Alice in Wonderland has finally arrived and we’ve a got load-full of things to talk about. Check out what we’ve discussed about the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland pilot episode entitled, Down the Rabbit Hole as you listen to the podcast.
Tying-In Alice in Wonderland
While it’s apparent that Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is going on a different direction with its story, the story has been quite true to what happened in the books as far as the looks and the things that happened that Alice said in Wonderland. They also tied-in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland with the original story in Through The Looking Glass by having The Red Queen’s castle made out of chess pieces.
The Beginning of The End
As the show opens, however, the community has been very observant about young Alice’s tea set that looks like it has been grown over as if it had been left for a while. Along with the set lays a few stuffed animals, one of which looks a lot like the stuffed rabbit that Jefferson made for his daughter, Grace.


After little Alice’s first adventure in Wonderland, Alice came running back to her father from the rabbit hole, who thought she was dead because he said that she was gone for a long time. While she was happy to be home and ready to tell her father of the fun-but-terrifying adventures she had in Wonderland, little Alice felt a bit disheartened when she found out that her father thought she made it all up, making Alice want to go back to Wonderland to search for proof.
Storybrooke
It was nice to meet The Knave of Hearts in Storybrooke, Maine. In the episode, the Storybrooke library is still closed but the sign says “opening soon.” On the other hand, Emma’s yellow bug was seen even though it wasn’t clear who was driving it. Adam Horowitz once said that the story happened pretty much around the time as when Once Upon a Time is going on, after the curse was broken.
Two characters from Once Upon a Time were also seen in the pilot episode – Ashley and Leroy. In the episode, Ashley was no longer pregnant but was seen with a baby-sized sneaker keychain, indicating of her newborn baby. Leroy, on the other hand, regarded to The Knave of Hearts as “Brother.” After their short run-in with The Knave of Hearts, it’s interesting how (and if) they are going to cross the scene with Once Upon a Time, since Granny’s diner had been trashed after The White Rabbit’s hole has been opened. We never saw a hole in Granny’s Diner, so is it going to even be explained in Once Upon a Time?
It was also interesting what The White Rabbit said to The Knave of Hearts in Granny’s Diner before they went to the asylum and help Alice. Is he part of The Red Queen’s plan? What does The White Rabbit mean when he said “She needs you”?
The Asylum
Set in London, England, Alice was kept in the Bethlem Asylum for a year. In a scene, the asylum’s gate was seen with Roman numerals MDCCCLXVII (meaning 1867). Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz said that the story takes place in fictional (Victorian) England but if that’s the case, how does it tie in with present day Storybrooke?
Kitsis and Horowitz also mentioned that this is not the same England as Baelfire went into in Second Star to the Right, but why the need to address this fact?
While the curse is still in place, it was said that Alice has been traveling between worlds with the help of Cyrus.