Heart of the Matter (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland)

"**Heart of the Matter**"
"Heart of the Matter"
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland episode
Episode no.	Season 1; Episode 11
Directed by	David Boyd
Written by	Jenny Kao & Katie Wech
Original air date	March 20, 2014
Guest appearances
	Brian George as Old Prisoner; Barbara Hershey as Cora; Iggy Pop as the Caterpillar; Peta Sergeant as Jabberwocky; Ben Cotton as Tweedle #2; Matty Finochio as Tweedle #1; Michael Jonsson as King's Guard; Trevor Lerner as Burly Guy; Chad Riley as Jafar's Guard;
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Dirty Little Secrets"	Next →; "To Catch a Thief"
	List of episodes

"Heart of the Matter" is the eleventh episode of the Once Upon a Time spin-off series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Written by Jenny Kao and Katie Wech and directed by David Boyd, it premiered on ABC in the United States on March 20, 2014.

In this episode, Anastasia's past involving Cora, the Queen of Hearts is revealed, including a secret of Will's while in present-day Wonderland, Alice and Cyrus makes an unexpected trip to Storybrooke to procure an item of great importance as Jafar's plan to break the laws of magic inches closer.

Plot

Opening Sequence

Jafar's serpent staff is shown in the forest.

In the characters' past

Anastasia, the soon-to-be Red Queen of Wonderland is introduced to her servants Tweedledee and Tweedledum at the castle. During a conversation with them, the Queen of Hearts, Cora, who is shocked to have been invited to the Red King's wedding, pays them an unexpected visit to meet the new Queen. Cora offers to teach Anastasia magic to make life as a royal easier at the castle, but Anastasia declines the offer as the Red King frowns on the usage of magic which separates the royals and their servants. While not pleased with Anastasia's answer, Cora leaves her offer open. As the wedding day approaches, Will Scarlet secretly visits Anastasia, hoping that Anastasia is duping the King into marrying her just to steal his jewels. As Anastasia retaliates, Cora eavesdrops on their conversation and alerts the guards to the room, not before Will leaves. Cora pays Will a visit and listen to his concern regarding not being able to fully move on from Anastasia. Will asks Cora to remove his heart so that he can never feel any form of emotion. Upon doing so, Cora keeps his heart and later shows Anastasia that Will has decided to move on and no longer loves her. Cora then proceeds to teach a now-heartbroken Anastasia magic.

In Wonderland

Alice and Cyrus is alerted by Tweedledum to escape Wonderland under Anastasia's orders upon the Jabberwocky's freedom. However, as they wouldn't want to give up on Will, they head into the castle via a tunnel to save both Will and Anastasia. Meanwhile, Jafar, unable to change the laws of magic due to Will's genie bottle, uses the Jabberwocky on Anastasia to find out the problem. As the Jabberwocky uses her magic to creep into Anastasia's memories, she accidentally reads Alice's mind, who is in the dungeon with Cyrus. Knowing what was the problem, she escapes the dungeon with Cyrus and seeks the White Rabbit's help to locate Will's heart. Using the portal, they head to Storybrooke. Once retrieving Will's heart, the trio returns to Wonderland and is ambushed by Jafar who steals it, but before losing his staff to them. Alice and Cyrus realize that the staff is Cyrus' mother. Jafar returns Will's heart and in order to make sure the heart was functioning properly, he kills Anastasia in-front of Will, who is in a fit upon Anastasia's death.

In Storybrooke

Via the portal, Alice, Cyrus, and the White Rabbit arrives in the main street and heads to Will's home to find his heart. Once inside, they find a drawing of Anastasia and realize the heart is hidden in the wall behind the drawing. Using some darts, they uncover a box with Will's heart and returns to Wonderland.

Production

Jenny Kao & Katie Wech were the writers for the episode, while David Boyd was its director.^[1]

Reception

Ratings

The episode was watched by 3.51 million American viewers, and received an 18-49 rating/share of 0.8/3, roughly the same demo as the previous episode but up in the total viewers number. The show placed fifth in its timeslot and twelfth for the night.^[2]

Critical reception

Christine Orlando of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 out of 5, signaling positive reviews.^[3]

Ashley B. of Spoiler TV gave the episode a positive review. She said:

I'm not saying [the last five minutes] were bad, they were actually extremely well done and quite the wham ending to this episode which I enjoyed, but wow, talk about your emotional roller coaster. The writers have a story to tell and it certainly isn't over yet, but when they pull stunts like this, you can't help but to sit and stare at your television and reflect on how attached you've grown to your favorite characters. Aside from having my heart ripped from my chest, it's good to see Cora back on our screens. Still as manipulative and cunning as ever, the Queen of Hearts cranked her pageant mom routine up to eleven in this episode.^[4]

References

^ "Listings - ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND on ABC". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
^ Bibel, Sara (March 21, 2014). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Vampire Diaries', 'American Idol', 'Hell's Kitchen' & 'Parenthood' Adjusted Up Plus Final NCAA Tournament Numbers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
^ Orlando, Christine (20 March 2014). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Review: Dagger Through the Heart". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
^ B., Ashley (21 March 2014). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - Episode 1.11 - Heart of the Matter - Review". Spoiler TV. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

External links

"Heart of the Matter" at IMDb

[Futoncritic-1] "Listings - ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND on ABC". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 15, 2017.

[2] Bibel, Sara (March 21, 2014). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Vampire Diaries', 'American Idol', 'Hell's Kitchen' & 'Parenthood' Adjusted Up Plus Final NCAA Tournament Numbers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2014.

[3] Orlando, Christine (20 March 2014). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Review: Dagger Through the Heart". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

[4] B., Ashley (21 March 2014). "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - Episode 1.11 - Heart of the Matter - Review". Spoiler TV. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

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v t e Once Upon a Time episodes
Season 1	"Pilot" "The Thing You Love Most" "Snow Falls" "The Price of Gold" "That Still Small Voice" "The Shepherd" "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" "Desperate Souls" "True North" "7:15 A.M." "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" "Skin Deep" "What Happened to Frederick" "Dreamy" "Red-Handed" "Heart of Darkness" "Hat Trick" "The Stable Boy" "The Return" "The Stranger" "An Apple Red as Blood" "A Land Without Magic"
Season 2	"Broken" "We Are Both" "Lady of the Lake" "The Crocodile" "The Doctor" "Tallahassee" "Child of the Moon" "Into the Deep" "Queen of Hearts" "The Cricket Game" "The Outsider" "In the Name of the Brother" "Tiny" "Manhattan" "The Queen Is Dead" "The Miller's Daughter" "Welcome to Storybrooke" "Selfless, Brave and True" "Lacey" "The Evil Queen" "Second Star to the Right" "And Straight On 'til Morning"
Season 3	"The Heart of the Truest Believer" "Lost Girl" "Quite a Common Fairy" "Nasty Habits" "Good Form" "Ariel" "Dark Hollow" "Think Lovely Thoughts" "Save Henry" "The New Neverland" "Going Home" "New York City Serenade" "Witch Hunt" "The Tower" "Quiet Minds" "It's Not Easy Being Green" "The Jolly Roger" "Bleeding Through" "A Curious Thing" "Kansas" "Snow Drifts" "There's No Place Like Home"
Season 4	"A Tale of Two Sisters" "White Out" "Rocky Road" "The Apprentice" "Breaking Glass" "Family Business" "The Snow Queen" "Smash the Mirror" "Fall" "Shattered Sight" "Heroes and Villains" "Darkness on the Edge of Town" "Unforgiven" "Enter the Dragon" "Poor Unfortunate Soul" "Best Laid Plans" "Heart of Gold" "Sympathy for the De Vil" "Lily" "Mother" "Operation Mongoose"
Season 5	"The Dark Swan" "The Price" "Siege Perilous" "The Broken Kingdom" "Dreamcatcher" "The Bear and the Bow" "Nimue" "Birth" "The Bear King" "Broken Heart" "Swan Song" "Souls of the Departed" "Labor of Love" "Devil's Due" "The Brothers Jones" "Our Decay" "Her Handsome Hero" "Ruby Slippers" "Sisters" "Firebird" "Last Rites" "Only You" "An Untold Story"
Season 6	"The Savior" "A Bitter Draught" "The Other Shoe" "Strange Case" "Street Rats" "Dark Waters" "Heartless" "I'll Be Your Mirror" "Changelings" "Wish You Were Here" "Tougher Than the Rest" "Murder Most Foul" "Ill-Boding Patterns" "Page 23" "A Wondrous Place" "Mother's Little Helper" "Awake" "Where Bluebirds Fly" "The Black Fairy" "The Song in Your Heart" "The Final Battle"
Season 7	"Hyperion Heights" "A Pirate's Life" "The Garden of Forking Paths" "Beauty" "Greenbacks" "Wake Up Call" "Eloise Gardener" "Pretty in Blue" "One Little Tear" "The Eighth Witch" "Secret Garden" "A Taste of the Heights" "Knightfall" "The Girl in the Tower" "Sisterhood" "Breadcrumbs" "Chosen" "The Guardian" "Flower Child" "Is This Henry Mills?" "Homecoming" "Leaving Storybrooke"
Wonderland	"Down the Rabbit Hole" "Trust Me" "Forget Me Not" "The Serpent" "Heart of Stone" "Who's Alice" "Bad Blood" "Home" "Nothing to Fear" "Dirty Little Secrets" "Heart of the Matter" "To Catch a Thief" "And They Lived..."