Though this short-lived spin-off of Once Upon a Time was quite a bit shakier than its parent show (and in later seasons, that’s saying something,) I grew to enjoy it. The heavier reliance on CGI and talking animals gives it an inherently hokey quality, and the melding of fictional realms – chiefly Wonderland and Aladdin’s Agrabah – doesn’t feel as organic as it does in the original series. Still, it has some interesting characters, intriguing ideas, and, best of all, the great relationship between heroine Alice and the contrary but loyal Knave of Hearts.
Quick background: as in the Lewis Carroll stories, Alice travels from Victorian England to the fantastical Wonderland as a child. When she returns home, however, her father thinks she’s pulling a Lucy Pevensie and is lying, crazy, or both, and she starts spending more and more time in Wonderland searching for proof she can bring back to her father. The series’ main story begins with Alice as a young woman languishing in a sanatorium, when her old Wonderland buddy the Knave breaks her out. Cyrus, her True Love back in Wonderland, presumed long dead, is alive and in trouble, and the Knave reluctantly agrees to help Alice rescue him.
We’re fairly dropped into the story, as well as into Alice and the Knave’s history together. We know their paths crossed in the old days, and at some point, Alice recovered his heart for him (in the Once Upon a Time universe, hearts can be removed from their owners and used to control or kill them.) Usually, she’s not one to hold anything over someone’s head, but the Knave’s cynicism about her True Love mission leads her to remind him how much he owes her. Even then, she needs to sweeten the pot with some promised palm-greasing. This gives them an amusing dynamic from the get-go, since Alice is fierce, determined, and earnest, and the Knave is a jaded rogue who just wants to go home. Their light bickering is a lot of fun.
Yet, despite his complaints, the Knave is in it for the long haul. He remains at Alice’s side as a friend and compatriot, helping whenever he can and offering his input where strategy is concerned. Like I said, he’s not the believer in True Love that Alice is (once bitten, twice shy,) and he sometimes tries to hint that she should prepare herself for something less than a happily ever after. It’s not to be a killjoy – he’s worried and wants her to steel herself against getting hurt. Ultimately, though, he follows her lead regarding Cyrus and doesn’t begrudge her faith.
He gets the brunt of the friendship stuff, since it’s Alice’s story and she’s mainly focused on rescuing Cyrus, but she proves herself a true friend to the Knave as well. To the extent that people other than Cyrus are on her radar, the Knave is on hers; they get to know each other much better over the course of their quest, and she learns more about the circumstances that caused him to lose his heart before they met. She helps him out of scrapes, generally values his contributions, and encourages him not to give up on the idea of love.
It’s a close, significant, utterly platonic connection, and I love it. They save one another’s lives, aren’t afraid to get in each other’s business, and also know when to give each other some space. What’s more, the show itself doesn’t play up any sort of jealousy angle, there’s not even a hint of will-they-won’t-they, and it really recognizes the importance of the relationship – during the concluding scenes of the series, a gorgeous Alice-Knave moment takes pride of place. I need duos like this every now and then, and these two gladly oblige.
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