Recap / Once Upon A Time In Wonderland S 1 E 10 Dirty Little Secrets

Many years ago, Cyrus lived in Agrabah with his brothers, Taj and Rafi. Cyrus was a bit of a rogue, frequenting the taverns and gambling at cards. One day, Cyrus cheated one person too many, and after a night of carousing, he and his brothers returned home to find that the people he had cheated had burned down their house, with their mother inside.

In the present, the group discusses a plan to steal the other genie bottles from Jafar and save Cyrus’ brothers. Cyrus says that he and his brothers were cursed by the guardian of the Well of Wonders. If they could break the curse somehow, then all the genies would be freed. Fortunately, Anastasia remembers that the Well of Wonders extends throughout all the realms, so even though they aren’t in Agrabah, they might still be able to persuade the guardian to lift the curse. Since Jafar is hunting for the last genie, Anastasia proposes that she rally an army to protect him. The group decides to split up.

The Jabberwocky investigates Lizard’s village, where everyone is asleep after the party they had last night. The Jabberwocky interrogates one of the townsfolk to find out who had the genie. After the man tells the Jabberwocky that Lizard was the genie’s master, the Jabberwocky causes him to die of fright. The Jabberwocky inspects Lizard’s corpse and extracts her eyeballs, bringing them to Jafar as magical components. Jafar uses Lizard’s eyes to make a spell to see what happened near them. The spell shows him a glance of Anastasia, and Jafar realizes she must have the genie bottle now. Jafar tells the Jabberwocky to hunt down Anastasia.

Cyrus remembers that after the house was set on fire, his mother was badly burned and was not expected to survive. Desperate to save her, Cyrus decided to seek out the Well of Wonders, hoping that the magical water might be able to save her. His brothers agreed to help him.Alice asks Cyrus how he got cursed to be a genie, but Cyrus avoids answering the question.

Will and Anastasia visit the White Rabbit.

White Rabbit: You’ve already taken my wife, my children, my honor. What more could you possibly want from me?!

Anastasia/Red Queen: (Gently) Your forgiveness. (The Rabbit looks at her in shock) What I took from you, I can never give back, and there’s nothing I can offer you to make up for what you’ve already lost, but what I can say is, I’m sorry, Rabbit. Terribly sorry.

White Rabbit: What’s done is done. Why do you care if I forgive you?

Anastasia/Red Queen: Because I need your help.

White Rabbit: With what?

Anastasia/Red Queen: Becoming the Queen that everyone deserves. I want to defeat Jafar, reclaim Wonderland, but not for me, for the people. And I need you to tell them that they can trust me.

White Rabbit: (To the Knave) Has she completely lost her mind?

Will/Knave: She wants to change. Whether or not she’s capable of it, only time will tell.

The White Rabbit tells them that Jafar has released the Jabberwocky. Though terrified by this news, Anastasia resolves to stay and keep fighting. She asks the Rabbit to spread the word to rally the people for the upcoming battle to save Wonderland.

As they leave, Will still doesn’t believe Anastasia has really changed. He asks her why she didn’t just leave Wonderland when the Rabbit offered, and she insists she really does want to help Wonderland to make up for her past mistakes. Suddenly, everything in the forest becomes deathly still and quiet. Anastasia realizes that the Jabberwocky must be nearby, hunting them by their fear. She orders Will to go back inside the genie bottle, which she quickly hides, and starts to use her magic to defend herself. The Jabberwocky only laughs at her feeble attempts to fight, captures her, and easily finds the genie bottle.

Alice and Cyrus journey towards the Well of Wonders and come two doors and a knight standing between them, who asks them a riddle.

"Two doors appear along a stony path,

and travelers always wonder

which door will lead them to the well

and which will drag them under.

Choose poorly and meet certain doom.

There is no room for blunder".

Cyrus gets frustrated, but Alice says they will just have to figure out the riddle.

Cyrus thinks back to when he and his brothers took water from the Well of Wonders. Nyx, the guardian of the Well, appeared to them in the shape of a drowned woman. Nyx told them that her water could only heal those whose destinies had not yet been written, therefore, they should not take it for their mother, as her fate had already been sealed. When Cyrus refused to let his mother die, Nyx warned him that if he didn’t give the water back, there would be a price to pay. Despite the warning, Cyrus took the water anyway, and his brothers did the same.

Alice attempts to puzzle out the riddle. When she asks the knight more questions, she realizes that he will only answer yes or no, and always lies. Once she figures this out, it is easy for her to find which door leads to the Well of Wonders. Cyrus insists on talking to the guardian alone, feeling too ashamed to let Alice know that he stole the water.

Anastasia wakes up to find herself strapped to a chair in Jafar’s dungeon, with Will sitting across from her. Anastasia is defiant to Jafar, pointing out that he can’t kill her until she’s made her wishes or he will never become the master of the genie. To intimidate her, Jafar tells her the story of how he turned Amara the Serpent into the staff that he now carries, emphasizing that he always gets what he wants. Will tries to remind Anastasia that she has all the power here and can wish Jafar right out of Wonderland. Anastasia tries to do just that, but Jafar quickly uses a silencing spell before she can finish saying the words. To force Anastasia to make her wishes without being able to use the wishes against him, Jafar has the Jabberwocky torture Anastasia by preying on her fears.

At the Well of Wonders, Cyrus begs Nyx to show mercy. Nyx tells Cyrus that all things happen for a reason. Cyrus remembers how he and his brothers gave the stolen water to their mother and healed her completely from her burns.As Cyrus pleads with Nyx to free his brothers, Alice sneaks through the tall grass and eavesdrops on the conversation. Nyx says she will lift the curse when he returns the water. Cyrus protests that this is impossible, since he gave the water to his mother over 100 years ago. Nyx tells him that his mother is still alive, and if she returns the water, the curse will be lifted.Cyrus remembers that after his mother recovered, she was shocked to learn that her sons had stolen water from the Well of Wonders to save her life. She urged them to flee before Nyx came for them, but it was already too late. Nyx appeared before them.

Nyx: You let your desires override the fates. Now it will be your fate to serve the desires of others.

Amara’s three sons were then imprisoned in genie bottles, and the bottles disappeared to be randomly distributed across the realms.

The Jabberwocky prepares to use her power over fear to examine Anastasia’s mind.

Will/Knave: Hold fast, Anna. You know she can’t hurt you.

Jabberwocky: I don’t want to hurt you, I want to help you. You’ve suffered so much. You’ve already lived a life of fear, haven’t you? (She senses Anastasia’s fears) You believe that if the Prince had chosen you instead of your stepsister then…your mother would have loved you. And now you fear that love is forever out of reach, and that deep, dark hole in your heart will remain empty…a hollow reminder of the life you could have had. (''She laughs mockingly'') Can you feel me inside that head of yours? Drifting from room to room? I can see…everything. There’s a darkness in you. It’s like a disease. It’s rotting you from the inside (tears stream down Anastasia’s face). You ran away from the only love you’ve ever had, and now you fear you’ll never get it back. (''Seizing Anastasia by the face'') You and I have something in common now. We both know exactly who you are (Anastasia’s ears start to bleed). And you’re terrified, that it’s only a matter of time before he knows too (looking at Will). You can’t ever get his love back. But that’s not really what you want, is it? Or you never would have donned that crown all those years ago. You made the right choice. Do it again. Wish for your precious, precious, crown. Go on. Wish for your crown, and all your suffering goes away.

Paralyzed by fear and the psychological torture the Jabberwocky is inflicting on her, Anastasia finds it impossible to think clearly. When Will attempts to call out to her, Jafar hurts him, and the Jabberwocky tells Anastasia only by wishing can she stop Will’s suffering. Overwhelmed and exhausted, Anastasia finally wishes for her crown. At the Jabberwocky’s orders, she then wishes for her jewels, and finally for the torture to stop. With all three wishes used up, Will goes back inside the genie bottle.

Anastasia languishes in a dungeon cell and is approached by Tweedledum, who has managed to stay hidden from Jafar. Out of loyalty to the Red Queen, Tweedledum brings her some food and tries to think of a way to free her.

Anastasia/Red Queen: Why are you doing this?

Tweedledum: You’re my Queen, your majesty.

Anastasia/Red Queen: Not anymore. You have to warn Alice and Cyrus. Go to the Outlands. Tell them it’s over. Jafar’s released the Jabberwocky, he has Will, he has all three bottles. Wonderland is doomed, and I let that happen. Tell them they must get out of Wonderland as fast as they can and to not look back.

Tweedledum: And what about you?

Anastasia/Red Queen: Forget about me.

Alice talks to Cyrus about what she overheard. Cyrus is ashamed that she knows the curse is all his fault. Alice tries to comfort Cyrus, saying that everyone makes mistakes. She tells him that she spent the last year in an asylum, and just before the Knave brought her back to Wonderland she was so depressed that she had agreed to a procedure that would have caused her to forget everything about Wonderland and Cyrus. The two hug.

Cyrus: You fell in love with a genie, Alice. What if it’s the bottle that made me a better man? And now that I’m out…

Alice: Then I’ll be your bottle.

The two resolve to forgive the mistakes of the past in order to appreciate the future. They set off to see about finding Cyrus’ mother.

Now that he has all three genies, Jafar prepares to cast the spell that will rewrite the laws of magic.

Tropes

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Anastasia tries to defend the genie bottle from the Jabberwocky, but she is hopelessly outmatched.
• The Easy Way or the Hard Way: When threatening Anastasia to make her wishes, Jafar says this can be “painful, or severely painful.”
• Evil Laugh: The Jabberwocky does this a lot when she captures Anastasia and when she psychologically tortures her.
• Eye Scream: The Jabberwocky plucks out poor Lizard’s eyeballs. At least she was already dead.
• Hidden Depths: The Queen’s Tweedle has only been a peripheral character so far, but this episode reveals him to be clever enough to stay hidden from Jafar while still remaining in the palace, and he is so loyal to the Red Queen that he comes to visit her after she has been utterly defeated and thrown in the dungeons.
• Kick the Dog: The Jabberwocky lives to kick every dog she can. She makes a townsman die of fright, takes Lizard’s eyes, and tortures Anastasia psychologically.
• Knights and Knaves: A variant. Only one knight is there, and Alice is not limited by how many questions she can ask. When she learns the knight always lies, it becomes easy to solve the riddle.
• It's All My Fault: Cyrus feels this way about causing the curse that turned him and his brothers into genies. He is too ashamed to talk about it with Alice.
  • Anastasia blames herself for Wonderland being taken over by Jafar.
• No-Sell: Anastasia impales the Jabberwocky to a tree with her sword, but the Jabberwocky just pulls herself through the sword, since only the Vorpal Sword can harm her.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Subverted. Will expects Anastasia to do this, but she insists on staying and trying to help.
• Shout-Out: As she prepares to delve into Anastasia’s mind, the Jabberwocky says “little pig, little pig, let me come in,” a reference to the fairy tale The Three Little Pigs.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Will tries this by telling Anastasia to wish Jafar out of Wonderland, but Jafar silences Anastasia before she can make the wish, and has the Jabberwocky get inside her head so she can't think clearly enough to try it again.
• The Reveal: Cyrus’ mother is Amara, the evil sorceress who would mentor Jafar later in life.
• Villainous Face Hold: The Jabberwocky does this to Anastasia during her interrogation.
• Wasteful Wishing: Enforced and played for drama. Since Anastasia could seriously mess up Jafar's plans if she used her wishes well, he has the Jabberwocky torture her so she can't think straight. The Jabberwocky then forces Anastasia to waste her wishes on pointless things like her crown and jewels.
• Wham Shot: When the bandages are taken off the face of Cyrus’ mother, it is revealed that she is Amara the Serpent, the sorceress who mentored Jafar and is now imprisoned inside his staff.