Recap / Once Upon A Time In Wonderland S 1 E 7 Bad Blood

Many years ago in Agrabah, when Jafar was still a young boy, his mother lay on her deathbed. Before she died, she revealed to Jafar that his father was the Sultan. She instructed Jafar to go him, giving him a ring that the Sultan would recognize.

In Victorian England, Jafar (still disguised as Dr. Sheffield), shows the White Rabbit to Alice’s father, and then takes him through a rabbit hole to Wonderland. Alice’s father is astounded that Wonderland is real. Jafar tells him that Alice is in great danger, but he needs help from Edwin to convince Alice to go home where it is safe.

Jafar: It’s truly no place for a young girl. There are dark forces in Wonderland, sir. Creatures. Villains. I tried to convince Alice to leave, but she associates me with the hospital and won’t listen. That’s why I came to fetch you. What child doesn’t want to be rescued by their own father?

Ashamed, Edwin tells Jafar that he and Alice have always had a difficult relationship. He worries that Alice won’t listen to him after the way he treated her. Jafar is disappointed to learn this, since he was hoping he could exploit the bond between Alice and her father.

Meanwhile, Alice and Will approach Jafar’s castle. Unfortunately, they soon realize that the mountaintop that the castle appeared to be perched on is actually a floating island high above the ground. Since neither of them can fly, it is impossible for them to reach.

At the Red Queen’s palace, the Red Queen is informed that no trace of Cyrus has been found. The Queen insists that he must be found. She hopes that by having both the genie and the bottle she will have the upper hand over Jafar, but Jafar arrives at her palace and overhears her talking about her plan. The Red Queen informs Jafar that Cyrus escaped. Jafar’s composure slips for a moment, as the Red Queen orders her guards to find the genie. As their alliance is clearly fracturing more quickly than he had anticipated, Jafar warns the Red Queen that she can’t enact her plans without him.

Jafar: Do not forget: even if you hold the genie and the bottle, you can’t live out your twisted dreams without someone changing the rules of magic. And I am the only one who will have that power.

Jafar investigates the dungeon and inspects the silver cage with a hole in the bottom. Furious, Jafar interrogates the old prisoner, who only tells him that Cyrus and Alice will soon be reunited.

Old Prisoner: You are losing, Jafar.

Jafar: I’m not the one in the cage.

Old Prisoner: Are you certain of that?

Jafar has no answer. He storms off to interrogate his other prisoner: Edwin. Jafar extracts some of Edwin’s blood and prepares a potion that will disguise himself as Edwin so he can get close to Alice.

Alice and Will take inventory, trying to see if there is anything they have that might help get them to Jafar’s floating island. As they think, Alice hears the chirping of a birdbark tree. The wood of birdbark trees has magical properties, and can even float through the air.

Jafar finishes his potion and has Edwin thrown in a cage.Thinking back, Jafar remembers how he first met the Sultan of Agrabah. To get the Sultan’s attention, Jafar stole a dagger from a guard’s belt and then allowed himself to be caught. When the Sultan said he would have to lose a hand for stealing, Jafar held out his hand, which was wearing the ring that his mother had given him. Recognizing the ring, the Sultan realized that Jafar was his illegitimate son. Impressed by Jafar’s daring, the Sultan allowed him to work as a serving boy in the palace, but he refused to acknowledge Jafar as his son, and forbade Jafar to ever call him father.

In the present, Jafar watches as Alice explains her plan to Will of building a basket out of birdbark to float up to Jafar’s island. Jafar drinks the potion and takes on Edwin’s appearance. He steps out of the trees, and Alice is astounded to apparently see her father in Wonderland, asking her forgiveness for not believing her. When asked how he arrived in Wonderland, Jafar gives a long explanation about searching for her after she escaped the asylum and eventually traveling through a looking-glass. Will notes that he and Anastasia also travelled through a looking-glass to get to Wonderland. Though Alice believes the story, she is not ready to forgive her father after the emotional trauma she went through.

Alice: Father, you never treated me like a daughter. You treated me like an obligation, like a part of your life you had no choice but to tolerate. Like that creaky step in the hall that you never could fix. You just walked by it every day wondering why it wouldn’t stop making the noise, wishing it would just go away. How do you intend to make that up to me?

Jafar (as Edwin): Alice, put yourself in my shoes. The things you were saying, they…they were impossible to believe.

Alice: Impossible for you to believe.

Jafar (as Edwin): I believe you now.

Alice: (Scoffs) Of course you do, now that you can see it for yourself. I needed you to believe me because you believed ‘’in’’ me. You just left me there in that madhouse, ignored me like I didn’t even exist. How could a father treat their child like that? I said I didn’t want to see you, but I wanted you to try.

Jafar (as Edwin): This is me trying.

Alice: Well it’s too late.

After this tongue-lashing, Jafar realizes it might be harder to exploit Alice than he thought.He thinks back to when he was working as a serving boy at the palace of Agrabah. Jafar oversaw the Sultan trying to teach his heir Prince Mirza about diplomacy and affairs of state. When Mirza struggled to remember the details regarding a certain blockade, Jafar spoke up. The Sultan quickly covered for Jafar speaking out of turn to avoid losing face.

Sultan: In Agrabah, even our servants are educated (everyone chuckles)…although, not discreet.

As he was dismissed, Jafar accidentally referred to the Sultan as his father, barely catching himself before he could finish. That night, Prince Mirza confronted Jafar and ordered him to remember his place as a lowly servant. He started slapping Jafar in the face. The Sultan then arrived, and told Mirza to give Jafar another slap, as a lesson that true power comes from fear. To add insult to injury, before Jafar’s eyes, the Sultan dotingly told Mirza that he was his only heir.

While Alice continues gathering birdbark for the basket, Jafar speaks to Will to ask for advice on how to heal the rift between Alice and her father. Will notes that Alice doesn’t give up on people and is always keen to help someone in distress. This seems to give Jafar an idea.

As Will and Alice put the basket together and discuss how they will get back down again, Jafar secretly carves a magical mark in the sand. The mark summons a dragon, which attacks the group. The group flees into the woods, but the dragon soon catches up to them. Jafar falls to the ground and pretends to be frozen by fear. Terrified that her father is about to be killed by the dragon, Alice runs to his rescue, and a lucky blow of her sword manages to pierce the dragon’s fire-lung just as it is about to flame, killing it. After nearly losing her father, Alice is much more receptive to his apology, and the two embrace.

Jafar (as Edwin): I am so sorry. When your mother died, everything just fell apart, and..

Alice: I understand. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love.

Jafar (as Edwin): The way I treated you…you must think me to be a horrible man.

Alice: I know what a horrible man is. I faced one here in Wonderland, and you are nothing like him.

Jafar washes a scrape he acquired during the attack, and thinks back to the night after he was beaten by Mirza. The Sultan suddenly visited him alone.

Sultan: I am sorry about Mirza. But sometimes we must do difficult things to make sure our children are raised properly. Dry your face.

Jafar turned back to the wash basin, but the Sultan suddenly grabbed him and pushed his head under the water, attempting to drown him. Jafar blacked out, and two guards rolled his body up in a rug and threw him outside, thinking him to be dead.

In Jafar’s dungeons, Edwin says grace over the bowl of soup he has been given in his cage. He talks to the old prisoner about how he failed Alice and how he must find some way to put things right. The old prisoner tells him that Cyrus is the only person who ever escaped Jafar’s dungeon.

At night in the forest, Alice, Will, and Jafar sit around a campfire, eating some roasted dragon meat. Sensing that something is off, Alice takes Will aside for a moment and tells him that her father was always very diligent about saying grace before every meal. When Jafar failed to say grace before eating, it made Alice suspicious that he must be an imposter. When Jafar sees Alice and Will hurry away, he realizes that the charade is up, and he resumes his normal form. He returns to his dungeon and drags Alice’s father out of the cage.Alice and Will are hiking up a mountain when they suddenly see Jafar flying towards them on his magic carpet, with Edwin as a hostage.

Alice: Is this where you threaten him until I make a wish? You need a new trick, Jafar.

Jafar: I’ll get a new trick when this one stops working.

Alice isn’t impressed, since she still thinks this is the imposter. Edwin desperately tries to tell her that he is her real father.

Edwin: Alice, I don’t know what kind of deception this man pulled before, but it’s me, sweetheart. Oh, hell, I don’t blame you for not knowing the difference between me and an imposter. I never treated you as a real father should. Instead, I blamed you. I blamed you for your mother’s death. I blamed you for all my unhappiness. And then, when you were finally able to find joy, I doubted you, doubted your ability to distinguish fantasy from reality. Doubted your love. (A tear rolls down Alice’s cheek)

Alice: Father, the times I ran away, I was just trying to find proof, so you’d understand where I had been.

Edwin: You shouldn’t have had to prove it to me. For all those reasons and a thousand more, I will not ask for your forgiveness, because I do not deserve it. And I will not ask for your mercy or your compassion, because it is better spent elsewhere. I do not want to take another thing away from you, dear Alice. I only want to give you something, the only thing I can, and that’s hope! Cyrus has escaped!

Furious, Jafar drops Edwin off the cliff, and Alice quickly makes a wish for her father to be safe at home.

Jafar: Two down, and one to go. And now Alice, it’s not a matter of ''if'' I’ll have your genie, but when.

Despite being forced to use her second wish, Alice tells Will that today was a victory for her. She now has an understanding with her father, and she knows that Cyrus has escaped. Both of those facts are reason to have hope. Will reminds her what she said about bigger wishes having a cost, and Alice looks nervous for a moment as she wonders what the cost was for the wish she just made.

Edwin wakes up to find himself on the couch at home. Sarah asks him if he is alright, and Edwin describes being saved by Alice in the place that she had always been talking about. Sarah tells him he must have had a bad dream, and Edwin agrees, though he still feels very shaken from the experience.As Jafar is about to talk to the old prisoner, he thinks back to how years after he was nearly drowned by the Sultan, he returned to Agrabah, now as a powerful sorcerer, thanks to his time spent training under Amara the Serpent. The Agraban guards were no match for him, and Jafar soon forced his way to the throne room, where he confronted the Sultan. The Sultan was horrified when he realized that the sorcerer who stood before him was his long-lost illegitimate son, who he had thought to be dead for decades. As Jafar held a knife to the Sultan’s throat, Prince Mirza came to see what was going on. Jafar challenged Mirza to a fist fight, saying he would not use his magic, and if Mirza won, he would leave the Sultan alone. Too afraid to face Jafar, Mirza turned away, and with one spell, Jafar strangled him to death.

Sultan: You killed my son!

Jafar: I am your son! He wouldn’t even fight for you! But I would have died for you, Father. But you could not say the words.

Sultan: What words?! What words do you want?!

Jafar: Call me your son.

Sultan: You are a bastard, boy.

Jafar: Just say the words, and I will spare you unending pain.

Sultan: I will never give you what you want.

Jafar: You will. Someday.

Since that day, the former Sultan of Agrabah has been in Jafar’s dungeon. When his father says Jafar might as well kill him, since he’s never going to acknowledge him as his son, Jafar tells him that when he rewrites the laws of magic he will be able to force his father to love him. His father refuses to feel any regret for how he treated Jafar, and he tries to kill himself by throwing himself into the pit. Jafar catches him with his magic carpet and puts him back in his cage.

Meanwhle, on the banks of the river, Cyrus wakes up, wet and battered from the death-defying jump he made, but still alive.

Tropes

• Be Careful What You Wish For: A downplayed variant. Alice succeeds at saving her father from Jafar when she wishes he was home, but the wish sends him back in such a way that he wakes up on the couch, where he thinks that his adventure in Wonderland was All Just a Dream.
• Brick Joke: When the Knave looks through his pockets, he realizes he still has the keys to Granny’s Diner, since he swiped them at the beginning of the first episode.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Alice does this when she thinks her father has arrived in Wonderland. Unbeknownst to her, it’s actually Jafar in disguise.
• Continuity Nod: When pretending to be Edwin, Jafar claims that he came to Wonderland by traveling through the looking-glass. This detail helps Will believe the story, since he also first came to Wonderland through a magical looking-glass. Since Jafar had questioned the Caterpillar about the Knave, Jafar probably learned about this detail from him and used it to make his story seem more believable.
• Dramatic Irony: Alice tells her “father” that he is nothing like the horrible man she has met in Wonderland, unaware that the person she is speaking to is actually Jafar in disguise, the horrible man in Wonderland she was referring to.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: Will says it is a Wonderland rite of passage to eat something that tried to kill you.
• Evil Gloating: Jafar indulges in some of this after he gets Alice to use her second wish.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: Jafar tries hard to avert this when he disguises himself as Edwin, taking note of his left-handedness and of his nervous habit of wiping his spectacles, but because he doesn’t know that Edwin always says grace before a meal, Alice is still able to realize that something is wrong.
• The Reveal: The old prisoner’s true identity is revealed to be Jafar’s father, the former Sultan of Agrabah.
• Right Behind Me: The Red Queen tells her Tweedle that if she can find Cyrus, she will have the upper hand over Jafar…right as Jafar sneaks up behind her.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Alice slays the dragon by throwing her sword into it. The fact that the sword pierces the dragon is particularly impressive because it is a scimitar, which is more awkward to stab with.