Once...in Wonderland 1.03: Forget Me Not

Wonderland’s identity is shaping itself more each week and ‘Forget Me...Not’ was the strongest episode so far, both in terms of quirkiness and development. Wonderland is showing the same strength as its parent series originally did by marrying its character exploration with our own exploration of Wonderland itself, much in the same way as the flashbacks in the Enchanted Forest explained present day events in Storybrooke.

I’m still enjoying the hell out of Alice and Will’s partnership, and learning more about him definitely made that dynamic more interesting. Alice is full of self belief and honesty, but Will is more deceptive, hiding his fears with snark and sarcasm, which is something his past in Robin’s group cements.

His past fling with the Red Queen is a strange turn, though. Not in any bad way, since we finally got to see an entirely new side of the woman. What this means for Alice and Will’s current circumstances is still uncertain, but it definitely makes this whole journey a lot more personal and endlessly more complicated (which is always fun).

Anastasia wasn’t the only character we saw a better side of this week. ‘Forget Me Not’ is the first episode so far to give Naveen Andrews a small chance to show that he’s not as wooden and bland as he’s been so far, and made me believe more in Jafar as a villain then I did before.

I liked how Cyrus played him, too, even if I’m not sure about him in general. Although I’m happy to say that I’m not feeling the same lack of confidence in Wonderland itself. The series has grown into a decent standalone piece of the Once universe, if only its waning popularity wasn’t standing in its way of getting beyond the initial episode order.

8/10

Plus

I loved hearing Maleficent again.

I'd like to see more of Underland.

He Said, She Said

Alice: “You were the one that kept telling me to use a wish.”
Will: “Now I wish you didn’t. What a bloody waste, it’s just rope!”
Alice: “Oh relax, their sharp corners come in handy.”

Also posted at Doux Reviews.