The fifth episode of “Once Upon A Time in Wonderland”, “Heart of Stone”, begins in the exact moment episode 103 left off, with Will and Anastasia ready to jump off to Wonderland. It is in that moment that Anastasia’s mother shows up and tries to talk her out of it. As cruel as she might have been, she was right because Will and Ana didn’t think things through. When this episode aired there was a lot of rumors (none officially confirmed) that Anastasia’s mother was Lady Tremaine, making Anastasia one of the wicked stepsisters, which sounds right since this has the name of one of the two (the other being named Drizella). But in season 6 of “Once Upon A Time”, we met Lady Tremaine and also both stepsisters, which would normally cut off the rumors, but knowing what we know now about season 7, maybe she was actually a Lady Tremaine and maybe Anastasia is indeed one of the wicked stepsisters. This would take thing into a whole new level of confusing, but it is possible.

After ignoring Anastasia’s mother, this couple makes the jump and enters Wonderland where they realize that things are far from being what they imagined they would be. With just a wagon to call home and the food they manage to steal or gather, they realize that they can’t live only on love. Despaired as they are, Will and Ana sneak into the palace to steal food, but it becomes obvious that Anastasia wants something more. This is most easily seen after they get caught and kicked out. We see that Will stole some bread and is very happy about that, but Anastasia doesn’t even care about it. Realizing that going to Wonderland was a mistake and that her mother was right, Anastasia wants to go back home, but not empty handed. After she sneaks back into the castle, she meets the king once again. That is the moment the king realized he found his Queen, because Anastasia has ambition or, as he put it, “the desire to be more” than what she is. But this story is not yet finished. There will be someone that will push these two characters, making them the people we see in present day.

Instead of continuing the villain team-up, this episode showed something even more interesting: the team-up between a villain and a hero. In a team-up like this, the villain usually thinks he/she has the upper-hand, and this time it is no different. The Red Queen is aware that Jafar is simply using her to get what he wants. While he still doesn’t have it, she is sure she doesn’t have to worry much about him, but the problem lies on the fact that Jafar won’t need the Queen forever, and he will turn on her once he has what he needs. To protect herself from him, she needs a powerful magic dust, and to obtain that she needs Alice’s help. As a reward for her help, the Queen says she will tell Alice where Cyrus is. They go to a ravine, and while on the road, there was something the Red Queen said that I thought was really interesting “We both want something we don’t have, Alice. It’s just a matter of what we’re willing to do to get it”. This is definitely one of the things that distinguish a villain from a hero. Obviously everyone wants (at least one) something, and we all try to get it the best way we can. But that is of course subjective. It is exactly what we are willing to do to get what we want that makes us who we are. And in this episode we find out what Alice is willing to do to get what she wants. She will go to great length to find Cyrus, but she won’t kill someone to do it. This is one of the things that makes her a hero.

But heroes and villains aren’t so black and white, and I think, in her own way, Anastasia is a hero too. She hides behind an evil she created, but deep down, she is good, and we start to see that in this episode. She didn’t want the magic dust for herself, she wanted it to reverse the spell Jafar put on Will. “We are all heroes in our own tales”, but Anastasia is a hero in some other people’s tales too (at least she is one on mine).

Meanwhile, Jafar is planning other ways to force Alice to make a wish, and he kidnaps the Rabbit for help. In the end of the episode we see that they are now going to find someone Alice cares about.

After reversing the spell Jafar placed on his tower with the magic dust she was able to obtain, Alice is now coming for Cyrus, but Cyrus is also coming for Alice too, since he broke out of his cage. I am sure they will find each other soon.

This was, as usual, a nice episode, but not as nice as the last, so I will give a 7.9/10.

I will be back soon with my next review that will answer a question we have been wondering since the beginning of the show: “Who’s Alice”.