Once Upon A Time in Wonderland - 1.09 "Nothing To Fear" - Review - Fear Itself

After a winter hiatus Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is back with the first of it's final five episodes.

We quickly pick up up where we left off with Will now a genie making his way down a Wonderland river where he is picked up by non other than his former comrade and friend Lizard.

After a much happy reunion, Will tries to walk away from Lizard without giving away his current state, but is unsuccessful and he reveals he owes her three wishes.

Meanwhile after a bit of rest Cyrus, Alice, and Ana continue to look for Will, with Alice continually being skeptical of the former Red Queen's motives. Ana is soon abducted by some disgruntled and starving Wonderland's townsfolk and it takes Cyrus a bit of effort to convince Alice that Ana didn't just leave them behind. Cyrus comes upon a torn piece of fabric from her clothing where he uses a location spell in which the piece of fabric will lead them to Ana.

When they catch up with her the townsfolk are planning her murder after expressing their disgust of her ruling, as they blame her for the beasts that come in and eat all of their crops, leaving them to starve, and where Ana tries to convince them she's worth more alive, until she realizes that there is no one in all of Wonderland who would pay anything for her. Cyrus offers and tries to explain, just as he did to Alice, that killing her would only make them as bad as she is, but still insisting on some kind of payment, which Alice and Cyrus don't have, allow them to be taken captive too.

At the former Red Queen's palace Jafar attempts to make others aware of his power and role of being King and ruler of Wonderland only to again be perturbed and discredited by Jafar's father, the former Sultan of Argrabah. Jafar asks for his father to be removed from the throne room before asking more questions about the location of the mysterious being called The Jabberwocky from the fearful Hookah Smoking Caterpillar! A little later in the episode, Jafar finds the head of one of the Tweedles and offers him a body in exchange for information about the location of the Jabberwocky. It becomes clearer in Tweedles hesitation, that the Jabberwocky is something everyone fears, as he does explain to Jafar a mass effort in catching the Jabberwocky to begin with.

Will and Lizard continue to tip toe around Lizard's feelings, as she makes the first wish for Will, which includes a fun scene of people drinking beer and having Will be the center of attention, -a man everyone likes. But soon looking to find a wish that Lizard would want, Will figures out that Lizard must like someone romantically and he reveals what it is he loves  in woman (which fits the description of Anastasia) and so Lizard wishes to be the kind of woman that another would notice. Lizard is transformed from her former tomboy image into a beautiful and elegant woman in jewels and a pure white dress. Will tries to persuade her to go outside to look for the guy she has feelings for and ensures her that anyone who didn't see how beautiful she is would be a complete idiot. Lizard refuses and feels compelled to tell him that it is he she has feelings for. Will is dumbfounded, but tries not to be careless, despite they they conclude that he does not love her. Not thinking and being a bit caught up in her emotions, Lizard wishes that Will would just feel something for her. At that instant Lizard falls down dead and Will is transported back inside his bottle upon the third wish being fulfilled, helpless and full of sorrow.

After almost getting eaten by some beasts in Wonderland, Alice, Ana, and Cyrus continue their hunt for Will. Alice can't help to feel despaired over having to part with her necklace in order to get away from the beasts, but Cyrus tries to reassure that it was only an immaterial object that symbolized their past and to look towards the future. Soon they come across fireworks, part of Will's and Lizard's wishes, and it dawns on Anastasia that this is something Will would do and they make their way towards the fireworks, but before they leave, Alice and Cyrus continue their previous conversation. Again Cyrus professes his love and his faith in the future. He gets down on one knee and properly proposes, unlike the last time when they were tragically interrupted...

They arrive at the small village where Will and Lizard were and Ana leaves Cyrus and Alice again where she comes upon Lizard. For a moment she morns for Lizard's death and gently closes her eyes after holding the side of Lizard's wrist. She soon see's Will's bottle and stairs at it in her hands for a moment before she brings it to Cyrus and Alice. She releases Will from the bottle after Alice again accuses Ana of something she didn't do and the Knave chimes in on his distrust of her. He sites that she is always one to take to shortcuts and now with the Genie bottle she has the shortcuts of shortcuts, but to almost everyone's surprise, she says she wishes to remain together and fight Jafar. Additionally she tells them that Jafar has the other two bottle he needs, which everyone else is unaware. Cyrus asks what the bottles look like and after Ana briefly describing them Cyrus realizes that those other two genies are his brothers.

The final scenes feature Jafar now knowing where the Jabberwocky is being held. A large guard tells him he may not pass, even after Jafar again proclaims his right to passage as Wonderland's new ruler. Jafar easily kills the guard and makes his way into a prison like-building, but where there are alchemy-like marks on the floor of where the Jabberwocky can be heard.

The Jabberwocky despite being imprisoned implies she still holds the cards in deciding if she wants to work with Jafar or not, explaining to Jafar that she will look inside his head. Appearing as a female entity the Jabberwocky can be seen being held high up against the wall by a magical dagger. Jafar removes the blade after stating she will work with him, --implying she accepts whatever it is she sees in his head space. She shows the ability of her powers by making Jafar relive and feel the pain of his father's rejection and the day he attempted to murder him. She tells him at first he doesn't need the dagger, but on second thought she changes her mind and tells him it might be useful after all...

It was strong episode back by keeping a fast pace and not letting previous plots, such as finding Will, linger too long, which is exceptionally important when one considers there are only four more episodes left.

As I will get into more detail below, I was struck with the Jabberwocky and the writers usage to bring out again the more psychological aspects of the series by having her be a being that seems to work on fear and a being in contrast to Cyrus, one that can see or feel inside the essence of others.

Also the series continues to play on unrequited love and the fear of death and rejection. This episode had a much stronger theme and impact in bringing that commonality that many of the characters have to the foreground. It was much easier to see parallels between Jafar and Alice, Cyrus and Anastasia, and Will and Lizard and to look back at the series thus far an see instances of this theme.

What remains unclear is just how evil the Jabberwocky is. Will she be a being that scares people literally to their own death, or is she being that forces others to eventually look past their fears and become better people? Or will her role be significantly more short termed than that?

Once Upon A Time Factor:
Each review I will bring this section to mention things like crossovers, riffs, similar themes, contrasts, and tie-backs, which may also span into Bad Robot works as well, since OUAT already clearly references them. I watch a lot of TV with mythology however, and if any of you see something I missed, then please share with us in the comments below!

Ramble Jabber On!

The introduction of the Jabberwocky ties us back to the parent series in a few ways. One of the most obvious probably is through the character Jack or Jacqueline introduced and only seen alive in the episode "Tiny". Jack was James' (Prince Charming's twin brother) love interest, who had told James that she had slayed the Wonderland creature known as a Jabberwocky, but truth be told, assuming that there is only one Jabberwocky and that the Jabberwocky history told in this episode is during the time of Jack's visit, that most likely Jack fabricated the story to James, as we come to learn that the Jabberwocky is not slayne in terms of her death and that it took an army of 500 people to imprisoner her and that she has been imprisoned for 100 years! In other words it appears that either Jack lied, or there is more than one Jabberwocky, or Wonderland's time runs very different, or some Wonderland residents tend to over exaggerate anything having to do with the Jabberwocky (and thus Tweedles account is false).

The word Knave in a deck of cards is also another word for "Jack", and another thing that seems likely to tie us to the parent series is the fact that both thieving Jacks may have come and done favors for Cora: The Queen of Hearts, as Jacqueline was given a piece of size-altering mushroom from a "wise woman" and we know Will also is known as The Knave of Hearts, who happens to be "missing" his heart.

Another connection is the use of magical daggers, as Rumplestiltskin's--The Dark One's (Former owner ZOSO) Dagger has a lot of properties and again we see it's a kind of magical dagger (seemingly an Arabic styled one) that holds and imprisons the Jabberwocky.

In terms of how the Jabberwocky looks and the possible gift of foresight puts in line with other kinds of Once Upon A Time witches we have seen and maybe even Rumple's Seer. It's hard to predict what her abilities will all include, but I suspect a kind of LOST-ish smoke monster like effect on being able to "morph" into things that play on the fears of other people, which in itself compliments part A of Once Upon A Time's third season Neverland story. But what we have seen is an ability to make people relive and deeply feel horrific things they have been through from within the character's conscience.

Imagine the Impossible

As stated on other episodes we know the driving force behind this Wonderland story is Jafar and his need to change the laws of magic so that the impossible becomes possible (things like bringing back the dead, making people love you, and/or time travel). We hark back to again in the episode from Cyrus saying "anything is possible" to the Jabberwocky looking into Jafar's mind and seemingly being in agreeance on his plan to change the laws of magic. In addition Anastatia also shows remorse for being a bad queen and insists she wants to fight against Jafar to right her wrongs playing to a kind of 'undoing what is done'.

Imagine the Impossible a large Fringe logline, as the series pushes the bounds on what is possible, as the characters, particularly Walter Bishop attempts to right his wrongs through various incarnations of himself trying to make a better future for everyone, but especially his own family. 

Additionally the situation with Lizard is similar idea presented in the story of August, -an Observer who saved a young girl's life and has to find a way to make her important to the other Observers, as they threaten to course correct her life. August eventually meets his demise, which appears like a "variable exchange" of his life for hers that results in the Observer's recognizing her importance, because she was responsible for the death of one of their own. Lizard had to die to make Will feel 'something' for her.

Another facet that Fringe and Once Upon A Time in Wonderland share is an exploration of mind over matter and ultimately the material verses and/or in contrast to the immaterial. It will be interesting to see with the Jabberwocky possibly playing on fear more than any other emotion, along with the idea of changing the laws of magic if we will see something amazing happen in the final episode?

Thinking about how Lizard reflected Ana in wearing a "white" dress, I can't help to think that if the rules of magic can change, that the ending of Wonderland's story revolves around Lizard being revived and become the new White Queen, which would reflect Snow White (and allusions to Queen Anne and Queen Elizabeths).

About the Author - Darthlocke4

Laura Becker (Darthlocke 4) is a long time commentator, TV addict, and aspiring writer participating with other fans on SpoilerTV. She writes reviews and analytic type articles. Some of her other interests include philosophy, cultural anthropology, reading, drawing, and working with animals, as she grew up and continues to work on her family's horse farm.