OUAT-Wonderland Review: Bonus Episode "How It Could Have Continued"

 Ohh, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland... 

To come so far, and FAIL SO HARD.....

To begin so strongly, and then nose-dive the minute someone whispers "the C-WORD" (cancel)...

Good grief...

Have you ever read a book and felt like you couldn't care less what happens to the characters or how it turns out? Did you ever wonder why you felt that way? Or let me put it another way: you're writing an essay for English class, and--big surprise--you hate English class. So you get through the first paragraph and feel okay about it. One problem: you still have four more paragraphs to write. So you plug away and manage to scrounge up another point to hash out for Paragraph #2. Not bad, huh? Still not halfway, though. Paragraph #3 ends up being a covert summary of Paragraphs #1 and #2... by Paragraph #4, you realize that you don't even care anymore. You figure your teacher is just looking for grammar and mechanics, not necessarily content, so by Paragraph #5, you're just slapping cool-sounding words in complete sentences and stringing them together to fill the page length and word count.

This is what happened when Once Upon A Time In Wonderland got cancelled three episodes before the finale... the writers stopped caring, and just wanted to tie up loose ends and fill in the time slot for three more weeks.

I guess the writers thought they had more important business to attend to... like screwing the lives of every good character in Storybrooke, and killing off the halfway-decent characters "for dramatic effect." Because when you stop caring, the least little aspect of real creativity sounds like too much work.

Come on, man... That's just not even fair anymore!

Seriously, people; the "crossover into Storybrooke" I was promised turned out to be an absolute joke, Jafar failed as a villain so they had to bring in a creepy lady actress (another "nobody" from Australian soap operas) to try and give the heroes a real run for their money... but it was all ending in three episodes anyway, so what was the point in that?
What happened to introducing the traditional characters that we all know and love already in a new and freshly-imagined light? We have Agrabah, Jafar, genies... why not Aladdin or at least Jasmine, for crying out loud? Why is it so hard for citizens of Storybrooke to keep their lives afloat, while all Alice and Cyrus need are a bit of "faith, trust, and... genie magic!" to outwit Jafar-the-Whiny-Love-Child, who even has the kindness to get the real villain--the skin-crawlingly-heartless Jabberwocky--out of the way because he wants all the power for himself--even though he has already proven he doesn't stand a chance against the heroes? Did you really have to go all "Game of Thrones" and just kill off Anastasia with no warning and no precedence? I mean, I realize it gives Will the motivation to switch sides for approximately five minutes, and it gives Jafar the chance to flex his "raise-the-dead" powers without the hassle of creating another character for no one to care about in the last episode...

Bloody hell, just SMITE ME ALREADY!!

And do I have to mention Amara? How she was "trapped" in the staff all this time, and decides to free herself off-screen somehow, just in time for Jafar to kill Cyrus to force her to help him with the Ultimate Spell... Maybe instead of hassling the Sultan to call him "son" and spending all that time raising Anastasia and making her fall in love with him,  Jafar might have had more success and pleasure in seducing Amara in front of Cyrus and forcing him to call him "father."

They spend eight episodes building a story... then pull the rug out from under the viewers by systematically dismantling the foundation in the next five episodes.

Snape = Me
Ron = The Writers of OUAT

Ever wondered how it might have turned out if the writers cared at all? In the spirit of both the original Once Upon A Time early seasons of strong storytelling, and also those "How It Should Have Ended" videos that everyone loves to watch, allow me to present an "Extended Episode Guide" for "How Once Upon A Time in Wonderland Could Have Continued."

Episode 8 ends with that first stroke of lighting at the same time the White Rabbit opens the portal, just after Will makes his wish. Of course, he disappears into the bottle and drops into the portal the Rabbit had dug to the Enchanted Forest. A second lightning bolt strikes the portal, though, and the other three end up in Storybrooke.

Goals achieved: Successful crossover, establishment of new story arc.

Episode 9: the only place Alice knows about in Storybrooke is a place called Granny's, because Will carried the keys to her place. They are walking into town and cross paths with Regina's car, so she knows that three strangers have just arrived in Storybrooke. The trio meets Granny and Ruby and finds out that Will is in fact not in Storybrooke, so they get connected to Jefferson to try and return to Wonderland in case he got left behind, but just then, Jafar arrives in Storybrooke, confirming that all of them had made it through--but where is Will? Anastasia is the only one who knows about their shared history in the Enchanted Forest, so she figures out that's where he'll be. She uses her own magic and Jefferson's hat to enter the Enchanted Forest.

New character introduction: CHECK!

Meanwhile, Will's bottle is floating in a river, but it's in the Enchanted Forest, not in Wonderland. It is picked up by a young serving-woman, who opens it, and Will immediately identifies her as Jasmine, or Jazz, his childhood friend.

Goals achieved: introducing new Disney character with a twist on the original story that connects it with Once Upon A Time characters. Also, introducing the OUAT-Wonderland characters to characters from Storybrooke... since that didn't happen in the actual Wonderland series, but could have! Also, the creation of tandem storylines... a regular favorite with OUAT writers, am I right?

Episode 10: Nobody quite knows who Jafar is except Regina (who received a visit and learned that he's looking for the people she saw) and Mr. Gold, who knows where Alice and Cyrus are hiding because Belle saw them at Granny's Diner and told him. Jafar is trying to get Regina and Gold to cooperate with them, but Regina is too busy trying to maintain the upper hand over him, and Gold has now sided with Alice and Cyrus in trying to stop Jafar from taking over all of Storybrooke. Cyrus knows that the surest way to stop him is to find out how to lift the genie curse so they can do it before Jafar finds out that Cyrus isn't a genie and the Knave is, at which time the whole Enchanted Forest might suffer from the petulant little wizard's "wrath." He can't do that without access to the Well of Wonders, though... so Gold obligingly summons Nyx to the well in the forest outside Storybrooke, and she reveals that Cyrus' mother--and the stolen water--is there in Storybrooke, and can be returned to this well to lift the curse. Meanwhile, Will finds out that Jasmine is the servant of one Drizella Tremaine... Anastasia's sister. They arrive at the house just in time to see the reunion between the two, and Will agrees to help Jasmine escape and find her true love "Allan of Dale", who was drafted onto a ship as a cabin boy a few years prior by a vindictive Drizella, who noted how much Jasmine loved the "outlaw" (who was one of Robin Hood's Merry Men at the time, just after Will's departure) and desired to deprive her of it. She agrees not to use her wishes if he helps her. Meanwhile, Drizella finds out that there was a genie just slipped out of her grasp, so she forces Anastasia to go along with her as they chase after the runaways.

Never were there such devoted sisters...

Goals achieved: Villain established for the "Will/Anastasia" story arc, canon reveal for the Alice/Cyrus story arc, Drizella Tremaine introduced, Allan-of-Dale (both a character from Robin Hood stories.... and a reasonable stand-in for Jasmine's Disney love interest, Aladdin) introduced.

Episode 11: So now that Cyrus knows his mother is there in Storybrooke, all that remains is to find her—for which he needs the Lost-and-Found. Of course neither of them wants to go through the trouble of going to Wonderland, finding the Caterpillar, and trying to negotiate a trade—so Gold offers to go instead... On the condition (because the Lost-and-Found is such a handy little object, and at this juncture, Rumple still might be interested in finding Baelfire) that they let him keep the thing once they're finished with it (because finding his mother is basically all he needs it for; once she is found, he won't use it again). They agree, so he gets it for them. Of course, while this is all going down, Jafar seeks out the second most powerful magic being in Storybrooke, Gold himself, and actually does the smart thing in wanting him for an ally after he fails to win over Regina. Gold of course doesn't need Jafar's puny, pathetic excuse for magic, and lets him know, furthermore, that he's working against Jafar. The grandiose sorcerer soothes his injured dignity by finally figuring out that the genie he seeks is Will, in the Enchanted Forest. He knows that Will is without his heart, and knows that Regina is the daughter of the one who took it from him, so he again tries to curry favor with her, to have her get it for him (because if there's one thing Jafar's character is consistent on, it is the premise of "Why do something yourself when you can get someone else to do it for you?"). What he doesn't know, though, is that Regina already has the heart locked away in her vault, because she chanced to see the White Rabbit poking around the Knave's apartment, and so discovered the hidden heart.

While we're at it, why can't Allan
look a little like this Jim Hawkins?

Meanwhile in the Enchanted Forest, Will and Jazz get to the shipyard and find that the ship Allan had been on had been raided by pirates—led by the dread Long John Silver. According to a chance encounter with the blind pirate Pew, Allan was one of the few crew members left alive because Silver needed a boy of his demeanor to get them through the booby traps protecting the hoard of Treasure Island. Switching to the pirate crew, it is revealed that the trove is empty, but to save his neck, Allan brags that his girlfriend's mistress is rich enough to satisfy all the pirates, and so convinces them to take him back to the Enchanted Forest. They return just in time for Will and Jazz to see them, so they follow them back through the Forest.

Goals achieved: Yet another character introduction, another story introduced: Allan is now basically Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island. Also, battle lines have been drawn in Storybrooke, and canon objects and characters have found their way to the right places at the right time to set this whole thing up for great times.

Episode 12: With the Lost-and-Found, and Regina creating a diversion, Alice ad Cyrus break into City Hall to look for his mother. Of course, they can't find it, but what they do find is evidence that Jafar knows about Will's heart and he is using magic objects to try and find Will, which gives the couple a new sense of urgency. They are almost caught by Jafar, but Amara (in the staff) knocks him out for trying to kill Cyrus, and they find out that she is in the staff. 

DID EVERYBODY FORGET THIS EVER HAPPENED IN
SEASON 1??? REALLY??? WHAT ABOUT THE BABY??

Meanwhile, Anastasia and Drizella are hot on the trail of Will and Jazz. They find out about the raid, but by then, the pirates are back in town, so Anastasia uses her magic to try and track them, while Drizella pretends not to know about that sort of thing—but in reality, she has magic of her own, which she uses to contact her stepsister Ella in Storybrooke, to get her to send something that Drizella knows is important to Anastasia and Will.

Goals achieved: Ramping up the action, opening the story for more flashbacks, using characters in their expected roles to contribute to the story, not twist it in knots or turn it on its head. Canon reveals, and secrets saved for later. Also, further establishing Drizella as a force to be reckoned with; she has been vapid and annoying so far, but we begin to see her devious side come out.

Episode 13: (This is where the original finale came in, but take a moment to observe how much of a story has been built so far, and how much more we have to go in this "extended version"!)

So this episode is where things start coming to a head. Ashley (aka Ella) is debating whether to do what her stepsister asked or not, and her behavior arouses the suspicions of Emma. Emma, of course, is already on the wrong side of Regina, so there's finger pointing and answers demanded all over the place. Cyrus and Alice get the staff from Jafar (who cannot use the staff anymore now that Amara is no longer under his thrall) and they ask Gold to help them free her.

Back in the Enchanted Forest, Will and Jazz try to rescue Allan from the pirates, and get caught in the process. Anastasia is not far behind, and rescues them, but Will neither trusts her nor feels for her without his heart. At any rate, Jazz and Allan are reunited, and they agree to help Ana get Will's heart back or break the genie curse.

Goals achieved: Character arcs established, at any rate. Cyrus has learned his lesson, Anastasia has learned hers, everybody's learning things that are taking their character in better directions. We're getting character involvement, but nobody new just now. These are the characters of Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, and there will not be too many others involved before the story comes to a close.

This was the best make-up moment in the
whole show!!

Episode 14: At last, we find out what Ashley was meant to send to Drizella: Will's heart. Regina finds it is missing, and Emma gets a confession out of her. The whole mess comes out before Alice and Cyrus, who are still waiting for Gold to be able to free Amara (which I imagine to be a much more arduous process than they had time for on the original show) and there is some chance for reconciliation there. Meanwhile Jafar finally notices that his staff is gone, and Regina is the one to mention that it might be in Gold's possession.

Meanwhile, our foursome in the Enchanted Forest make it back to the house, but Drizella is waiting for them. She has Will's heart and threatens to kill him unless Jasmine gives her the wishes. Anastasia begs, but Drizella doesn't relent. Jazz agrees to give her the wishes if she gives Ana Will's heart. Drizella does, and when she gets the three wishes, makes some really silly ones with disastrous implications because she forgot that magic comes with a price. Ana can now rub the bottle and she gives Will his heart back, and they prepare to take the mirror portal back to Storybrooke.

Goals achieved: The plot accelerates at this point, letting the viewer know that things are going to come to a head very soon and arrive at some kind of resolution. This is the "kicker" episode, where not many new threads are begun, but the consequences that we have been waiting for all along are starting to surface. There is a bit of resolution with the Enchanted Forest crowd, but the uncertainty of the other plot line lets the viewer know that they're not all quite finished yet.

Episode 15: Gold finally frees Amara, but by now they know their only hope of stopping Jafar is to lift the genie curse, which means that Amara cannot go on living much longer. Amara also reveals at this time that Jafar has the other two genies--her other two sons, Cyrus' brothers--there with him, and so the minute he gets his hands on Will, he'll have what he needs to complete the spell, even if he has to force Gold or Regina to help him instead of Amara. Of course, since no show is complete without the little thing that makes the viewers crazy called "whump", Amara, Cyrus, Alice, and Emma all working together can't possibly stop Jafar in time, and he catches Will and Anastasia coming out of the portal, giving him all three genies and the potential to beat everybody.

Goals achieved: Bad guy is winning, the dual storyline is converging, everything is all at this point "falling" toward the conclusion. The villain's success is not inevitable, because there's still the limitation that he can't do the spell on his own, so there's still a chance he might not be able to find anybody willing to help--but it might be that Regina, thus far, has been gunning for power as hard as he has, so the prospect of doing a spell that could give her ultimate power is nothing short of tantalizing.

The new site of the Final Battle: No zombie army, just
some good old-fashioned man-to-man fisticuffs! Besides, it's
a Well whose waters are enchanted to "return that which was
lost to its righful place," right?

Episode 16: Things are coming to a head. Cyrus, Alice, and Amara head to the Well to try and lift the curse, but Jafar catches them and mortally wounds Cyrus in a last-ditch effort to manipulate Amara into helping him. Instead of giving in (as she did in the show) she shows integrity and refuses still, prompting Jafar to do what he does best and just kill the person who doesn't give him what he wants. Cyrus sees his chance and catches some of the enchanted water dissolving from her body and throws it toward the Well to return it to Nyx--but (just like in the show) Jafar catches the water with his magic and tosses it aside. This, of course, means he has stolen from Nyx, not Cyrus, and so the curse falls on him and the brothers (and Will) are freed. Rumplestiltskin is able to heal Cyrus' wounds, and everybody goes back to where (and when) they came from, to live happily ever after.

Goals achieved: While this ending is very similar to the one that aired, it comes at least three weeks later, after a much fuller season--and if the writers had really cared to make this spin-off in any way as successful as the parent show, there is a lot of room to make it even longer, such as (but not limited to):
-additional plots with Silver,
-something more complex concerning Drizella,
-possibly a Jasmine flashback episode to kind of explain what she'd been up to and why she's so attached to Allan...
-even the addition of some other neglected fairy tales would not be as "old" as it has gotten in Once Upon A Time. 

Is it too much to ask of a show based on fairy tales?

So there you would/could/should have it... a whole season's worth of Wonderland-ifulness... And a seamless blend back into Once Upon A Time when it ends. There are new characters for Kitsis and The Gang to bandy about without the shameless pulling in of current fairytale trends for a marketing piggyback scheme that's altogether more devious than endearing. New characters are introduced--but they are also connected to the old characters, who are revisited rather than wholly neglected in their current states. Relationships and character arcs are continued and have a wider capacity for further explanation, rather than being yanked back and forth across the Ravine Between Good And Evil depending on whether the writers need a villain or a very powerful hero at the moment.

Did you like this continuation? Read it on Fanfiction.Net at: "Alice's Adventures in Storybrooke"