Anyone that has yet to watch
tonight’s episode of Once Upon a Time in
Wonderland, entitled ‘The Serpent’, then now would be the time to go and do
that. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.
Every time I watch this series,
the bulk of it makes me cringe and want to stop watching. But then I think,
what if there is a crossover with Once
Upon A Time, or even just something small that would link the shows
together, and I have to keep watching. Not only that but I like the character
of Alice and the Knave, it’s just disappointing that this series isn’t better
than it is when the show it spun off of was great in its first season. Makes me
wish they’d kept the idea of this just linking the winter hiatus of Once.
The most disappointing thing about
this series is twofold. Once again I will reiterate how the costumes – namely the
Red Queen and Jafar’s – look cheap and make the actors look like they’re
dressing up. It doesn’t help that the baby-faced Queen very well could just be
a tot imagining all this. Every time I think of that, I flash back to an
episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender,
where Aang says the two warring communities was just based on the brotherly fight
between infants, when in actuality he’d never met them.
The other issue with this series,
again, is the CGI. It doesn’t help me immerge with the magic this series is
supposed to have. It’s easy with a book, it’s left up to the imagination of the
reader, but with a television series, the visuals are quite integral to the
pace of the story. And in this case, more so than Once Upon A Time, the CGI is abysmal. And for all those Friends lovers out there, contrary to
Joey’s belief, abysmal is not a good thing. I just don’t understand what the
showrunners are spending their episodic budget on, the only name actor I can
see other than the voice of the rabbit would be Jafar, so salary can’t be an
issue. I just don’t see it.
All in all, I’m not sure how I’m
still watching this series. It’s not very good, and somehow seems to be more
over the top than its mother ship. This week’s episode did have a nice use of a
catapult, aiding Alice and the Knave in their escape, and if it hasn’t been
said before, the man in the other cage must be the Sultan. But I just don’t see
this spinoff being able to stand on its own, it really needs its mother ship to
help it get its own legs.
My rating: 6 out of 10.
Best Line:
“Excuse me. Pardon me. (Pause) I have a blade.” – Alice says
to the townspeople, as she tries to get to the board that says the Knave is to
be executed that day.
All right, I’m off to watch The Vampire Diaries now. After that it’ll be Grey’s Anatomy, and then capping it off with The Crazy Ones. I may or may not watch all before reviewing
anymore, but stay tuned anyways.
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