Recap / Once Upon A Time In Wonderland S 1 E 4 The Serpent

Many years ago in Agrabah, the marketplace was visited by a mysterious sorceress known as the Serpent. While everyone else averted their gaze in fear when she approached, a young boy who worked as the blacksmith’s apprentice was the only one not to look away. Impressed by the fear and respect everyone had for the Serpent, the boy sought her out and asked her to teach him magic. While the Serpent initally was going to turn him away, the boy revealed that he was the illegitimate son of the Sultan, and he wanted revenge on his father for abandoning him. Intrigued, the Serpent asked for the boy’s name, and he introduced himself as Jafar.

Today in Wonderland, Jafar visits the Red Queen. Jafar suspiciously asks the Queen why she didn’t tell him that the Knave of Hearts was helping Alice. The Queen says she thought he was inconsequential, but Jafar can tell she is hiding something. The Red Queen reminds Jafar that getting Alice to come back to Wonderland was a complicated process, and she needed someone that Alice trusted. Jafar orders the Red Queen to eliminate the Knave, now that he has served his purpose. The Queen’s smile fades when Jafar gives this order, but she says nothing.

Meanwhile, Alice decides to go after the Red Queen to try to find Cyrus, but the Knave warns her that they need to be careful. As they talk, bounty hunters known as “Collecters,” approach them through the woods. Alice and Will run, but when the Colecters gain on them, Will says they should split up, since the Collecters are looking for him. He runs off, pursued by the Collecters.

In Jafar’s dungeon, Cyrus begs the dungeon guard for something to eat, and the guard mockingly tosses Cyrus the bones of a chicken the guard just ate. The old prisoner is surprised to see Cyrus groveling for food, but Cyrus reveals he wanted the chicken’s wishbone, which he can use as a magical component.Will is about to be caught by the Collecters when suddenly they all get knocked out. Surprised, Will looks around to see if Alice saved him, but to his disappointment, he meets his ex-girlfriend Anastasia, who is now the Red Queen.

Long ago in Agrabah, Jafar was taught the basics of magic by the Serpent. One day, Jafar spoke with Akil, the man who looked after the goats, and rewarded him with a wineskin. When he met with the Serpent, she told Jafar that he was ready to learn the masking spell. Jafar was surprised, because he had previously been told that the spell required a human liver, but the Serpent explained that the wineskin Jafar gave to Akil was poisoned. At first, Jafar was upset that the Serpent would so callously sacrifice a good person for her magic, but the Serpent presented him with a choice, he could give Akil the antidote and save his life, but never learn the masking spell, or he could let Akil die and learn to be a more powerful wizard.

Serpent: (Touching the talisman on her necklace) Do you know what this is, Jafar?

Jafar: A serpent.

Serpent: Do you know why I surround myself with such creatures?

Jafar: No.

Serpent: It is because of their true essence. Their most important quality, that when they need to, they shed their skin and are reborn. And that is what you need to do Jafar.

Jafar: By letting an innocent die?

Serpent: By showing me that you’re willing to do whatever’s necessary to get what you want. Are you? Or are you still just that little boy who came to my door full of anger but little else?

Jafar let Akil die, and the Serpent congratulated him on his metamorphosis.

In the present, Jafar is informed by Tweedledee that the Knave of Hearts has been captured by the Red Queen. The Red Queen locks Will in a celll. She taunts him for a while, but Will tries to strike back by addressing her by her real name, Anastasia.

Anastasia/Red Queen: You never did know when to stop fighting, did you Will?

Will/Knave: How long are you gonna keep me here?

Anastasia/Red Queen: How about we start with forever and work our way back from there?

Alice tries to find out what happened to the Knave. She is about to investigate the Caterpillar’s hideout to see if he has been captured, but one of the Collectors tells Alice not to bother, as the Knave isn’t there. The Collector takes off her mask and introduces herself as Elizabeth, (though everyone calls her Lizard). Liz tells Alice that the Knave was captured by the Red Queen. Alice resolves to go after the Red Queen to get Will back, and Liz decides to come along too, saying that the Knave has racked up quite a debt to her.

Jafar confronts the Red Queen and asks why the Knave is in the dungeon.

Anastasia/Red Queen: We wanted him “removed.” He’s removed.

Jafar: But he’s no use to us locked away where no one can see him.

Anastasia/ Red Queen: You want me to put him outside in the gallows?

Jafar: I WANT YOU TO PUT HIS HEAD ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK! A public execution! So everyone will see the price for helping Alice in Wonderland.

Anastasia/ Red Queen: Did it ever occur to you, Jafar, that he might be more useful to us alive than dead?

Jafar: More use to us, or more use to you?

Anastasia/Red Queen: Do you have something to say?

Jafar: Do you? First you forget to tell me this Knave was helping Alice, now you seem reluctant to kill him. It makes me wonder if perhaps there’s a reason for your inaction. It’s time to find out if you’re a woman who’s prepared to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, or just a little girl with a stolen crown and nothing else. Let me be clear this time: kill him.

Jafar remembers when the Serpent taught him about genie magic. The Serpent explained that if the combined power of three genies was harnessed, it would be possible to rewrite the laws of magic, but such a spell would be too great for any one magician to cast, which is why she has been training Jafar to be her partner. Together, they could cast this spell, and by rewriting the laws of magic, they would become the most powerful sorcerers the world had ever seen.

Jafar: And you wish to share this with me? Your generosity…I don’t know how I could ever repay it.

Serpent: I have waited many, many years to find someone worthy of this, Jafar. Just as you have waited many years to seek your revenge. Not only on your father who cast you out, but on all those who ever belittled you or doubted you.

Jafar: No one has ever shown me such kindness.

Serpent: No one has ever loved you like I do. (She kisses him)

In the present, Jafar admires his collection of genie bottles, but he only has two. The third cushion in his display case is empty.

In Jafar’s dungeon, one of the guards notices Cyrus trying to do something with the wishbone. The guard confiscates the wishbone and drops it into the pit underneath Cyrus’ cage. Cyrus appears to despair, and the guard laughs at him.

On the road to the Queen’s palace, Lizard admits that she isn’t actually going after the Knave for financial reasons. Will had helped her out when she was living on the streets, and had mentored her in the art of thievery.

Lizard: I know he can be difficult, but his heart's in the right place, thanks to you.

Alice: Sounds like you were close friends. Unless, wait, were you two…?

Lizard: No. Uh, no. That would never…Will and I, we just ran together. You know, stealing. Sometimes for the Caterpillar, and sometimes just for fun.

Alice: You’d rob people for fun?

Lizard: Will went through a dark period after the whole Anastasia thing.

Alice: There’s that name again: Anastasia. Who is this girl?

Lizard: Never met her, but whoever she is, she completely wrecked him. Everyone says Will left Wonderland because of his debts, but I don’t think so. This place reminded him of her.

Meanwhile, the Red Queen visits Will in his cell. She tells Will that she has secretly arranged for the White Rabbit to take him out of Wonderland and back to Storybrooke, where he will be safe.

Will/Knave: Is this the part where you catch me escaping? Give you an excuse to kill me?

Anastasia/Red Queen: Will, I don’t need an excuse to kill you. I need an excuse not to kill you.

Anastasia tries to explain to Will that she is trying to protect him from everyone in Wonderland who wants him dead. Unfortunately, Will hates Anastasia so much that he refuses to accept any help from her and even dares her to chop his head off. Unable to make any progress, Anastasia storms away.

Alice and Lizard see a public notice announcing the execution of the Knave. They hurry to the Red Queen’s palace, where a jubilant throng has gathered to watch the Knave of Hearts be beheaded. The Red Queen tries to put on a happy face for the crowd, but Jafar sees she is depressed, and taunts her about it. One of the Tweedles notices that Alice is in the courtyard. Jafar decides to wait and see what Alice does first.

Jafar: It’s time for us to see how far she’s willing to go to get what she wants.

Jafar remembers how he found the second of the genie bottles. He came across a tavern owner in posession of a genie who still had one wish left. To force the man to make his wish, Jafar started stabbing the man’s hands until he finally wished that Jafar could not harm him. With all three wishes used up, Jafar was then free to become the genie’s new master. Jafar could not hurt the genie’s former master, but the Serpent killed the man when he called Jafar a bastard.

As Will is brought out to be executed, he glances up at Anastasia, who is unable to look him in the eye. Will’s head is placed on the block, but instead of cutting off his head, the executioner cuts his bonds, for the executioner is actually Alice in disguise. Alice and Will use the head catapult to launch themselves out of the palace and escape. Alice, Will, and Lizard flee through the hedge maze, but are cornered in the center of the maze by the Red Queen, Jafar, the Tweedles, and several guards. Jafar introduces himself to Alice and notes that she revealed she would do anything for a friend. He then uses his magic to strangle Will, trying to force Alice to make a wish to save him. As Will chokes, the Red Queen grows more and more agitated. Will gasps the name Anastasia, and Alice realizes that Anastasia is the Red Queen. The Red Queen yells at Alice to make a wish, and Alice finally wishes that if the Knave dies, she will die too. Since Jafar needs Alice alive to make all of her wishes, this means he can’t risk killing the Knave. In his prison, Cyrus senses Alice has made her first wish. Jafar congratulates Alice on her wish, but then tries torturing her with magic to get another wish out of her. Alice’s resolve and pain tolerance are too high, and she refuses to make a wish no matter what. Jafar then turns Will to stone.

Jafar: (To the Red Queen) You were right, your Majesty, he was more useful alive than dead. (To Alice) So you won’t use your wishes to help yourself, Alice? Then I will keep destroying all the things you care about, hurting all the people you love, until you have no other choice. Because you have a weakness, Alice. I’ve seen it today. You have a heart. And trust me, I shall exploit it.

Jafar flies away on his carpet. Alice begs the Red Queen to help the Knave. When she mockingly asks why she would do that, Alice slaps her. Having learned that the Red Queen is Will’s ex-girlfriend Anastasia, Alice thinks she can convince her to help, but the Red Queen insists Alice knows nothing about her, and tells Alice to grow up and use her wishes to solve the problem. She then signals for her guards to leave the maze, to Alice’s surprise.

Alice: You’re not going to put me in prison? Torture me, let me rot until I do your bidding?

Anastasia/Red Queen: Don’t you see, Darling? You are in prison. What do you think Wonderland is? You’re mine, Alice, and from now on, things are only going to get worse until you do what you must. Wish.

Alice realizes that the Queen isn’t mocking her or threatening her to wish, she’s pleading. Left alone in the maze with the statue of Will, Alice wonders how she can help him.Jafar visits Cyrus and gloats that Alice has used one of her wishes.

Jafar remembers how after he had learned everthing he could from the Serpent, he drugged her with a potion to steal her magic, then transformed her into the serpent staff that he now carries, so he could perform the spell without having to share the ultimate power with anyone else.

Meanwhile, Cyrus reveals to the old prisoner that he was able to hold on to half of the wishbone.

Cyrus: It’s a myth, what you’ve heard about wishbones. That when you break them, whoever has the larger half gets a wish. It’s a story, created long ago by genies to make people believe that you did not need to seek out a bottle in order to someday have what you desired. And so to this day, people keep pulling wishbones apart, hoping that magic will spill out of them. But what a wishbone really wants is no different from what we all want: to be joined to our other half. And if we’re separated, we’ll do whatever it takes to be together again.

Cyrus touches his half of the wishbone to the floor of his cage. The other half comes flying up out of the pit and touches the other side of the cage, attempting to rejoin with the bone. In their attempt to rejoin, the halves of wishbone start to magically cut through the bottom of the cage.

Tropes

• Catapult to Glory: Afer a beheading in Wonderland, the heads are normally launched out of a catapult, and whoever catches the head wins a prize. Alice is able to put this catapult to a better use by using it to escape the palace.
• Come to Gawk: Will asks the Red Queen if she’s doing this when she visits him in his cell. While she did mock him the first time she visited him, the second time she is actually trying to rescue him.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Will says this to Anastasia when she says she’s going to save his life to make up for breaking his heart.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Alice knocks out the executioner and switches places with him so she can rescue the Knave. The real executioner comes running out in his underwear after Alice is revealed.
• Loophole Abuse: The ritual to rewrite the laws of magic cannot be performed by fewer than two magicians. Jafar turns Amara the Serpent into a magical staff, so he can use her to perform the ritual without having to share the ultimate power with her.
• Love Is a Weakness: Jafar points out that the fact Alice cares about others is a weakness he can use to force her to use her wishes.
• Off with His Head!: Almost happens to the Knave, but Alice saves him just in time.
• Pet the Dog: The Red Queen tries to get Will out of Wonderland to save his life, and after he is turned to stone she is seen visiting his statue with a grief-stricken expression.
• She's Not My Girlfriend: The Red Queen taunts Will by referring to Alice as his girlfriend, and he insists that she isn’t.
  Will/Knave: I’m clearly not attracted to nice, normal women.
  • Lizard says that she and Will were never lovers when Alice asks.
• Taken for Granite: Will gets turned to stone by Jafar in an attempt to force Alice to use her wishes.
• There Was a Door: The Red Queen suggests Jafar learn to use the front door when he teleports into her castle.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When Anastasia tells Will that she is the only thing keeping him from having his head chopped off, he dares her by saying she can’t kill him, knowing that she hates being told she can’t do something.