It’s time once again for Leah to take us into the world of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland!

Title To Catch a Thief

Favorite Lines
Will: More like a jack-of-all trades, actually.
Alice: But, apparently, master of none.
Will: Watch your tongue, lass, else you’ll lose that as well as your head.
Alice: That’s a bit redundant, don’t you think?
Will: Depends which one you lose first.

“Nobody’s born a monster. We’re made.” (The Jabberwocky)

“I grew up with a very stubborn girl; always felt like they were the best kind.” (Will)

What Happened? Jafar sends Will to retrieve his staff by using possibility of bringing Anastasia back to life as motivation, which initially puts Will at odds with Alice and Cyrus. However, Will and Alice eventually come to an understanding: They can’t give Jafar his staff back, but they will try to find a way to get Anastasia back. The trio ends up with an unexpected ally in the Jabberwocky, who tells them about Amara’s ability to help bring Anastasia back in exchange for helping free her from Jafar. Meanwhile, we see in flashbacks how Will and Alice first met. The flashbacks include Alice stealing Will’s heart back from the Queen of Hearts, as well as Alice and Will’s capture of the Rabbit as proof of Wonderland, which takes place just moments before she discovers Cyrus’s bottle.

My Thoughts What I enjoyed the most about this episode was the way it brought us full circle in our story and the depth it added to Will and Alice’s friendship.

Will and Alice’s friendship has always been one of my favorite parts of the show, and I’m so glad that it is getting attention amidst all the action and romance. In this episode, we discovered how Alice and Will first met, and it was in a fashion that was truly fitting for their characters. Will had been sent by the Queen of Hearts to kill Alice, and they engaged in an entertaining bit of fighting and banter before Alice decided to go get Will’s heart back to end their conflict.

What I appreciated about these flashbacks was that it showed these two characters had the dynamic we’ve seen all season right from the start; their relationship has always included a bit of give-and-take, an ability to come from differing points of view to understand each other, and a willingness to help the other. Will’s comment about the similarity between his sister and Alice in terms of their stubbornness highlighted the way these two characters have grown into the friendship they now have at their point of conflict in this episode. Their relationship is an almost sibling-like bond, as they are always looking out for each other.

The other component of this episode that I really liked was the feeling that we are coming full-circle in our look at Alice, her friends, and Wonderland. These last few episodes have been wrapping up most of the gaps in our character’s timelines, giving us answers to the few questions we still had. Last week, we learned more about how Anastasia evolved from Ana into the Red Queen, and how she was corrupted by power, magic, and wealth. This week, we discovered how Will and Alice first met and how Will got his heart back from Cora (the Queen of Hearts). We were also shown Will and Alice capturing the Rabbit as proof of Wonderland for Alice’s father and then saw Alice heading off around a corner, which brings us back to the very first episode of this show. That corner we saw Alice disappear around is the one shown right before Alice stumbles across Cyrus’s bottle. The flashbacks took us right back where we began at the same moment that our heroes’ present-day struggles are about to end. This seems to be a very fitting way to bring us to the finale of the series, and it was a wonderful way to begin to provide a feeling of closure for the audience, which we will hopefully feel once the credits roll for the final time on Thursday.