Encompassing Darkness/Guiding Light!! Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Series Finale!!

THIS IS IT, DARLINGS!! THE FINAL SPOILER WARNING!!

Jafar succeeds in attaining ultimate power and amasses an army of undead warriors to take over Wonderland. Alice gathers Wonderland’s residents and leads a counterstrike. However, they are completely decimated. Alice is taken to the throne room of the castle where Jafar restrains her. No longer bound to the laws of magic, Jafar intends to change Alice’s past so she never met Cyrus if she does not reveal where Amara is. Then two soldiers enter the throne room and tell Jafar that Amara is the two red doors. When Alice refuses to tell him, Jafar asks the Red Queen about the red doors. She tells him that they lead to the Well of Wonders. With the info, Jafar leaves. The White Rabbit has snuck his way into the castle and attempts to free Alice but he is found out by the Red Queen. The Knave tries to get through to Anastasia and he eventually does. Anastasia—the spell over her now broken—frees Alice. Jafar catches up to Cyrus and Amara and stops her from returning the water to the Guardian of the Well. He kills Amara and is about to kill Cyrus when the ground explodes underneath him. Alice climbs out of the hole created by the White Rabbit. Jafar stops Alice before she can attack him. Cyrus attempts to return the water the well until Jafar stops him as well and takes the water. His act incurs the wrath of the Guardian of the Well and she places him under the same curse that Cyrus and his brothers were under.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” That quote gets cast aside when it comes to Jafar. He succeeds in gaining ultimate power which will allow him to break the laws of magic. He first makes his father the Sultan love him and then he kills him. Jafar finally gets his revenge on his father for trying to kill him years ago. Then he has fun torturing the Knave by reviving Anastasia only to have her fall in love with him. And he raises an undead army to take over Wonderland. From there, the episode plays out pretty much like “Aladdin”. The genies grant Jafar his power same as the film. He succeeds in making someone fall in love with same as he attempted to do in the film. There are other references to the Disney film as well. While detained by Jafar, Alice nearly freed by the White Rabbit while the Knave keeps Anastasia distracted. In “Aladdin”, Aladdin attempts to take back the lamp while Jasmine keeps Jafar occupied. Sadly, the would-be rescuers are caught in both instances. And the last reference, when Cyrus attempts to return the water to the well, Jafar stops him and takes the water himself. As punishment for stealing the water, Jafar is cursed to the life of a Genie and placed in a black bottle. Throughout the series, Jafar has done everything he can to fulfill his desires to have everything he wants yet in the end he was never more alone. Alice tells him this when she is captured. Jafar threatens to remover her memories of Cyrus but Alice stays resilient, telling Jafar their love is true and cannot be extinguished. This lesson has been told to him time and again by his father the Sultan, the only person to have not given up on Jafar and still believed he would eventually see the error of his ways. The fact that Jafar kills him shows that he has not been listening. In the end Jafar’s ambitions catch up to him and now he must serve the desires of others. A powerful as Jafar was, he should have known the final rule of magic—all magic comes with a price. And he is paying it right now.

With Jafar gone, everything he has done is undone. Anastasia is dead again and Will Scarlet sits by her side. Now that he has his heart back, the pain of losing her is even greater. I don’t think Will lost all his ability to love. He kept his memory of Anastasia and the love he has for her. If he truly didn’t care or incapable thereof, he would’ve left Alice and not bothered to help her. But he did help her. He did it because he felt it was right and Alice did help him get his heart back from the Queen of Hearts to boot. Luckily, Alice holds up her end and returns to Will Scarlet with the water from the Well of Wonders and uses it to revive Anastasia. Needless to say, Will is happy with this. Speaking of being returned to a loved one, Cyrus and Alice get married following the defeat of Jafar (okay, so there was one more Aladdin reference). Her family and friend from Wonderland are there with the White Rabbit presiding over the union.

Alice in Wonderland has been one of my favorite stories and I have enjoyed every incarnation from the original Disney film to the live adaption to the current running comics by Zenescope Entertainment. “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” provided a unique spin on the classic Lewis Carroll and the 1001 Arabian Nights “Aladdin” tale while also expanding the “Once Upon a Time” universe. At first, I wasn’t sure of the interpretation of the characters but as the series progressed I have come to enjoy them as much as the characters of the parent series. Alice Liddle in this series proved to be an empowering character who believes in everything that is true and just. Sophie Lowe has done a fine job of providing a strong female lead. I liked Emma Rigby as the Red Queen even though I would’ve liked to see more of Barbara Hershey as the Queen of Hearts. Nevertheless, Emma was likeable, almost loveable, in the role. She provided the spoiled bratty-ness as the Red Queen and Anastasia. If you haven’t figured it out or are not familiar with the story, Anastasia is the name of one of Cinderella’s stepsisters. So I have a feeling her story is not over. Will Scarlet the Knave of Hearts was great at giving the series its comedy relief. Michael Socha does a fine job portraying that humor. As I said before, Naveen Andrews is deliciously wicked as the Agrabahn sorcerer Jafar. He quickly became the center piece of what started out a cooperative collaboration. Naveen was great in bringing this character out and making him a likeable villain.

The series may be over but I don’t think this is the end of these and the other characters of “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland”. I have a feeling we will see them again in some way with the added fact that Jafar’s bottle disappears after he is turned into a genie. Where it has gone is anyone’s guess. Perhaps to the Enchanted Forest or Oz. “Wonderland” has opened the potential for other stories from the Arabian Nights to be visited. Maybe we’ll see Captain Hook cross swords with Sinbad or meet Ali Baba and his forty thieves. Who knows? In short, “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” was a wondrous series full of adventure, humor, and just a little touch of…happiness.