"Once Upon a Time in Wonderland" is the new fantasy-adventure series on ABC. It is the sequel to the hit "Once Upon a Time." This new series is serving of old wine in a new bottle and switches between the real, old and new fantasy. A grown up Alice escapes a mental asylum, jumps in a rabbit role created on the wall and looks for her genie boyfriend in Wonderland. The first episode established characters and created mystery around why the Red Queen wants Alice to find the Genie, Cyrus, who is Alice's first love. The Red Queen had pushed Cyrus into the boiling sea. The Red Queen wants to find the Genie, while Jafar, the other antagonist, is looking for the Genie's bottle. The first episode may impress children but adults will not find it interesting.

Recap of 'Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'

In the opening scene, a little girl comes out of a hole in the ground and the first word she says cheerfully is "home." She runs towards her house screaming "father." Alice's father opens the door and looks at her in disbelief. He asks, "Alice is that really you? You were gone a really long time." He tells her that they thought that she was dead. Alice's story is hard for the adults to digest and believe. Since she is not a liar and what she experienced was for real, she is determined to prove that.

Flash forward: A young man walks through traffic as if it is his playground and is warned of a storm and to find a place to keep dry. He is the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha). He unlocks the door of a coffee shop and is about to have a cup of hot coffee when the floor opens up, creating a hole and a White Rabbit (John Lithgow voice) pops out. The White Rabbit tells the man Alice needs him.

A grown up Alice (Sophie Lowe) is at Bethlem Asylum, London, and is being questioned by three elderly doctors of the asylum. They want her to answer their questions and Alice tells them that she does not remember. The three doctors tell her that she was quite clear in her statement about "an invisible cat, a hookah-smoking caterpillar, food and drink capable of altering the physical features, a murderous red queen...." Alice keeps quiet and does not lift her eyes. She agrees that she now finds all that "preposterous." When Alice's had father brought her to the asylum, he was at his wits end after her multiple disappearances and her explanation that she was searching for proof of the places called Wonderland where she had miraculous, strange and terrifying adventures. The three doctors ask her if she still believes them to be true.

The scene shifts to the fantasy world of Wonderland. The hookah-smoking caterpillar (voiced by Iggy Pop) is atop a mushroom. Alice is running in Wonderland and suddenly falls down. She opens the cork of the bottle and meets Cyrus, the Genie (Peter Gadiot) for the first time, who tells her, "my home is your home." Alice tells him that she is carrying proof, the white rabbit, in her bag to prove to her father that she is not insane. Cryus says that when you love someone you don't need proof and that you can feel it.

Back to the real world, the head doctor reminds her about her Genie, with whom she fought pirates and swam with mermaids and that she fell in love with him. Alice remembers the day when Red Queen (Emma Rigby) murdered Cyrus by pushing him into the boiling sea. With tears in eyes, she tells the doctors that she does not believe in all that anymore.

The Knave of Hearts appears in front of Alice before she is taken away for a new treatment. At first, she is not willing to accompany him, but he tells that Cyrus is alive and that the White Rabbit saw him. The warrior in her comes to the fore and she fights off all the men of the asylum, while the Knave of Hearts watches on. She asks if that was his idea of a rescue. The Knave of Hearts tells her it was a message delivery mission for him. The White Rabbit is waiting for them and the three run.

The White Rabbit creates a rabbit hole on the wall so that they could escape. The Knave of Hearts does not want to go down that route. Alice convinces him to help get her heart back. The three land in Wonderland. The White Rabbit tells them that he did not actually see Cyrus but heard it from a rat and that he is at Mad Hatter's now-abandoned place. The White Rabbit is picked by his ears by the Red Queen's men. The Red Queen tells him to report everything about Alice's movement to her.

The Knaves of Hearts is not ready to risk everything for a hunch and Alice makes him stay beside her by saying that she will pay with his wishes. At Tulgey Woods, the Knave of Hearts wonders if it is a trap and Alice says that if there is a chance that Cyrus is alive, they have to take the chance. When Alice climbs a tree to find Mad Hatter's place, the Knave of Hearts disappears with Alice's Shoes, the heels of which have the three wishes. But, he comes back to save Alice from the now montrous, disappearing cat. Cyrus is not at Mad Hatter's place, but Alice finds his locket oustide the house and believes that he is around and alive.

Jafar (Naveen Andrews) and the Red Queen are relying on Alice to find Cyrus so that they can unleash what they want to happen. At the end of the episode, we see Cyrus is in a cage and at Jafar's place. It was Jafar's carpet that saved him from falling into the boiling sea. Jafar is expecting Alice to find Cyrus's bottle.