makes Jafar the villain he is today, and who broke The Red Queen's heart which made her become so evil? What happened to The White Rabbit's wife (a guest role from Whoopi Goldberg), and why is The Knave of Hearts in Wonderland anyway? These background stories make the show a lot better, but take a bit too long to evolve. It’s because of that as well that it takes a while for the viewers to really connect with all of the characters.

After these flaws I would also like to point out a couple of strengths this show has to offer. Because it’s not all bad, believe me! Halfway through the first season the stories really come to life. And by the time the mid-season cliff-hanger aired the viewers were in for a treat. It’s too bad the series had such a rocky start. A better pilot and first couple of episodes would definitely have been better for this show. But I’m personally not giving up on ‘Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’. As a big ‘Once Upon a Time’ fan I was a bit disappointed with the first couple of episodes, but the final ones definitely made up for that. Even though there are still things that need improving, the series already improved a lot since it first aired. I’ve really started to love The Red Queen while at first I didn’t find her acting all that interesting. The series really has potential. If the creators try their hardest to make the second part of season one better than what we’ve seen so far, I think they can turn this whole thing around. It’s not where it should be yet, but it can grow. The finale episodes already showed this potential in my opinion, now they just have to hold on to that spirit!