Once Upon A Time in Wonderland - Season 1 Episode 1 - Recap - Down The Rabbit Hole

Credit: ABC

The creative minds behind Once Upon A Time attempted the catch lightning in a bottle twice tonight. The debut of the spin-off series Once Upon A Time in Wonderland has come and gone and reviews are mixed. Will they find success in Wonderland?

Recap: "Down The Rabbit Hole."

Alice is all grown up and living in an asylum for her tales of Wonderland. She's reliving said tales in an effort to prove she no longer believes them. She wants to be free from this place.

In a flashback, Alice has returned to Wonderland to bring home proof that the world exists. Instead, she meets a man. Quite a gorgeous man. My first reaction is something along the lines of "This is how I always wanted Aladdin to look." And I'm close! He appears to be the Genie, living in a bottle. His name is Cyrus.

The two of them fall in love and it all goes to crap once Cyrus proposes. He is hurled over a cliff by the Red Queen. I'm stunned before a clever friend of mine announces this gem: "He ain't dead. He just fell into Snow White's vagina portal."

The doctor, who, incidentally is looking like Dr. Evil, wants to use a new procedure on Alice to help her forget her pain. He's got like, drills in his hands so I don't even want to know where he was going with that one.

In walks the Knave of Hearts and John Lithgow the White Rabbit to rescue Alice and bring her back to Wonderland. They say Cyrus is alive! That's all Alice needs to hear. They spend the rest of the episode searching for him at the Mad Hatter's empty house. Jefferson! I miss him. Too bad he's in Storybrooke.

It becomes apparent all too soon that Alice has forces working against her. The White Rabbit is reporting to the Red Queen and Alice needs to bribe the Knave with the three wishes Cyrus gave her. Along with a Cheshire Cat that is made of nightmares, Alice has another villain to worry about: Jafar. Or in this case, Naveen Andrews with one wicked perm that I can't stop cackling at. I actually guffawed.

Aside from the perm, I find Jafar intriguing but the Red Queen? Not so much. I find her to be a poor man's Regina. She's not very intimidating. Same for the Knave of Hearts. I find him to be quite useless and rather annoying. His accent is grating as well. I assume he's supposed to be likeable but I'm not seeing it.

I appreciate that the show seems to be banking on this epic love story and necklace of hope between Cyrus and Alice but there needs to be another story to work off of. With only a romance, I fear viewers will lose interest. Sophie Lowe, however, was delightful as Alice and I will be giving this show another chance next week.

How about you?