Recap / Once Upon A Time In Wonderland S 1 E 13 And They Lived

The ritual is complete, making Jafar and Amara the two most powerful sorcerers in all the realms. Jafar immediately plans to kill Amara, but he is distracted by his father, who tries convincing him that true power is shown through mercy. When Jafar reminds the former Sultan of how little mercy he showed his illegitimate son, his father says that his love couldn’t be given, it had to be earned. Jafar tires of the conversation and uses his new powers to force his father to love him. Jafar’s father now looks upon him with love and respect, telling him how proud he is of him. Tears come to Jafar’s eyes.

Jafar: While I am pleased to feel this affection, Father, it’s not quite all that I’ve wanted from you.

Jafar’s Father: Tell me what you desire. I shall provide it for you.

Jafar: W-what I want…what I truly want, is for you to know how it feels to be murdered by someone you love.

With a spell, Jafar fills his father’s lungs with water, drowning him. For a moment, Jafar notices how hollow his victory feels, after waiting so long to achieve it. He turns his attention back to Amara, but she, Alice, and Cyrus are long gone, having taken Jafar’s carpet and escaped.

Jafar confronts the Jabberwocky. The Jabberwocky tries to sense Jafar’s fear, but becomes terrified when she senses that Jafar’s ultimate power has made him afraid of nothing. Jafar uses the vorpal sword to pin the Jabberwocky to a dungeon wall, imprisoning her once again.

Amara and Alice take Cyrus to the White Rabbit’s house, and with her new powers, Amara brings Cyrus back to life, and she and Alice are properly introduced. The White Rabbit is a little annoyed at having matching bloodstains on the carpet.

White Rabbit: Seriously, who needs a photo album when you’ve got this? “Look kids, here’s where Alice almost died. And, ooh, look, here’s where Cyrus’s spleen fell out.”

Amara says that they need to prepare for the coming battle, as it will take all of them to defeat Jafar.

Jafar lets Will out of the bottle and traps him inside a magical triangle to show him that he has brought Anastasia back to life. Before Will can thank him though, Jafar also shows that he has used his magic to make Anastasia love him now. The two kiss while poor Will is forced to watch.

Will/Knave: So that’s what this is all about? You changed the laws of magic so you could torment me?

Jafar: No, but it is a happy consequence. What I have in mind is far greater.

Will/Knave: And you needed her help to do it?

Jafar: Not just hers…

With a spell from Jafar, an entire cemetery of soldiers who died during the great Chess War rise from their graves.

Meanwhile, Alice and Amara argue over what they should do next. Alice thinks Amara should confront Jafar head on, since she’s the only one powerful enough to face him. Amara argues that their only choice is to return the water to the Well of Wonders and lift the curse of the genies. Alice dislikes this plan because it will cause Amara to die and will give up any chance of reviving Anastasia.

Amara: The laws of magic are in place for a reason.

Alice: So we’re just going to give up on her?

Cyrus: Would you rather give up on Will? We can try and save the Queen, but we will risk losing Will forever. Are you prepared to do that?

Sadly, Alice realizes they don’t have a better option. She suggests that they split up. While Amara and Cyrus return the water to the well, Alice and the White Rabbit will rally the people of Wonderland to storm the palace, rescue Will, and defeat Jafar at the moment his power is disrupted.

As the resurrected army is armed, Jafar gives them orders.

Jafar: My friends, welcome back to the land of the living. I am Jafar. It is me you must thank. It is me who you now owe a debt. But worry not. You won’t be in debt for long because the time has come to pay up. Why have I bestowed this gift of new life upon you? Because this world, whose air you now breathe, once again is in danger. And we must preserve it, and along with it, your lives. The task before you is dangerous, but simple: locate the sorceress Amara wherever she hides. She is all that stand between you and continued life. But be warned, she has allies. If you come across any of them, bring them to me, and all scores will be settled. But know this, if anything or anyone gets in your way, the solution is the same. Whatever the obstacle, break it, burn it, kill it! Bring Wonderland to its knees! (The soldiers cheer)

As Jafar’s army sets forth, Alice armors up and rallies her army.

Alice: Everyone, please listen to me. Jafar’s palace lies just beyond these trees. What comes next is difficult. I won’t lie to you. It will be dangerous. Anyone who’s afraid has every right to leave now, and I encourage you to do so, because what’s at stake is too important to leave in the hands of those who are unsure. You must be resolute. You must be brave. You must be strong. For tonight, we don’t jut fight for ourselves, we fight for the ones that are waiting for us to come home when it’s all over. We fight for the ones that we love. We fight for our home. We fight for Wonderland (The soldiers cheer). We strike at sunrise.

Jafar’s soldiers attack Alice, while others go after Amara and Cyrus. Amara’s magic is so powerful that she can force the soldiers to kill themselves.Alice puts up a good fight, but she is overwhelmed and captured. The soldiers drag Alice to Jafar’s palace and tie her to a chair. Jafar boasts about how he has done the things that go against the laws of magic. The only one he hasn’t done yet is change the past. Jafar threatens to change Alice’s past, so she never met Cyrus and never came to Wonderland at all.

Jafar: You’ve already experienced what it’s like to have loved and lost. Prepare yourself for a new heartbreak. The worst kind. To have never loved at all. It doesn’t have to be this way. Amara is the one I want. All you have to do is tell me where she is, and everything you and Cyrus have fought for lives on. But make me wait any longer, and it will all…vanish. (He makes Cyrus’ ring disappear)

Will tells Alice to give in, as Jafar has won, but Alice refuses to give up.

Alice: The love that Cyrus and I have is more powerful than any magic. No matter what you do to me, you can’t change the fact that you will never feel true love for yourself.

Jafar: (Looking at Anastasia) And her? What would you call that?

Alice: An illusion. A lie. Just like your father’s love. And your army. All you have are parlor tricks. Spells that will never match up to the real thing.

Jafar: Enough.

Alice: Go ahead, do it. All the magic in the world can never make you feel what I have felt. Real love, true love, cannot be destroyed. That is why you, Jafar, will never win.

Just then, two soldiers approach and tell Jafar that they saw Amara and Cyrus heading for two red doors. When Alice refuses to talk, Jafar asks the Red Queen for help, and she tells him where he can find the Well of Wonders.

Amara and Cyrus reach the Well of Wonders.

Back at the palace, Alice and Will are left alone with the Red Queen. Will sees the White Rabbit sneaking into the palace and he tries to distract the Red Queen. The Red Queen sees the Rabbit before he can free Alice, but she is taken off guard when Will forces her to question whether what she feels for Jafar is truly love.

Will/Knave: Ana, I know what you feel for Jafar seems real to you…

Anastasia/Red Queen: It is real!

Will: It’s a trick. A one-sided mind game. You had real love once, and you know it’s not that simple.

Anastasia/Red Queen: It can be.

Will/Knave: No, it’s messy! It means arguing and making up and laughing and crying and struggling. And sometimes, it doesn’t seem worth it. But it is. And at the end, when you’re in love, no matter what happens, you forgive each other. I forgive you, Ana, for what you did to me. Because I love you. And if there’s any part of you that has a shred of love left for me, then please help us.

Anastasia/Red Queen: Really lovely words. But that’s all they are. I know what I feel.

Will/Knave: What you feel is a curse! Jafar did this to you.

Anastasia/Red Queen: (Uncertainly) If what I feel isn’t love, then what is?

Will/Knave: This. (He pulls her within the boundaries of his triangle, and kisses her)

There is a flash of magic, and Anastasia looks at Will with a new look in her eyes. The spell has been broken. Anastasia frees Alice.

Meanwhile, at the Well of Wonders, Amara offers to return the water to Nyx, in exchange for the freedom of her sons. Nyx asks Amara to step forward. Cyrus hesitates for a moment, but Amara tells him to let her go. Just before she can enter the Well, Jafar arrives and attacks with his magic. Jafar kills Amara, and as she dies, her body dissolves into the magical water. Jafar is about to kill Cyrus when suddenly a rabbit hole bursts up out of the ground, bringing Alice and the White Rabbit. Jafar punts the Rabbit away like a football. Desperately, Cyrus scoops up some of the water in his hands and tries to drop it in the well. Jafar catches the water with his magic and stops it from entering the well, splashing it between his hands instead. Jafar gloats that he has utterly defeated Alice, but Alice tells him that wasn’t her water, it was Nyx’s. Because Jafar stopped the water from being returned, Nyx interpreted that as him stealing the water, and punishes Jafar by turning him into a genie and sending his bottle somewhere across the realms, far from Wonderland. Nyx then undoes the curse of the previous genies, and Taj, Rafi, and Will are all freed. Everything Jafar did with the genie magic has now been undone, but to Will’s dismay, that includes bringing Anastasia back to life.

Cyrus and Alice joyfully return to the palace and are reunited with Taj and Rafi. Their celebration is tempered with sadness, as Cyrus tells his brothers that their mother is dead.

Heartbroken once again, Will sits beside the body of Anatasia.

Will/Knave: I can’t believe I’ve got to go through the pain of losing her all over again.

Alice tries to comfort Will, telling him that it wasn’t her time to die. Cyrus offers Will water from the Well of Wonders. Will rejects it, not wanting to start another curse, but Alice and Cyrus explain that this water was not stolen. Nyx freely gave it to them for Anastasia, saying that her destiny had not yet been fulfilled. Will administers the water, and Anastasia comes back to life.

Alice and Cyrus look out at the beautiful sunset of Wonderland, and decide the time has come for a new adventure. The White Rabbit asks them where they want to go, and Alice says they should go home.

Back at home, Alice finishes putting on her bridal gown as her father comes in to tell her it is time for the wedding.

Edwin: (Sincerely) Alice, I couldn’t be more pleased to have you back home. And I’m proud and happy to welcome Cyrus into our family. (Alice hugs him) When I returned from our time together, I thought it must have been a dream. But I want to thank you for proving to me that it was real.

Alice: Wonderland?

Edwin: Forgiveness.

Edwin walks Alice down the altar to her wedding. All their family and friends are there: Will and Anastasia, Alice’s sister Millie, her stepmother Sarah, Cyrus’ brothers, Tweedledum. The White Rabbit conducts the wedding ceremony.

White Rabbit: I believe this is the part where I’m supposed to say something about “for better or worse, in sickness and in health,” but you’ve already been all those things, and you survived. Not even death could do you part. That’s actually true for most of you here, isn’t it? So, I guess that all that’s left to say is what everyone here already knows. Cyrus and Alice, you two are now one. May you live happily ever after. You may kiss the bride.

After the wedding, the guests prepare to go back to Wonderland. Alice thanks the Rabbit for bringing her to Wonderland in the first place.

White Rabbit: Many people have come and gone from Wonderland, but only the most special ones ever discover what it’s truly about.

Alice: Finding love?

White Rabbit: Finding yourself.

As the couples say goodbye to each other, Alice and Will both stop for a moment, then turn and give each other one last hug. Alice thanks Will for everything.

Alice: Hold on to your heart this time, all right?

Will: You hold on to yours.

Years later, Alice and her daughter sit in the garden around a stuffed animal tea party, and Alice reads her daughter a story she has written about her adventures in Wonderland. As Cyrus comes out to join the party, the White Rabbit looks through the tall grass at the happy family.

Tropes

• Back from the Dead: With their new powers, Amara and Jafar can resurrect the dead. Amara brings back Cyrus. Jafar brings back Anastasia and an army of soldiers from one of Wonderland’s past wars. Anastasia is brought back a second time by the waters of the Well of Wonders.
• Batman Gambit: Towards the end, when Alice said that she wouldn't be the one to defeat Jafar. Alice knew that Jafar would steal the water as Cyrus attempted to return it, and that the Nyx would curse him for it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Amara intends to defeat Jafar by returning the water of the Well of Wonders, even though she knows this will also cause her to die. Though Jafar stops Amara from finishing the job, Cyrus attempts to return the water. While Jafar then steals it before it returns to the well, Nyx appreciates what he and Amara tried to do, and lifts the curse, while cursing Jafar.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Jafar steals the water as Cyrus is returning it, which backfires on him when Nyx puts the Genie's Curse on him and lifts the curse from Will and Cyrus's brothers.
• Karmic Death: Jafar’s father dies by drowning, just like he tried to do to Jafar years ago.
• No Ontological Inertia: When Jafar is defeated, Anastasia goes back to being dead. Fortunately, Will is able to revive her with water from the Well of Wonders.
• Rousing Speech: Both Jafar and Alice deliver one of these to their armies.
• So Proud of You: Jafar’s father says this to him after Jafar forces him to love him.
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Done inaudibly during the wedding ceremony. At one point Will stands up with a Declarative Finger, and it is clear he is making an objection, but he is only joking around. Anastasia pulls him back down, and everyone laughs.
• True Love's Kiss: Will breaks the spell on Anastasia by kissing her after convincing her that the spell Jafar put on her is not true love.
• Villainous Breakdown: Jafar goes through it as he realizes that all the power in the world still can’t make him happy.
• Xanatos Gambit: Alice pulls off a last-minute one when she tells Jafar that she won't be the one to defeat him, and tells Cyrus to return his mother's water to the well: If Jafar fails to stop Cyrus, the Genie's Curse is lifted, and his spell is undone. If he does stop Cyrus, Nyx will curse him for stealing the water, and his spell is undone.
• You Have Failed Me: Jafar kills a soldier for telling him where Cyrus was going instead of capturing Cyrus and bringing him to Jafar.
  Jafar: Good help is so hard to resurrect these days.