Once Upon A Time In Wonderland - And They Lived... - Finale Review & Series Overview - Dream The Impossible Dream

The series finale of Once Upon A Time in Wonderland quickly turns over plots with a lot of action, but not without solidifying it's themes, leaving viewers to ponder the full futures of certain characters and items, while also resulting in happy endings and moments for others.

For Once Upon A Time fans that have never seen or bailed out on the series early I definitely recommend taking a whole look at it before Once Upon A Time returns for season four. For one reason it appears actor Michael Socha, who plays the series beloved Will Scarlet/The Knave of Hearts may be joining the Once Upon A Time cast, and for another, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is a nice little along side season two gem with big outside the box concepts uniquely contrasting and even at times, defying ideas and beliefs presented on Once Upon A Time which also makes for it's own unique thing.

It's not to say that the series is without faults, as it starts out with all things average to mediocre and where some plots or situations (such as episode 8's midseason finale) could have benefited a greater impact if just a little more back story would have been added to Will and Anastasia's story. The CGI might be another downside, but luckily even it too gets taken aback with more of a forest-like landscapes and more realistic looking interiors.

One might also had thought that the desert-living Mideastern and/or Ancient Persian myth and aesthetic wouldn't jive well with a psychedelic and dream-logic filled Wonderland, but the writers found a great way to bridge those things together through a story about love, murder, revenge, fear, imprisonment, and seeking the impossible through a tale that might make one scratch their head at free will verses fate. 

The episode continues on right from the previous episode where Alice holds onto a dead Cyrus and where Amara and Jafar complete the spell with an all absorbing energy serge which results in Jafar and Amara being the most powerful people in all of Wonderland and possibly even of all the realms, as the laws of magic no longer apply to them.

Jafar immediately demonstrates his power when his father enters the thrown room still insisting that he does not love Jafar and that Jafar never earned his love, but in all honesty Jafar never had a chance to, when one considers his father's attempted murder on Jafar's young life all of those years ago. Jafar then makes his father love him and defying one of rules of magic. His father reacts as Jafar had always thought he would. We see Jafar almost in tears as he deflects, but us suddenly short lived when he tells his father that he wants him to know exactly how feels to be killed by someone he loved. The Sultan lay dead.

Jafar then tries to kill Amara too, but she, Alice, and Cyrus' body are able to escape by magic carpet where they go to Rabbits residence. There's a nice juxtaposition to flashbacks presented in the episode "Home" where Mrs. Rabbit had saved Alice, but this time it's Amara and she revives her son.

Alice, Cyrus, Amara, and the White rabbit set out to the red doors to go back to Well of Wonders all in agreeance that they must stop Jafar. Alice and Amara briefly get to know each other before also discussing Will's fate and if there is any hope in resurrecting Anastasia. They come to realize that they can't save her, but only Will and Cyrus' Brothers, but Alice and the White Rabbit decide also to split up so that Alice can form an army.

Back at the palace Jafar then proceeds to re-imprison the Jabberwocky, resurrect an army of Wonderland's dead, and resurrect Anastasia to torment Will.

Jafar's army of the former dead first comes across Amara, but still being quite powerful she is able to kinetically control them and cause them to kill themselves. Another army comes upon Alice and her army. She fights gallantly until suddenly she finds herself back in the thrown room where she is tied to a chair. She comes to see Anastasia now under Jafar's influence, as she claims her affection for him. Jafar threatens Alice to reveal where Amara has gone by telling her he can now change the past too and that he will twist her memories to have never come to know Wonderland and Cyrus at all. Alice verbally fights back, explaining to Jafar that her love is stronger than that and that everything he thinks he know has is fake and he'll never know what true love is or what it will feel like. He again tries to use Anastasia to prove her wrong by asking Ana the location of Amara, which she freely gives up.

Jafar flees to the Well of Wonders while Will tries to prove to Ana her love for Jafar is not real and that his and hers is. She gets close enough to where Will is imprisoned in a triangle area. He is able to get his arm to hers, pull her in, and they kiss. True Love proves again to be a very strong magic and Anastasia returns to herself as she frees Will and Alice.  

Amara is ready to give herself and the water back to Nyxe at The Well of Wonders, asking Cyrus to let go, but she dies and falls to the floor of the well, as Jafar again proves his strength. But still Amara is close enough that her whole body drips out and turns to water and pools back into the well. A water ball appears and Jafar takes it, squishes it, and then suddenly is thrown back by The White Rabbit digging a whole right underneath Jafar's feet! Alice is reunited with Cyrus. Jafar asks them what they sre going to do now and Cyrus responds, nothing. Nothing because the water was not his to take! Jafar suddenly cuffed, is bound to a bottle, and whose bottle disappears in a flash!

Back at the thrown room everything has become undone. Cyrus brothers and Will are free, but Ana becomes dead once more. Will sits by her side in another part of the castle when Alice returns with some good news. She hands Will a bottle of water and explains that Nyx freely gave some water to revive Ana once more, saying that the time of Red Queen is over, but Anastasia's journey must continue!

In our final scenes we pan to London on Alice's and Cyrus' wedding day! Alice and her father completely have come to terms as he admits that he has now learned forgiveness. We some wonderland guests at the wedding too where Millie sits on a Tweedles lap and where Will seems to jokingly interrupt, and where the White Rabbit is the one to wed them. Next we see tearful goodbye, as the Wonderland gang is going back. Ana explains there is still some sorting out to do, but for Alice and Will it's a much more gut wrenching goodbye for two characters who's brother and sister dynamic helped each other find their ways back to themselves and brought each other to the people they really do love.

The final scene is then a flash forward still in Alice's version of Victorian London where Alice is penning her own adventures and telling the tales to her daughter. Cyrus joins them as the White Rabbit looks from afar.

To Be Satisfied, But Not Ecstatic.

On the whole I think Once Upon A Time in Wonderland did what was most important and what I always thought it was set up to do: tell a story about Alice and give that character a happy ending.  It was too bad however, that we do not see her and Cyrus come to live in Storybrooke, but it doesn't mean that they couldn't have before they have their child. (And who knows if Storybrooke will forever remain in the Land Without Magic, since we have seen it come and go and come back again before?), but I did find the final scene a bit flat and I think there could have been something better than coming back to that Jane Austen-esque reference from the "Home" episode. I felt that it deflected from Alice's adventurous spirit, becoming exactly what her parental figures wanted her to be. I would have preferred an extension to that scene where the trio maybe play-fight with wooden swords in the back yard or they climb a tree house that resembles make-shift art work or items of things pertaining to Wonderland and Agrabah to keep Alice's spirit alive through her daughter.

Sense And Sensibility

As predicted there are lots of little loose ends left untied. Curiously Anastasia and Will have to go back to Wonderland to sort some things out. Jafar becomes a genie, as theorized, just not in the exact way I had thought. One thing that is also unclear and without seeing the full scope is what else exactly got "undone"? Shouldn't Jafar's father be alive? Is that who will come to have his lamp sometime later? What happened to the spell book that undoes the laws of magic? And is Lizard to remain permanently dead? Is the Jabberwocky free again?  Some of these things I think would have benefited the audience by having a little extended scene just to see who pilfered and/or transpired from some these things by more evidentally knowing that there are other adventures and stories out there. It would have been especially delightful to have had a sneaky scene with Ana and the Knave in particular, since it appears Michael Socha may be joining the cast of OUAT next season (which I speculated about before the episode aired HERE), and I assume that not to long from now, we may also here of Emma Rigby in talks to reoccur.

I do think Wonderland's story could have been better if characters like Will, Ana, and Cora (and the Jabberwocky) would have gotten more fleshed out and if we could of seen a little bit more of their Wonderland past and/or had more appearances from Once Upon A Time already established Wonderland-related characters, as we have to make a lot of assumptions for how certain characters get to certain points, but given Cora is also Zelena's mother and that Ana and Will could show up on the parent series, perhaps there will be more back story mentioned and/or explored. Jafar and an Aladdin story could also be in store should Oz become more of the direct focus in season four, especially when one considers how alike Lewis Carroll's Wonderland adventures are to Frank L. Baum's Oz tales (some believe Baum stole a lot of Carroll's ideas) and how well the Agrabah stories complimented Wonderland. There's also the fact that we will be revisiting a younger Cora and a younger King Leopold on OUAT soon, and just remember it was Regina's seduction towards another Genie (who becomes the magic mirror and Sydney Glass) that becomes partially responsible for King Leopold's death via poisonous Agrabah vipers!

Here's a list of some of my unresolved questions:
What Happened to Jafar and his lamp? Where did he go?
What Happened to the magic spell book that breaks the laws of magic?
If The Knave and Ana become the King and Queen of Wonderland, as Alice's book depicts, when exactly?
How and under what circumstances did Ana and Will meet?
How did Ana know about The Looking Glass in Maleficent's castle?
Is Cinderella Anastasia's step sister? Will her story with her family ever be resolved like Alice's?
What happened to Anastasia's husband?
Why was Cora interested in manipulating both Ana and Will?
Could Penelope still be alive? (Fringe parallel)
How and under what circumstance did Will get back to the Enchanted Forest?
Is Jafar's father alive?
What about Lizard, is she still dead?
What about the Jabberwocky, is she free again?
What Will Cyrus brother do now?
What things do Will and Ana specifically have to "sort out" and do they pertain to things such as Lizard, The Lamp, and The Spell book?


It's not that I think Wonderland needed or should of ended on some massive cliffhanger, hardly what I think, but rather by having the writers not in some way address the fact that there are still things from even within the last episode lingering, does a disservice to the story by being blatantly dishonest about it, especially when it's possible that some of these characters and/or items may become apart of Once Upon A Time next year. It's also not that I would disagree with anyone that says we also leave Ana and Will in a happy place with a potentially happy future, but more over it feels incomplete only seeing the Knave in his title role once and not even ever seeing how it was he and Ana met back in the Enchanted Forest to begin with. IMO There's just a lot more material that can still be used and more stories told.

Here's also what the Producers have to say:

Will we see other Wonderland characters come to Once?
Horowitz: it's possible. But as far as what we're planning right now, we're planning to have [just] the Knave.
Kitsis :We might see a few faces here and there at some point.
Horowitz: The story of Wonderlnad was always meant to be a one-year, close-ended tale. That tale is coming to a close and we're not going to be continuing those story strands on Once Upon a Time.
http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/tvguide/article/Lightning-Round-12-Once-Upon-a-Time-Bosses-5375360.php

Not sure if I fully buy that last sentence since Jafar and the bottle are specifically at large and I don't think fans would really like to see Will with out at least an occasional appearance from Ana. As I stated, there feels like there is more story to tell there, even if that's not Will's and Ana's Wonderland past, but rather their Enchanted Forest past. I am pretty sure the writers have also stated that they have been considering an Aladdin story on a main show at some point. It could also be that Will would only be used in flashbacks perhaps fleshing other characters tales, but I'm just not sure that it's necessary or really rewarding for either series fans?


But where Wonderland didn't skimp at all was the way it referenced and alluded to ideas and scenes from Once Upon A Time and other Bad Robot works primarily LOST and FRINGE. Even in this week's there are nice little things reminiscent of last Sunday's episode, "Quiet Minds". For OUAT fans who like to think and be challenged by different philosophies, this might interest you.

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!

I Will Remember You...

Like Once Upon A Time starts with the grand wedding of Snow White and Price Charming in the series Pilot episode, does Once Upon A Time in Wonderland choose to nearly close with small one and although Alice's wedding doesn't come with an impending threat of a curse, she does part ways with one of her best friends Will Scarlet.

Additionally Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis have worked with J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves on the pre- Bad Robot Production Era on Felicity. Felicity too ended with Noel and Zoe's wedding after Felicity had found a way to undo Megan's time traveling spell from the man who wrote it (Korsokoff) and is able to return to the future where her formerly dead friend is alive (Alana) and where she makes her final chose between Noel and Ben by forgiving Ben for his latest digression. Additionally as mentioned above, Alice becomes the person her father wanted her to be and we can say the same is true for Felicity, but in Felicity's case it seemed more acceptable to me, because it was a occupational choice and not a whole demeanor to match, not to mention the fact we had four seasons to explore who Felicity was.

Note: Two Felicity alumni have appeared in the second half of OUAT's third season. Christopher Gorham (Walsh/flying monkey) played one of Alana's love interest (and Ben's chemistry partner) and Henri Lubatti (Lumiere) played one of Felicity's love interests David. Some fans might know from interviews that Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis had been planning on doing something like Once Upon A Time since the Felicity days and it's evident with certain lines and references in Felicity that might be more fun now to go back and rewatch knowing their vision has come true. One thing that Wonderland was suppose to have, but for whatever reason it didn't pan out, was a look at Don Quixote. In Felicity Javier, Felicity's and Ben's Spanish and homosexual 40-something boss at Dean and Deluca, goes back to school and tries his hand at acting, including trying out for a Don Quixote musical.

...Will You Remember Me?

Memory too is threatened when Jafar says he can now twist Alice's -and it's curious thing to consider that this something outside the laws of magic, as a part of not being able to change the past rule, when one considers Regina's curse (and the undoing of it) also does just that...

The parent show also continues to play with memory and possibly conscience connection, as Charming is warned by Emma in a dream that I speculate may turn out to be a little more than that given the upcoming title "Bleed Throughs" and knowing this title is something LOST and Fringe explored, which is curious as Rebecca Mader's Once role has riffs to her Fringe role and/or things relating to Fringe season 4

Love Triangles, Resurrection,  And Letting Go
When Will was imprisoned in the triangle only to be forced to watch Anastasia give herself to Jafar, the triangle itself is reminiscent to the one that Baefire comes to have branded on his hand, which allowed him to raise his father Rumpelstiltskin aka The Dark One from the dead through a black pool of liquid, which is similar to Nyxe and The Well of Wonders (not to mention things LOST smoke monster). This also resulted in Rumple converging as one with Baefire to save him from Zelena which then also resulted post second curse with Rumple going mad with too many thoughts and voices in his, as he had Baefire's. Like Amara giving herself back to the Well of Wonders, did Bae tell Emma she has to let him go when he lay dying in her arms, -and like what Regina had to also do with Daniel. This death marks the way for Captain Swan fans simply with this process of elimination, although I have to wonder a little just how permanent this death really is, should Will Scarlet be joining the cast next year?

Note: Letting Go is a common Bad Robot theme, especially in LOST and Super 8. (I would say love triangles are also common things to experience)


The Voice of the Wills: Love Is Messy

Will Scarlet tries to explain to Ana that what she thinks she has with Jafar is not true love and that love itself is a hard complicated and a messy thing that relies on a lot of forgiveness. In last week's episode of Believe ("Defection") William Tate also tries to tell the same thing to young Bo when she sets out on a quest to reunite two long lost lovers. Additionally with this theme I am also reminded of of a scene

Power Struggle
Both series explore the need for power for very personalized and emotional reasons, but having Wonderland be so short makes it much clearer to see how power is only as good as power is used, but more importantly there is hope in doing what's right and that perhaps all experiences are about discovering whom we are through the fears of all we don't know and only in time can learn to understand.

So what did you think of Once Upon A Time in Wonderland's series finale "And they lived..."? Are you happy that most the characters seem to end in a happy place or do you wish we would have gotten more clues at what could be next for some of them? Do you think Jafar's father is alive and will find the lamp? Are you mad that the Jabberwocky was just hanged up? What about Cyrus' brothers? Do you hope to see some of these characters again with more resolution on Once Upon A Time next year? Are you satisfied, happily surprised, or horribly disappointed? Let us know in the comments below!

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.