Rac80
The Belle of the Ball
Once upon a time in wonderland review
This is a retelling of Alice’s story. Only now Alice is a young woman in an insane asylum – the infamous BethlemHospital (formerly Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem--which gave us the term bedlam for a state of madness or chaos.) It seems that as a child, Alice had followed the White Rabbit down a hole and disappeared for so long her father thought she was dead. When she returned (climbing out of a rabbit-hole: the casting was excellent- she greatly resembled Walt Disney’s Alice) her father disbelieved her fanciful stories. It seems to have been a bit of battle between the two over the years because of her “imagination”. Alice, being a stubborn girl, set out to prove her father wrong and kept returning to Wonderland looking for “proof” of her stories. On her last trip, she managed to grab the White Rabbit (deliciously voiced by John Lithgow) and prepared to return to England to show him to her father. She was being chased by troops (the Red Queen’s) and chose to grab a piece of a mushroom so she could shrink and thus hide. Once tiny, Alice found a lovely place to hide- a bottle with a very handsome genie in it named Cyrus. She chose to stay in Wonderland and embarked on many adventures with Cyrus, which ended with Cyrus’s supposed death. Alice returned home and her father finally committed her to insane asylum. This is where the story begins.
A very distraught Alice is confronted with a panel of “doctors” who have a way to help her get over her grief (lobotomy?) if she will just sign this paper. Alice signs and goes back to her very depressing cell. Noises in the hallway wakes Alice and she finds the Knave of Hearts, AKA Will, is here to spring her. He says she helped him get back his heart so he feels he owes her to find hers. The White Rabbit told him that Cyrus is alive; he saw Cyrus. It turns out that Alice learned to fight while adventuring with Cyrus. She is especially wicked when wielding a pair of ladies boots. Alice and the Knave follow the White Rabbit out of the hospital (through the basement) and are spied by her doctor (love the snarky “seeing something doctor?” as the doctor stares in horror at the White Rabbit) before the White Rabbit creates his hole for them to jump through.
After Alice arrives in Wonderland we discover she had “proof” with her all along- three ruby-like jewels that are wishes Cyrus gave her which she hid the heel of one of her boots. We also meet Jafar from Aladdin (he’s looking for those wishes) and the Red Queen (who has an interesting connection to the Knave of Hearts). We also discover that the White Rabbit is her spy.
The special effects are acceptable. Much of each episode is shot on “green screen” and the actors do very well acting on a virtual set. They have made an effort to not have the CGI look like OUAT’s and that is a mistake IMHO. I also like the storyline and pace- in the first episode we discover that Cyrus is not dead but being held captive by Jafar as he tries to get Alice to use her wishes. By the third episode we have more of Alice’s back-story, the Red Queen’s, and the Knave’s. Wonderland does flashbacks very well, blending them seamlessly into the story each week. Wonderland is a bit more sinister than Once Upon A Time; the Cheshire Cat tries to eat Alice, the caterpillar is running the local mob, and the White Rabbit (complete with a 1970’s white suit) is a spy for the Red Queen.
The actors were well chosen: Sophie Lowe is great as the grown-up Alice. Her determination to find Cyrus is a cornerstone of her character. Michael Socha as Will/Knave of Hearts is great. Not quite trustworthy but there is a desire to FINALLY do the right thing. John Lithgow is great, his weasely whiney White Rabbit is spot on. Also love Naveen Andrews as the evil Jafar – over the top and just amazing. I have yet to decide on the Red Queen (Emma Rigby) thus far we haven’t seen any “range” for the character, BUT I am sure as more of her back-story is revealed we will see if she has the “chops”.
This was initially pitched as a miniseries of only 5 or 6 episodes, so although many think it will be cancelled, I am sure the writers have planned to wrap up the storyline (as happened with both Awake and Last Resort last season). For now I recommend it to those who enjoy a light fantasy show with an interesting storyline.
This is a retelling of Alice’s story. Only now Alice is a young woman in an insane asylum – the infamous BethlemHospital (formerly Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem--which gave us the term bedlam for a state of madness or chaos.) It seems that as a child, Alice had followed the White Rabbit down a hole and disappeared for so long her father thought she was dead. When she returned (climbing out of a rabbit-hole: the casting was excellent- she greatly resembled Walt Disney’s Alice) her father disbelieved her fanciful stories. It seems to have been a bit of battle between the two over the years because of her “imagination”. Alice, being a stubborn girl, set out to prove her father wrong and kept returning to Wonderland looking for “proof” of her stories. On her last trip, she managed to grab the White Rabbit (deliciously voiced by John Lithgow) and prepared to return to England to show him to her father. She was being chased by troops (the Red Queen’s) and chose to grab a piece of a mushroom so she could shrink and thus hide. Once tiny, Alice found a lovely place to hide- a bottle with a very handsome genie in it named Cyrus. She chose to stay in Wonderland and embarked on many adventures with Cyrus, which ended with Cyrus’s supposed death. Alice returned home and her father finally committed her to insane asylum. This is where the story begins.
A very distraught Alice is confronted with a panel of “doctors” who have a way to help her get over her grief (lobotomy?) if she will just sign this paper. Alice signs and goes back to her very depressing cell. Noises in the hallway wakes Alice and she finds the Knave of Hearts, AKA Will, is here to spring her. He says she helped him get back his heart so he feels he owes her to find hers. The White Rabbit told him that Cyrus is alive; he saw Cyrus. It turns out that Alice learned to fight while adventuring with Cyrus. She is especially wicked when wielding a pair of ladies boots. Alice and the Knave follow the White Rabbit out of the hospital (through the basement) and are spied by her doctor (love the snarky “seeing something doctor?” as the doctor stares in horror at the White Rabbit) before the White Rabbit creates his hole for them to jump through.
After Alice arrives in Wonderland we discover she had “proof” with her all along- three ruby-like jewels that are wishes Cyrus gave her which she hid the heel of one of her boots. We also meet Jafar from Aladdin (he’s looking for those wishes) and the Red Queen (who has an interesting connection to the Knave of Hearts). We also discover that the White Rabbit is her spy.
The special effects are acceptable. Much of each episode is shot on “green screen” and the actors do very well acting on a virtual set. They have made an effort to not have the CGI look like OUAT’s and that is a mistake IMHO. I also like the storyline and pace- in the first episode we discover that Cyrus is not dead but being held captive by Jafar as he tries to get Alice to use her wishes. By the third episode we have more of Alice’s back-story, the Red Queen’s, and the Knave’s. Wonderland does flashbacks very well, blending them seamlessly into the story each week. Wonderland is a bit more sinister than Once Upon A Time; the Cheshire Cat tries to eat Alice, the caterpillar is running the local mob, and the White Rabbit (complete with a 1970’s white suit) is a spy for the Red Queen.
The actors were well chosen: Sophie Lowe is great as the grown-up Alice. Her determination to find Cyrus is a cornerstone of her character. Michael Socha as Will/Knave of Hearts is great. Not quite trustworthy but there is a desire to FINALLY do the right thing. John Lithgow is great, his weasely whiney White Rabbit is spot on. Also love Naveen Andrews as the evil Jafar – over the top and just amazing. I have yet to decide on the Red Queen (Emma Rigby) thus far we haven’t seen any “range” for the character, BUT I am sure as more of her back-story is revealed we will see if she has the “chops”.
This was initially pitched as a miniseries of only 5 or 6 episodes, so although many think it will be cancelled, I am sure the writers have planned to wrap up the storyline (as happened with both Awake and Last Resort last season). For now I recommend it to those who enjoy a light fantasy show with an interesting storyline.
Last edited:
It is a good review!
