D23 Expo: ABC’s Once Upon A Time In Wonderland First 19 Minutes
Daniella Cuencas ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Editor
Yesterday at the D23 expo the Once Upon A Time panel previewed a 19 minute first episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It begins with the Knave of Hearts going to find Alice. As it would so happen, she is in an insane asylum because no one believed her adventures. Alice is sitting in front of a board of doctors who are trying to determine whether she is better. While they examine her, they divulge different details of her adventures. This includes falling in love with Cyrus, a genie she frees, and the many places she visits while in this strange world. At they end of the interview, Alice decides to get a lobotomy. Suddenly, the knave of hearts shows up and tells her that Cyrus is alive, even though Cora seemingly pushed him into the boiling sea. This gives her the motivation to escape. The episode was great because we get to explore more of the world that the writers, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, have created. Even Cora makes an appearance as her younger self, which was unexpected but interesting. This spin off is exciting to watch. There are supposed to be some great characters introduced such as Jafar and the Knave of Hearts isn’t just a soldier, so the writers say.
The only drawback to this series would be the actors. I didn’t one hundred percent buy the performance given by the two leads. The lead actress is decent. Sophie Lowe, who plays Alice, shows some great emotion, but on the whole I knew I was watching a TV show. A lot of the time the emotions felt forced. There was one moment when she was laughing and acting a bit embarrassed, which was great. This seemed natural, but a lot of the time she didn’t make me believe everything she was acting out. Her performance felt a little flat. But since this was just a short clip of the first episode, I hope she can progress through the season. Her male love interest Cyrus, Peter Gadiot, was also a bit annoying. I think this problem stemmed from some of the sappy lines he had to say. But even the sappiest lines can be done well if the acting is there. I honestly hope and expect from these two fantastic writers nothing but the best when it comes to character development. I believe Cyrus will grow and become an actual person with a past instead of this cheesy one liner character.
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland premiers Thursday October 10th, 2013.
I am really looking forward to this show. I want to see how the characters develop. I agree with you about some of the cheesy lines given to Peter Gadiot. But I actually thought he did reallly well. For starters he is hot (love the leather pants!) flirty and charming which is what Cyrus is supposed to be. His feelilngs for Alice come across very belivable. But I would like to see more layers to this character. The red queen is too theatrical for me. I often think that evil characters are easier for actors than “cheesy, soft ones” !