With the season closer and closer to the end, in Once Upon A Time in Wonderland’s episode 11, “Heart of Matter”, there were a few connections with the original show.

In flashbacks we got to revisit Cora, aka the Queen of Hearts, and realized that she is actually the reason why Will and Anastasia are still separated. Cora actually mentioned her daughter many times, and even said that, if she would have been able to pick, she would rather Anastasia to be her daughter. Of course that by then Cora probably didn’t know what her actual daughter was up to, because if that was so, she wouldn’t be much of a disappointment anymore. But for someone like Ana, hearing this must have felt better than good, because it seems like she never really got much love from her mother. Since Cora never had the chance to make her daughter a Queen and help her adjust to the Queen’s life, Cora desperately wanted to do that with Anastasia. So desperately that she even made sure that her and Will wouldn’t end up together ever again. Cora ultimately convinced Anastasia of her mantra, “Love is Weakness”, and she was even the one who taught the new Queen, magic.

But to pull the strings on Ana, Cora first had to pull them on Will. Cora lied saying Anastasia wasn’t planning on coming, and that is what made Will ask the Queen of Hearts to do what she often does and rip out his. Will preferred to feel nothing rather than have a heart that got broken, saying that he couldn’t live like that anymore.

Cora was also, in a way, the reason why Jafar couldn’t begin the spell. Last episode he thought he had everything he needed, but he didn’t know that all genies needed to have their hearts for the spell to work.

Alice and Cyrus begin the episode searching for the Lost and Found, so that they can continue what they started the previous episode and find Amara. That scene in the Underland was really enjoyable to watch: seeing Cyrus and Alice outsmart the Caterpillar and stealing from it literally right under its nose. But the mission to find Amara soon had to be sidelined because this couple found out that Jafar was going to go after Will’s heart. If he laid his hands on it, he would have everything for the spell. So, for the second time in this show, we travel to the awesome town of Storybrooke. Storybrooke is said to be a place that is lost in time, and a lot of us already noticed in Once Upon A Time that the technology they use is far from being up to date, but for Alice and Cyrus it was so futuristic already that they thought that it was all magic, but the Rabbit simply called it electricity. I guess it is all about points of you.

After they found the heart and got back to Wonderland, Alice and Cyrus were intersected by Jafar who managed to steal Will’s heart. At this point, Jafar doesn’t need pretty much anyone but himself alive and so, when he prepared to kill Cyrus and Alice, his staff fought back and Jafar was forced to retreat without it. Thanks to the Lost and Found, Cyrus and Alice found out that Jafar’s staff is actually Amara, and so they will now try to put her back in human form.

There are always some characters in a show that the viewers believe will never die, but sometimes they do and it usually is as much surprising as it is painful. Accepting his lost for now, Jafar went back to the dungeon and put Will’s heart back. Will and Ana shared their first kiss in a long time, but quickly got stopped by Jafar, who, in a very big twist no one saw coming, killed Anastasia right in front of her lover, putting an end to the episode.

This episode was really great. Once Upon A Time sometimes comes out with some really amazing and shocking twists, and Anastasia’s death was most certainty one of them. I am giving it a 9.2/10.

With only 2 more episodes before the end, everything is going to start happening at the same time, so brace yourselves for my next review of episode 12, “To Catch a Thief”.