Line #202 Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland


1	[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ouatiw_7573.jpg]]
2	A SpinOff of [[Creator/{{ABC}} ABC's]] ''Series/OnceUponATime'', which aired for one season in 2013-2014 as a self-contained storyline. This series focuses on Alice, a young woman from UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain who apparently traveled to Wonderland and back, but nobody believed the fantastic stories she told. Just before an attempted procedure (implied to be a lobotomy) that would have her forget it all, the White Rabbit rescues her and says that they can help her reunite with a genie she rescued and fell in love with.
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4	Rather than being related only in name to ''Once Upon a Time'', it has a SharedUniverse. Given that ''Wonderland'' stars a protagonist from Victorian England (Alice), whereas Storybrooke has a protagonist from modern-day [[BigApplesauce New York]], it was up in the air how connected the two series would be. WordOfGod tells us that they avoid a TimeyWimeyBall in that Alice's Victorian Britain is a separate story realm that exists simultaneously with our modern world, like the Austria-inspired one Frankenstein comes from in the parent show. Several significant characters like Cora, Robin Hood and Maleficent cross over, but only in backstory. Apart from cameos, {{flashback}} {{cross over}}s, and Alice briefly visiting contemporary Storybrooke, ''Wonderland'' is its own self-contained HeroOfAnotherStory.
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6	Despite a few characters being left with open fates at the end of the series, the show is wrapped up in its single season. Creator/MichaelSocha briefly reprised his role as the Knave of Hearts as a regular in the fourth season of ''Series/OnceUponATime''.
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8	----
9	!!This series contains examples of:
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11	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Done very obviously with Jafar. The Red Queen as well, to a degree, since in the original she was a red-faced chess piece and now she's a thin blonde human woman.
12	* AdaptationalBadass:
13	** Alice, who is often portrayed as a hapless young girl passively reacting to Wonderland's nonsense, shows no hesitation in attacking 5 guards at the asylum and effortlessly kicking their asses, and is now quite adept at handling herself in Wonderland.
14	** The Caterpillar, once just a hookah-smoking caterpillar, is now Wonderland's [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Jabba the Hutt]].
15	* AdaptationalVillainy:
16	** Since most of the fairytale characters are based on Disney's interpretation more than their original source material, this happens a lot, most obvious with [[UsefulNotes/GrandVizierJafar Jafar]].
17	** Though the Cheshire Cat is notably more aggressive towards Alice here than both the original and the Disney movie.
18	** The Caterpillar. He was a side character who gave cryptic advice in Alice in Wonderland, but turns out to be more like a mob boss in the series.
19	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Some places in Wonderland like Mallow Marsh, Whisperer Woods, the Towering Tum-tum Tree...
20	* AGlassInTheHand: Alice breaks a glass after her stepmother suggests getting her married to a young man.
21	%%* AllMythsAreTrue[=/=]CanonWelding: Takes place in the same universe, or rather TheMultiverse, as ''Series/OnceUponATime'', which includes pretty much every classic fictional character from [[Literature/PeterPan Captain Hook]] to Literature/{{Frankenstein}}.
22	** In the first episode of the series Emma, the protagonist of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', nearly runs over the Knave of Hearts on his way to [[Literature/LittleRedRidingHood Granny's]] diner. In order to get in, he pickpockets the key from Literature/{{Cinderella}}, who is being escorted home by [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Grumpy]].
23	** In addition to the obvious Wonderland characters, the series includes faces from [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Agrabah]], and [[Literature/{{Beowulf}} Grendel]] features in the episode "Forget Me Not".
24	** The fairy [[Franchise/DisneyFairies Silvermist]] appears in Episode 2.
25	** Myth/RobinHood steals from [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]].
26	** Looking for monsters to send after Alice, the Red Queen mentions a [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi sarlacc]].
27	* AndIMustScream:
28	** Jafar briefly paralyzes the queen except for her eyes so he can threaten her.
29	** The Caterpillar collects the severed yet alive heads of those who couldn't pay their debts. Once he removes the cover on one of his victims, he does scream!
30	** The Sarlacc who digests his victim for over a millennium.
31	** Jafar turned his mentor Amara into his serpent staff. We see her ''blinking'' at the end of “The Serpent”.
32	** The victims of the Dark Forest end up turning into trees if they stay too long.
33	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:The Red Queen reveals that she still loves the Knave and that her motive for helping Jafar change the laws of magic was so that she could change her past decision to give him up for her crown]].
34	* AnimalMotifs: Jafar's [[SnakesAreSinister snake]] motif is carried over, and even increased, as not only is he still carrying his SerpentStaff, his clothes are actually textured to look like reptile skin. He turns out to have inherited/stolen the snake motif from his former mentor Amara.
35	* AntiMagic: The magic dust.
36	* AntiVillain: In "Home" (though this is hinted earlier), [[spoiler: the Red Queen approaches Type II territory when her true motives are revealed. She is depicted consistently as the lesser of the two evils in the series, and by midseason exits villain territory completely and becomes a hero]].
37	* ArabianNightsDays: Agrabah. As the Enchanted Forest is modelled after medieval Europe, it's only fitting that Agrabah gets patterned after the Middle East. Plenty of genies and flying carpets, with a BedlahBabe or two thrown in.
38	* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: In Episode 4, we get a brief look at Amara’s spellbook. The wording over the picture of the lamp says الساحرة, which is Arabic for “the sorceress,” nothing to do with genies. Also, it’s written backwards and the individual letters are disconnected, which looks terrible.
39	* BadGuyBar: The Caterpillar's bar is frequented by some very unsavory types. Apparently the Knave owes most of them money.
40	* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Episode 6 sees Alice walk into a brightly lit grove while trying to walk through the Black Forest. There she meets the creepily smiling Carpenter, who more literate fans will recognize as an unsavory type from "The Walrus and the Carpenter"... only for Alice to start forgetting everything and getting all... "mimsy" because of the borogrove, which is the real trouble of the episode.
41	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: A running theme in the show, like its parent show. Magic always comes with a price; the bigger the magic, the bigger the price.
42	** The reason Alice hasn't used any of the wishes Cyrus granted her. Sure, she could wish him back... but he might arrive hanging from a tree with a noose around his neck. Even wishing him free of the bottle could have bad consequences (as we've seen on the parent show).
43	** Will stole the Looking Glass so he and Anastasia could leave the Enchanted Forest and start a new life in a new land. [[spoiler: Anastasia reinvented herself as the Red Queen and broke Will's heart]].
44	** [[spoiler: Will's wish to "end Alice's suffering" (which could have just as easily killed her except that genie wishes are restricted from doing that) turned Cyrus from a genie into a human. But apparently, that bottle absolutely had to have a genie in it when the wishes were used up, so it promoted Will. Which would have been fine, if the bottle wasn't floating down a river at the time. It falls off a waterfall right as the episode ends]].
45	** [[spoiler: Lizard's]] wish for the one they love to feel ''something'' for them, which results in [[spoiler: the Knave being forced to watch her die in front of him to [[ExactWords make him feel]] remorse and helplessness, since as the genie granting the wish (against his will) he is the one responsible for her death]].
46	* BedlamHouse: Alice is kept in '''the''' Bedlam House[[note]]WordOfGod says Alice's Victorian London is a different world to our own so it's more like a version of the real Bethlem Royal[[/note]] after coming back from Wonderland - and everyone believing she's mad.
47	* BetaCouple: Will and Anastasia.
48	* BigBadDuumvirate: The Red Queen and Jafar, though Jafar makes it clear he's the bigger of the two.
49	** TeethClenchedTeamwork: It's made very clear that the two don't like each other, at all.
50	** [[spoiler: When the Red Queen makes her HeelFaceTurn, she gets replaced by the Jabberwocky. Jafar ironically ends up in the Red Queen's shoes, as ''the Jabberwocky'' is now the bigger of the equation]].
51	* TheBigDamnKiss: Between [[spoiler:Will and Anastasia when Will gets his heart back]] in "Heart of the Matter".
52	* BiggerOnTheInside: The Underland is inside a Mushroom.
53	* BookEnds: The series begins and ends in the place [[spoiler:where Alice first returned to the real world after her first visit to Wonderland. In the final scene, she's having a tea party there with her daughter, to whom she's reading a story-book accounting of her past: ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'']].
54	* BreakTheCutie: Surprisingly, [[spoiler: The Red Queen, who is initially promoted as the big bad for the series, not only quickly becomes the lesser evil (as in pretty much by the end of the first episode), but by the second half of the first season transforms into TheWoobie and ultimately performs a full HeelFaceTurn. Just in time for "Dirty Little Secrets" to ramp things up from Break the Cutie to "Utterly Destroy the Cutie"]].
55	* TheCameo: In episode 1, Emma's car, Grumpy and Cinderella have cameos in Storybrooke.
56	** Later, Robin Hood, also appearing in the then-current OUAT Baelfire arc, has a crossover.
57	** One of the fairies from OUAT makes a crossover appearance, too.
58	** "Heart of the Matter" [[spoiler: features Regina's mother, Cora]], though her role is somewhat more substantial than a cameo.
59	* CaptainObvious: While sinking in the Mallow Marsh.
60	-->'''Alice:''' Knave, we need to get out of here.\
61	'''Knave:''' [[SarcasmMode Really?]]
62	* CardboardPrison: Alice's escape from the insane asylum makes it perfectly clear she could have left whenever she felt like it.
63	* CatchPhrase: "Bloody Hell!" for the Knave.
64	* CatsAreMean: The Cheshire Cat befriended Alice during her last visit to Wonderland but has since decided that she would make a better meal than a friend.
65	* CerebusSyndrome: In the Fall of 2013, this show was LighterAndSofter than ''Once Upon a Time'', with only Jafar and everything connected to his backstory standing out as particularly dark. When the show returned in the Spring of 2014, however, things got ''intense.''
66	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Referenced. Alice and Will clap in order to summon a fairy to help them out.
67	* CompleteTheQuoteTitle: "And They Lived..."
68	* CompositeCharacter: The Knave of Hearts is [[Myth/RobinHood Will Scarlet]], and the Red Queen is [[spoiler:WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'s stepsister Anastasia]].
69	* ConspicuousConsumption: How Jafar knew the scarf merchant had the genie’s bottle.
70	* ContinuityNod: In "Down The Rabbit Hole", the White Rabbit comments that no one has seen The Mad Hatter in a long time and The Knave of Hearts mentions that "he's made a nice little life for himself" in [[Series/OnceUponATime Storybrooke.]]
71	** The Storybrooke scenes in ''Down the Rabbit Hole'' occur at the same time as the original show's season 2 premiere ''Broken'': the Knave is out on the streets during the storm caused by the Wraith's arrival.
72	** In "Bad Blood" Alice and the Knave count off everything they have in their possession from earlier episodes, including the key to Granny's.
73	** In "Heart of the Matter", [[spoiler: Cora is featured and makes reference to her disappointing daughter (Regina)]].
74	** In "To Catch a Thief", Alice sneaks into Cora's vault [[spoiler: in search for Will's heart]] where King Henry was imprisonned in the main show.
75	* ConvertedIntoAWeapon: Jafar transformed his mentor Amara into the SerpentStaff he uses to augment his powers.
76	* CreepyChild: Alice's past self in the great divide who actively encourages Alice to kill the queen. [[spoiler: Subverted; see SecretTestOfCharacter]].
77	* DarkAndTroubledPast: The Knave makes constant references to having done things in Wonderland that earned him a price on his head, but refuses to elaborate.
78	* DarkerAndEdgier: This show's version of Alice falls closer to the warrior Alice of [[Film/AliceInWonderland2010 the Tim Burton movie]] than the innocent girl of the original stories and most earlier treatments.
79	** Also, Jafar. If you thought he was evil in [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} the original animated movie]]...
80	** Wonderland was always a little twisted and loopy, but it was originally intended for the delight of a six-year old girl. Now it's more akin to the nightmare at the end of the [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland Disney animated version]] than the whimsical first half. It owes much more to ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'' than that, though. Violent and weird, and you can't trust anyone.
81	* DeadpanSnarker: The Knave of Hearts is quite good at this:
82	-->'''Alice:''' Don't struggle. It'll only make us sink faster.\
83	'''Knave:''' Oh yes, because a slow death would be so much more pleasant.
84	** Alice is quite good at this as well. Only the White Rabbit is not, [[LargeHam for obvious reasons.]]
85	* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: Either Alice or The Knave will say "bloody hell" at least OnceAnEpisode. "Sod off" has made an appearance as well. The British actors, knowing they're working on a family-friendly North American show, must find this amusing.
86	* DistressedDude: Cyrus, until a wish to end Alice's suffering finally frees him from being a genie. [[spoiler:Will becomes both the new genie of the bottle and the DistressedDude in his place]].
87	* TheDragon: [[spoiler: The Jabberwocky]] is intended to be this for Jafar, [[DragonWithAnAgenda buuuut....]]
88	* DueToTheDead: Anastasia closes [[spoiler:Lizard's]] eyes.
89	* EnemyMine:
90	** In "Heart of Stone", the Red Queen confesses to Alice that both of them are in trouble with Jafar and that's why she expects her help.
91	** [[spoiler: The Jabberwocky performs something along these lines near the end, not actually turning good so much as working with the heroes to ensure her own freedom, mainly because she realizes Jafar is not a trustworthy partner. It doesn't work out very well for her.]]
92	* EvilVersusEvil: [[spoiler:In "Home" The Red Queen and Jafar's alliance falls apart and Jafar is now actively trying to kill her]].
93	** Later averted when it's revealed that [[spoiler: the Red Queen isn't actually evil, just very misguided]].
94	* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Poor Lizard... Granted, she was already dead, but still]].
95	* FairySexy: Like most fairies in the OUAT-universe, Silvermist looks like an attractive young female.
96	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Agrabah seems to resemble the Great Moghul Empire more than anything in this version.
97	* FateWorseThanDeath: What the caterpillar himself describes the fate of those who didn't pay their debts.
98	** Being [[TakenForGranite turned into stone]] according to Amara and Jafar.
99	* FeministFantasy: Alice is not only an ActionGirl, but brilliant and able to outwit the various {{Chessmaster}}s gunning for her. Discovering that TheLostLenore is still alive, Alice undertakes a quest to rescue him.
100	* FighterMageThief: It appears initially that the show is setting up a PowerTrio in Alice, the Knave, and the White Rabbit. However, the Rabbit doesn't show up that much (probably because it costs a lot to animate a talking rabbit voiced by Creator/JohnLithgow). Further, it subverts the expected roles in that the Fighter is the girl, and TheMole is the Mage, not the Knave.
101	* FirstEpisodeTwist: The rabbit is a mole for the Red Queen. She and Jafar faked Cyrus's death.
102	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
103	** Cyrus mentions that it "would be a terrible fate" to be separated from a loved one. Guess what happens to him and his lover.
104	** In ''Forget Me Not'', The Knave asks to Alice what she would do if she can be with Cyrus forever but someone else had to suffer because of it.
105	** Cinderella’s appearance in the pilot, given the fact that [[spoiler: the Red Queen is one of her stepsisters]].
106	* ForgotAboutHerPowers: In the episode 9, the Red Queen is easily kidnapped and almost killed by the local inhabitants. She never used the magic to defend herself.
107	%%* GardenOfEvil: The Queen of Hearts's living hedge maze.
108	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts can both be seen in the trailer.
109	** As the series goes on, however, [[spoiler: the Red Queen becomes less about this and tries to atone for her actions, not always successfully]].
110	* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Like its parent series, includes truly heroic characters like Alice, morally gray ones like the Red Queen, and the seriously evil villain Jafar.
111	* HappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler:The series ends with Alice and Cyrus married in England with a daughter. Will and Anastasia become the White King and the White Queen of Wonderland. Naturally, the episode is titled "And They Lived..."]]
112	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: The Red Queen at the end of "Home", and solidified in "Nothing to Fear", both in her genuinely sad reaction to Lizard's death and her deciding to fight Jafar, though she suffers a brief reversion in the next episode due to a major BreakTheCutie moment, and again in the finale due to being put under a spell. Ultimately, though, her turn is permanent]].
113	** Although depicted as being evil earlier in the series, when [[spoiler: Amara is resurrected, no mention is made of this and she spends her remaining time fighting to save not only her sons, but Wonderland.]] Although this is strongly implied to be a case of IDidWhatIHadToDo, since [[spoiler:everything Amara did as a sorceress was meant to let her change the laws of magic (and the past) so she could break the curse on her genie sons]], and she clearly regrets what she did to Jafar. And even before her changing sides, there could be a bit of EvenEvilHasStandards operating.
114	%%* HeldGaze: Happens frequently between Alice and Cyrus in the flashbacks.
115	* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Alice as the reason she [[spoiler: didn't kill The Red Queen]] when presented with the opportunity:
116	-->'''Alice:''' Because I'm not like you.
117	** Cyrus also tells the peasants that if they kill the Queen they won't be better than her. They ignore his advice.
118	* IHaveYourWife: Jafar kidnaps Alice's dad to force her to make her second wish.
119	** [[spoiler:The Red Queen captured the Rabbit's wife and children in order to make him be her mole]].
120	* IKissYourHand: Cyrus to Alice once they're reunited.
121	* ILied: [[spoiler: Unsurprisingly, the Red Queen doesn't fulfill her promise to help Alice find Cyrus]].
122	** [[spoiler: ...at first, anyway.]]
123	* ImAHumanitarian: The Grendel.
124	* ImposterForgotOneDetail: Jafar eventually impersonates Alice's father to reunite with Alice, but Jafar didn't know that her father was a devout Christian who would bless the food before eating, something that makes Alice suspect of "him". Jafar tried to avert being discovered by having previously tricked Alice's father to show him his dominant hand, but the prayer detail ruins his facade.
125	* InterspeciesRomance: Between Alice the human and Cyrus the genie. [[spoiler: Subverted by the fact that Cyrus was once human. And once they are finally reunited in "Home", Cyrus is now human again, the trope no longer applies]].
126	* IronicEcho: The Asylum doctor initially explains that there's a treatment for Alice's "delusions". After Will breaks her out with the Rabbit in tow, they run into the same doctor on the way out. On seeing the Rabbit, the doctor can only stare in shock. Alice doesn't waste time setting him straight:
127	--> '''Alice:''' Seeing things, Doctor? I hear there's a procedure for that.
128	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler: The Red Queen in "Heart of the Matter" wishes that Will will be able to have feelings again even if it's not for her.]]
129	* JackassGenie: Not by the genie's choice, though. When [[spoiler:Lizard]] carelessly uses the word "wish," [[spoiler:her third wish, that the Knave would feel something for her, comes true despite the Knave's efforts to stop it – she dies, as the Knave can only watch helplessly]].
130	** The final fate of [[spoiler:Jafar, who gets tricked by Alice into stealing from the Well of Wonders]].
131	* KnightsAndKnaves: Alice solves a variant with only one guard, a knight who she quickly realizes has done nothing but lie to her. It can only answer yes or no questions, so she asks if one of the doors leads to the well, then picks the other one when it says yes.
132	* LargeHam: The White Rabbit. It's Creator/JohnLithgow, what did you expect?
133	** Creator/PetaSergeant is also enjoying a scenery-laced meal as the evil and sexy Jabberwocky.
134	* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you haven't watched the main show, [[spoiler: Cora]] being the Queen of Hearts is one.
135	* LeapOfFaith: Subverted. Alice first thinks that believing in her love with Cyrus will make her cross the great divide. [[spoiler: Alice's true trial is to prove herself to be pure-hearted enough by sparing the life of the one who put Cyrus in Prison]].
136	* LighterAndSofter: Generally has a brighter, cartoonier feel than ''Series/OnceUponATime''. [[spoiler: At least, at first...]]
137	* LiteralGenie: Alice cites this reason for why wishes can't be trusted. Although it's worth noting that it's the magic that interprets the wish, not the genie.
138	* {{Lobotomy}}: The implied treatment the Asylum was about to give to Alice -- actually, what she intentionally volunteered for at the time.
139	* TheLostLenore: Cyrus is this to Alice, and Anastasia is this to the Knave. [[spoiler:It turns out that Anastasia also feels the same about the Knave]].
140	* LoveMakesYouEvil: Seems to be a RunningTheme.
141	** First, we have Anastasia, whose entire motivation throughout the series has been to correct the mistake she made in abandoning the one she loves. She's done some horrible things. [[spoiler: Though evidently nothing bad enough that she isn't fully forgiven by series end and reconciled with Alice and Cyrus.]]
142	** Second, we have Jafar, who craves his father's affection more than anything, and will stop at nothing to get it.
143	** Finally, we have Amara, who, after losing her children, became a sorceress with no qualms about killing an innocent man to use his liver as a spell reagent, and turning another man to stone [[ForTheEvulz for shiggles]].
144	* MagicCarpet: Jafar’s preferred means of transportation. [[spoiler: Also the means by which Cyrus survived his fall into the Boiling Sea]].
145	* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Alice comes across as the very proactive, no-nonsense, sword-swinging ActionGirl, whilst Cyrus is a lot more gentle and sweet. The drive of the narrative also revolves around Cyrus being a DistressedDude and Alice being on a Quest to rescue him, and the flashback reveals that ''she'' was the one to first make a romantic move on ''him''. It's not a ''total'' gender-flip though, as Alice still dresses quite femininely, and the aforementioned flashback also demonstrates that it was Cyrus who first teaches Alice how to sword-fight.
146	* MeatgrinderSurgery: Of course, it's Victorian-era.
147	-->'''Alice:''' Does it hurt?\
148	'''Dr. Lydgate:''' [[{{Understatement}} A little]].
149	* MercyLead: [[spoiler: The Rabbit]] gives one to [[spoiler: Cyrus]].
150	* TheMole: The White Rabbit is reluctantly working for the Red Queen.
151	** [[spoiler: Jafar has one in the Red Queen's guard. He asks him to remind him [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves to reward him for his good work...]]]]
152	* MsFanservice: The Red Queen, who wears many form fitting outfits that show off her cleavage and figure.
153	* TheMultiverse: Previously established by the parent series.
154	** Alice and Cyrus are implied to have traveled to multiple worlds, including Neverland (from the mention of mermaids).
155	** Will and Anastasia originally come from the pre-Curse Enchanted Forest (and it's implied that Will must have returned there at some point as he was affected by the Storybrooke curse). Cyrus and Jafar come from Agrabah, which is part of the same world as the Enchanted Forest.
156	** Will is initially seen living in Storybrooke, where the White Rabbit comes to fetch him. [[spoiler: Later, Alice and Cyrus also visit Storybrooke briefly]].
157	** Alice comes from a world where UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain still exists.
158	* MundaneUtility:
159	** The wishes are extremely powerful magic but they are also represented physically by rubies whose edges are good for cutting through ropes.
160	** The Forget-Me-Knot is a magical object that lets the user view the past but it is also made of very strong rope that can be used to make a snare.
161	* MyGreatestFailure: Alice's father blames himself for not believing Alice and helping her when she needed him.
162	** [[spoiler: Anastasia blames herself for ruining her relationship with Will, and is willing to change the rules of magic in order to fix things]].
163	* NarniaTime: The show implies that Wonderland's time is faster than Alice's homeworld (see below YearOutsideHourInside), but the scale doesn't seem to be consistent. [[spoiler: In the finale, Alice returns to her home but doesn't appear like she missed several years.]]
164	* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: Pretty much sums up [[spoiler: the Red Queen, who was initially set up as the villain, until the story reveals Jafar to be the actual villain, while the Red Queen's backstory reveals her to be more misunderstood than anything. Ultimately, in "Nothing to Fear," after giving signs in this direction over numerous episodes, she performs an official HeelFaceTurn and can no longer be considered evil after that]].
165	* TheNotLoveInterest: Alice and the Knave are sharing the most screen-time and much of the dramatic weight of the show is to be found in their interactions. Yet it's completely unromantic, with both of them in love (or implied to be in love) with other people. [[spoiler: It is later revealed that the Knave is incapable of love anyway due to being (temporarily) "heartless"]].
166	** Similarly, it is briefly suggested that Jafar and Red Queen might have a thing going, but at least one has eyes for another. And then, [[spoiler:after Jafar changes the rules of magic, he makes her fall in love with him]].
167	* ObliviouslyEvil: [[spoiler: Hints of this with regards to the Red Queen, especially as it becomes clear she isn't actually the villain]].
168	* OlderThanTheyLook:
169	** Cyrus is at least a century old.
170	** Assuming the Knave was indeed in Storybrooke during the decades the Curse was in effect, he is also technically much older than he appears.
171	* OutOfCharacterAlert: A variation: Alice sees through [[spoiler: Jafar's shapeshifting spell]] not because he does something her father would never do, but because he ''fails'' to do something that her father normally would. Her father, a devoutly religious man, says grace before every meal, without exception, even when it's something as small as a piece of fruit that he picked from his garden. [[spoiler: Jafar's]] failure to do so alerts Alice that something is off.
172	* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler: It's revealed that those who cross Nyx, guardian of the Well of Wonders are punished for their desire to change fate by being turned into genies. It's unknown whether this also happened to the Genie from the original series who became Regina's Magic Mirror (a.k.a. Sidney Glass)]].
173	* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: The old prisoner incites Jafar to kill him but the latter refuses[[spoiler: because he wants to keep him until he calls him "son"]].
174	--> '''[[spoiler:Sultan]]:''' He is as much my captive as I am his.
175	* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: {{Justified\|Trope}} since, according to the producers, Alice's Victorian London is a separate "land of story" that exists in parallel with our world rather than the actual historical Victorian London. This allows Jafar, played by an Indian actor, to pose as "Dr. Sheffield" without anyone batting an eyelash.
176	* PsychoExGirlfriend: While transporting Alice and the Knave across the lake, Silvermist, a former lover of the Knave, drops the Knave into the water. She then goes looking for him after she hears about the Caterpillar's bounty on his head.
177	* RealMenLoveJesus: Alice's father says grace before eating, no matter how small the meal.
178	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Alice gives one to her father [[spoiler: actually Jafar in disguise]] about how cowardly he is and that she wouldn't want to see him again.
179	* RedHerring: When the Jabberwocky [[spoiler: temporarily sides with Alice against Jafar]], she brings up how she wasn't born a monster and that evil is made, not born. This point is never brought up again in the plot, although it is otherwise [[ArcWords a reference to a line]] from [[Series/OnceUponATime the parent series]].
180	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Amara atones for the dark things she's done in her life by dying to return the stolen water to the Well of Wonders. Justified, in that it was trying to undo the curse of the Well that led to her StartOfDarkness in the first place.]]
181	** The final episodes also tease that [[spoiler: the trope also applies to Anastasia but it turns out her death is of the non-permanent variety]].
182	* TheReveal: From the end of "And They Lived...", [[spoiler: in the OUAT universe, Alice is the author of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'']] What is not revealed [[spoiler:is whether she, like J.M. Barrie, Mary Shelley, the Grimm brothers, and more, was also one of ''the'' Authors]].
183	* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: After the Grendel reveals who his guests were, Jafar [[ExactWords fulfills his promise to reunite him with his deceased wife]].
184	* RoguesGalleryTransplant: Alice fighting Jafar comes off as this, especially since Aladdin himself hasn't yet appeared in either version of Once Upon a Time. This does eventually get addressed in season six of the parent show.
185	* RoyalBastard: A flashback episode for [[EvilSorcerer Jafar]] reveals he was a bastard son of the Sultan, was abandoned, and kept as a servant to a cruel blacksmith. He goes to learn dark magic to get revenge on the Sultan and probably on everyone else.
186	* RuleOfThree: In order to change the laws of magic, Jafar needs the three [[spoiler:different genies. He already has two, and he's ''very'' intent on making Cyrus the third]].
187	** There are three laws of magic -- three prohibitions, to be more specific. Magic cannot: bring back the dead, make somebody fall in love, change the past. [[spoiler:Only two of the three are demonstrated in the finale, though. This may be because it's been revealed changing the past is part of the Wicked Witch of the West's EvilPlan on OUAT, albeit in a different manner and by a completely different method.]]
188	* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Jafar turns Will into stone in the fourth episode in a gambit to get Alice to use one of her wishes. She'd already used one to save Will in the same episode. Alice is clearly torn between saving Will and knowing what would happen to Cyrus if she uses all three]].
189	** The second choice presented to Alice is even worse: [[spoiler:her own father is held hostage, on the edge of a cliff. Alice resists Jafar's demands, forcing his hand and letting Alice's father fall. Alice immediately uses her second wish to send her father back home]].
190	* SecretTestOfCharacter: Alice gets one in "Heart Of Stone": [[spoiler: The Red Queen is put before her, temporarily BroughtDownToNormal. Alice is told that she can get Cyrus's location simply by killing the Red Queen right then and there. She refuses to do so on moral grounds and so passes the test, granting her the magical dust that ultimately reveals Cyrus's location to her]].
191	* SerpentOfImmortality: Amara is all about this. Unfortunately, it's what gives Jafar the idea to turn her into a snake staff, so that her magical essence is always with him.
192	* SequelHook: [[spoiler: Like his animated counterpart, Jafar was turned into a genie, not completely dead.]]
193	* ShootTheMessenger: The Red Queen says it when Tweedledum reveals to her that [[spoiler:Tweedledee has betrayed them to work for Jafar.]]
194	-->'''Red Queen''': Now leave before I decide to kill the messenger.
195	* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/OnceUponATimeInWonderland Has its own page]].
196	* SmugSnake: The Red Queen. Jafar even lampshades it. But in a case of dramatic irony, Jafar falls into this territory by underestimating the Red Queen in the following episode. He seems to have wised up, though, and begins treating her more like an equal afterward.
197	* SomeoneHasToDoIt: There must always be a genie in each bottle. [[spoiler: Will finds this out the hard way. As does Jafar]].
198	* SpoilerTitle: The finale [[spoiler: "And they lived..."]], if you know the rest.
199	* ThatManIsDead: Will treats the Red Queen and [[spoiler: Anastasia]] as two separate people. The actress also adjusts her performance accordingly.
200	* TitleDrop: The Red Queen drops the "Once Upon A Time" portion in "Dirty Little Secrets".
201	* TragicMonster: The Grendel. His wife died and he stole the Forget-Me-Knot from the Red Queen so he could see her through it; she punished him by turning him into a gruesome cannibal.
202	* TurtleIsland: The Mock Turtle takes this form, though it's considerably smaller than most examples.
203	* UncoveringRelationshipStatus: In "Down the Rabbit Hole", Cyrus mentions to Alice her husband during their first meeting, she corrects him, since she's not married, to which he replies, "Good."
204	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The Red Queen. The peasants of Wonderland trust her enough to honestly petition her with their problems and the crowd cheers when she showed up in the balcony during the Knave’s aborted execution. [[spoiler: This changes later, however, with Anastasia losing all the goodwill of her subjects and the loyalty of her soldiers]].
205	* VileVillainSaccharineShow: For a series that's usually LighterAndSofter than [[Series/OnceUponATime the one it was spun off from]], everything involving Jafar is ''incredibly'' dark.
206	** The Jabberwocky, big time.
207	* WasOnceAMan:
208	** The Grendel became a cannibal monster under the Red Queen's curse after he stole her Forget-Me-Knot.
209	** According to Cyrus, all genies were once regular people, including him [[spoiler: and by the end of the episode "Home", Will]].
210	* WeaponOfXSlaying: Well, not so much slaying it appears, but like in ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', the Vorpal Blade seems to be [[AchillesHeel the only weapon which can harm]] the Jabberwocky, at least to the extent of being able to keep it pinned to a wall indefinitely. Like in that film, this is a MythologyGag to the blade being the one used on the creature in the poem named for it.
211	* WhamEpisode:
212	** "The Serpent": [[spoiler: Alice uses her first wish, making Will unable to die without her dying as well. Jafar responds by turning him to Stone. And Alice learns the true identity of the Red Queen]].
213	** "Home" is a big one, with moments occurring from beginning to end. [[spoiler: Jafar and the Red Queen end their alliance - she takes Cyrus's bottle for herself, and Jafar ''blows up her castle''. She captures Cyrus and realizes that everyone who's against Jafar is in danger as long as they're in Wonderland, so the two try to get Alice and Will to come with them with the White Rabbit to protect themselves. Anastasia declares that she still loves Will, and wants to change the rules of magic so that she can undo what she's done and they can be together again. Alice and Will don't believe her, meaning Jafar's curse to kill them all arrives in time. Will is hit and both he and Alice start dying due to her previous wish, but uses LoopholeAbuse in order to get the last wish for himself and save her. It results in Cyrus becoming human, and Will taking his place as the genie]]. Yeesh.
214	** "Heart of the Matter" turns the series on its ear. [[spoiler: We learn that Anastasia was trained in magic by Regina's mother, Cora; that Cora removed the Knave's heart; Alice and Cyrus experience modern-day Storybrooke for the first time; Anastasia and Will are finally reconciled; and then Anastasia is apparently stabbed to death by Jafar, in front of Will, who only moments ago had his heart returned to him just to have it broken all over again]].
215	* WhamShot:
216	** At the end of "Forget Me Not," [[spoiler:we see Anastasia, who turns out to be the Red Queen]].
217	** "Who's Alice?" shows that [[spoiler: Jafar's prison is on a floating Island]].
218	** At the end of "Home", where we see [[spoiler: Will trapped in the bottle, taking Cyrus's place as the third genie]].
219	** Cyrus and his brothers' mother is revealed to be [[spoiler:Amara, Jafar's mentor/lover/walking stick]].
220	** "Heart of the Matter": [[spoiler: Anastasia/The Red Queen appears to be die after being stabbed in front of a no-longer-heartless Will]].
221	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
222	** We never find out what happened to the Red King. It's implied he's dead but we'll never know how exactly he left the Red Queen's life.
223	** Tweedledee [[spoiler: who works for Jafar]] is last seen in episode 9 in present day. His fate as of the finale is unknown.
224	** The finale does not indicate the ultimate fate of [[spoiler:the Jabberwocky, even though she switched sides near the end. Although last we saw, she had once again been pinned to a wall by the Vorpal Blade]].
225	* WifeHusbandry: [[GenderFlip Gender flipped]]. Amara takes Jafar in when he's young, effectively raising him, then they become lovers when Jafar is an adult. [[spoiler: Too bad Amara [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlives her usefulness]]]].
226	* WorkingWithTheEx: Silvermist the fairy has to transport the Knave across a lake. But that's not a problem for her. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial She's a professional who won't let old feelings that she's completely over affect her work.]]
227	* WorldOfPun: The mallow marsh, the clothes horse, the fairy crossing, the Forget-Me-Knot... but blame Lewis Carroll, not the TV writers.
228	* XanatosGambit: In “Forget Me Not”, the Caterpillar sends the Knave to get the Forget-Me-Knot which is in Grendel’s possession. If the Knave fails, then he’s dead. If the Knave succeeds and brings it back, then the Caterpillar owns the Forget-Me-Knot. If the Knave keeps the Forget-Me-Knot for himself, the Caterpillar will just use that as an excuse for revenge against the Knave. All the outcomes are favorable for the Caterpillar.
229	** In the final episode, the heroes pull one on Jafar: [[spoiler: If Cyrus and Amara had succeeded in returning the water to the Well of Wonders, it would have stripped him of his new-found power. However, in preventing them from doing so, he stole the water himself and thus got turned into a genie by Nyx.]]
230	* {{Xenafication}}: Because young girls can easily beat the asylum brute squad.
231	* YearOutsideHourInside: It's implied at the beginning that Wonderland's time is faster than Alice's homeworld since she had been out of sight for a long time. This was more or less confirmed by "Who's Alice?", where [[spoiler:Alice returns to London after Cyrus's apparent death only to find she's been gone long enough to have a stepmother and a half-sister]].
232	*** Also evident with Will and Anastasia who lived in the pre-curse Enchanted Forest alongside the characters from the main show 28 years ago. The main show characters did not age due to either the curse or Cora's time bubble, but Will and Anastasia are the same ages in the present despite being in Wonderland the whole time.
233	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Jafar tries this on the Red Queen, but stops when the Queen points out that her usefulness to him hasn't quite ended after all.
234	** [[spoiler: He does this to Amara and turns her into his staff]]
235	** He eventually [[spoiler:does this to Anastasia after all. He uses her to make her wishes and give him the genie, then uses her as bait to get Will to tell him where his heart is. Once both tasks are complete, he decides he has no use for her and stabs her]].
236	** He does it ''again'' to the Jabberwocky immediately after achieving his goal.
237	* YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo: [[spoiler: Jafar promises to Will that he will spare Anastasia if he tells where his heart is. As Anastasia herself predicted, he still kills her anyway]].

Context Series / OnceUponATimeInWonderland